Smarketing is a concept you have probably never heard of if you work within a traditional, hierarchical structure centered on duties and tasks.
There has long been a common misconception that sales and marketing are two entirely different departments inside a company. In many situations, it might even seem like marketing and sales teams are working toward completely separate outcomes due to different approaches to fundamental concepts.
However, good things can come from the successful alignment of your sales and marketing teams. Alternatively, if both groups cannot achieve some level of mutualism and cooperation, the company’s future might be in jeopardy.
While it’s true that some firms can succeed using the traditional approach, it’s vital to remember that many growth opportunities are lost by sticking to tried-and-true practices. When your company’s teams come together and work toward common goals, your business will flourish.
What is Smarketing?
Smarketing is the integration of two functions, “sales” and “marketing,” that any business needs to succeed. It’s a method of combining the efforts of the two groups so that they may advance toward a common goal of increasing lead generation and eventual business expansion.
This strategy is a derivative of the inbound marketing methodology; applied to maximize efficiency inside an organization’s existing framework. Additionally, it helps to ensure that the marketing and sales departments work together with minimal friction to achieve their shared objectives.
Bringing this smarketing concept to fruition takes strong leadership who are willing to address the cultural obstacles that might stand in the way. Resources will be needed to cultivate the structure and behaviors that will facilitate how you approach your customers.
Why is the Smarketing Alliance Important?
Smarketing’s benefits to your company’s bottom line, productivity, and growth are immeasurable. When a company’s marketing and sales departments exchange their insights, a more strategic and efficient approach can be developed to attract new customers and encourage repeat business.
What are the Benefits of Smarketing?
It boosts productivity and business efficiency
For your smarketing plans to be effective, your sales and marketing departments must work in tandem. Cooperation toward shared company goals is a prime example of this alignment in action. Your company as a whole can provide a better customer experience, run more smoothly, and boost productivity if everyone does their part.
More backing from top executives
All efforts, from emphasizing the value of teamwork in regular communications to allocating funds for tools like phone IVR, are all benefits of better top-level support. A successful alignment between marketing and sales requires buy-in from the executive team, and they will provide it only if they perceive a clear commitment from the two departments to work together.
Measures like integrating office collaboration software or adjusting compensation structures to better reflect and reward collaborative work can help remove departmental silos.
It maximizes your ROI
If your sales and marketing teams are better coordinated, your sales staff will be able to learn more about potential customers’ online activities. With this, you can launch marketing strategies that boost sales.
Your sales team can also use these findings to improve the relevance and personalization of customer communications. This will aid your business in delivering a unified service across all client touchpoints, enhancing their experience and boosting conversion rates.
Marketers will learn more about the sources of high-quality leads and the characteristics of prospects who are most likely to become paying customers. Then, your marketing team can focus its efforts on areas where it will see the greatest return on investment.
A better system for addressing customer feedback
Collaboration between sales and marketing increases the likelihood that customer feedback will be respected and acted upon. There’s a better chance, too, that they’ve prioritized the integration of their systems so that they can pool client information. Improved access to client information facilitates timely responses from relevant parties.
Tips to Integrate and Implement Smarketing for Your Business
Smarketing can be challenging to adopt depending on the company’s size and the degree to which both departments are misaligned. The steps outlined below streamline the integration process and can help you get better results.
Consider your current position and set clear goals
Do you know how well your sales and marketing teams are collaborating? If you don’t, it would be beneficial to analyze the working relationship between the two groups to determine the specific areas or procedures that could benefit from improvement.
The connection between the two teams may need revamping entirely, which may take some time but will be well worth it in the end. Look at how often your teams get together, what information is discussed, and how they usually communicate.
Improve communication
Effective communication is crucial in all business interactions, including those that bring together marketing and creative teams. Holding weekly smarketing catch-up meetings is a great way to keep the lines of communication open between the sales and marketing teams. This will allow them to talk about the latest news and share updates.
Ensure that the teams can easily communicate by providing effective tools. This can include meeting and campaign-planning templates, messaging apps, the integration of a voice-over IP phone system, or using content collaboration platforms such as DivvyHQ. This gives teams clear channels of communication whether they’re working in the office or remotely.
Monitor performance
Your company’s strategic decisions should all revolve around performance data. In the end, this information will show you how well your marketing and sales efforts are working. It will also let you look into both your successes and the inevitable failures that come with running a business.
A customer relationship management (CRM) system and similar tools can help you guarantee the continuity and accuracy of your data-gathering processes. Your next step should be a group discussion about your key performance indicators and objectives, during which you can dig into what works and ways you can streamline your workflow.
Set shared goals
The two departments — sales and marketing — need to figure out a methodical strategy to collaborate. Working together on major project milestones is a fantastic approach to this. This practical step can improve your chances of successfully implementing smarketing.
The team will be able to collaborate better, albeit in their individual ways, to complete the project if they have a common sense of what constitutes a significant milestone.
Take Your Business to Greater Heights with Smarketing
If properly adopted and managed, smarketing can bring about systemic change that has far-reaching effects on your business. Expecting immediate results is often unrealistic, as it will take time for everyone to catch on and adjust. Your smarketing approach, like any other aspect of marketing, should develop and change as your company evolves.
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