Both digital sales and marketing are career paths that are constantly changing, both in what they require from the employee and what businesses require from them. As both departments move increasingly online, their goals are increasingly aligning and it makes sense to combine teams for a more single-minded approach. While the marketing team focuses on creating relationships with an audience, sales can ensure that this audience becomes new customers. Here are a few ways that this combination can be a sure success for any business.

1. Consistency Across Platforms

When a business is posting across social media accounts and from various departments, its online presence can become inconsistent and confusing. To create a social media strategy that really attracts an audience and gets them engaged, sales and marketing teams should have a joint approach when posting. In return, social media will provide both teams with valuable information about what potential customers are looking for and what they like about the business’s current social media presence. This information can inform everything from ad campaigns to a single sales call. 

2. Concentration of Data

When you combine two data-driven departments like sales and marketing, the result is a powerful concentration of data. Sharing valuable data could end up revealing important information to both teams that they might have otherwise overlooked. With twice the manpower, it’s also possible to do a lot more research into what customers want and need. Both teams can take away their own individual lessons from what they learn, but the joint approach to research will give them a leg up on the competition.

3. Three Levels of Alignment

In order for your sales and marketing teams to be truly aligned for success, there are three levels of functionality they need to achieve together. The first level is about becoming a cohesive team. When you have two separate departments that are accustomed to working separately, it might not be an immediate process for them to begin working together. Achieving this cohesiveness might be a matter of team-building exercises or a training seminar, but the end result should be one big team, not two small ones.

Your second priority should be creating a process that works for both teams. It’s guaranteed that sales will have their way of carrying out a project, while marketing will have its own. Rather than forcing one team to become the other, a third process should be created and perfected to work for both. And the final step is ensuring that there is a constant stream of communication within the team. The goal should be for sales and marketing to constantly be improving and assisting one another, and for that to happen you need a productive feedback loop. 

4. Communicate the “Why”

When you initially decide to combine your sales and marketing teams, you might not have a clear idea of what it is you want them to achieve together. Before gathering both teams together and letting them know what your idea is, it’s a good idea to get clear on your goals for them. Do both teams have blind spots that could be solved by this merger? Or do you have a specific campaign in mind that you’ll have them carry out? 

Once you have this figured out, you can set a meeting and communicate your idea to the two teams. Be prepared to answer a lot of questions, and prioritize setting their minds at ease. Change can be scary and concerning, so it’s important that both teams understand that the benefits of this merger will far outweigh any annoyances or hitches along the way.

It’s also important to take your sales and marketing staff’s expertise into consideration. They may have completely different ideas of what your company’s sales funnel looks like, so it’s important to get everyone on the same page before moving forward. While making big changes within a business can be tough, combining sales and digital marketing will yield fantastic results in no time.