Smarketing: Creating Structure Between Marketing and Sales

Sales cannot exist without marketing, and marketing cannot exist without sales. Both disciplines are part of the sales process and are crucial for generating revenue and profit in a sustainable way. Some companies rely more on sales, while others—such as Coolblue and Tony’s Chocolonely—are more dependent on marketing. In the B2B sector, companies have traditionally relied more on sales.

To get both departments to work together, you need structure and coordination to provide (potential) customers with the best experience, which will ultimately win them over.

‍

A common situation

For me, the most common pattern I see in companies that lack a clear structure between sales and marketing is this: they start working on marketing when sales are slow, but don’t have time for marketing when sales are busy.

Without sales, you have no reason to exist, but it’s such a shame when you’re just starting to build something through marketing, only to have it stop right away as soon as things get busy. This way, your business ends up running in place. Marketing only really pays off when you stick with it for a while.

‍

What is structure?

For me, the relationship between marketing and sales lies in:

• Aligning sales objectives with marketing objectives.
• Regularly bringing back a message or theme that resonates with your customer.
• Effectively tracking marketing campaigns.
• Plan your workweek so that you have time for marketing.

By aligning objectives, strategy, and actions, you create structure in the work of sales and marketing, resulting in "smarketing."

‍

How do you put it together?

I worked in marketing for years myself and always found it strange that the sales team couldn’t find the time to write any content or follow up on leads. There are 40 hours in a week, and surely some of that time can be set aside for marketing activities. Now that I work on the sales side, I’ve noticed that you get swept up in the day-to-day, and marketing falls by the wayside if you don’t plan for it.

Still, it is possible to build in structure by taking a very focused approach and ensuring that your activities are coordinated. That means you need to block off time in your calendar, just as you would for a client meeting. Be sure to turn off your email and other communication channels so you won’t be interrupted. After all, that’s what you do when you’re meeting with a client, right?😉

In addition to the calendar where you plan your activities, you can add goals in the CRM. How many new leads do you need each month to meet your sales goal? How many appointments do you need to schedule? There are a number of other KPIs as well. By defining these in advance and bringing them up in meetings, you force yourself to stay actively engaged with them.

‍

How can we help you with that?

In addition to the tips and tricks I use myself in my work, we can help you as a marketing agency. We can set up campaigns tailored to your goals and strategy so that you regularly capture your target audience’s attention. Each month, we’ll review the results and coordinate the work for the following month. In addition, you’ll receive proactive guidance from me or another TMC team member, and I’ll occasionally give you a figurative kick in the pants when I need input from you to move forward.

‍

What are the benefits of smarketing?

Don’t go back and forth with your business when it comes to marketing! It would be fantastic if you could immediately generate 20 leads in the first few months and turn 10 of them into contracts. Unfortunately, marketing (and this approach) takes a little time. But in the medium term (3 to 6 months), you’ll start getting regular leads that you can convert into customers, you’ll have much greater visibility among your target audience, and your customers will reach out to you to see if you can help them with a specific problem. Sounds good, right?  

‍