What is Smarketing? The New Direction of Marketing

Smarketing? Yes, you read that right. That's not an inexcusable typo in our title. Smarketing is a real word, and it refers to the best combination since peanut butter and chocolate. 

Smarketing is the process of bringing the sales and marketing process together through direct and frequent communication to meet shared goals. It's definitely not business as usual; at best, the sales and marketing teams are friendly but separate. At worst, they're outright hostile, blaming poor performance on one another.

Let's look at the factors that go into successfully implementing smarketing into your organization, and why you should make it a priority. 

Why Combine? 

Why is it so important to get your sales and marketing team to work together? Well, teaming up can result in a 208% higher marketing revenue than companies who keep things separated, for starters.

Failure to align can result in decreased sales productivity and pointless marketing efforts— an estimated $1 trillion per year is wasted when the sales and marketing teams aren't aligned. 

However, these statistics might not be enough to persuade the teams that it's in their best interest to work together. 87% of the terms that sales and marketing teams use to describe one another are less than flattering. The sales team is convinced that the marketing team is pointless— they don't contribute anything to the company.

Meanwhile, the marketing team is positive that the sales team is throwing away perfectly good leads because they don't feel like pursuing them. Plus, they're not accurately conveying the message that the marketing team has slaved over, resulting in missed opportunities. 

Is it possible to get these two disparate teams to work as one? Of course it is. And it's important that you prioritize it. Avoid working transactionally— or only focusing on what each team can get from the other. When everyone's working toward a common goal, in this case revenue, it's likely that they'll work better together. 

Sales + Marketing = Smarketing Magic

What can you do to get the two teams to stop competing with each other and work together? There are a few things you can do to make the transition from nemeses to teammates smooth. 

Meet Regularly— The best way to get these teams on the same page is to schedule regular times for the two to meet. Communication should be consistent and frequent, and everyone should be working toward the same goal: getting better returns for the business.

Set up weekly meetings for the teams, monthly meetings for the managers, and be sure that both teams are attending outside events together. If the two teams mix in a casual setting as well as in the office, it's more likely to solidify their bond, making it easier for them to work together. 

Set Goals— In addition to the overarching goal bringing them together, the teams should also set smaller, more specific monthly or weekly goals. Say, for instance, you need 5 converted customers per week to meet your revenue goal.

With that in mind, your marketing department should shoot for a minimum of 20 solid leads per week to send to your sales team, to enable them to meet the conversion goal. 

Gather Feedback— Your sales team has valuable insight into customers that the marketing team simply doesn't have. They spend a lot more time with the customers, and they hear the customers' pain points firsthand. It just makes sense to tap into their stores of knowledge not just for content creation, but to create the buyer personas your content is built on, too. 

This will not only help you generate more leads, but stronger leads. This is an important distinction. Your marketing team might toss hundreds of leads to your sales team every week, but if they're not quality leads, they're not a whole lot of help. Your sales team can help the marketing team understand the importance of quality over quantity, and that will help meet the ultimate goal of increased returns for your organization. 

Are you ready to incorporate smarketing into your operation, but you're not sure where to start? That's ok! We can help. Click the link below to schedule a free 30 minute marketing consultation with one of our experts. 

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