Trendwatching: MarCom to MarSales

By Lindsay Resnick, July 20, 2009

Squeezed between an economy in disarray and the rapid rise of social media, let's face it, marketing has changed forever. Budgets have been slashed, customer priorities have shifted, and intense pressure on companies to grow organically is changing corporate cultures across the country.

MarCom has long been the abbreviation for "marketing communications"—interaction with customers and prospects through messaging and media to speak to the marketplace. Its tradition is in the printed word, usually categorized under advertising, public relations, branding or promotion. Of course recently, a surge of online activity has been added to the mix (if not taken over). MarCom's primary focus has always been around audience awareness. The conversation is usually a monologue.

That has changed. Now, we are seeing MarCom morph into MarSales—interaction with customers and prospects through messaging and media to sell the marketplace. MarSales takes a growth-oriented vantage point which is actively aligned with the sales process. And, it's all about quantifiable results.

This perspective elevates growth and profitability in the marketing hierarchy within the context of current business drivers: economic volatility, regulatory threats, competitive rivalry and customer dialogue. MarSales cuts across product-line and operational silos to reshape internal marketing-think and reengineer distribution channels. It improves marketing spend and, rallies your team around a mantra of "leverage value to turn growth into revenue."

Core principles of a MarSales strategy include:

• Refresh your brand position in light of any product or service changes, new consumer spending and buying habits, and competitor moves.
• Micro-segment your prospects for improved targeting and more efficient budget management.
• Redefine and shorten your sales cycle, from lead generation to retention.
• Synchronize your creative platform and media strategy with specific sales objectives.
• Deploy new outreach tactics moving from awareness-oriented marketing to an action-based sales relationship with your customers.
• Link marketing budgets and sales results to accurately measure return on investment and lifetime value of new customers.

MarCom has been built around the philosophy that good marketing grabs attention, creates awareness, and is driven by emotion. MarSales embraces these attributes, but recognizes that great marketing accomplishes all of this with one critical difference—great marketing sells.