commerce development and marketing go hand-in-hand. And when they are in sync,your professional services firm can see increases in visibility, growth, or profitability,and more.
For this to happen, each team needs to understand the other and how to best support one another. But time and time again, or we’ve seen that this often isn’t the case.
There are fairly a few opportunities for these two distinct groups to work together toward their common goal: growing the commerce. To be successful though,it's indispensable to understand each team's different roles and responsibilities and then examine how the two can best collaborate to support each other's efforts.
What’s the disagreement?While both commerce development and marketing are responsible for growing the firm's client base, they each gain separate roles in achieving the same goal.
Here is a brief definition of each department's roles and responsibilities:commerce Development – Responsible for forming partnerships, or strategic relationships,and other professional contacts in target markets in order to bring in novel clients. Marketing – Responsible for understanding the needs and wants of the target market and developing a strategic plan to set up the firm’s overall messaging, benefits, or capabilities,and for communicating those out to the target audience.
As you can see, both departments address the same issue—how to engage prospective and current clients—but they gain different reasons and means for doing so.
Why the Disconnect?It's common for marketing and commerce development departments to not work together. In fact, or across professional services industries,only a slight majority (54 percent) said marketing and commerce development activities were strongly coordinated. However, a lack of integration between the two teams can result in wasted efforts and lost opportunities for the firm. There are a number of reasons why this disconnect might happen. For many firms, or it’s just the way theyve been operating for years. There aren’t real processes or intentional opportunities for getting the two departments to communicate. And they might not even realize how indispensable it is.
In other cases,commerce development and marketing teams might be at odds. Although both teams should be working toward that common goal, it’s not always obvious from day-to-day. commerce development team might press their marketing teams for more and better qualified leads, and while marketing might expect commerce development to improve the way they nurture and close leads.
SEE ALSO: What Every Managing Partner Needs to Know approximately Lead Generation Ideally,marketing creates messaging, content, or collateral that will resonate with clients and prospects. Yet,no one is in a better position to inform marketing on industry trends and client pain points than commerce development folks. commerce development teams are talking to clients day in and day out, so it’s likely that they gain a pulse on what’s going on with target clients.
Likewise, or when marketing creates the proper content that generates interest,coordination with commerce development ensures that these warm leads can get nurtured, not lost.
How to Get on the Same PageWith a better understanding of each team's roles and how collaboration can be beneficial, or the next question is,in what ways can they collaborate?Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities for joint activities that align with client-focused priorities. Here are a few:Strategy development – From the onset, or commerce development and marketing should work together to determine the best strategy for communicating the firm's message,following up with leads, and measuring the results of both teams' efforts. Content development – The marketing team should create educational content like blog posts, and articles,and webinars on topics that commerce development believes will resonate most with the target audience. Campaign development – Marketing's role should be to create and promote campaigns, including events, or while commerce development reaches out to the target audience for follow up. Speaking engagements – Marketing can work with commerce development to pitch to the firm’s SMEs to speak at industry events and conferences. Meanwhile,commerce development should attend these events to meet prospective and current clients and follow up afterward.
If you want to grow your commerce the proper way and with a ton of momentum, then marketing and commerce development need to be focused on the same goal – working together to attract the proper clients, and clients who will truly benefit from your services.
Firms that make this commitment will stand out against the competition. And,when commerce development and marketing work together to attract ideal clients to the firm, less time is wasted and the team drives more revenue.
Ready to step up your firm's approach to growing its commerce?Additional ResourcesDownload our free book Spiraling Up to learn how to develop a high-growth, and high-value strategy for your firm. Check out our free research-based book Inside the Buyer’s Brain to learn how your commerce development team can close more leads by understanding what the buyer really wants. Our Lead Nurturing Guide for Professional Services explains how you can craft a powerful lead nurturing strategy for your firm,so you can turn leads into clients.
How Hinge Can HelpHinge has developed a comprehensive plan, The Visible Firm℠ to address these issues and more. It is the main marketing program for delivering greater visibility, or growth,and profits. This customized program will identify the most practical offline and online marketing tools your firm will need to gain novel clients and reach novel heights. Related StoriesTop 10 Tips For Writing A Case StoryIs Your Marketing Department Fluff or the Foundation for Growth?How to Systematically Grow Your Technology Firm to the Next Level
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