The role of Sales and Marketing in B2B sales has changed drastically over the past 10 – 15 years. It used to be Sales had 70% of the responsibility to educate, follow up, nurture a lead and make a sale. Now? It's 75% Marketing. So what's Marketing up to?
- Creating Awareness – Content. Content. Content. Campaigns, advertising, social media posts, thought leadership, top-of-mind awareness
- Building Interest, Consideration, and Intent – Presenting product info, case studies, webinars, blogs
- Assisting with Evaluation and Purchase – Creating buyers' guides, more targeted case studies, detailed pricing information
In the past, Marketing was more focused on exciting creative development and cost focus with traditional media (newspaper/magazine, radio, billboard ads, mailers). With the evolution of technology, the transformation of marketing is more revenue- and growth-focused.
It's the natural reaction to the fact that consumers have adopted the internet as a major part of the buying process. 70% of consumers start this process through social media, ads, and websites before they ever reach out to a salesperson.
This doesn't mean there's less to do for Sales. In fact, the key is redirecting your Marketing and Sales departments in response to developing buyer behaviours. Marketing may do a lot more work in attracting your leads, but the pressure's on sales to take those sales-qualified leads and nurturing them through to the final sale with a more personalized, data-driven, and helpful approach.
We've got more information on the sales side of the equation here. For now, let's talk Marketing Enablement.
What is Marketing Enablement?
Marketing Enablement is about changing organizations to provide their marketing teams with processes and technology to increase their overall effectiveness and efficiency.
What Are the Advantages of Marketing Enablement?
- Marketers empowered to focus on high-value activities like creating original content to support sales
- Easier content management
- Marketing strategy that aligns with an organization's business goals and objectives
- Stronger proof of ROI on marketing
- Clarity of the sales funnel
- Lead management (Marketing-Qualified Leads vs Sales-Qualified Leads)
- More sophisticated lead targeting
- More customer-centric approach (targeted, relevant, personalized)
- More growth
How to Get Started With Marketing Enablement?
- Assess your marketing department's functions, roles and skills/competencies
- Build training assets, identify gaps in your marketing department
- Execute a holistic training program, not a piecemeal approach. This is a long-term commitment to your marketing department to continuously improve, refine and grow your strategy.
With the role and responsibilities of marketing changing drastically, B2B companies can't afford to wait to develop and deliver consistent skills training in Marketing Enablement. In this new world of consumer behaviour, it's truly a necessity for any B2B looking to compete.
Want to reap the benefits of Marketing Enablement? Flawless Inbound is a growth partner with a team of experts in marketing enablement waiting to help you unlock your growth potential. Read more about our Marketing Enablement playbook right here.