Report: Sales, marketing staffs still aren't cooperating

That can lead to breakdowns in branded information, ads and messaging, leaving the consumer wondering what a brand's real message is.

According to new data out from Corporate Visions about one-third of sales and marketing professionals are still not cooperating to create collaborative messaging for their brands. This lack of collaboration isn't a new development, but it's interesting that as technology has developed that should encourage collaboration. . .departments are still hesitant to do so.

"The results of this quarter's survey indicate that while some organizations are taking steps to better align sales and marketing, many continue to operate in inefficient silos," said Tim Riesterer, chief strategy and marketing officer, Corporate Visions. "Enterprises need to employ a cross-functional framework for message development where marketing and sales work together to create messaging that resonates with customers. The repeatable framework should begin with identifying the customer's main goals, then pinpoint how these goals are at risk. These risks will redefine the customer's needs that only your solution/service can meet, which in turn will help you create new, effective messages and tools for any campaign."

Some interesting takeaways from the Corporate Visions report include:

• Two-thirds of responding companies 'struggle' with collaboration efforts
• One-third say the message-creation process is 'politically charged'
• Only about 37% of message-creation teams are from field sales - these people deal with the actual prospect, however
• 54% of message creation teams are made up of marketing associates - who don't deal with prospects

Another alarming trend: some respondents said message creation is usually an accident; only 3% said campaign/message creation used 'repeatable processes'. These processes, though, help to ensure that the brand message remains consistent across online and offline platforms. The fact that so few responding companies uses these procedures can cause the root message to be weakened and that can hurt brands over time.

Tags: ad collaboration, advertising, corporate communications, Corporate Visions, ecommerce trends