Introduction to Sales & Marketing Digital Systems
If there are two areas of a business that can seriously benefit from digital alignment. It’s in sales and marketing.
A lot of small businesses fail to do this, which means that you could be missing out on crucial knowledge. Including, how marketing efforts are affecting sales, or not following up leads that could convert into big sales.
You’ll also find that all of your insight and data is going unused when it could be the fuel which powers the next stage of your success.
And that’s a massive shame because integrated, well-aligned sales and marketing teams can be the driving force behind big growth.
Hopefully, throughout this digital transformation series, we’ve shown you that there are a lot of advantages and business benefits up for grabs if you do take the time to choose the correct systems.
In sales and marketing, digital transformation means you could get valuable hours of your day back and automate some of the more tedious tasks.
The sheer number of sales and marketing systems on the market means you have lots of choices.
Which is great when you’re deciding what you need but can also make the decision-making process more difficult.
Luckily, Software Buddy can point you in the right direction.
Conducting A Sales and Marketing Audit
The first stage in choosing the right sales and marketing system for your business and using digital transformation to deliver time and money benefits to your sales and marketing activity – is to evaluate what you have, what you need and what you want.
It’s here, that calling in a professional can have real value.
Trying to audit your systems yourself is no small task.
Doing it right requires a lot of data analysis as well as reviewing your processes.
You also need to understand how sales and marketing affect each other, and the best way to bring the two together.
The cost of going it alone is cheaper but, having a digital transformation expert audit your sales and marketing digital systems is a cost saver in the long run.
It means boxes such as GDPR compliance can be ticked and the right system picked
A professional auditor will also be able to fully scope out your sales and marketing activity. By digging deep, they will be able to see where they mesh well or if there are gaps.
Couple this with product knowledge and it’s easy to see how the initial cost can be offset by the value of not making the wrong decision due to limited knowledge or experience.
Going it alone not only means a huge amount of work, but also requires a great deal of insight into the best integration methods for these prized areas of business.
Get it wrong and sales tumble, marketing stagnates and there’s only negatives to show for all that time invested.
Go with a professional and get it right, and you’ll reap the benefits of increased sales, successful, targeted marketing and growth.
Which would you rather have?
Solution-First Thinking and ROI
An issue for many businesses is calculating marketing digital ROI.
Your team feels like they are energetically marketing your products, but you aren’t seeing any return on the money they’re spending.
So, what’s the problem?
The problem is that many businesses find tools to help them market and then fit their marketing around them, and that’s not the most effective way.
Solution-first thinking means really delving deep into what your marketing activity needs to look like to be successful and then finding the right tools to do it.
This means that the marketing drive is already well-defined, and the right solution is there from the start.
Focussing too much on the software and not the solution is likely to leave you with a tool that has no real purpose and that’s a sure-fire way to waste money.
We’re not saying that every business needs to start over with new software and new strategies. But that you need to know what you want to do and you have tools in place to make it happen.
This principle doesn’t just apply to the sales and marketing digital aspect.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking they are entirely separate.
One could easily affect the other, which is where a thorough audit is crucial.
Integration Is Invaluable
To be able to see the impact of your marketing activities you will need your sales and marketing digital systems to link together. If you don’t have integrated systems, your competitive advantage in business may be compromised.
An integrated system allows you to see a clear correlation between your input,- marketing spend and your output – customer orders.
You can see in very real terms what is working and what isn’t. So that you can cut the failing campaigns and invest in the money makers.
It’s this kind of agility that makes small businesses more competitive and your life much easier and less stressful.
GDPR Plan of Action
In order to use all that awesome data from your marketing and sales efforts, you need to have a robust GDPR plan in place. So you will need to take GDPR into consideration when deciding on your new digital system.
Without it, you’ll not only be breaking the law but could also see a very heavy fine levied against your business.
You may need to bring in outside expertise to ensure all of your business systems are fully aligned and compliant with GDPR.
It’s also well worth looking at how your shortlisted sales and marketing tools can handle some of this burden before you invest.
Remember, an integrated system is far easier to secure and monitor than several independent systems working side-by-side.