Written by: Suzanne Ratti, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
In today’s digital marketing world, almost anyone with a laptop can claim to be a great marketer. But, great marketing is contingent on whether or not the strategy is helping you achieve your sales goals. After all, what value is a thousand Likes providing, if no one is actually buying your stuff? In this article, we’ll evaluate why it’s important to have a marketing strategy that drives revenue, not just followers.
Sales & Marketing Alignment = Success
Make no mistake about it - Sales and Marketing Alignment is the key to success! This is going to require a marketing leader or team that fully understands the sales process. It’s also going to require constant communication between the sales and marketing team. A few years ago, a client came to me with a problem. Their internal Marketing Director had created a ‘winning’ campaign.
She was running victory laps over the “likes and shares” that the campaign created and the phone was ringing off the hook! The problem was, the calls were not from ideal clients. The leads were loss-leaders and the sales team was wasting a tremendous amount of time on the wrong prospects. In this case, it was clear how disconnected the sales and marketing teams were. Ultimately, a lot of money was wasted on marketing and resources. The sales team was frustrated and the company missed some big goals, despite making a significant investment in marketing.
What are Your Sales Goals?
Before you enlist a marketing company or spend valuable resources on marketing, it’s important to have a clear idea of your “Sales” goals. Far too often, marketing operates in a silo that is disconnected from the sales team, sales processes, and sales goals. This is ironic, right? Because the primary goal of marketing is to drive sales. Does your marketing team or outsourced agency understand your sales goals, sales challenges, typical objections, and Unique Selling Propositions?
Sales Driven Marketing
When your marketing team begins to create a strategy, it is important to start with sales-driven metrics. This is the only way to evaluate your Return on Investment (ROI) and ultimately measure whether you are reaching desired sales goals as a result of marketing initiatives. Many marketing firms report on impressions, shares, and engagement. These are good metrics to know, but they have absolutely nothing to do with sales. A sales-driven marketing strategy will look much deeper than social media to understand how the marketing initiatives are actually driving traffic to your website, shopping platform, or call center. Evaluating the behavior flow, conversions, and bounce rate will create more meaningful dialogue and successful tweaks to your sales and marketing strategies!
Virtually Connecting Teams During Covid
If your sales team has a daily or weekly huddle, be sure to include your marketing team in the conversations. This will provide them valuable insight that they can use to build better marketing strategies. However, nothing replaces having a sales-driven marketing team with experience in sales. Ultimately, this is the best way to create sales-driven marketing strategies that drive revenue!
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Suzanne Ratti, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Suzanne Ratti is a Sales & Marketing Strategist, a proven performer and an entrepreneur with a passion for helping businesses revolutionize the way they deliver their products and services to their target audience. Her background in Sales and Marketing for powerhouses like Xerox and SmartCEO allows her to translate real-world experience, critical skill sets and proven results for businesses in virtually every industry and setting. Suzanne provides engaging coaching and presentations that can inspire, motivate and empower business owners, solopreneurs, and their sales teams to think differently.
