Is Web 2.0 Killing Marketing?

I’ve written a lot lately about the premature reports of the death of outbound sales in the Web 2.0 world.  Now I’d like to add to that:  Marketing is not dead either.  Nor is it resting, or becoming the same thing as sales, as Nigel Edelshain postulated recently in his Sales 2.0 blog post No Need to Close the Gap between Sales and Marketing.  As Nigel rightly points out, new sales tools have allowed sales people to generate their own, precisely targeted prospect lists.  Tools like NetProspex have brought additional depth of coverage and accuracy to the mix, aiding the incursion of sales into what has traditionally been a marketing role – lead generation.

So, does this mean marketing is irrelevant because salespeople have the tools to go directly to the customer?  Sure - if you believe lead generation is the only value marketing offers to the sales organization.  But while it's great that salespeople now have the tools to reach out to customers directly without waiting for marketing to tell them whom to contact, they still need to present a relevant, coherent message that will "hook" that customer. The true value of putting more and better lead generation tools in the hands of the sales team is that it frees up marketing to create sales-relevant messaging that maximizes the value of those prospect lists. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle with a constant feedback loop that enables continuous improvement.

Laura Ramos of Forrester makes a similar point in her article B2B Lead Management Market Heats Up, pointing out that innovation is improving efficiency in lead flow and lead utilization and, as a result, is removing friction between sales and marketing.  But as we approach this brave new world, proper implementation and a two-way flow of information will be the key to realizing a solid return on the sales and marketing investment:

-    Marketing needs to understand what sales is hearing in the field and craft their message accordingly. Customer needs and objectives can fluctuate, and last year’s message may not be as relevant in this year’s economy. The salespeople on the ground are the best sources of intelligence for this kind of information.

-    Sales needs to not only tell marketing what’s not working, but tell them what is working. If a campaign or offer strikes a strong chord with a specific segment or buyer profile, marketing needs to know this and see if the approach can be adapted or replicated elsewhere.

-    Sales AND marketing need to work together to create relevant, targeted campaigns that map offers to customer objectives – not the other way around. Most organizations now understand that benefits, not features, sell a product, but those benefits must be meaningful to the customer. Salespeople have unique insight into their customers’ strategic objectives and can help marketing position offers that will help advance these objectives.