For A Regional Company, Great Media Is Another Member of the Sales Team

The placement of a regional company’s media can strengthen and support your sales team.

In many companies, there is an age-old rivalry between the sales and marketing departments. When numbers are good, the sales team is usually the department getting all the accolades, attention and bonuses, while the marketing department typically sits back and looks on and claps at the awards ceremony.

However, when a company hits a rough patch, dollars aren’t coming in, and cuts must be made internally, the sales department is usually the last to be affected, while marketing takes the hit. Why is this the case?

Truth is, marketing should be considered the bench players for the starting line-up sales team. Everything that takes place in marketing is to promote the company’s brand, product and service. They produce the concepts, literature, language and graphics to make an impression and give any business their identity.

The video, audio, TV, radio, out of home, direct mail, email blasts and social media posts should be thought of as tools for the sales team, that the marketing department made “especially for them.” They’re constantly being called off the bench and going in and assisting the sales team, making their jobs that much better and easier.

For regional brands that are under staffed or for a sales team asked to cover a larger territory or an enormous number of clients, solid media placement should be used as an extension of that team. Let’s face it, it’s normally easier for the sales team to get in the door or make a sale if the customer recognizes the brand, as opposed to never hearing of it before.

The placement of a regional company’s media should be considered as another “sales person” for the company. The one salesperson, never physically making a call, but the one who can cover more ground than any of the others. It’s the setup man for the rest of the team. Since messages that are repetitively seen or heard may have just as much impact as the sales person making a call to a potential client.

For regional companies tailoring every market’s message when possible, is like having a well -seasoned hometown sales person in the market. A billboard on a busy highway is like having a sales person hold up your message when consumers drive by. The radio ad delivered in the car, is like having a sales person as a passenger and a TV, OLV or OTT ad is like having your sales person invited into the customer’s home. And, through social media, those marketing and media efforts not only allow you to take a walk with your consumer but allow for real conversations with them.

Sales teams are critical to many businesses and I’m not suggesting otherwise. However, I’m just declaring that the marketing department is equally as important, especially in today’s environment. Their message and placement of that message is just as crucial to every regional business.

It is those messages and media platforms that will truly amplify a brand and will assist in obtaining the company’s goals. Especially for those that have a thin starting line-up sales team.