We have talked a lot in recent posts about how marketing and sales should not be viewed as separate functions but as two sides of the same coin. Marketing should be used to identify names to put into the sales pipeline, marketing campaigns put in place in order to qualify those names and to generate them into actionable leads for the sales team to follow up. This is what we call integrated sales and marketing. By taking this approach, companies only focus on marketing programmes that generate measureable results – names and leads. This is the first in a 2-part series, so look out for the second part coming soon.
Before we get into the detail, I want to clarify something. A name is not the same as a lead! The former is someone who may potentially be interested in your product or service. The latter is someone who has purchasing authority and an immediate need to acquire from you or your competitor. Make sure before you start any integrated sales and marketing programme, that you define when a lead becomes a lead, so everyone is working to the same goal.
So how do you go about generating names to put in your database? There are four main ways that we set out in our integrated sales and marketing model:
- Face to face marketing – collecting names at trade shows and other events
- Direct – using outbound marketing tactics and content marketing where the audience register for content
- Digital – using SEO, social media and other online tactics
- Personal direct contact – get on the phone!
We will be talking in more detail about name generation tactics and integrated sales and marketing in our upcoming webinar (October 1st 2014, 3pm BST, 10am EST). Send us an email at business@scottpr.com for more information or to register for the event.
