Introduction to Integrated Marketing and Sales (Part 2)

Hi,  I am Dr. Carlos Valdez, Founder and Director of Marketing and Sales. This is the video audio blog for December 8, 2024. The title of this post is "Introduction to Integrated Marketing and Sales (Part 2)."

Last week, in the first part, we reviewed the following topics:

1. What is marketing?
2. The Four P’s.
3. Marketing Communication.
4. What are sales?
5. Marketing/Sales Coordinator.
6. Target market, prospects, conversions, clients, and loyal customers.
7. Direct and indirect channels.

In this post, we will review the following topics:

Topics we will cover:
8. The consumer journey
9. Company mission
10. The customer buying experience
11. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in Marketing/Sales
12. Changes in the market
13. Marketing and Sales objectives
14. Growth strategies

For marketing and sales directors in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this blog provides a fundamental guide to effectively integrating both areas. Marketing and sales should not work in isolation; their synchronization is essential to create value in the customer journey. Through the 14 key points presented in both parts of this blog, professionals will gain a comprehensive strategic framework that enables them to understand and apply essential practices, such as defining the customer experience, optimizing the consumer journey, and measuring performance through key KPIs.

Reviewing and applying this information will allow marketing and sales directors to align objectives, improve internal communication, identify market trends, and develop strategies that drive customer acquisition and retention. In an environment where consumers seek seamless and rewarding experiences, these practices are crucial to achieving sustainable results and standing out from the competition.

8. The Consumer Journey

Typically, a marketing/sales professional will define a sequential sales process for the prospect and the consumer to follow. However, nowadays, in a digital economy, it is better to have a flexible sales process where the consumer can begin their journey at the first step or the last, depending on what is most convenient for them.

For the marketing/sales team, this means we must be more creative, flexible, and strive to improve the consumer experience or consumer journey from their perspective rather than from the company’s (2).

 According to research, consumers are more interested in a simplified, emotionally rewarding, and seamless buying experience than in price and product quality (2).

9. Company Mission

To achieve this, the company needs to work as a team to deliver a unified buying experience (2). The best image a brand can project is when all employees live and practice the company’s mission statement. The mission statement provides a clear direction of what needs to be accomplished. It also helps demonstrate that it is the same company, with the same values and personality for the consumer.

This ensures that regardless of whether they are interacting with a sales representative, the customer service department, or an executive online or over the phone, the consumer feels and experiences a seamless, simplified, and emotionally satisfying buying process.

The mission statement helps us tell our story—one with which the consumer can identify and of which they soon become a part. It also helps us define and bring this story to life (2).

10. The Customer Buying Experience

The next step after reviewing the mission statement is to define a customer buying experience that is unique and better than any competitor's. The elements of a well-planned consumer buying experience are:

• Defining a customer experience statement.
• Defining the buyer profile (buyer persona) of our target market.
• Designing a flexible customer journey, whether face-to-face, online, or both.
• Defining performance metrics (2).

Defining a customer journey strategy is a critical priority that marketing specialists must implement today (4). New forms of communication allow companies to design simplified, emotionally satisfying, and seamless buying experiences. Companies that have already implemented these strategies, both face-to-face and online, are achieving better results than their competitors.

The elements that marketing/sales professionals are incorporating into the design and implementation of these new customer journeys include mobile tactics, such as applications and text messages (SMS), which have seen an increase in usage of 98% and 111%, respectively (4).

Additionally, email marketing campaigns have become more sophisticated due to the automation capabilities of current software. For this reason, this is another preferred tactic used by sales professionals to personalize their messages to prospects and clients (4).

Another favored tactic is social media marketing, as marketing/sales professionals can see a clear return on investment (ROI). The advantage of all digital marketing tactics is that everything can be measured, and everything generates data through the use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which allow for adjustments and improvements to achieve the desired results.

11. Key Performance Indicators in Marketing/Sales (KPIs)

In a recent study, the main Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in marketing for achieving success were identified. These include: customer satisfaction, customer retention, revenue, profitability, return on investment in marketing (ROI), customer acquisition, and brand value (5 and 6). 

Marketing and sales professionals must pay close attention to these indicators. Customer satisfaction is closely related to customer retention and how satisfied the customer is with our solution. If the customer is satisfied, they will continue purchasing from the company, becoming a loyal customer; and if they are delighted with the company’s customer service, they will become a brand ambassador, promoting the brand to others and generating the valuable concept of word-of-mouth marketing.

Everything is interconnected: customer satisfaction will drive retention, leading to repeat purchases and new buyers, thus contributing to revenue growth and customer acquisition.

Other important priorities for marketing and sales professionals include increasing brand recognition, improving customer engagement levels, and boosting social media interaction (4).

To achieve these priorities, marketing and sales professionals need to initiate and develop relationships with leads and then with prospects, converting them into customers and eventually into loyal clients.

As mentioned earlier, the more familiar consumers are with the brand, the better they will understand the brand image and the relationship between the brand attributes and benefits.

This will simplify their purchase decision, leading them to experience a better customer journey. The customer journey involves the consumer’s interaction with the brand, whether face-to-face and/or online, across multiple touchpoints (4).

This is why digital marketing has become a highly relevant strategy for marketing specialists, representing 70% of their marketing budget (4). Through various online communication tools, brands can increase their touchpoints with prospects and customers.

For example, some of the new technologies used by high-performing professionals include proximity marketing using beacon technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), podcasts, and wearable devices. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, there has been significant growth in the use of mobile applications and text message (SMS) campaigns.

Other commonly implemented mobile marketing strategies include: exclusive offers, loyalty programs, retargeting, post-purchase onboarding, post-purchase communication, and blending the in-store experience with mobile messaging (4).

Content creation has become an essential activity for sales and marketing, including user-generated content (4).

12. Changes in the Market
    Consumers and markets are changing at a rapid pace, and organizations need to keep up with these new trends. Sales and marketing areas must transition from traditional activities to new flexible, interactive, and adaptable activities that can be measured to identify valuable information that helps improve the marketing/sales process and the relationship with prospects and clients (5).

To keep sales and marketing up-to-date, they need to implement an evaluation system to measure their performance throughout the customer journey and extract valuable insights from data analysis, identifying future trends. Furthermore, they must continuously conduct experiments to discover which tactics work best, which ones to keep, and which to discard.

Finally, it is essential to stay informed about new technological trends, especially in online and mobile environments, to see how emerging technology can enhance the customer experience (5).

13. Marketing and Sales Objectives

According to the annual Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) study, companies have the following customer-related objectives in this order: 

1. Increase the acquisition of new customers.
2. Increase the purchase volume of existing customers.
3. Increase the purchase of related products and services.
4. Increase customer retention.

Consumers expect high-quality products, excellent service, a trusting relationship, and low prices from companies (6).

14. Growth Strategies

The four types of growth strategies a company can pursue are: Market Penetration, Product Development, Market Development, and Diversification.

• The most commonly used strategy is market penetration, which consists of serving existing markets with the company’s existing products.
• On the other hand, product development means serving existing markets but with new products from the company.
• Market development involves serving new markets with the company’s existing products.
• Finally, diversification entails serving new markets with new products. This is the riskiest strategy, but if successful, it can be the most rewarding (6).

Effectively integrating marketing and sales is essential for small and medium-sized enterprises aiming to generate value at every stage of the customer journey. By applying the 14 key points discussed in this blog, directors and coordinators can align their strategies, optimize the consumer experience, and measure success through key performance indicators (KPIs).

Adopting a comprehensive approach not only improves customer relationships but also drives growth and competitiveness in an ever-changing market. 

Thank you for your attention to this blog post: "Introduction to Integrated Marketing and Sales (Part 2)." If you are interested in more resources on branding, marketing, and sales, remember that at Marketing and Sales, we offer courses and content designed to help you develop your skills.

We also offer a mini-course on Branding, Personal Branding, and Branding on LinkedIn.

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I’ll close by reminding you that at Marketing and Sales, we always strive to create value.

Thank you for joining us, and see you next time!

References:

1. The Definitive Source for Marketing Terms and Definitions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://marketing-dictionary.org/ 

2. Keller, K. L. (2009). Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment. Journal of Marketing Communications, 15(2–3), 139–155. 

3. Ole, P. (2016). United we stand, divided we fall. Marketing News, 50(4), 26–27.

4. Day, G. S., & Montgomery, D. B. (1999). Charting new directions for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 63(4), 3–13. 

5. Current marketing trends from the 'State of Marketing' report. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.salesforce.com/hub/marketing/state-of-marketing-report/

6. Day, G. S. (2011). Closing the marketing capabilities gap. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 183–195. 

7. The CMO Survey. (2019, February). Retrieved from https://cmosurvey.org/results/february-2019/