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The pivotal role that marketing now plays to businesses, cannot be underestimated. Aberdeen Group's latest marketing effectiveness report has found that 'best-in-class' marketers can attribute more than 50% of company revenue directly back to their marketing campaigns.
While this statistic alone proves the worth that marketing is directly having on revenue, it raises the issue that even 'best-in-class' marketers fail to attribute the other 50% that companies generate. Clearly, the famous phrase coined by John Wanamaker is still apparent today as it was in the 1900s:
"Half my marketing works, the problem is I don't know which half"
Analytics via technology
Today, your marketing team has access to the best data and insights you will ever collect from prospective buyers. Right from the first contact on your website, to the emails they receive, technology has made touch points with warm leads easier than ever to track.
Leading sales and marketing platform, HubSpot, discovered and published in their State of Inbound report that marketers who achieved greater ROMI in 2015 than the previous year, were 20% more likely to check their marketing analytics three or more times per week.
However, research by the Aberdeen Group into the tendencies of 'best-in-class' marketers found that only 20% of respondents "track all their marketing activities to directly drive improvements from reports".
While creative thinking should never be replaced by analytical data in the world of marketing, data has given companies the to chance make marketing decisions based on facts, rather than gut feel. The problem remains, however, that not all marketing activity is tracked.
Identifying your core objectives
To get a true figure of ROMI and fast-track the success of achieving greater returns from marketing, businesses need to identify their core company objectives before developing a clear and effective marketing strategy that is accountable for these results.
Identifying new value drivers is a good place for businesses to start, as we explain further in the report, 7 steps to driving growth with sales and marketing. Today's technology and changes in buying behaviour enable digitally-savvy businesses to drive better value and efficiency by identifying new and more lucrative revenue streams.
Being clear with your marketing, and sales team, on what these value drivers are, makes it easier to build and communicate a strategy for greater growth and ROMI.
Improve your sales funnel efficiency
With a marketing strategy in place to target the business' key value drivers, attention must turn to your sales team too to improve return on marketing investment. HubSpot again have done research into the role of sales and marketing working together, and have found that:
Organisations with a formal agreement between sales and marketing are 34% more likely to see higher ROI compared to the previous year, than those teams without an agreement.
Businesses need to foster an environment where sales and marketing are no longer combative. Sales and marketing teams should align and collaborate, share technologies, and be jointly motivated to use these tools to drive aggressive results. It is up to business leaders to facilitate and clarify this working relationship internally.
Close more of your deals
A successful marketing strategy is not simply one which 'attracts' awareness, but converts it too. For true and fast-tracked ROMI to be realised, your sales team need to work on closing more deals than ever before.
Alignment with the marketing team will help, but the similarities in both teams shouldn't stop there. Sharing technology can also make a huge difference, particularly in the use of a shared CRM. Research by the Aberdeen Group found that expanding the CRM to include marketing automation and other integrated tools, yields 32% higher total sales team attainment of quota.
Investing in improving your sales team and infrastructure will clearly improve conversion rates, and thus achieve a greater return on marketing investment. It should be noted, for the first time for many businesses, that ROMI isn't simply the responsibility for your marketing team. Your sales team are an equally integral part of your growth plans.
Opportunities on the horizon
Going into 2017, you, your marketing team, and sales team need to focus on the growth areas your business can realistically achieve. With careful research and a collaborative approach, you can spot the opportunities on the horizon and target your growth objectives with a clear marketing strategy.
Discover new opportunities to leverage the growth of your business through sales and marketing: