"What is smarketing?", we hear you cry!
Smarketing has been a term used in the marketing profession for at least three years, but there is an indication that this cool buzzword is exploding.
It's about time we tackled it for you then!
Smarketing refers to:
"Alignment between your sales and marketing teams, created through frequent and direct communication between the two."
Source: HubSpot
Simple enough? Perhaps not.
What is smarketing?
Sales and marketing teams need to work towards the same goal, so that when the likes of you and I (and everybody else) click on Tesco, Argos, Amazon..., and we analyse a product, look at similar products on that website and others', sales and marketing can analyse and effectively respond tot his behaviour.
Every marketing activity that you complete should have a sales goal attached.
"60% of the sales cycle is over before a sales rep even gets involved. Marketing is the voice of sales during that 60%."
Source: HubSpot
Why do we need it?
Sales people used to have all of the power, in that they had all of the information that the consumer just wasn't capable of getting, so they had to, more or less, take the salesperson's word for it.
Today, we have SEO, email marketing, social media, online activities in general - inbound marketing!
So your marketing team needs to know what the sales team's goals are so that they can combine them in those initial activities - before a sales rep is involved.
How do we implement smarketing metrics?
A service level agreement is increasingly becoming a popular method this details the commitments from both teams, how they will be performed and what goals they should achieve.
HubSpot suggests a SLA spreadsheet that focuses on:
- Number of marketing-generated leads (MQLs)
- Number of MQLs that became customers
- Revenue from those closed deals
- Total revenue closed that month/quarter from MQLs
- Total revenue closed that month/quarter
If you want to get started with smarketing activities ASAP, why not jump in with HubSpot's six-step process?
- Have a regular smarketing meeting to align goals
- Agree on an SLA that relates to revenue and quota
- Agree on an SLA about activity
- Measure the entire funnel
- Invest in sales enablement
- Respect the customer life cycle
To discuss the content of this blog or how we can support your business, get in touch with our team today via email hello@thriveability.co.uk or call 0845 838 7517.
