Sales and marketing teams often struggle to see eye to eye—and it’s costing B2B companies.
In fact, it is estimated that as much as a 10% loss in revenue can be attributed to sales and marketing misalignment1.
But it looks like we’re one step closer to solving this age-old problem. A study2 found that companies with aligned sales and marketing departments are 20% more likely to use marketing automation than non-aligned companies.
Even better, when marketing automation is fully integrated with CRM, sales and marketing are finally able to get on the same page. According to Demand Gen Report3, among the companies that employ both a marketing automation platform and CRM as part of an integrated tech stack, 74% saw aligned sales and marketing teams.
As such, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly Pardot)—owned by Salesforce, the #1 CRM provider worldwide—has become a popular marketing automation platform option, especially for B2B companies who want to ensure a smoother integration with their existing Salesforce platform.
We’re proud to announce that 2X is now a Salesforce partner for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (MCAE), providing 2X clients access to the platform’s full suite of functionalities, plus a pool of certified MCAE experts who are not only adept at day-to-day MarTech management but work tirelessly to integrate data, ensuring B2B companies get a full picture of their customers.
“Having your marketing automation and CRM operate in the same ecosystem makes information syncing more seamless and convenient. But effective use of any MarTech tool still requires a human touch. For example, marketing leads need to be constantly tested and validated to ensure only high-quality leads are passed on to sales. On top of that, with the explosion of MarTech now in full swing—with many B2B companies increasing their spend on a variety of MarTech tools—there is a need for companies to integrate a host of other MarTech investments too. They need to look comprehensively at data from the different platforms and unify them. This creates work that companies can’t always support because they don’t have enough talent versed in operating a variety of MarTech tools. This is where 2X’s multi-disciplinary team of MarTech specialists can help,” said 2X CEO Domenic Colasante.
2X Talent Integrates Salesforce MCAE with the Rest of Your MarTech Stack
According to the 2022 State of Marketing report by Salesforce4, some 6,000 marketing leaders worldwide named the ineffective use of tools and technologies their number one challenge as a marketer.
The report further revealed that 31% of B2B marketers say that sharing a unified view of customer data across business units is a challenge. Indeed, according to the 2021 Gartner Cross-Functional Customer Data Survey5, just 14% of organizations achieve a 360° view of their customers.
Hence, besides hiring marketers equipped with the technical skills required to fully utilize a company’s MarTech stack, these talent need to be able to make sense of the variety of marketing data available in this era of MarTech explosion and integrate them for a complete view of their customers’ lifecycle. Unfortunately, these highly specialized marketers are hard to come by, especially in the current labor crisis.
2X has spent years developing a team of MarTech managers who possesses both the technical knowledge required to successfully operate MCAE—plus a host of MarTech tools—and the ability to link the various data sources to create true marketing impact. Our partnership with MCAE inspires us to further expand our talent pool, helping more B2B companies gain a bird’s-eye view of their prospects, and in turn, improve their sales outreach efforts.
2X Senior Marketing Technology Specialist, Elliot Jong, is an MCAE-certified, Drift-certified, and Salesforce Certified Administrator, and has helped many 2X clients unify their customers’ data across their MarTech stack.
“We cannot view MCAE in isolation. We have to consider our clients’ entire tech stack. For example, if a client is tapping into intent data from a platform like 6sense or leveraging conversation marketing with Drift, all that data that’s captured by these respective platforms need to be properly synced to MCAE for us to run effective campaigns. And as marketing automation platforms like MCAE often serve as a central repository for an array of data, a deep understanding of MCAE and the rest of a company’s tech stack is crucial for successful data integration. Well-rounded data ultimately requires well-rounded MarTech managers.”
A New Operating Model for MarTech Management
A recent Gartner report noted that on average, B2B companies leverage just 42% of their MarTech stacks today, compared to 58% in 2020, and declared that marketing technology utilization is tumbling into a new valley of unproductivity requiring “urgent attention to maximize impact in the face of potential economic headwinds that bring on greater CFO scrutiny or forced budget cuts.”6
Transforming the operating model is key to helping companies increase utilization of existing MarTech capabilities.
Marketing leaders are moving away from assembling their own in-house marketing teams, as hiring and retaining talent has become increasingly difficult and costly. Instead, many are outsourcing their execution functions, particularly MarTech management, to an offshore firm like 2X.
Backed by a highly qualified 2X team, they gain access to a dedicated team of certified marketing technologists who have a deep knowledge of cutting-edge MarTech tools and know how to apply them—at a fraction of the cost of an in-house hire—meaning B2B companies can hit the ground running with their marketing strategies.
About 2X
A pioneer in the B2B marketing as a service (MaaS) category, 2X enables operating model transformation that drives growth in marketing’s contribution to businesses’ revenue and overall enterprise valuation. With global headquarters in Philadelphia, US, and delivery operations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2X comprises a world-class, diverse team of marketing strategists, developers, analysts, designers, and writers who work together to deliver high-impact account-based marketing and demand-generation programs, data analytics, and marketing technology management. 2X’s unique approach brings scale to B2B marketing for greater revenue impact, execution efficiency, and capacity for innovation. It currently ranks #663 on the Inc. 5000 list and is recognized as a 2021 Diverse and Inclusive Employer by The Startup Weekly. For further information, visit: 2X.Marketing/Career.
About Salesforce
Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360° view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.
1 CMO, ‘5 Best Practices for Aligning Sales and Marketing’, 2015, Retrieved from CMO
2 Ledgeview, ‘An Amazing Compendium of Marketing & Sales Statistics’, 2016, Retrieved from Ledgeview
3 Demand Gen Report, ‘2015 Benchmark Study: What’s Working In Demand Generation?’, 2015, Retrieved from Demand Gen Report
4 Salesforce, ‘State of Marketing’, 2022, Retrieved from Salesforce
5 Gartner, ‘Gartner Marketing Survey Finds Only 14% of Organizations Have Achieved a 360-Degree View of their Customer’, 2022, Retrieved from Gartner
6 Gartner, ‘Disruptions Derail Progress in Martech Utilization’, 2022, Retrieved from Gartner