Sales and marketing may be two sides of the same coin, but they’re often pitted against each other for how much value each is bringing to the table. If the former is your revenue generator, the latter is your investment portfolio. Sure, both are technically earning you profit, but investments take longer to produce a measurable ROI, which means Sales can often be looked at more favorably because of faster results. And considering where the economy is right now, if your company’s looking for ways to preen any “unnecessary expenses,” they’re probably eyeing your marketing budget for a few snips.
The solution? You need to justify why those click-through rates are just as important as closed deals to your sales-minded C-Suite.
When it comes to your content
Sending out content is a big part of driving more in-bound leads, but much of it relies on a long-term nurturing strategy. Customers aren’t always ready to buy—especially now—so you need to keep your brand on their radar for when that changes. As mentioned, your marketing emails, blog posts, and social media campaigns may not generate immediate responses and closed deals, but they are prompting people to open your material, click links to your website, and share content that they find relevant. If you don’t have a way to measure those opens, clicks, visits, and other engagements, you won’t be able to report back how your brand visibility has improved, much less justify the direction you need that content to take.
When it comes to your website
Website traffic is also vital to the growth of your sales pipeline. Your user journey must be laid out clearly for potential leads to learn about who you are and what you offer, while strategically prompting them to purchase your products and services. Without this structure, or the capability to record website activity, you won’t be able to learn which pages are pulling the most views, what services are getting the most interest, and where your buying options are or aren’t effective at pushing leads over to your sales team.
When it comes to your data’s accuracy
Ultimately, your content and website offerings won’t make much sense if the data you’re recording isn’t accurate. While there are many products out there that claim to be, you could actually end up spending more money and time pursuing ineffective standalone systems than you would by contracting with a digital marketing team.
