Episode 121: Why Marketing is more important than Sales in 2018

Back in the day, in the 90’s, selling used to be boots on the ground, go out, and educate clients and prospects face to face. You would take them lunch or snacks and hope they wanted to sit down with you. Marketing wasn’t involved with demand generation or awareness; their role was more about supporting sales people. And there were lots of sales people, typically men, and very few marketing people, typically women, because salespeople were seen as a way to drive revenue (more field salespeople = more sales) while marketing was an expense. Fast forward to today, and the landscape looks nothing like this.

[0:45] Question: Why is Marketing More Important than Sales in 2018?

Buyers have more control than ever before. With the internet at their fingertips, buyers self-educate and qualify companies long before they ever want to talk to a salesperson. And buyers have access to you and all of your competition with equal ease. Which is why in today’s market, you can add salespeople, take out an ad, etc. but the biggest impact on growth happens when you focus on the customer journey, and that’s where marketing lives.

Marketing creates the content prospects find, the education material they are digesting long before they call you, and marketing shapes the buyer journey from the first touch onward. Marketing should be the part of your organization that understands the customer and the buyer journey better than anyone else.

In the old days, leads came from sales prospecting. Now, cold calling and traditional prospecting is the least effective way to find leads. Marketing should be doing the initial qualification through the buyer journey so that salespeople are talking to prospects who have already done their research, know what they want, and what you can do to help them. Now, sales prospecting should look like networking, working connections with existing customers, and working within your ecosystem.

Marketing aligns the company with what they buyer wants; they’re the voice of the customer. There isn’t anything more important than that!

[10:05] Dan's Rant

Sales spamming is terrible! If you reach out on LinkedIn and immediately pitch the person you’re connecting with, you are spam. Worse, you have now ruined all of your credibility, and the chances of that contact ever doing business with you just went into the garbage. This tactic is just plain stupid and counterproductive.

[17:03] Todd's Truth

“Customer experience is the new marketing.” Brian Solis

Marketing needs to have a seat at the table.

[17:18] 3 Takeaways

1. Where is marketing in your hierarchy? Is marketing an investment or a cost?
2. Ask senior leadership if marketing is driving your strategic direction
3. Develop a plan to understand your buyer persona and journey

Links

• Inbound Organization Assessment (https://www.inboundorganization.com/inbound-organization-assessment)
• Adele Revella - Buyer Personas (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118961501)
• Inbound Organization Audiobook (https://www.audible.com/pd/Inbound-Organization-Audiobook/1469098903)

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