Person adding marketing strategy ideas to ideas board.
Marketing and sales go together like bacon and eggs. Well, at least they’re supposed to. Once marketing attracts people, it’s sales’ job to close the deal. But in companies where the two are out of sync, you’ll often see the marketing and sales teams pointing fingers. Both believe that the other’s efforts are not up to par.
Although every business relies on strong partnerships between sales and marketing to be successful, it starts with a good strategy. Otherwise, you will try to increase your income without having a clear idea of direction. Here are four marketing strategies to help your teams work in sync and increase sales.
1. Adapt content to cover more than the awareness stage
The job of traditional marketing is to create buzz. This makes the public aware that a company and its offerings exist. You hope your ads will generate enough interest to get things moving, but that’s about where things stop.
With digital marketing strategies, your content can do so much more to drive sales. And ideally, that should be the case. Today’s audience is not eager to hear a sales pitch in person to help them make a decision. Once they know a product exists, they want to do the detective work themselves.
As part of their investigation, they look for online content to guide them. Such content advances prospects to later stages of the sales funnel, including consideration and evaluation. Once they engage with a seller, they have either made their decision or are on the verge of one. Implementing a robust content marketing strategy with touchpoints for most stages of the buyer’s journey means higher quality leads. With marketing having done most of the persuasion work, sales can focus on the deals most likely to close.
2. Launch a testimonial campaign
Customer testimonials are a great way to leverage the power of online reviews. This strategy is effective because 49% of consumers trust reviews as much as recommendations from people they actually know. Testimonials provide social proof and serve as an extension of the reviews consumers write after their experiences with the brand.
Testimonial campaigns can become another form of content marketing, since you can produce them in multiple formats. Video and written content are the most popular. But you can move beyond written snippets to dedicated landing pages and blogs featuring customer interviews.
You can also group testimonials into categories that highlight common customer problems, demonstrating how your offerings solved them and thus delivered on their promises. Testimonials give audiences an insider’s perspective on real-life brand experiences. Information from current and past customers can convince unsure prospects to take the next step.
3. Promote your brand identity
Why do some people choose a brand over its competitors? And why do they remain loyal despite cheaper alternatives? Brand history and identity are usually among the main reasons. These brand elements speak to them, demonstrating that the company’s identity matches theirs.
Running a branding campaign alongside promotional efforts shows that you are about more than just a sale. Good branding connects audiences and inspires them to use your products and services to support something they believe in. 81% of American consumers are more likely to buy from brands with similar values to their own. Additionally, 82% of American consumers love it when a brand inspires them.
If your marketing isn’t telling your story, you’re missing an opportunity with the vast majority of your target audience. While people buy products and services to solve problems, most crave the icing on the cake. Branding campaigns communicate why you’re in business and show your audience that you understand who they are.
4. Host community outreach events
Hosting online and in-person events demonstrates that businesses are willing to invest in communities. These communities may be purely digital, but interacting with the people who buy – or could buy – from you speaks volumes. You personalize your brand while demonstrating that your interest in your audience goes beyond improving your bottom line.
Your event marketing strategy can include hosting educational webinars and live streams of product demos. You can also show behind-the-scenes views of what employees do to serve local communities. Charity and seasonal events are some examples. You can also think bigger by bringing subject matter experts to industry conferences.
If your audience has a strong interest in supporting local businesses, you can sponsor contests and hybrid events that encourage people to shop nearby. In doing so, you create goodwill while communicating your brand values. Events like these show that you want to connect and support those who share a common goal.
Implement effective marketing strategies
The ultimate goal of most marketing initiatives is to create stable revenue streams. Increasing sales in the short and long term is what you are looking for. To achieve this with today’s consumers, your business needs strategies that aim for more than awareness. Marketing across the entire sales funnel, leveraging testimonials, establishing your brand identity, and keeping communities in mind will get you closer to your goal.
