How Marketers Drive Revenue
Historically, marketing and sales have been seen as separate entities that drive separate business functions; marketing builds awareness about a brand to attract customers, while sales teams convert potential customers into buyers. However, the reality is that marketing and sales are not separate entities, but rather complimentary destinations along the same customer journey.
When it comes to the buyer’s journey, marketing and sales teams actually work toward achieving the same goal of attracting, converting, and maintaining customers– and neither department can achieve this goal alone. Because these two departments rely on each other for success, they are equally responsible for driving revenue and growth.
Despite the complementary nature of these departments, however, marketing is still not seen as impactful on revenue as compared to sales. In fact, many organizations underestimate the power of marketing teams, even though marketing is responsible for leading revenue growth at 38.4 percent of companies according to a study from Deloitte. While these contributions are often underestimated, there are several ways that marketers act as revenue drivers. Here are two of the biggest ways that marketing can lead to a bigger bottom-line:
Brand Identity and Positioning
Marketers are experienced in developing and positioning a brand. Not only does marketing help define and clarify a brand’s vision, mission, and values, but it also helps strategically situate the brand as a solution to a problem. These functions are incredibly important when it comes to driving revenue – especially considering that consistency in branding can increase revenue by 20%.
Furthermore, in today’s market, consumers are more values-based than ever, with 88% of consumers saying that authenticity is important when deciding what brands to support, and 77% saying that they buy from brands who share the same values as they do. With the large emphasis on values-based marketing, it’s no surprise that shared values drive brand relationships — and brand revenue. In fact, not only do nearly two thirds of customers report that they would boycott a brand solely because of its position on a social issue, but customers will also pay up to 50% more for businesses making an impact.
When it comes to marketing to the modern-day consumer, one thing is abundantly clear: consistent branding and a well-positioned values-based marketing strategy can drive large increases in revenue.
Revenue Marketing
Another way that marketers drive revenue is through the use of revenue marketing strategies. Compared to traditional marketing methods that focus on attracting customers in order to hand them off to sales once they’ve been converted, revenue marketing strategies take a more holistic approach.
In revenue marketing, rather than having marketing and sales work separately, the two teams work together to create successful strategies that bring in quality leads and convert them into life-long customers.
In this strategy, the marketing and sales cycles are combined to create a revenue cycle – an all-encompassing journey that includes a customer’s experiences from initial interest all the way through to loyal, repeat customer. After defining and outlining the revenue cycle, marketing and sales teams work together to set a revenue goal, and then they strategize all of the ways they can leverage different aspects of the revenue cycle to meet it. The revenue cycle is then connected to specific key performance indicators (KPIs) that drive revenue, making it easier for companies to pinpoint progress and track ROI.
Through this process, marketing and sales form a highly-collaborative relationship, essentially developing a feedback loop that is used to constantly and consistently improve customer acquisition and retention. This feedback loop creates efficiencies, while increasing and maximizing profit returns. In fact, not only are companies 67% better at closing deals, but they also witness a 36% increase in customer retention and a 38% increase in sales win rates when their sales and marketing teams are aligned.
With these types of benefits, it’s no wonder that companies with tightly aligned marketing and sales departments see 24% faster revenue growth over three years, compared to companies whose departments are not aligned.
Marketing as a Key Revenue-Driver
It’s no secret that marketing creates countless benefits for companies, especially when it comes to driving revenue. While today’s businesses are making the move toward integrated marketing and sales teams, it’s important to recognize the immense value-add that marketers offer. Through strategic brand development and positioning, as well as through revenue marketing and goal-setting, marketing departments can be the make-or-break between adding gains or losses to a company’s bottom-line.
Looking for more information about how to boost revenue by positioning your brand or aligning your marketing and sales departments? Dig in deeper with Madison Taylor Marketing’s branding and alignment pillars of marketing.
