If you’re not going to create an alignment between your sales and marketing strategies, then why bother? It’s no secret the most successful businesses in 2017 are the ones with the strongest alignment between their sales and marketing strategies. Of course one may think that it is 2017, all you need to do is set-up a basic website with ecommerce, a business facebook page, and you will make millions. We have news for you: there’s a lot more to it than that!
What does “alignment” mean?
Let’s take a look at the top 3 most profitable companies in the world, Apple, Exxon and Samsung. Are you surprised that these companies deal in two if the most necessary industries of our time, technology and gas? Do you think these companies got to where they are without creating an alignment between their marketing and sales? You can bet your bottom dollar that the answer is “NO!”
If you look at any one of the their marketing campaigns, you will see right away they are flawlessly executed. The branding is all time and their advertisements result in a majority of the world buying their products each year. That’s not all that is going on. All three organizations have an amazing sales team. Their sales team negotiates the terms with distribution companies and online agencies all over the world. There’s a sales team that works for these distribution companies and online agencies. There’s a sales team of operators when you call the main company or even a subsidiary’s hotline.
Now one may think, “cool, sounds like you’re talking about sales departments and marketing departments.” Well, yes, but I’m also talking about what makes these departments flow. What makes them successful. And the answer to the that is both working together in unison.
The sales teams are making sales due to the marketing materials they provide their leads before, during and after the negotiation. Once the sale is made, the marketing team is what keeps the client happy because it helps generate consistent revenue for all the stakeholders involved. The more a client knows about the good or service being sold before the sale takes place, the easier it is for a sales person to make the sale. The more sales that are made, the more quality the marketing becomes. As you can see it’s a never ending cycle of harmonization.
How does PufCreativ create an alignment between the marketing it provides for a client, and that clients sales efforts?
PufCreativ is a completely different animal compared to the companies I mentioned earlier. At the same time, we all still have the same foundation when it comes to the sales and marketing alignment strategy. I think the best way to describe our strategy would be to give examples from two completely different industries.
The first example is our client SWAY Nightclub. SWAY is an upscale nightclub in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that provides it’s clients with music, drinks and good times. We run their social media platform. This services consists of us posting 1-2 times daily on their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The content fluctuates between flyers, beautiful women, staff, bottles of alcohol, and crowd shots.
What we are marketing is a great experience. The sales and marketing alignment occurs in a few different ways including:
- We are consistent, positive and engaging in our marketing efforts. People are always informed which drives sales at the venue.
- We provide the entertainment with content to share with their following which drives sales.
- The staff, who make the sales, need content to increase their social media following which drives more sales.
On top of providing the employees (aka the sales team) with content, we stay in communication with them so they can perform social media takeovers and also know exactly what’s going on each week. They have weekly social media activities to help promote the club and themselves. When the social marketing and employees are working in unison, with marketing and sales aligned, the club delivers strong financial returns.
Our second example would be our client FLI. We provide services such as website design, social media, seo, graphic design, photography, videography and consulting for FL, a cannabis extractand edible company. Marketing for a cannabis company is not easy because both Facebook and Google frown upon cannabis advertising, making exposure very difficult. In this case, our marketing and sales alignment needs to be very potent.
We constantly post content and product updates so the brand is always in the feed. We also stay in constant communication with the sales team so we can provide them with everything they need to maximize their sales efforts. These items currently include:
- Sales Presentation
- Price Sheet
- Hats
- Shirts
- Pens
- Lanyards
- Green Screen video presentation
The sales team requires top notch marketing materials to make sales in the competitive Colorado cannabis industry. The company has been exponentially growing ever since we solidified the sales and marketing alignment recently!
The bottom line here is, when your marketing and sales teams are aligned, your business will effectuate the greatest returns because everyone is harmonized towards a shared message and goal.
