Sales and marketing can achieve better alignment with marketing automation

Marketing automation and sales teams need to work together to generate revenue for the organization, but there is often a disconnect between the two groups that inhibits efficiency. B2B companies can improve productivity and collaboration with an online marketing system.

In many cases, the sales and marketing teams do not communicate regularly, and each group has their own set of data and separate metrics for analyzing this information. When this happens, marketers don’t know if they are generating the right kind of leads, and sales professionals can spend a great deal of time following up with prospects who aren’t interested.

For B2B firms, inbound marketing tactics, such as search engine optimization, social media marketing and pay-per-click advertising cost less per lead than traditional lead generation techniques like cold-calling, trade shows or print advertisements, according to an article in Business 2 Community. While these Internet lead generation techniques are highly effective, the marketing and sales teams need to be aligned for the organization to capture the best results and return on investment.

Marketing automation boosts collaboration

Many B2B professionals are aware that marketing automation tools can eliminate repetitive campaign tasks, such as sending out email responses, answering requests for further information and qualifying leads. But many of these platforms also offer analytics solutions so companies can measure what’s working and what isn’t. In addition to monitoring campaign performance, these tools can help the sales and marketing teams work with the same metrics rather than rely on their data.

The nature of marketing has changed to become more data-driven than ever before. Marketers have access to large amounts of data about prospects and customers, but they need to measure effectiveness. Many companies cannot measure the quantitative impact of their marketing efforts, Marketing Daily stated. To create effective marketing campaigns, the marketing team needs to define buyer personas and then establish content for each persona. While this may sound complicated, marketing automation platforms allow marketers to collect and sort information. These platforms make it easy for companies to send out different messages tailored to specific buyer personas.

Aligning sales and marketing ties campaigns to measurable outcomes. Lead generation should be based on established metrics so marketers ensure they are attracting quality prospects. The sales team’s revenue can be linked to the number of inbound leads to hold both teams accountable.