One of the most critical factors for success in any B2B company is the alignment between sales and marketing teams.
When these two departments work together effectively, the results are significant. During a recent webinar, we collaborated with LinkedIn’s Senior Client Solutions Manager for the Nordics, Aylin Gyuner, who shared some compelling statistics that illustrate the impact of strong sales and marketing alignment:
208% more revenue, 26% faster 3-year margin growth, 36% higher customer retention, and 38% higher win rates.
However, when alignment is lacking, the repercussions can be damaging, resulting in 41% of online ads reach the wrong audience, 72% of cold calls are rejected, and 49% of sales reps ignore more than half of marketing leads.
Given these statistics, the importance of alignment between sales and marketing cannot be overstated. This is especially crucial as B2B buying behavior continues to evolve, with 68% of buyers preferring to conduct their own research online and 57% of purchasing decisions being made before engaging with sales. Therefore, your marketing—particularly LinkedIn marketing—needs to be effective.
So, how can you approach LinkedIn Ads while ensuring alignment between sales and marketing? Here, we outline a four-part approach that emphasizes alignment, data, iterative processes, and feedback:
The first step is straightforward: achieving alignment between sales and marketing on your overall business goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). At this stage, we aren't focusing solely on LinkedIn yet—it's about getting both teams on the same page. When sales and marketing work toward a shared goal, the combined effort becomes much more effective, resulting in more revenue for your company.
But how can you foster this alignment? One effective method is to implement a Strategy House—a visual framework that maps out your company’s mission and the key actions needed to achieve it. Here’s how we break it down:
Mission: This is a tangible, data-driven goal for the entire company. It should be more than just a vague ambition—your mission must be backed by measurable data and realistic objectives. Consider using SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to set your mission.
Must Win Battles: Identify the critical challenges that must be overcome to achieve your mission. Do you have the right data? Are your sales and marketing teams aligned on targets? Do your marketing platforms and tech stack support your goals?
Enablers: Define the tools, processes, and resources that will help you win these battles. This could include well-defined ICPs (ideal customer profiles), robust persona analysis, a strong tech stack, cross-departmental objectives, or a data-driven content strategy.
Documenting these elements ensures that both sales and marketing are fully aligned on the company’s mission and the steps to achieve it. And don’t forget to regularly reflect on and review this strategy together. We’ll cover more on that in Step 4.
Once you’ve established a solid alignment between sales and marketing, the next step is to create a paid setup that’s supported by the right network of data, with a particular focus on LinkedIn’s role in your strategy. When using LinkedIn Ads, you can deploy several strategies to generate demand and drive engagement in B2B marketing:
Branding: Focus on building your company’s reputation and thought leadership, rather than promoting specific products. Ensure your content has a strong and consistent visual identity that resonates with your audience.
Demand Generation: This tactic aims to generate interest in your solution by identifying a problem and positioning your product as the solution. The messaging will depend on whether your market is saturated (red ocean) or relatively untapped (blue ocean).
Lead Generation: The goal here is to capture contact information and permission to engage prospects further. Lead generation offers should be low friction but valuable enough for potential customers to share their information in exchange.
Demand Capture: Convert generated demand into revenue by retargeting, personalizing content, and leveraging lead nurturing tactics.
Integrating your CRM and website content with LinkedIn Ads is crucial for this stage. Ensure your CRM is synced with LinkedIn to leverage customer data effectively—upload prospect lists, implement lead scoring, and monitor pipeline progress. Revenue attribution tools, like DreamData, can be invaluable for understanding which touchpoints are contributing to conversions, so you can refine your approach over time.
Misalignment can lead to wasted ad spend, with 41% of ads reaching the wrong audience and 49% of marketing leads being ignored by sales. Avoid this by ensuring that both teams are targeting the same accounts and sharing data across departments.
Here’s how:
Shared Account Lists: Ensure both sales and marketing are focused on the same accounts. Unified targeting helps to create a more cohesive customer journey.
Unified Customer Data: Sync CRM systems to provide both teams with a comprehensive view of prospects and leads.
Collaborative Planning: Coordinate strategies and campaigns with shared goals in mind. This creates synergy between the teams.
Regular Feedback and Updates: Establish ongoing communication loops so that both teams can adjust their strategies based on performance and market feedback.
The final step in this approach is to ensure continuous communication between sales and marketing through structured feedback loops. Regular collaboration helps ensure both teams remain aligned and informed about campaign performance.
Set up bi-weekly or monthly meetings to review key performance metrics together. Everyone should be prepared ahead of time with the necessary data, so the focus of the meetings can be on meaningful discussions around performance and next steps—not just on reviewing numbers.
By focusing on data from LinkedIn Ads, CRM platforms like HubSpot, and revenue attribution tools like DreamData, your teams can better understand what’s working and what needs to be adjusted to meet the company’s mission and goals.
Achieving alignment between sales and marketing is critical to driving success in B2B marketing—especially when leveraging LinkedIn Ads. By following a structured approach, you can ensure both teams are working toward common goals, leading to stronger performance and higher revenue.
Step 1 focuses on aligning your teams around shared business goals and KPIs through tools like the Strategy House.
Step 2 emphasizes the importance of a robust paid setup supported by integrated CRM data and relevant website content.
Step 3 highlights the value of targeting the same accounts and working with unified customer data to maximize ROI.
Step 4 underscores the necessity of regular feedback loops and performance reviews to ensure continuous alignment and optimization.
By implementing these strategies, you’ll foster a closer collaboration between your sales and marketing teams, improve the effectiveness of your LinkedIn Ads, and ultimately drive better results for your business.
Do you want to get tips and tricks on how to gain even more from your LinkedIn Ads or get a strong collaboration between sales & marketing?
Then reach out to me on email, kh@profoundnorth.com, or by phone, +45 28 88 12 62.
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