As we discussed last week, the beginning of a new marketing partnership is all about goal-setting. During this process, your organization and your partner firm will have to discuss each other’s expectations. This is the best time to make sure you are on the same page about critical areas of your work together.
At the beginning of your partnership, expect these three conversations with your marketing partner:
In all these conversations about planning and goals, it can be easy to forget the long buying cycle of B2B purchasers. Marketing is a process — no marketing firm can deliver hundreds of qualified leads overnight.
So, even as you discuss the great success your partnership plans to generate in the future, you should not lose sight of the projected timeline for marketing growth. Your partner firm should be able to provide a plan that shows the following:
If you have any questions about their plans, the beginning of your partnership is an ideal time to discuss the plans and make adjustments that make sense for both your organization and your marketing firm.
These first few months of a partnership are a critical time to set expectations on the impact new marketing efforts will have on sales. As a member of the internal marketing team, your role will include communicating these expectations to the sales team and to your supervisors. If they have unrealistic expectations, you will want to work with the marketing firm to determine what portion of the sales department’s expectations are feasible, and on what schedule they are attainable.
This is also the time to establish what your marketing partner will need from the sales team. Your partner firm may require access to past sales data in order to create an effective plan for targeting new leads. They will also want to ensure that your CRM is properly integrated with marketing automation software and that there is productive marketing-sales alignment.
By the time you begin work with a marketing partner, the budget has been set and agreed to. However, you may still have questions about what it covers and how it will be used, and now is the time to iron out any concerns or confusion.
For example, how will priorities and allocations of resources shift if something comes up that you want your marketing partner’s help on? How and when will you be billed for one-time marketing expenses that fall outside the scope of the budget? By discussing any questions that remain early in your partnership, you can establish a clear roadmap for your ongoing work together.
Are you looking for a new marketing partner? Learn more about how Movéo can help your organization by calling us today.
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