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In online business, both marketing and sales teams are essential players throughout the customer lifecycle. Described as a buyer funnel, each portion of the funnel is either the responsibility of sales, marketing, or the shared responsibility of both departments. The middle of the funnel, where marketing and sales or qualified leads take place, is the shared responsibility of these two similar, but equally unique teams. In order to encourage a customer through the funnel from website visitor to customer, it is absolutely vital to connect your marketing and sales teams for a successful experience and profitable marketing campaign. When these teams are disconnected, you end up missing opportunities, and–ultimately–customers.

Over the years, our team has picked up a few best practices that can help your sales and marketing teams effectively work together and collaborate to achieve your lead generation, customer acquisition, and overall revenue goals. Here are our four favorites to start using today.

1. Position Marketing as a Content Creation Engine & Sales as a Learning and Distribution Engine

Online content still reigns as king over digital marketing but it can be difficult to brainstorm and find which topics are most important to your target audience. Additionally, it’s tricky to know the most appropriate platform to use to get content to your audience. When your content doesn’t work as intended, to distribute traffic evenly across your website, it’s especially helpful for your marketing and sales teams to work together. 

How?

Sales reps are in direct contact with the target audience. They are privy to the questions your target audience has about the product or service your business provides. If your sales reps can communicate these questions to your marketing team, they can then turn around and generate answers to the questions on your website or other applicable platform (i.e., social media, email, etc.).

The answers to these questions are then converted into assets that your business can use to drive traffic to your website and through the funnel to the sales team. Using this newfound knowledge, you can create different content for a more profitable marketing strategy, driving visitors from curious onlookers to return customers.

2. Stop Chasing Different Metrics for Marketing ROI – Unite Around a Common Goal

The tried and true methods for measuring marketing ROI and efficacy is to have sales and marketing teams focus on KPIs. However, all too often, the KPIs for marketing are different from the KPIs for sales. In other words, two teams that should be working together toward the same goals are actually pursuing different objectives, usually without even realizing it. 

Instead of setting different goals for each team, you should take stock of what metrics best align with your business and lend to profitable marketing campaigns. Pick one or two of these metrics for both your sales and marketing teams to improve how they communicate and work together. Essentially a method of forced collaboration, it allows for unification across the board and often results in greater marketing ROI.

3. Create Structure to Accomplish Your Communication Goal

In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have had to adapt drastically to maintain a routine in the workplace, especially if they’re working remotely or in a hybrid environment. With a large portion of the workforce utilizing remote access, it has become increasingly difficult to foster a collaborative environment. However, when businesses utilize technology that lends to a structured environment, they and their employees often reap the rewards. Try weekly meetings involving both the sales and marketing teams, mixing workspaces, building relationships between team management and members, or utilize common terminology to build in feedback loops.

4. Invest in Your Website’s User Experience

There are a variety of ways to improve your brand’s website that will generate additional online leads and a more profitable marketing strategy, but the business world as a whole has pushed more toward an improved user experience. Start by optimizing your website’s landing page because this will typically lead a prospect down the sales funnel and increase sales. A bad landing page can drive away potential customers. If you choose to use a call to action on your website, make sure that the call to action is clear and pronounced.

Next, focus on natural site navigation. If a member of a target audience doesn’t understand your website or has difficulty navigating your website, they aren’t likely to make a purchase. Also, make sure your website has the speed to handle the amount of traffic your website generates.

Other options include utilizing progressive web apps like push notifications or SMS updates to constantly remind potential customers about your business, or even automated ordering through the use of cache data for repeat customers. Many businesses have taken to leveraging user-generated content like a photo gallery of photos voluntarily submitted by customers as part of a customer review to help customers visualize your product. An astonishing 63% of consumers say that they are more likely to buy a product from a website that includes consumer reviews. Remember the experience your target audience has on your website has a huge influence on the potential of a visitor turning into a customer and your overall marketing ROI.

Don’t let a drop in your online leads negatively impact your business revenue. Implement a few of these practices to unite your sales and marketing teams to see if all you needed to improve site traffic and convert visitors into loyal, return customers was a little realignment. If you need help putting any of these ideas into your daily routine, or to talk through how these practices could work for your business, contact the team of marketing ROI experts at RefractROI today.

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