We all know of the battle between sales and marketing. Sales typically complains that marketing isn’t generating enough quality leads, and marketing complains that sales isn’t working to close their leads.

And while both of these departments are strong enough to be dangerous individually, think about how powerful they could be if they worked together! If implemented properly, digital marketing can not only help produce more qualified leads for your sales team to close, but can also help move leads through the buying process.

Check out these four things digital marketing does to help your sales team close deals faster, and learn how you can your sales and marketing teams to work in sync.

1. It Introduces Prospects to the Brand

Imagine a world where your sales team doesn’t have to make 100’s of cold calls a day. Rather they could spend their time on the phone talking to qualified leads who are already on the path to buy. Digital marketing tactics make this possible.

Rather than sending your sales team on a wild goose chase to find businesses or individuals who could become viable buyers, digital marketing utilizes SEO and SEM tactics to bring the right businesses and individuals to you.

And SEO leads have a 14.6 percent close rate as opposed to outbound leads with a 1.7 percent close rate (Search Engine Journal). It’s hardly comparable; SEO just makes good sense!

Say ‘hasta la vista’ to a million cold calls!

2. It Informs the Prospect Prior to Initial Contact

Did you know 61 percent of global internet users research products online before buying (Interconnected World: Shopping and Personal Finance, 2012)? And did you know 60 percent of all organic clicks go to the top three organic search results (Business2Community)?

Further, did you know businesses with websites holding 401-1,000 pages get six times more leads than those with 51-100 pages (HubSpot Lead Generation Lessons from 4,000 Businesses, 2011)?

Why am I telling you all these stats, you ask? Well, what these numbers tell us is that people are doing their research. They’re going online and looking for information themselves before deciding whether or not they might be interested in buying.

Digital marketing allows businesses to generate content, such as blogs or free offers (workbooks, whitepapers), to host on their website to not only help their organic search rankings, but to also provide prospects with the information they are seeking before the first contact with a sales person.

So by the time this prospect reaches your sales team or your sales team reaches out to them, they are already informed about your industry, your product and your business, making them a more qualified lead. This eliminates the need for your sales team to inform the prospect of all this information themselves, thus shortening your sales cycle and using your sales team’s time more efficiently.

3. It Nurtures Leads to the Point of Close

Depending on what you’re selling, your sales cycle could be one day or it could be one year. And if your sales cycle leans on the longer side, that’s a lot of calls your sales team is going to need to make to leads to touch base on their status if they weren’t ready to close at first touch.

Well, by implementing lead nurturing and automation digital marketing campaigns, your sales team can kiss goodbye the days of having to consistently call cold leads to see if they’re ready to buy.

Lead nurturing allows you to take cold leads that were not ready to convert and place them in an automated workflow that will run for a scheduled period of time. This workflow will “nurture” the lead to the point of sale by providing them with the information they need to make an informed decision, traditionally via email.

For instance, begin by sending the lead top of the funnel content such as blogs, guides and checklists to provide them with additional information about the industry/product. If they bite (click through the email to view the content), send them more detailed, middle of the funnel information such as case studies, free samples, FAQ sheets, or brochures. If they once again click through, send them bottom of the funnel content such as free trials or demos, estimates, coupons, or consultation offers.

Remember, each of these workflow emails should be spaced out as to not overwhelm the lead or make your brand come off as too sales pushy. And if a lead doesn’t click to move through to the next funnel of the workflow, continue to send them content and offers for the stage they are in. If several rounds pass without conversion, let that lead rest and have a sales member touch base with it at a future date.

4. It Maintains the Relationship for Future Sales

The great thing about digital marketing is that it doesn’t only work to produce and nurture leads. It also maintains the relationships for future sales, taking the pressure off your sales team to continue a relationship.

While it’s always great for your sales team to touch base with their past customers regularly, your digital marketing team can assist them in doing so by automatically keeping past customers up to date on your brand’s news and offers.

After buying, give your customers the option to enter your email marketing campaigns and send them new content offers, newsletter or coupons to keep your brand top of mind. This will increase the likelihood of them becoming a repeat buyer.
 

Get Your Sales and Marketing in Sync!

Ready to get your sales and marketing teams working in sync to better your business, but unsure of how or where to start? Sync Web Designs can help!

Our team of skilled digital marketers can assist you in putting an SEO/SEM strategy into place that will attract new qualified visitors to your website, convert a higher quality of leads, nurture those leads through the buying cycle, and help your sales team close more leads to customers.

Get more information on Sync’s digital marketing services by calling 704-545-2868 to speak to an account representative or visit Sync Web Designs’ website to get started!