Smarketing is an approach to marketing that combines traditional sales techniques with modern digital marketing to give customers the best of both worlds. It’s based on the idea that an effective marketing and sales strategy should be a two-way street.
The term 'Smarketing' was first coined in 2014, and it is becoming increasingly important for businesses of all sizes. It seeks to bridge the gap between the role of sales and marketing departments, to enable the development of a more unified approach.
Smarketing starts with creating a shared mission between sales and marketing, setting goals and allocating resources. This helps to ensure that a cohesive strategy is in place, and allows both the sales and marketing teams to move in the same direction.
The next step is creating a process to keep everyone informed and on track, ensuring that everyone has relevant information when needed. This could include things like reports and financials, or the results of campaigns and initiatives. This helps to ensure that everyone is working in a coordinated fashion, and it is important for achieving seamless interaction between the two teams.
The most important part of Smarketing is communication. Regular, open channels of communication between team members should be established, allowing for a continuous flow of information, ideas, and opinions. This helps to create a more unified approach, which can lead to increased efficiency and effectiveness.
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Smarketing should also be conducted with an understanding of the customer journey. The sales and marketing teams should be aware of the customer’s journey, from the first contact to the conclusion of the sale or the lifetime relationship. This helps to ensure that both the marketing and sales teams are providing the right information to customers at the right time, and minimise any potential friction points.
When creating campaigns and initiatives, the sales and marketing teams should work together in a coordinated fashion. This enables them to identify gaps in the customer journey, and design campaigns and initiatives to address these. They should be proactive in their approach, rather than reactive.
It's important to measure the performance of Smarketing campaigns and initiatives. This provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of the strategy, and helps to identify potential areas for improvement. This should be done regularly and consistently, to ensure that the Smarketing strategy is performing as well as possible.
Smarketing is an approach to marketing that seeks to bridge the gap between marketing and sales departments. It starts with creating a shared mission and a process to keep everyone informed and on track. Communication and an understanding of the customer journey are essential elements, as is working in a coordinated fashion and measuring performance.