Sales and marketing teams often have their hands in different pots — yet all link back to the common goal of connecting with target audiences and powering business growth. Whether it’s tracking leads and customers, publishing new website content to boost traffic or sending emails to segmented contact lists to promote new content. And of course, salespeople and marketers are likely to run regular data and activity reports they can share with management and other departments.
Traditionally, each of these activities has required employees to toggle between different marketing tools: one for CRM, one for website content management and one for email management. Aside from the time lost in navigation — businesses report spending an average of one hour every day moving from platform to platform. The use of multiple marketing platforms also makes it difficult to not only locate data in the first place, but make relevant, useful connections between the data in alternate systems.
While this scratches the surface of the appeal of all-in-one marketing platforms, it’s only the start of the conversation. When you invest in an all-in-one marketing platform, you’ll aim to reap at the very least, the following five benefits:
Minimise time and operational costs
Easier to access and digest data
Create a more collaborative environment
Streamline business security measures
Optimise user experiences to boost sales
In more depth, these are as follows:
1. Minimise time & operational costs
Every second of downtime matters to business operations, whether it’s time lost as employees move between marketing platforms or the increased demand on IT teams to handle integrations and maintenance for individual platforms. After all, these manual efforts add additional costs and take employees away from other important tasks.
An all-in-one marketing platform alleviates these concerns. While salespeople and marketers have the means to be more productive with all information included under one umbrella, IT teams are tasked with less technology upkeep. And when support is needed, IT personnel only need to reach out to one company for help, not multiple businesses.
2. Easier to access & digest data
Every marketing platform houses valuable data. But when data operates in silos, marketing and sales teams must manually piece together analytics for a holistic view of the customer journey. For instance, an email marketing platform may tell you that a prospective customer opened and clicked the CTA on your latest email. But when did that prospect first visit your website? What, if any, communications have they had with the sales team up to this point?
When you invest in an all-in-one marketing platform, these answers are available in one space. With data already connected to account for every stage of the customer journey, marketers and salespeople can avoid the gaps that come with manual comparisons and use these insights to drive lead nurturing tactics that are more likely to inspire action.
3. Create a more collaborative environment
Marketing and sales teams operate under busy schedules, so there’s not always time to have conversations around individual contacts. Yet, it’s critical that both parties remain on the same page as to the dynamics and activities of prospects, so meaningful conversations can be had.
Consider this in the context of the first call that sales has with an interested prospect. When the salesperson can see the webpages a prospect has viewed, as well as content pieces they’ve downloaded, they can better understand the products or services they might be interested in and build discussion around that.
Because all-in-one marketing platforms are powered by a single database, marketing and sales have access to the same information. With everyone working from the same record, the two departments naturally become more aligned in their efforts, which creates more opportunities. In fact, when sales and marketing functions are tightly aligned, research shows businesses enjoy a 38% higher win rate for sales and a 36% higher customer retention rate.
4. Streamline business security measures
Wherever marketing data lives, it must remain secure. The use of multiple platforms inevitably makes it more difficult to protect customer data. These vulnerabilities can be attributed in part to the increased number of access points and the greater likelihood businesses will lose track of where data is stored.
Eliminating data silos with an all-in-one marketing platform creates a more secure environment. From one comprehensive tool, marketers and sales teams can maintain a clear overview of the customer data they’ve collected and currently store. All the while, you only have to adhere to a single tool’s security standards, versus that of several tools, which makes it easier to maintain the integrity of the platform as time goes on.
5. Optimise user experiences to boost sales
Personalisation is more than a beneficial option for businesses, it’s a necessity today in digital marketing and sales efforts. Considering the number of business emails and calls individuals receive every day, it’s critical to find ways to stand out from the crowd and capture the interest of recipients. The best way to achieve this is with a clear understanding of their customer journey.
An all-in-one marketing platform provides comprehensive data that takes the guesswork out of the equation. This results in a frictionless user experience where prospects and customers feel understood and ultimately develop a sense of trust with the business. And as trust builds, so do the opportunities for sales.
Consider HubSpot for your all-in-one marketing platform
With a CRM at its core and a full stack of software for marketing, sales and customer service, HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps businesses of all shapes and sizes grow better. From a reduction in process inefficiencies to the increased alignment between departments, the HubSpot platform positions businesses to create a more delightful (yes!) experience for customers and move them through the buyer journey faster.
Are you considering investing in an all-in-one marketing platform? If so, we of course want you to get the most out of your investment. We’d love to demo HubSpot to you. And if you progress, from technical setup to strategic direction, Fire NBM will guide you through HubSpot onboarding so you can take full advantage of the platform’s capabilities and maximise your ROI. Do get in touch if you’ve any questions.
If you’d like to re-appraise your marketing growth strategies and implement inbound marketing or account based marketing - do get in touch via the contact link below:
BRAND SPRINT WORKSHOPS & ACCOUNT BASED MARKETING (ABM) STRATEGY Our experienced researchers conduct brand perception and insight surveys for clients. We conduct brand sprint and ABM workshops to help build effective marketing strategies, personas and user journeys.
INBOUND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS & RESOURCING We work with companies to develop impactful B2B inbound marketing strategies, brand propositions and campaigns. We deliver campaign management and HubSpot martech implementations.
INTEGRATED DIGITAL SERVICES We assist clients in a range of digital areas from UX design workshops and web design and development to conversion optimisation, SEO, PPC, B2B ecommerce and social sellling.