Define your own Smarketing strategy
To optimize your company's revenue, you can, among other things, align your marketing and sales teams. However, a successful Smarketing strategy doesn't happen overnight. To achieve it, you must, among other things, define and implement an effective strategy. How? That's what we'll explore in this article.
You've probably heard of Smarketing , the practice of having your sales and marketing teams collaborate. This technique is gaining momentum, having already helped several companies reach new heights. It will create synergy between your sales and marketing teams , streamlining the customer journey and, of course, boosting your revenue. However, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to making an Smarketing strategy profitable. Instead, you need to focus on an approach tailored to your B2B and target audience. Let's examine the key points to consider when defining your own strategy.
Steps to an effective marketing strategy
To define your own strategy, you need to follow these steps. They will allow your teams to be more easily aligned and therefore more effective.
Step 1: Define your buyer persona for a Smarketing strategy
What's the best way to make your next product or service profitable? One key criterion is that your sales and marketing teams must be on the same page. To achieve this, these two departments must first agree on the ideal customer: the buyer persona.
In practical terms, this is the profile for whom your offer is designed, the one who will feel that what you're offering is specifically tailored to them. In inbound marketing , you must target a particular category of prospects. It will be up to you to define this category so that the company doesn't spread itself too thin.
Defining your buyer persona will allow you to orient your entire strategy around it. Without it, your two departments may have conflicting views of the ideal buyer, which will skew the information you have. Indeed, if you don't define this persona, each department will have different criteria for defining it. It will be up to you to identify and value the perfect customer.
The best approach for this would be to conduct joint training. This training will aim to clarify the key data points for both departments. This will ensure they share the same understanding and, more importantly, a common vision. Once both your sales and marketing teams have grasped this, you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Set SMART goals
A Smarketing strategy isn't simply a combination of "sales" and "marketing." It also incorporates another word: SMART. To reap the benefits of this strategy, you must set SMART goals, which are:
*Specific: They should not fall into the trap of generalization. Your goals must be precise.
*Measurable: Numerical data will be needed to measure the effectiveness of the action plans
*Achievable: Overly ambitious goals will lower the motivation of your employees.
*Realistic: Don't ask the impossible of your services
*Temporary: Set a deadline for all your objectives in order to have an overview afterwards.
Once that is done, you can start implementing your action plans based on those criteria.
The performance indicators, which are now almost identical, can be used more effectively because there will be a better understanding between your two departments.
Step 3: Develop a contract of trust
You now have an ideal client and clearly defined objectives. To ensure their smooth execution, you'll need to maintain effective communication between your sales and marketing teams. Both must work closely together and agree upon a contract of trust. Also known as an SLA, or Service Level Agreement, this agreement will clearly define everyone's roles and expectations.
With an SLA, adopting a relevant lead scoring policy will help you define your own marketing strategy. Specifically, the two departments will determine the number of leads to be given to the sales team. The sales team will also have a results-oriented obligation and must convert a certain number of leads .
The information regarding each team's responsibilities will then be included in the trust agreement. This way, your teams will no longer blame each other, since each team will know what the others need to do to achieve their objectives.
Step 4: Rely on automated tools
A Smarketing strategy isn't just about two complementary departments joining forces. It's also an opportunity to streamline your workflows. To achieve this, you need to invest in software. Your CRM should contain information that everyone can understand. You can also use marketing automation tools to schedule and streamline repetitive tasks.
With these tools, you'll be able to make better use of the results you have available. This will save you a significant amount of time. Aided by this quantifiable data, your efficiency rate will also increase. Indeed, it's good that both sides are on the same page and communicate with each other, but it's even better to have tools to facilitate decision-making.
By automating your processes, you'll reap benefits that extend beyond sales and marketing, particularly in lead conversion . Departments like customer service and back office could also significantly leverage the KPIs you monitor. Ultimately, this will help the entire company grow and boost revenue.
Step 5: Make the Most of Feedback
Finally, an effective Smarketing strategy is refined through feedback, so don't hesitate to use it. On the contrary, you should make the most of it. This will allow the entire company to benefit, since communication is essential throughout the entire buying cycle. It helps analyze results. As a result, KPIs can be managed more easily and transparently.
You should then establish regular meetings between your marketing and sales departments. These meetings provide visibility into the objectives that have been achieved, as well as the performance indicators that need improvement. The more briefings you conduct, the better you will be able to adapt your strategy to events.
For example, you could schedule meetings at the beginning of the month to confirm each party's expectations. Two weeks later, you'll already have an idea of the KPI gaps and what each department can do. Finally, at the end of the month, both departments can discuss all the data in a monthly review. This is just one example; you need to determine the pace that best suits your own strategy. Weekly meetings of a few minutes or periodic check-ins—it's up to you. The key is transparency, which is the guarantee of effective results.
Mistakes to avoid
Now that the various steps involved have been explained, we also need to discuss the mistakes to avoid. For an effective marketing , pay attention to the factors that impact your employees' motivation.
Disregarding individual personalities
Your regular briefings should be an opportunity to review what's working well, but also to identify areas for improvement, even in terms of relationships. However, these meetings must be a way to establish open and supportive communication. This means that each team must have the analytical skills to learn from their own mistakes and those of others. Therefore, everyone should be able to accept criticism from their peers.
Avoid any form of one-way communication that could worsen the situation. Since the two departments are two sides of the same coin, they carry relatively equal weight. Managing egos is essential, as it's not easy to get two departments that were previously rivals to work together. Remember that a company is made up of many individuals with their own histories and personalities. To thrive, you must take all these factors into account.
Pay attention to the salary
Given that a Smarketing strategy aims for transparency, the question of compensation naturally arises. Indeed, sales teams are often better paid than marketers, and this is a common point of contention between the two. This disparity risks diminishing motivation, particularly within the marketing team , who may feel shortchanged.
You have several options, such as roughly aligning their salaries or offering more attractive bonuses. The key is to make everyone understand that their role is equally important, regardless of their department.
Some practical tips to perfect your Smarketing strategy
You now know pretty much everything about the right and wrong ways to define your strategy. These few tips will surely help you refine your approach to Smarketing strategy.
Showcase your offers
To streamline your customers' buying journey, learn how to highlight the value of your offers. Then, leverage the information you gather throughout the process to identify potential markets. Do your CRM and other tools provide insights into your leads' buying habits? You can use this information to upsell, upgrade, and further enhance their experience.
Do some team building
Focus on harmony between your sales and marketing departments for a successful Smarketing strategy. To achieve this, dare to think outside the box and move beyond endless meetings. Why not opt for team-building sessions based on games, networking, and relaxation? By spending time together away from the work environment, your employees will feel refreshed and more inspired. This will benefit both them and the company.
An marketing relies primarily on communication. This will allow you to formally identify your buyer persona and their expectations in order to optimize your revenue. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) and ongoing dialogue will be useful for better understanding obligations and the KPIs to monitor. Finally, make extensive use of feedback to adapt to the situation. To help you develop an optimal strategy tailored to your specific needs, you can use dedicated tools like Magileads .
