Nikki Dawson, Head of EMEA Marketing at Highspot
Sales and marketing teams often work separately. Whilst they are two distinct processes and mindsets in their own right, they seldom come together to fully understand what is driving ROI, from the content and activities conducted by one another.
With economic turbulence creating concern across Europe, knee jerk reactions such as cutting budgets, is likely to result in a short-term gain, long term loss. In order for any business to show continued growth and maximise profits, both sales and marketing need to be on the same frequency. They need to be tuned in together on the same wavelength, working in tandem towards a common objective.
The correct approach, with the right tools in situ can remove friction and overcome obstacles between your sales and marketing teams. The vast majority of sales and marketing professionals (71%) agree that a lack of alignment between their teams has had a negative impact on revenue
Alignment, collaboration and communication between the two is mission critical to increase revenue and drive bottom-line ROI.
So, what are the obstacles for marketers?
Lack of visibility over their content
In order to manage and maximise digital marketing initiatives, marketers need to have visibility over how their content and collateral is being utilised and be able to track what’s working in order to maximise them in the future. Failure to do so results in ‘content chaos’ which is directly correlated to
New research shows that over a third (34%) of marketers aren’t confident they have the tools they need to manage and maximise digital marketing initiatives A further third (33%) also lack confidence in being able to easily access the data needed to maximise return on digital marketing efforts.
These are common pain points, and without having access to this data, marketing teams are unable to adapt and enhance content for greater success and can struggle to drive content adoption by their sales team.
Lack of integrated technology
Understanding which content is driving results with potential prospects is fundamental for an organisation’s sales and marketing functions to collaborate efficiently. Having too much content across multiple channels and platforms with no ‘single source of truth’ is a recipe for ‘content chaos’.
This issue is of far greater concern to marketers. The lack of integration and automated flow of data for generating performance metrics is a major concern. Difficult or poor reporting capabilities further exasperates this issue. Nearly half (49%) of marketers’ flag this as a top technology challenge, compared to 38% in sales.
Producing assets that have demonstrable success
Marketers need to have confidence in their ability to view content analytics which demonstrate the ROI of the collateral they are producing. 29% of marketers feel least confident in their ability to view content analytics.
Furthermore 30% feel the same lack of confidence creating marketing assets that have demonstrable success at meeting specific business objectives and driving sales growth. Having a shared platform that both sales and marketing can contribute their insights to, with easy access to that data, helps maximise return on digital marketing efforts.
Closer alignment with Sales is key
Misalignment between sales and marketing teams has a detrimental effect and negatively impacts your wider business objectives. At best energy and resources are being wasted. At worst, it leads to strategies directly contradicting each other and not being delivered.
For marketers, closer alignment with their counterparts in sales will provide them with proof of how content is being used and how their assets are impacting revenue. Not having this oversight over how marketing content correlates with sales performance means that marketers won’t know how to improve messaging and materials.
How to best achieve this relationship?
Enter sales enablement – as more and more companies are now beginning to adopt sales enablement in EMEA, many businesses are yet to have it as a strategic go-to-market function. A sales enablement platform helps bridge the gap. It can equip, train and coach sales and marketing teams and optimise the performance of both.
Marketers need to understand how their work contributes and impacts the wider business objectives. There needs to be a strategic, ongoing process of equipping sales teams with the content, guidance, training and coaching they need to effectively engage buyers.
The implementation of a sales enablement platform can provide valuable insights to your marketing teams, as well as ensuring that both are aligned on messaging and goals. It will get your sales and marketing teams to work seamlessly together and will avoid time and resources being wasted and damaging financial performance.
In brief
Marketers need to learn to do more with less. Current budgets are at risk of being cut, or at best staying flat, in response to the economic headwinds and geo-political turmoil. For businesses to optimise their work and successfully grow, marketers need to forge stronger relationships with their counterparts in sales.
A sales enablement platform in place can provide organisations with a single source of truth for up-to-date assets, including tracked metrics on content. Detailed insights on sales performance and the impact of sales growth is the winning formula for sales and marketing teams to bridge the divide and drive top and bottom-line ROI.
Uma Rajagopal has been managing the posting of content for multiple platforms since 2021, including Global Banking & Finance Review, Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune. Her role ensures that content is published accurately and efficiently across these diverse publications.