Marketing and I.T. | Working Together
Behind the scenes at most companies, the most common internal relationship is between Sales and Marketing. Are you aware the relationship between Marketing and I.T. is just as important? To boost your marketing and sales efforts, make sure all your internal teams support each other.
First, some common terms used:
- I.T. = Information Technologies (computer service department)
- CRM = Customer Relations Management (customer tracking software)
- SSL = Secure Sockets Layer (website communications encryption certificate)
Marketing drives people to visit your store, website, and social feeds and helps create leads your Sales team can convert into paying customers. How can your I.T. department help in the cause?
Marketing does not only create display ads, post social media content, or write blogs about the “20XX BEST …”. Marketing also works behind the scenes ensuring your emails, printing, and CRM system stays current for the Sales team to work their magic.
I.T.
I.T. teams manage your computer systems, and this includes both software and hardware. That CRM you use, the databases you query, and the email you access daily. Those are key systems your I.T. manages.
These teams vary in size but are the backbone support system that keeps today’s businesses online, the CRM’s running, machines accepting credit cards, and managing the vital data your company accesses.
WORKING TOGETHER
Your company size and purpose will determine the needs of your I.T. team. Very large companies have both internal I.T. teams and hire out for specific situations like creating support tickets to fix issues. Medium- to small-size companies tend to hire an internal department that manages all the I.T. systems. In the smallest companies, I.T. teams are typically the responsibility of the owner or one other team member.
In relation, your Marketing team tends to follow that same pattern, with very large companies using both internal and external marketing teams, medium-size companies using internal marketing teams only, and small companies handle marketing through the owner.
Marketing and I.T. are a joint team with 1 degree of separation. Marketing inputs customer information into your CRM’s database. I.T. ensures that your database is functioning, secure, and backed up.
Your marketing team also requires a website to brand your company. Businesses today are miles behind without even a simple single-page website. Well, again your I.T. team is there to ensure it is set up and secure with an SSL certificate and ready to receive online payments.
When you ask your marketing team to create marketing campaigns and print posters or flyers, those files are created and stored on servers, that your I.T. department configures and maintains. Slow server times reduce workflows and cause congestion in your campaign creation. Not to forget, the printer connections, ink maintenance, and printer maintenance your marketing team will require during the process.
Your I.T. team really does support your marketing team and vice-versa. Your I.T. team needs information from your marketing team to set up CRM software needs, establish website domain names and hosting, and print those “beautiful” out of service signs for your brick and mortar customer. All your teams work for the common goal, to produce revenue faster.
REDUCE INTERNAL TENSION
There will always be some tension between the Marketing and I.T. departments. Both want what is best for the company, focusing on the easiest solution at the best price to get issues resolved.
With technology updating and expanding every month, the Marketing teams will want the newest, fastest, and coolest tools. These requests tend to perform marketing tasks faster, allowing them to market to larger demographics, more efficiently.
The I.T. team must audit the wants and needs of the Marketing team (and all departments) and build systems that allow all users on the company’s network to perform faster. For example, A team member in accounting may require a computer that doesn’t need to run super speeds, while graphic designers do. Marketing fights the purchasing battle for top computers and network speeds, while accounting doesn’t require them.
I.T. reviews the holistic needs of all departments to correctly budget the hardware and software correctly. Companies do not have infinite financial resources and new technologies cost money… a lot of money. So, the tension between Marketing’s need to perform faster and the I.T. financial responsibility to provide systems for the company will tend to clash.
ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
Although there are some tensions, Marketing and I.T. are great partners, and honestly with few issues between them. If your I.T. team seems to struggle a little bit with supporting the marketing needs, you can reach out to companies like Hexi-Tech, who have experience working with marketing departments and can set up and even offer additional support based on your needs.
If you are a smaller company with a struggling marketing department and cannot seem to create marketing campaigns that produce results, TouchPoint Marketing may be helpful. They are smart and dedicated to providing revenue-driven campaigns.
CONCLUSION
Your Marketing and I.T. teams work together to provide awareness and revenue. You may not realize it but they depend on each other to provide the best services for your company to succeed and grow. Make sure to give them each a shout-out and show you support for their combined efforts.