Developing a Successful Sales and Marketing Strategy [VIDEO]

Developing a successful approach to sales and marketing starts with an organizational strategic plan. That way, the sales and marketing groups are both in sync. When you don’t have a strategic plan for your organization, the sales and marketing groups work on their own strategies and goals, and that often leads to failure and finger-pointing.

Assuming you do have a clear strategic plan for your organization, you can develop a marketing strategy that will attract, engage, and convert your audience. Here are the five key steps to a successful marketing strategy.

A Successful Marketing Strategy

1. Define your target market.

Understand your audience. Know who your customer is and what they care about. Narrow your focus and directly speak to the people who will buy from you. When I worked on the Peeps brand, which is the marshmallow chicks and bunnies at Easter time, people of all ages ate Peeps candy at Easter. But our target market was moms with kids in the home because that was the primary purchaser of seasonal candy.

2. Choose the right channels.

You don’t have to be everywhere. You want to be where your target market is, whether it’s email, social media, radio, or another channel. The best way to reach moms for peeps was through Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and influencers.

3. Create a clear value proposition.

This is your “why.” Why your product or service? Your value proposition needs to be simple, compelling, and focused on solving your customers’ problems. For example, the value proposition for Peeps was not that we are the number one non-chocolate Easter candy. It was how Peeps help moms create memorable seasonal experiences for their families.

4. Developing effective content.

From videos to blogs, your content should educate, engage, and build trust. In fact, use the content from your value proposition. Great content moves your audience closer to taking action. In the case of peeps, we would create recipes and crafts actually using the candy.

5. Drive leads and build relationships.

Use your effective content derived from your value proposition in the right channels to nurture and build your prospects and turn them into customers. Drive followers with engaging content and then capture their data on websites and social media so you can engage with them directly.

A Successful Sales Strategy

Let’s switch gears and move on to sales. A successful sales strategy takes the leads from marketing and then turns them into paying customers. Here are the five key steps of a successful sales strategy.

1. Set clear revenue and sales goals.

Set revenue and sales goals that are SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

2. Develop a structured sales process.

A strong sales process ensures consistency across the team. From prospecting and qualifying to pitching and closing, every stage should be clearly defined and repeatable. Train all your folks to follow the same process. If you’re looking to develop your own sales structure, a good resource is the book New Sales Simplified by Mike Weinberg.

3. Address customer pain points.

Your sales approach should revolve around understanding your customers’ challenges. By tailoring solutions to meet their needs, you build trust and position your product or service as the best choice. One of my clients sells generators, and their pain point is not that the power goes off. It’s more about when customers lose their food because the refrigerator went out, or when they lose their heat in the middle of winter, or when they can’t get work done because the internet service is out.

4. Build and maintain relationships.

Sales is not about transactions, it’s about connections. So nurture those clients and build them into loyal customers who will repeat and refer to others. In fact, here at The Center, most of our business comes from repeat business and referrals. And as your organization gets better, you can use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to help you monitor, track, and manage your customers.

5. Close the deal.

When it comes to marketing, it’s about generating leads. But with sales, it’s about closing the deal. In fact, I can remember the words of one of my sales managers who said, “At the end of the day, it’s about making the sales number.”

If you need help developing a successful approach to sales and marketing, contact us to speak with one of our experienced consultants.

Matt Pye, MBA, brings over 30 years of experience in driving sustainable success through strategic growth, team development, and impactful solutions for both businesses and non-profits. He specializes in strategic planning, leadership coaching, and advising C-level executives and boards. Matt spent 25 years at Just Born Quality Confections, the makers of iconic brands PEEPS® and MIKE AND IKE®, where he held various leadership roles, ultimately rising to Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Corporate Affairs. He has served on many non-profit boards, including the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and the National Confectioners Association. A graduate of Boston College with a BS in Marketing and an MBA from Rutgers University, Matt is also an Eagle Scout and was inducted into the Candy Hall of Fame.