blurred lines: where does marketing end and sales begin?

www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW

Blurred Lines: Where does marketing end and sales begin?

Atri Chatterjee Chief Marketing Officer Act-On Software

www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW

Great Success Stories

• Brands developed over decades around compelling products

• Franchises built using traditional techniques

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Sales takes down deals

Traditional Marketing and Sales

Marketing provides air cover

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But the Buyers Journey has Changed…

• Buyers are doing more research

before they call you

– 78% start the buying process with a web

search

– 50% turn to social media and peer

reviews

Source: DemandGen Report

1. Understand & build your strategy around this journey

2. Optimize your lead-to-revenue at each stage

3. Use buyer behavior to trigger actions

4. Tie marketing and sales closely together

5. Measure and improve

www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW

Reaching Today’s Buyer Requires a New Approach

Awareness Consideration Preference Purchase Loyalty

• Content

• Advertising

• PR & AR

• Social

• Events

(virtual & physical)

• Content

• Social

• Blog

• PPC

• Email

• Partners

• Trials

• Content

• Email

• Webinars

• Freemium

• Nurturing

programs

• Content for

customers

• Product

Training

• Customer

forums

• References

• Advocacy

• Social

• User groups

• Referrals

• Satisfaction

www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW

Content is Key to Awareness and Consideration

Develop a curriculum and content plan

that matches a buyer’s journey.

Become a trusted advisor by

educating before selling.

Get found by optimizing your content for

search engines.

Use paid advertising to bolster organic

search.

Reinforce content across multiple

channels.

Engagement is Essential in the New Journey

Multiple Channels

• Engagement through multiple

channels

• Follow the buyer’s journey

Continuous Process

• Engagement is a continuous

process

• Nurturing is essential

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Flycast Partners provides IT Service Management consulting and implementation services.

Bill Doucette, Principal

Digital Footprints Show What Buyers Want

“Website visitor tracking shows you what buyers are interested in, by reporting what pages they visit and how much time they spend. If a prospect downloads a product brochure or whitepaper, we see that action and now have context for a conversation”

www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW

Online marketplace for voice talent and buyers

Ben Jackson, Director of Sales & Marketing

“I love drip campaigns. It’s like creating a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ novel; your clients determine what information they want to receive… and we can keep all of our information relevant to the needs of each of our clients at that point in time…”

Drip and Nurture Campaigns Keep Prospects Engaged

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Intelligence

• Use every engagement opportunity to learn more

• Build a profile that combines demographic and behavior information

• Gathering intelligence will save sales time and guide them to choose the right talk track

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Cornerstone is a travel technology company helping creation, execution, and analysis of travel reservations.

Alan Minton, SVP, Sales & Marketing

Integrating Marketing & Sales Shows the Whole Picture

“Cornerstone integrates email marketing, customized landing pages, website visitor tracking, webinar management, and triggered campaigns. Cornerstone has seen a 22% increase in email open rates. The clickthrough rate has jumped from 1.4 to 2.6, an 86% increase. And total sales due to marketing programs are up over 7%...”

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But Winning Customers is Only the Beginning

• Happy customers are inspired

customers!

– It costs 6 – 7 times more to sell to a

new customer than to an existing one1

• 70% of buying experiences are based

on how the customer feels they are

being treated2

• Organizations where marketing and

sales are aligned were 38% better at

winning customers than those that

were not3

Source: 1)Bain & Co.; 2) McKinsey & Co; 3) Marketing Profs research

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And Measuring Your Results is Key…

www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW

Change the Process & See the Results

LEADS OPPORTUNITIES CUSTOMERS ENGAGED CUSTOMERS

ADVOCATE & FAN

Marketing Responsibility Sales Responsibility

Engagement throughout the customer lifecycle

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1. Create a strategy

2. Start the dialogue with team

3. Start simple, but execute often

4. Measure and refine

5. Continue to streamline

processes with tools

Getting Started

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Next Steps

Learn More

Call +1 (877) 530-1555

Email sales@act-on.com

Web www.act-on.com