Why alignment in sales and marketing is crucial for B2B brands

Gone are the days when increasing sales productivity and revenue was the remit of sales teams alone.  Marketing's role is getting more and more direct and intrinsically linked to sales. To understand better how marketing can help sales, Marketing caught up with Michelle Toy, head of marketing and communications, Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas Securities Services.

[More from Toy and other senior B2B marketers at B2B Asia 2015. Join us on 20 November for a day of great presentations, case studies and sharing on the state of  B2B Marketing.]

Marketing: In a B2B environment, can you describe how marketing drives sales?

Toy: BNP Paribas Securities Services is a client-centric organisation. Diversity and human connection are important elements in driving long term partnerships. We service institutional clients such as asset managers, pension funds, official institutions, insurance, banks and brokers. Sales and marketing are closely aligned and co-exist together. Marketing amplifies the key initiatives of the sales strategy, which helps drive sales indirectly. Our business is the post trade, asset servicing and custody business of BNP Paribas. Our leadership is a sales oriented culture and our marketing and communications team lies within what we call “client development”.

Marketing: In such a competitive environment, what are the sales and marketing strategies  being adopted by BNP Paribas Security Service to drive success?

Toy: Diversity leads to localisation which is at the heart of our sales and marketing strategy. The coherent structure of sales and marketing under one team is crucial to extract maximum value of our clients’ behaviour and establish long lasting relationships.

BNP Paribas's recent ad campaign “The bank for a  changing world” is a great example of how we've differentiated our marketing efforts to cut through the clutter.

This worldwide campaign will run for three months in some 21 countries.  Our starting point is the changes that are affecting our customers and we provide proof of how BNP Paribas is helping people to cope with change. We’ve selected some very simple, impactful visuals and our communication is homogeneous across all our institutional clients in Asia Pacific.

The planning for this campaign provides a backdrop for us to stand out from our competitors and speak the voice of our clients. Within our business line, we deep dive further into the solutions we provide for our segments. Some examples of this are the solutions within the internationalisation of the RMB, the ASEAN passporting initiatives, the expansion of Asian institutions into Europe, the middle and back office support required for banks and brokers. Our cohesive sales and marketing strategies in these areas have made us successful above our competitors.

Marketing: What are the enablers to align sales and marketing?

Toy: Integrated but smart content marketing will continue to be the main enabler. Through digital and automated tools we are able to deliver timely and relevant messages to prospects and clients alike. How we execute this strategy is a mix of traditional and digital channels. Globally, our digital spend accounts for approximately 30% of total ad spend.

Toy's presentation at B2B Asia will elaborate on the hows and whats of driving effective sales enablement. Catch her live on 20 November at the Four Seasons.

To book your seats for the conference, contact Czarina Solomon at czarinas@marketing-interactive.com or call +65 6423 0329 ext: 227, +65 8112 6351 

For sponsorship opportunities,contact Johnathan Tiang at johnathant@marketing-interactive.com or call +65 6423 0329.

To discuss the agenda, enquire about presenting or to suggest topics, contact Preeti Varadarajan at preetiv@marketing-interactive.com or +65 6423 0329