99. The Sales and Marketing Connection

On this episode of The High-Performance Marketing Podcast, Ali breaks down the misconception that marketing is an unaffordable luxury. She'll explore the critical connection between sales and marketing, and share practical tips on how to leverage marketing investments to drive revenue. 

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to The High Performance Marketing Podcast, a show for business owners who want to create meaningful customer connections, using simple marketing and quality content. I’m your marketing guide, Ali Garbero. 

Earlier this month I was speaking to a potential client. She runs a growing medical practice and like many business owners - she does much of her own marketing. When I asked about why she was reaching out my way now, she shared that she wanted to create a consistent flow of incoming patients and was aware that she needed support to grow the business but she felt hesitant about investing in marketing.

During our conversation, she said: “I've always thought that marketing is too expensive for a smaller business like mine. I really can't afford to throw money into something that might not bring immediate results." Hey and I get it, when you’re running a business, every dollar matters. 

And this concern is one that many business owners share – the fear of spending money on marketing without a clear understanding of how it impacts their revenue.

On today’s episode of the podcast I’m breaking down the misconception that marketing is an unaffordable luxury and show you how it’s actually the secret sauce for business growth.

To tie up my conversation with this medical practice owner - I invited her to think about marketing from a different perspective. I asked her to visualize marketing like yeast to dough. Without yeast, the dough won't rise, no matter how perfect the other ingredients are. 

I know that’s kind of a cheesy or overly simple way to see it, but it applies the same way to your business. You may have the best product or service but without effective marketing, your business won't grow.

By the end of our conversation, this potential client I was on zoom with began to see the potential. We discussed budget-friendly marketing tactics that she could start zoning in on, and I emphasized the importance of tracking her results so she could begin to see a true picture of her return on investment.

Ok, so the question you want answered is: How does marketing really tie back to more customers, more revenue, and more growth? How does marketing make me more money than I spend on it?

To keep things simple, I’m going to share three ways it does.

First, let’s talk about Brand Awareness. A fancy marketing term that means when people recognize and remember your business/brand, they trust you more and are more likely to buy from you than from you competitors. 

Simply put, brand awareness is about creating emotional connections with your customers so you have an influence on their buying decisions, preferences, and willingness to work with your company. 

Strong brand awareness helps drive future sales by making sure that customers know about your services before they even arrive at your website.

However, there's no single way to build brand awareness. Your marketing needs to consider your target audience and the best channels to reach them. Where do your people hang out?

For example, using Tik Tok might boost brand awareness, but if your target audience is on LinkedIn this might not be effective and could even seem inappropriate and vice versa right? 

Of course, It's important to mention that while increasing brand awareness can boost sales, getting people to hire your business is another challenge. Because Ultimately, it's the quality of your services and other aspects of your business that build your brand's reputation. All that to say that Your brand awareness campaigns should always support, not distract from, providing value to your customers.

And can I just give you one terrible example? The other day I was watching a reel. It was for a real estate agent. She implied how tiring it was showing so many homes. She attempt to make this problem, which is a common one for real estate agents funny, that this process is so tiring and tried to course correct by saying - that well, no matter how many homes she has to show you, she will be there for you. Help me understand what value that provides for her buyers and sellers? Of course you will show me as many homes as I want to see. From the customer perspective I wouldn’t expect anything else. You’re my agent after all! So in your efforts to increase brand awareness, please start and end with making it about giving value to your customers, first and always. Instead of using insider humor that only her fellow real estate agents would find funny.

Now, off my tangent, What marketing activities actually build brand awareness? Things like content marketing, social media marketing, SEO, email marketing, and paid advertising. Simply put, great brand awareness marketing makes it so more people know you, trust you, and buy from you. Cha-ching!

Next let’s talk about Strengthening your Market Position. 

What is Market Positioning?

Market positioning is about shaping how consumers see your brand or product and services compared to competitors. The goal is to create a specific image or identity for your brand in the minds of consumers.

For example:

• A Louis Vutton handbag positions itself as a luxury status symbol.

• A fast-food restaurant might position itself as the provider of cheap meals.

• UPS and FedEx position themselves as leaders in delivery compared to the US post office.

Marketing helps your clients see the value or lack thereof in your service. It does so in a few ways. 

1. By Highlighting specific features or benefits of your product.

2. Emphasizing competitive pricing.

3. Focusing on high quality.

4. Showing how your service is better than your competitors'. And this one is kind of overlooked by business owners. You might think well I sell insurance - every insurance agent sells insurance the same way. But that’s not true. You would be assuming “all agents do.” And only you know the true difference between one agent or company over another but if you aren’t communicating that - it’s a missed opportunity.

What marketing activities help with market positioning? Brand messaging or as I refer to it foundational messaging is your hands down winner! Foundational messaging highlights your unique value differentiator and can include slogans, taglines, and key marketing messages. Foundational messaging is so important because it helps you keep your position in the marketplace as the number one solution to solving X problem for your clients. 

And incase you’re thinking, Market positioning oh c’mon Ali - this is fluff.

Well let’s consider one of the greatest examples of a company that has kept its market position among drinks, and that’s cola giant Coca-Cola. Since starting in 1886, Coca-Cola has used consistent marketing to remain a top brand in the beverage industry. They’re known for their memorable ads, catchy slogans, and being everywhere you look. Coca-Cola’s famous logo and constant presence have made it a strong brand that’s hard for competitors to beat. Their ongoing dedication to consistent marketing has helped them remain a leader in the market for over a century.

See, here’s an interesting fact you probably already know. Most of us can’t name more than two or three cola companies. We don’t remember hundreds of auto insurance companies, chiropractors, lawyers, real estate agents, cybersecurity businesses. Like right now, name five laundry detergent brands? Ok what about roofing companies, or mental health counselors?

Coca cola has created such a wide gap and dominated their position in the marketplace and made it very hard for any other brand to lead that space. That’s how great marketing helps you.

You might be thinking, well I’m no coca cola. You’re right, you might not be competing for the attention of billions of people - maybe it’s just your city or state, even if you work nationwide - you’re competing for the attention of dozen, hundreds or maybe thousands of people. And marketing’s job is to help you stay number 1 in the mind of your ideal client when it comes to solving for problem X.

Third, the customer journey. Way too many companies are unsure about HOW customers and clients actually happen. When you don’t understand the buying journey, or what actually gets clients through your door, or what gets them to hit the buy now button on your website - how can you create effective marketing solutions or strategies?

The job of marketing is to determine or outline the customer journey and the factors that influence purchasing decisions. This way your company can target its marketing efforts and resources wisely - on the thing that gets more people to work with you. 

When you have a clear understanding of how to attract and keep customers, companies find it easier to measure the success of their campaigns or make data-driven decisions for future growth. When your company tracks Marketing and uses data you do more of what’s working to make you money and less of what’s not. 

The Role of Marketing in Sales Success

I can’t tell you how many times, when times are tough, owners look to cut marketing first. Or they want to grow but are afraid to invest in marketing. Marketing and sales are companions. You can’t have one without the other.

Marketing lays the groundwork for the success of your sales effort, by generating consistent Leads. Those people who are ready to work with you right now. And for those who aren’t ready to work with you just yet, marketing nurtures those people until they are. Nurturing your leads nurtures the relationship. And you’re there when your customers need you.

And the best part is, once you’ve closed business with a client, Post-sale marketing continues to build relationships and encourages repeat business.

But I can’t overemphasize that to fully leverage the sales and marketing connection, you have to align you marketing efforts with the goals of your business, so they both work together toward the common goal.  How do you do that? Define your goals, build a marketing plan, stay consistent with your messaging and regularly monitor and adjust marketing performance against business initiatives.

Marketing is more than an expense, it’s the best investment you can make for  the growth and sustainability of your business. Just like yeast makes the dough rise gradually, effective marketing strategies boost your revenue over time are the rocket ship that grows revenue.

Until next time, I’m cheering you on!

Thanks for joining me today. If you’d like to stop throwing spaghetti at the wall and create a marketing strategy that increases sales, schedule a call with me at writebrandmarketing.com

I’m Ali Garbero, copywriting is what I do, content marketing is what I create, and more customers is what you get.