Only 27% of B2B marketers have successfully aligned their marketing plans with the company’s sales strategy, according to research.
A new study by B2B PR agency Skout found a disconnect between marketing and sales continues to hold back the effectiveness of marketing budgets. While 40% of senior B2B marketers surveyed aligned their plan to the company’s sales strategy and targets, just over a quarter claim to have done so successfully.
In addition, less than a third (27%) said they don’t think sales fully understands the impact of marketing – although more than half, 54%, believe they have a good relationship with their sales colleagues.
Content marketing also fails to excite sales teams, with 56% of marketers believing sales don’t value the content they create at all. Despite this, 28% said sales want them to produce more content.
The survey examined the main challenges facing senior marketers in the UK. Aside from alignment with the sales function, these challenges also included understanding which digital advertising channels they should use (37%), as well as how to deliver a plan on a limited budget (35%).
Rob Skinner, managing director at Skout, said: “Marketing and sales own two sides of the same process – attracting and generating new business – so it’s imperative that they work effectively together to this common goal. It’s great to see that more than half of sales and marketing teams now have healthy working relationships but it’s disappointing that almost three quarters still believe that their attempts at aligning the plans with sales strategies aren’t working.”
