How Field Marketing Drives Top-Line Growth

Field marketing is somewhat of a lost art. Marketing and sales teams have been put into silos where they are almost in competition with one another rather than harmony. Each team wants to prove that their methods work the best and essentially disprove the need for the other department. Much of this disconnect comes from quickly evolving technologies that have rapidly changed the roles and expectations of both teams.

Though they seem to be in opposition to one another, marketing and sales have one common goal: drive sales and revenue. Marketing, generally of the corporate variety, would have you believe that the secret to driving revenue is increasing the number of leads the sales team has. The sales team would have you believe that it comes down to their one-on-one relationship with the customer. Neither group is right, neither group is wrong. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. The truth lies in the ability to bridge the gap between the two groups and help them to work in unison rather than opposition.

Field marketing exists solely to bridge that gap and provide more personalized marketing strategies that work for individual sales team that addresses their unique personal, customer, and regional needs. Field marketing has withered, as a function, however, because at the end of the day, corporate representatives feel as though each team should be able to perform their function without the need for a ‘translator’ of sorts.

But having a field marketing team can truly drive sales and growth by doing just that – connecting and aligning all teams within an organization with common goals and strategies that focus on sales enablement, lead nurturing, and closing deals.

How does field marketing drive more sales?

It’s one thing to say that field marketing can drive growth, but another to see how it works in action. Having a field marketing team can increase costs and will likely be highly scrutinized (both by sales and marketing teams and corporate entities) until they prove their value. So how, exactly, do field marketers increase sales?

• Improved communication and goal alignment. Much of the corporate marketing material goes unused by sales (either because sales doesn’t know how to use it or it’s simply not useful) and many leads get qualified and passed along only to go uncontacted. The field marketer can help build the trust between the two teams, which enables marketers to create more useful materials and pass on higher quality leads to the sales team.
• Focused and organized local events. Though event planning is a different function altogether, field marketers can assist event planners in local and regional events to ensure that the messaging and takeaways are focused on one goal: improve the ability for the sales team to develop relationships is specific areas.
• Develop personalized content and assets. The field marketing team has the marketing ability to modify existing materials from corporate to fit the specific needs of a sales person or team and/or region. They also have the sales experience to know what will work and what won’t work for specific people and areas. It’s the best of both worlds.

Combined, all of these techniques and strategies that field marketers bring to the table can enable sales teams to perform better, thus improving the bottom line of the organization and can ensure that the hard work and thought that goes into materials by the marketing team is put to good use. This way, all roles are utilized where they bring the most value and have a ‘translator’ to fill in the gaps as needed.