The Biggest Marketing Myth

Business owners often believe it’s difficult to tell if Marketing is actually successful or contributes any value to the bottom line. I’ve stumbled across more than one LinkedIn debate about Marketing and Sales - which adds the most value, if you really need both, and the strange (to me, anyway) notion of two departments locked in an epic battle against each other.

Sales and Marketing can (and should be) tightly integrated.

And if you are one of those people who has never seen a convincing presentation of the value of the Marketing piece of the pie, indulge me for another minute or two.

I think the biggest myth out there about Marketing is that it’s not truly measurable - that it’s very difficult to see ROI from your efforts.

That is simply not true. In the age of technology, it’s easier than ever to integrate Marketing and Sales - and see exactly what has worked and what hasn’t. Marketing will always involve some trial and error - that is true. However, if you have systems in place to track what you’re doing, from the initial lead capture to closing the deal, you will be able to focus on the strategies that work and ditch the ones that don’t.

These efforts certainly take some time, but they are worth it.

If you know exactly where every single one of your leads comes from - a Google search, a direct visit to your website, Facebook, or even a brochure in the mail - and what topics they’ve shown interest in, you can follow up with relevant, timely content. If you can see every interaction a lead has with your business, you can be sure you are sending the right information at the right time - like automated emails that encourage further interaction. You can remove leads that aren’t engaged.

If you assign leads to sales people, score leads based on their engagement with your marketing materials, and automatically notify sales people when it’s time to make a call, you’ll have the best chance of closing the deal. If you set up automated sales task lists and timelines, you can ensure all qualified leads get the same level of attention. If you can also view a comprehensive sales pipeline at-a-glance, see where leads are in the sales process, and view closed deals (including the dollar amount of the sale), you will have a complete picture of ROI.

You can look back at the entire process and say, “We got 40% more sales from leads who came from Facebook than leads who came from LinkedIn. Leads from Facebook were also 30% more likely to schedule a demo with us than those who came from LinkedIn. Let’s spend more time and money on Facebook, and less on LinkedIn.”

There are fantastic Marketing & Sales Automation tools on the market that will help you achieve this level of insight. The two should mingle harmoniously - with complete visibility for Sales into what Marketing pieces drew leads in, and at-a-glance Sales information that lets Marketing analyze what’s producing the most revenue.

Whatever the size of your business, creating harmony between Marketing and Sales doesn’t have to be difficult, confusing or even costly.

Interested in learning more about Marketing & Sales Automation Software?