The More Things Change, the More Sales and Marketing Can’t Stay the Same
Marketing and Sales used to be in the driver’s seat, but now they have to find a way to keep up.
By Erik Wolf, Founder/CEO of estound Marketing
Imagine you’re a marketer. You wake up in 1999, and the world looks filled with possibilities. The Internet has freed you from the limitations of the 30-second spot. Visual twists are replacing clever headlines. And advertising ideas are not just mimicking culture but driving it.
Think Apple. Think Mini. Think Nike.
Phew, that’s a lot of thinking! Go back to sleep.
Wake up in 2018, and you’re trying to keep pace. Social channels didn’t replace old ones. They just added to them, creating a deluge of content and influencer marketing that you have to match to be successful.
It’s exhausting. Let’s go back to sleep.
Then you wake up in 2023 and… What the heck just happened? You're hearing about how ChatGPT is going to take your job and find yourself challenged with the task of marketing to a group of rising adults and professionals who are known for their immunity to your craft.
Then you go to work and find yourself in a meeting with your sales manager who just woke up in a world where in-person sales have quickly become a thing of the past and where the same generation of buyers that are immune to marketing are openly hostile to sales.
How in the world do we make sense of all this?
Earth-shaking changes are so common, they’re kinda dull.
COVID-19 shut down the world in 2020. But while the pandemic seems to have receded, it accelerated a host of changes we expected to take a generation.
Depending on what research you believe, Gen Zers are either more likely to be attached to local brands that share their ethics, or more likely to compare products online and make buying decisions purely on price.
According to a 2022 TrustRadius report, virtually 100% of buyers want a self-serve buying process. Vendor sales reps aren’t even considered a top-five resource anymore!
Many governments are considering regulating the use of personal data. And some companies, like Apple, are changing their standards proactively. (And turning it into an advertising opportunity!)
TikTok swept the world, claiming more than one billion active users. (That’s billion, with a B.) And regardless of how the recent congressional hearings end up, the shift from social graphs to engagement graphs is undeniable.
The Metaverse came and went. And came back. And went. And then, um, what day is it today?
AI-generated images, videos, and copy have made it possible, at least in theory, to flood the Internet with information, misinformation, deepfakes, or your garden variety advertorial.
None of these changes were unpredictable. But all of them in just a couple years? Let’s just say no one in sales and marketing is getting much sleep!
Getting Sales and Marketing in sync with consumers (And each other!)
There is a way to keep pace. It involves something businesses talk a lot about, but rarely seem to have:
Synergy.
I’ve written about internal synergy before on my own site (check out posts like How to Get your CEO to Trust Marketing), and I believe strongly that the concept goes beyond the cliche of “getting everyone to sing from the same page.” But how do you get Sales and Marketing speaking the same language in a world where many customers don’t want to talk at all?
1. Align on goals and budgets
People have long said things like, “Sales and Marketing are just different sides of the same coin.” That’s not exactly true. Sales and Marketing are actually just different parts of the same process. Marketing excels at communication that takes place on a “one to many” scale, where we need the ability to speak to large groups of people at one time. Ultimately though, as people move through the buying process, they often need more personal attention, which is where Sales takes over. Sales excels at communication on a “one-to-one” basis.
And so, if Sales and Marketing are just different cogs in the same machine, shouldn’t they be working off the same primary business objectives? Shouldn’t we fund the machine as a whole based on our expected outcomes? Shouldn’t we measure the ROI for the machine as a whole based on the performance against those objectives? Yes, yes, and HELL YES.
The days of tolerating a “Sales vs. Marketing” mindset have to be over if we are going to be successful, and firms that don’t adapt will almost certainly be left behind.
2. Align on brand standards
Synergy requires a brand big enough to encompass all the conversations you need to create. You can’t waste time wondering if your new Instagram reel matches your call center script. So instead of starting with tactics, start with standards. At a minimum, that means creating a living document that answers these questions:
North Star: What’s our internal mantra, the one thing we all believe in?
Personality: If our brand was a person, how would it dress and speak? (Maybe there’s a celebrity we resemble? Denzel Washington? Wonder Woman? Bugs Bunny?)
Mission: What would the world be lacking if we closed our doors?
Photo standards: Lifestyle or product? Macro details or wide angles? Color or black and white?
Colors: What’s our primary palette? And how do we alter it for online environments?
Messaging matrixes: How do each of our products support our brand purpose?
Until you know these things, marketing, and selling will feel fragmented at best.
3. Think of the buying process as an education process:
There’s an old saying, “Marketing is the Air Force, and Sales is the Army.” In the past, that meant TV spots raised awareness while salespeople battled objections. But today, it’s more complex.
As modern customers research and shop online, marketing and sales have overlapping responsibilities.
So ask the sales team to help you structure a content plan that addresses customers’ concerns in the assessment and shopping phases. Educational videos and blog posts will attract people to your brand. And they will minimize the amount of time a salesperson needs to spend with individual prospects.
More informed customers. Fewer objections. Shorter conversations.
Everybody wins.
4. Create customized paths to purchase:
How well do you know your customers? Update some sort of Persona Worksheet quarterly so you know where they spend their time. What problems do they have. And what messages they need to hear to build a relationship and buy.
Then partner with the sales team to plot customized paths to purchase. Start with a conversion point. And then work backward to brainstorm all the ways potential customers might reach it.
It’s important to do this exercise as a team, so after you’re done, you can decide who’s accountable for each step.
If you think it’s wild for you right now, imagine how your customers must feel.
COVID-19? AI? The Tiktokdataverse? If they’re a whirlwind for you, they’re an absolute hurricane for everyday people. So be empathetic. Start with their perspective. The more you do, the more you’ll see the pace of change not as a threat, but as an opportunity to get Sales and Marketing aligned.
And make sure everyone can get a relaxing night’s sleep.
Erik Wolf is a co-author (and a dedicated practitioner) of the Unified Marketing System™ and the founder/CEO of the award-winning marketing agency estound. Along with his team, Erik helps executives plan and execute strategies to connect with their markets, grow revenue, and create lasting and predictable ROI. For more information, visit https://getunifiedmarketing.com.