As marketers, sales professionals and even buyers, we consume and try to make use of data – lots and lots of data. From customer behavioral data, interests, profiles, product data and oh so much more, we surround ourselves with industry insight, experience and business intelligence tools to find clarity with it all.
Journey of collaboration and the sharing of data across all departments in 2014
Sales teams and marketing departments will be on a journey to collaborate, find purpose with and share data across departments to increase sales, meet the demands of the company and connect on a 1:1 basis with the audience. Long gone will be silos of disparate data and instead we will further enter into the world of cloud-based data sharing and sales automation.
Journey to develop relevant, truthful, constant and sharable content in 2014
The self-educated buyer will be on a journey to research the best solution to fit their needs. It will be essential that companies are pro-active in original content-creation and develop a content management strategy with multiple touch points across multiple channels – including the ability to share relevant information across social media channels by the entire sales team. Each moment of connection will be more meaningful and concise through the use of video, info graphics, online seminars and / or presentations.
Journey of customer engagement in 2014
The marketing department will further develop the lead nurturing journey and / or the customer purchase journey adapting to audience behavior; gathering deeper insight and qualifying prospects over time – reducing the sales cycle, making the sales call more powerful and relevant for the entire sales team.
Journey of in-depth listening in 2014
Listening to the voice of the customer through all channels (sales, social, online, call-center, support, primary research, etc.) will be a necessary journey for all departments of the company to forecast sales, forecast trends, hire the right people and identify areas for improvement.
Journey of the mobile experience in 2014
Everything will be mobile. The buyer uses their mobile device to read email, subscribe to email, visit websites, shop online, make recommendations and engage through applications. If you’re not mobile, it’s time to start this journey. According to the latest statistics by Litmus, the Apple iPhone holds the #1 spot with email client marketshare http://emailclientmarketshare.com/.
The following resources have lent insight to RootedELM’s journey. Check them out:
• The Invisible Sale by Tom Martin
• Audience: Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans and Followers by Jeffrey K. Rohrs
• “A Never Ending Journey” American Marketing Association, Marketing Insights Fall 2013
• “The Five SuperPowers of Marketing” Harvard Business Review
This post is modified from a guest post by Lisa Wester – Chief Engagement Officer, RootedELM for our client OptifiNow. OptifiNow is a Software as a Service (SaaS) that helps sales teams engage with their customers though an integrated marketing communications platform.