Sales & Digital Marketing - How are they Linked?

Introduction

I'm sure you've heard the phrase "sales and marketing are like peanut butter and jelly." Well, it's true! These two teams are intrinsically linked - they need each other to be successful. In this article, I'll be sharing how sales and digital marketing work together and why this relationship is so important for your business.

Marketing is Your Business.

Marketing is your business. Marketing is responsible for the marketing strategy, the brand, the customer experience, and lead generation.

And sales? Sales close deals. Sales convert leads into customers by interacting with those customers through their buying journey.

Marketing is Responsible for Sales.

Marketing is responsible for the funnel, lead generation, lead nurturing and conversion. Sales are responsible for closing deals.

Most companies have a similar structure, but they vary in the level of responsibility each department has. For example, some companies may not have dedicated sales or marketing teams; instead, they might have a general manager who is responsible for both. Or some companies may have multiple teams (e.g., one for sales and one for marketing).

The sales and marketing departments can be further broken down into “funnels”, which are the processes that each department uses to convert leads into customers. For example, a company might have an advertising funnel (responsible for generating leads) and a sales funnel (responsible for closing sales).

Sales Should Be Fluent in Marketing Strategy.

Salespeople need to understand the customer needs, problems, pain points, and motivations behind the marketing campaign. They also need to know how their product or service fits into those strategies. Finally, they must be able to communicate this information back to customers so that sales can drive more value from each conversation with prospects and clients.

The better your sales team understands your company’s marketing strategy and its importance for driving revenue growth, the more effective they will become at translating that plan into measurable sales tactics for both existing customers (upsell/cross-sell) and new leads (cold calling).

What are the Benefits of this Relationship?

The benefits of this relationship are significant. Your digital marketing program will help you:

●     Improve sales and increase revenue by creating an effective online presence that generates leads, builds brand awareness, and drives sales.

●     Reduce costs by leveraging the efficiency of digital advertising channels to reach your target audience at scale.

●     Improve customer experience with relevant content that provides value throughout the customer lifecycle — from discovery through purchase (and beyond).

●     Increase brand awareness through a consistent message across all channels. This helps build trust in your company as an authority on its products or services, which increases both sales and customer retention rates over time.

●     Ensure customers are happy by listening to their needs and responding quickly with relevant offers tailored just for them. This means less churn!

These two teams are intrinsically linked - they need each other to be successful.

To understand how these two teams are linked, you need to think of them in terms of a sales funnel. A sales funnel is a series of steps that starts with marketing and ends with closing a sale. Marketing fills the top of the funnel with leads (people who show interest in your product or service) while sales convert those leads into customers to get them through the bottom part of the funnel.

As each step goes along, fewer people remain until only one or two people remain before the conversion occurs. Here’s an example:

●     You have 100 leads at the beginning (the widest part)

●     20%convert into qualified leads after viewing your website or social media page

●     10%convert after speaking with someone from your company over the phone/email/live chat

●     7%convert after meeting with someone face-to-face for demos and presentations

Conclusion

If you’re wondering why we’re so passionate about this topic, it’s because we believe that business is one big team game. The more you can work together with your marketing and sales colleagues—the better! A healthy relationship between these two departments means better customer service, higher conversion rates and revenue growth.

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