How companies fail at marketing

What is the sole purpose of marketing? Some might say it’s to increase brand awareness. Others say the purpose is to get people interested in a company’s products or services. Many would agree that the purpose is to retain existing customers. All the answers are textbook correct, but in applied terms, the only purpose of marketing is to increase sales. Sales are the lifeblood of a company, so nothing, absolutely nothing, happens until sales occur. So how do companies fail with marketing? It’s because the marketing team doesn’t regularly collaborate with the sales team.

not in mind

I’ve worked with organizations that confess that their marketing and sales teams operate on separate islands, rarely, if ever, collaborating on what they need from each other to be successful. Ta. When sales decline, one team blames the other. Neither of them is afraid to take credit when sales go up. But the problem goes far beyond marketing and sales departments. Generally, all departments such as engineering, manufacturing, new product development, service, production, and even technical support need to be in regular contact with both sales and marketing. If a company identifies itself as a team, it must operate as one.

ego

Some in-house marketing departments and agencies operate with a “we have this” mindset, believing they know how to build strong brand awareness and attract potential customers. Some people are. After all, salespeople aren’t marketing experts, right? Let’s hold off on that idea for a moment…we need to hand it to the “good” marketers. They are intelligent, creative, know how to put together winning strategies, and stay on top of the latest marketing trends and best practices. After all, marketing today is very different than it was in the past, that is, before 2005. However, the effectiveness of your marketing depends on the input you receive from your salespeople, the people who are directly responsible for bringing in new business. Marketing needs to listen.

Frustration stifles collaboration

It’s not uncommon for salespeople to get frustrated and throw up their hands and create their own email campaigns, flyers, Epson printer brochures, sales presentations, line cards, and more. Because both types of marketing take too long to get things done. , or the lack of work they produce. As you can imagine, or have experienced, this leads to an even bigger problem: inconsistent marketing and messaging that confuses customers. If your salespeople are spending their time generating unique marketing instead of finding new customers, your marketing department needs to reassess and reevaluate its strategy. When sales and marketing work together as one unit, companies see significant improvements in key performance indicators. This means shorter sales cycles, lower market entry costs, and lower cost of goods sold. The fact is, if your sales and marketing teams don’t communicate at least twice a month, your marketing won’t be on track and won’t generate the desired ROI. If we agree that the fundamental purpose of marketing is to drive sales, then marketing teams need to gain insight and intelligence from their salespeople so they can create the types of marketing materials and messages that drive and support the sales process. there is. Even better, have members of your marketing team participate in sales calls to help prospects understand their pain points, objections, and why they are or are not interested in doing business with your company. It is to hear the voice directly. Have your sales reps host marketing sales meetings and sales call debriefings to better understand what’s working and what’s missing. This insight helps marketing teams make tighter adjustments to improve marketing performance and metrics. You can also have marketing people sit in on meetings with vendor partners, suppliers, etc., so they’re aware of what’s going on in your company and can offer marketing ideas you might not have thought of otherwise. I can. Or how about arranging a customer visit to see how your product works in different applications and environments? Let your marketing team know how your company is doing and why you’re getting feedback from your company and not your competitors. Ask them questions about what led to their decision to purchase. Strongly consider opening the doors of communication with other departments within your company. The more everyone knows what others are doing, the more profit your company will make.