Smarketing: When Sales and Marketing Collide

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Where sales and marketing meet, “smarketing” is born. Smarketing takes two departments that were traditionally at odds and merges them into a one-plus-one-equals-three recipe for success.

Where sales and marketing meet, “smarketing” is born. Companies use inbound marketing strategies to generate sales leads, so it only makes sense to align the two to create an organized, efficient business strategy. Smarketing takes two departments that were traditionally at odds and merges them into a one-plus-one-equals-three recipe for success. After all, they have the same end goal—to grow business—and though each department uses different mechanisms and tactics, both are vital to increasing the bottom line. When wielded properly, smarketing is a powerful weapon in the hospitality marketplace.

What Can Smarketing Do for You?

As a decision-maker in the hospitality industry, you may wonder why you should give much credence to this integration of two separate functions. Simply put: When sales and marketing start with the same goals, they achieve more than when they work independently. A lot more. This efficiency makes smarketing an effective strategy to drive growth.

Imagine these formerly divided teams speaking the same language, maintaining open communication and relying on the same data. When your salespeople are talking to and following up with the same target audience that marketing is engaging in advertising, social media and other channels, the results are bigger numbers, more deals and a better return on investment, of both sales’ and marketing’s spend and effort.

Smarketing Makes Use of Tech & Social Media

Technology and social media are two of the necessary tools for integrating smarketing. For example, Tambourine is a marketing technology firm in the travel industry that uses advanced marketing technology to help its clients increase revenue. President Rafael Cardoza says the hotel industry must keep pace with the relentless innovation in digital and social media circles.

Tambourine is using Google Glass, the wearable computing technology with Internet and camera capabilities, to develop compelling and engaging content quickly and easily. Employees “turn on” and create content on the go and in real time as they work. The plan is to have photos, videos, reviews and commentary generated and shared across social media including Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and Instagram.

Incorporate Tech Tools Into a Smarketing Plan

Advances in technology have permanently changed the landscape of sales and marketing. Technology has increased the number of marketing channels, and it is driving the need for more and better content and more effective targeting of your clients.

The best managers will be those who incorporate tech tools and solutions into their smarketing plan. InsightSquared, for example, is a software solution that provides sales, marketing, financial and staffing analytics, as well as projections for future opportunities—making it much easier to measure and monitor what is and isn’t working with your smarketing strategy. Tools that collect data like this can also be used to coach sales reps and develop related strategies.

As you consider adopting a this integrated approach in your neck of the hospitality woods, stay on top of upcoming communication tools. Limited marketing budgets coupled with the need for actionable content make this a challenging but necessary business practice.

 


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