You've got a great team pulling together to make your company succeed, but there's often a different vision on how to drive success between your sales and your marketing staff.
 
Salespeople are likely focused on rapid lead generation, eager to sign up new clients and grow the business quickly as possible. The marketing team agrees but knows it takes time to build name recognition and brand awareness—a slower but steady way to support lead generation and a sustainable client base.
 
So, which group gets budget priority?
 
If your company is lucky enough to have employees dedicated to both sales and marketing, the correct answer is...fund them both.
 
The CMO Survey for March 2023 was recently published by Deloitte, Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and the American Marketing Association.
 
"While firms spend an average of 40% of overall budget on long-term brand building and 60% on short-term performance, most firms report they would ideally spend around 50% on each category."
 
While 50/50 is ideal, there could be factors that shift that balance. For example, if competition is low in your market because you provide a unique product or service, then name recognition isn't as important. But if there is a lot of competition, you will want your company name, reputation, and capabilities to stand out. That will help shorten the time it takes to convert a lead into a customer.
 
Companies that need to move their offerings to market quickly may not have the time to invest in a longer-range marketing plan. Still, sales staff would be wise to ask marketing co-workers for help in targeting a specific audience for new offerings.
 
Whatever budgeting approach you take, be sure that sales and marketing are integrated for your company. Together, they can share data, tactics, and experiences that will grow your company, improve efficiency, and increase ROI.
 
Contact us at James Street Associates for more ideas on teaming up sales and marketing.