At the Content Marketing Conference on June 10, Tom De Baere and Patrick Maes host a 45-minute workshop on the impact of integrated content marketing on the organization of the sales and marketing function.

The abundance of content, globalization and the rise of social networking have transformed buying behavior of customers. A new type of organization must be created, where traditional tasks of marketing and sales are shifted towards new fields, Tom and Patrick emphasize.

In their, 45-minute workshop Tom De Baere and Patrick Maes briefly cover the main paradigm shifts in sales and marketing models, and then talk about the impact of these changes on people, processes, organization and technology.

Specific topics that will be covered include:

  • The use of integrated content marketing concepts along the customer life cycle.
  • The new marketing funnel and the impact on the sales-marketing divide.
  • Technology needed to enable cross departmental alignment during the complete customer journey.
  • Getting C-level buy-in for integrated content marketing projects.
  • Content marketing along the customer life cycle.

The double funnel concept covers the complete customer life-cycle, from awareness to referral. During this journey, marketing and sales processes interact and work together to maximize customer value.

In this part of the workshop, Tom will explain how the double funnel concept works and how it ties-in with traditional sales and marketing roles.

The new marketing funnel and the impact on the sales-marketing divide

The sales-marketing divide has never been bigger than today. In the early days of marketing, sales was definitely in the lead of the selling process. Today marketing is in the lead. The role of sales now is to close the deal with customers that have been found, nurtured and brought to a sales-ready state by marketing.

Patrick will demonstrate how marketing and sales can work together in this newly defined playing field.

Technology needs for cross-departmental alignment

Integrated Content Marketing without introducing new technologies is like bringing sand to the beach. Tom and Patrick will highlight the role of new tools that are needed, including new breed CRM and marketing automation systems.

Furthermore, new tools enabling to manage the changes that digital and social bring along the complete customer life-cycle, will be covered.

Getting C-level buy-in for social and content marketing projects

For some C-level executives, social media is still about having a Facebook profile for the company and about people sharing their lives on the internet instead of focusing on their job.

Patrick will give some tips on how you can interest C-level executives in social media and content marketing by talking about changing the business model, reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction.

Make sure you don’t miss it.