In the grand tradition of misguided office layouts and trust falls, marketing and sales have long been relegated to separate corners of the business world, like two moody teenagers at a family reunion. One side hurls emails into the void while the other side ignores them and calls the void “a lead.”
And yet, here we are, in the age of SaaS and digital strategy, being told that these two must now “align.” The same way chiropractors align your spine—with a concerning amount of cracking and a bill you weren’t expecting.
A Brief History of Passive-Aggressive Collaboration
For those blissfully unaware, digital marketing and sales have always had the sort of relationship normally reserved for divorced parents forced to plan a birthday party together.
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Marketing’s job? Get people to the party.
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Sales’? Ask if they’re bringing a check.
Of course, the two rarely spoke unless something caught fire. Which it often did. And no one took responsibility because “they didn’t open the deck.”
Why Alignment Is Suddenly All the Rage (Besides Buzzwords and Consultant Fees)
Somewhere between buyers doing all their research online and digital marketing getting blamed for “bad leads,” someone had a revelation: what if these two talked to each other before the quarterly review meeting that ends in finger-pointing and the word ‘synergy’?
Turns out:
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Buyers now consume 17 pieces of content before ever speaking to sales. That’s not an exaggeration; that’s a Tuesday.
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They also expect a seamless experience, meaning they want your homepage, your sales deck, and the intern answering your chatbot to all sound like they went to the same finishing school.
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If your teams don’t coordinate? Your potential customer ends up more confused than I was the first time I tried to download TikTok.
The Modern Revenue Strategy: Shared Metrics, Mutual Eye Rolls
To bridge the gap, some brave souls suggest creating shared goals between digital marketing and sales. Naturally, this results in immediate panic:
“You mean we all have to care about… revenue?” — Marketing, through gritted teeth.
But it works. Companies that do this thing we call “alignment” often make a lot more money. Like, 30% more revenue kind of money. Which is roughly what salespeople spend on quarter-end espresso shots and Patagonia vests.
Here’s what alignment actually looks like in the wild:
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Shared KPIs: Conversion rates! Pipeline velocity! Everyone’s suddenly fluent in CRM.
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Unified customer profiles: A beautiful fiction where both teams agree “who we’re targeting” isn’t “everyone with a pulse.”
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Collaborative content: Sales gets the one-pager they always wanted. Digital marketing gets to stop writing “Thought Leadership” blog posts no one reads.
Content, But Make It a Team Sport
Historically, content has been marketing’s sacred sandbox—precious, pristine, and filled with branded buzzwords. Sales, meanwhile, often shows up with their own homemade decks, each more horrifying than the last, featuring 23-point font and a color palette lifted from a children’s dentist office.
The solution?
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Joint content planning: Where both teams pretend to enjoy each other’s input.
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Consistent messaging: So a prospect doesn’t go from “cutting-edge SaaS leader” to “we’re scrappy and cheap!” in three clicks.
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Feedback loops: A kind, corporate term for “Hey, this blog didn’t help close the deal. Fix it.”
The Cost of Not Aligning: A Greek Tragedy in PowerPoint Form
For those still unconvinced, consider what happens when digital marketing and sales don’t align:
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Leads go uncalled because “they weren’t qualified.” (Translation: “I forgot.”)
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Campaigns fall flat because they were based on assumptions from 2017.
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Sales calls open with, “So what do you guys do again?” despite your homepage screaming it in 72pt font.
It’s like performing in a two-man play where neither actor has read the script—and one of them insists on using sock puppets.
Technology: The Cordless Phone Between Departments
Want to foster communication? Great. Just don’t rely on “pop by their desk” culture. Use tools:
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CRM systems – Where leads go to be judged and occasionally nurtured.
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Marketing automation – For when you need to email a guy named Josh 13 times before he opens one.
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Shared dashboards – A modern marvel where everyone can witness the same underwhelming metrics in real time.
Real-Life Examples (That Don’t Involve Crying in a Conference Room)
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One SaaS company increased deal size by 20% just by having digital marketing and sales talk once a week. Revolutionary.
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Another reduced acquisition costs by 15% by using shared personas and not launching campaigns targeting “entrepreneurial houseplants.”
Insivia: The Relationship Therapist Your Teams Didn’t Know They Needed
At Insivia, we don’t just tell your teams to “talk it out” and hand them a feelings chart. We dig in.
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We run workshops where marketing and sales sit in the same room and leave without filing HR reports.
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We build shared personas that make sense, not just look good on slides.
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We install feedback loops that actually happen, instead of being “on the roadmap.”
Conclusion: Try Getting Along—Your Revenue Will Thank You
At the end of the day, alignment is less about loving each other and more about realizing you both want the same thing: closed deals, happy customers, and maybe, just maybe, a little less finger-pointing in Q4.
So the next time your marketing team blames sales for “not following up fast enough,” or sales blames marketing for “useless MQLs,” consider this radical idea:
Lock them in a room, give them a whiteboard, and see what happens.
If nothing else, you’ll have a great story for your next company retreat. Probably involving sock puppets.
Consider engaging with Insivia to align your marketing and sales strategies. Our expertise and dedication to client outcomes make us the ideal partner for your journey.
Written by: Andy Halko, CEO & Founder
I started Insivia in 2002 and for over 22 years I have had the chance to work directly with hundreds of companies and founders to redefine or reinvent their businesses.