ShivaniSales and marketing are two essential functions; they work differently but work together within a business or organization. Marketing involves lying the basis for sales, bringing new leads and prospects for the business. On the other hand, sales mean leading all the efforts to meet their end, therefore meeting the end goal of closing the deal.
See how much it is important for both the departments to work together. We can say that they are different departments, but they are interrelated and aim for the same goal. Like every business, their goal is to turn prospects into a customer by
providing them with a solution to their problems.
Every business needs to understand that both these functions are necessary for the journey of buyers. Therefore, they need to realize that if they work together, it will lead to the business’s continuous growth as it will lead to an improvement in strategies and processes. Ultimately it will lead to more meaningful results.
In this blog, we will discuss the importance of marketing and sales so that If they aren’t already aligned in your company, here’s why you should start now.
What Is Marketing?
It is a way to tell people about the products, business, and inform them how your product or service can solve their problems. The marketing plan is an imperative step for every business as it helps in making marketing efforts successful. According to studies, those businesses that have plans grow 30% faster.
Marketing holds the controls to determine the business’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – basically what makes that company stand apart from the competition. Marketing studies target audiences, what those audiences demand, and how they completely meet those needs.
Several types of marketing may serve your company depending on your target audience or buyer persona:
- Content marketing, such as blogs, ebooks, white papers, and podcasts. In particular, blogging is one of the only most effective tools in enticing customers you want and giving real solutions or education around the areas that engage them the most.
- Search engine optimization SEO means to optimize the content on a website, incorporating in blogs so that your content ranks in search engine results. This is especially useful when you’re trying to attract people who have done searches related to the service you offer.
- Pay-per-click marketing is also called paid search. This includes placing your ad where your customers are searching. An instance of this is Google AdWords. Every time a user clicks on an ad, you are charged a determined amount of money. Pay-per-click management services provide assistance and expertise in managing and optimizing pay-per-click campaigns
- Social media marketing. Such as Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. Facebook ads, in particular, can assist you in targeting those with a need (even one they may not recognize) for your product or service.
- Email marketing that targets specific segmented audiences. There are services ready to help with this, such as Constant Contact and iContact.
- Print marketing, such as newspapers and magazines. Several different publications allow sponsorship and advertising opportunities to be useful if the publication’s readership aligns with your target audience.
More advanced marketing teams comprise the above or segment their audiences to make sure that the right people are receiving the right messages. They can utilize advertising, public relations, digital tools like email and social media, and other sources to distribute their carefully crafted message at the right time and right place to best create the best opportunities.
What Is Sales?
Once marketing has produced leads, the sales team is usually accountable for converting those leads into sales.
Though sales are often conceived of as the conversation that will help people decide whether they will buy from you, there’s a lot more to it.
Salespeople tend to go and build relationships in more personal, one-on-one situations. Their tactics are about developing an understanding of the customer and overcoming objections. Through their more direct and personal approach, they can serve as excellent brand representatives for the company, while also becoming a committed partner and problem-solver for the client.
Why Must They Work Together?
Without marketing, consumers and potential consumers might never be introduced to the company. Without sales, the company might not be able to keep the necessary revenue stream required to stay in business.
The need for both marketing and sales is apparent. Today, however, it’s more important than ever that the two work together.
Here’s why:
- Customers must be marketed with the appropriate message and at the right time and place. If just one of those doesn’t happen, your content likely will be ignored, or worse, deleted forever.
- You’re struggling with access to information. The web makes it easy to find whatever data you seek, including user ratings and product reviews. Many customers make buying decisions before they even talk to a supplier. That means the buyer’s journey is happening without you.
- Businesses that tightly align their sales and marketing teams and their processes grow faster. According to a study, organizations with great alignment realize 20% revenue growth on average yearly. Those that have poor alignment saw revenues decline by 4%.
Other advantages of joining the two teams involve better communication, increased transparency, and an overall better collaborative environment.
For example, because of the relationships they develop with customers, sales professionals are in an exceptional position to give useful feedback and customer insights to the marketing team to continuously improve products, positioning, and understanding of the buyer’s journey.
Wrap up
In this blog, we have seen how sales and marketing go all together and that it is essential for business. A pivotal role of marketing is to delve into the needs, challenges, and issues that new customers have and attract and turn them into potential sales leads.
