{"id":47788,"date":"2023-04-09T21:45:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T21:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/smarketing"},"modified":"2026-10-01T20:51:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:51:01","slug":"smarketing","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/smarketing","title":{"rendered":"Smarketing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Definition:<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad alignright wp-image-47932 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smarketing-1.jpg\" alt=\"Smarketing\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smarketing-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smarketing-1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Smarketing<\/strong> is an approach to coordinating sales and marketing teams so that they work with shared objectives, definitions, data, and processes. The term combines sales and marketing and describes operational alignment rather than requiring the two departments to merge.<\/p>\n<p>Its purpose is to reduce the <strong>internal silos<\/strong> that arise when marketing attracts and qualifies contacts using one set of criteria while sales uses another to prioritise and follow them up. Coordination makes it possible to examine the journey from acquisition to sale and the subsequent relationship as a connected process.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Foundations of smarketing<\/h2>\n<p>Smarketing starts with a <strong>common reference<\/strong> for the market, customer, and commercial process. Both teams agree which profiles matter, what a qualified lead means, when a handoff takes place, and what information should accompany it.<\/p>\n<p>Marketing contributes knowledge about audiences, content, channels, and earlier behaviour. Sales adds what it learns from conversations, objections, opportunities, and closed deals. This <strong>information exchange<\/strong> makes it possible to review campaigns and messages using evidence from the entire process.<\/p>\n<p>This alignment does not remove <strong>specialised functions<\/strong>. Marketing may continue to manage demand, positioning, and content, while sales conducts the commercial relationship. The shared element is the decision system connecting the two activities.<\/p>\n<h2>Agreement between teams<\/h2>\n<p>Coordination is often documented through an internal service-level agreement, or SLA. It sets reciprocal commitments and prevents collaboration from depending only on informal meetings. An <strong>operating agreement<\/strong> may include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Common objectives:<\/strong> Outcomes connected to the business in addition to each team&#8217;s specific metrics.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shared definitions:<\/strong> Criteria for distinguishing a contact, lead, opportunity, and customer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Handoff rules:<\/strong> The data, owner, channel, and point at which a lead passes to sales.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Response times:<\/strong> Expected deadlines for contacting, accepting, returning, or rejecting opportunities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review cycle:<\/strong> The frequency, participants, and evidence used to adjust the agreement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The conditions depend on the business model, cycle length, and available resources. An SLA does not guarantee results, but it turns general expectations into <strong>observable responsibilities<\/strong> that can be compared with actual activity.<\/p>\n<h2>Shared lead management<\/h2>\n<p>The flow begins with a <strong>joint definition<\/strong> of the audience and relevant signals. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/buyer-persona\">buyer persona<\/a> helps describe roles, needs, and decision criteria, while interaction data shows responses to content, campaigns, and commercial contacts.<\/p>\n<p>Marketing may record the source, activity, and context of each <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/lead\">lead<\/a>. Qualification criteria determine when it is handed to sales, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/lead-scoring\">lead scoring<\/a> can organise fit and interest signals. The score is a <strong>prioritisation aid<\/strong>, not proof of intent or quality.<\/p>\n<p>Sales accepts, returns, or rejects the contact according to the agreed rules and records the reason. This <strong>structured feedback<\/strong> distinguishes, for example, incomplete data, poor fit, unsuitable timing, and absence of need.<\/p>\n<p>The process may also cover reactivating contacts and communicating with existing customers. <strong>Context continuity<\/strong> helps prevent repeated questions, lost information, or incompatible messages across channels.<\/p>\n<h2>Metrics and technology<\/h2>\n<p>Measurement combines marketing, sales, and shared outcome indicators. A single figure, such as lead volume or revenue, does not explain how the system is working. Analysis needs to connect <strong>quantity and quality<\/strong> throughout the journey.<\/p>\n<p>Metrics that may be reviewed jointly include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Qualified volume:<\/strong> Contacts that meet the agreed criteria at each stage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acceptance rate:<\/strong> The proportion of transferred leads accepted by sales for follow-up.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Response time:<\/strong> The interval between handoff and the first recorded action.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Commercial progression:<\/strong> Movement from leads to opportunities and opportunities to customers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conversion rate:<\/strong> The relationship between stages, interpreted with its volume and period.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Loss reasons:<\/strong> Recorded causes of returns, abandonment, or closure without a sale.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/crm\">CRM<\/a> may serve as a shared source for identities, activities, stages, and outcomes. Automation platforms help execute rules or alerts, but <strong>technology integration<\/strong> cannot by itself correct contradictory definitions, incomplete records, or ambiguous responsibilities.<\/p>\n<h2>Advantages and limitations<\/h2>\n<p>When consistent data and clear commitments are in place, smarketing can provide <strong>greater traceability<\/strong>, more coherent messages, and faster identification of friction. It also helps decisions about content, channels, and follow-up use shared information.<\/p>\n<p>These effects <strong>are not automatic<\/strong> and do not necessarily imply an increase in revenue or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/conversion-rate\">conversion rate<\/a>. Outcomes depend on the proposition, demand, data quality, execution, and market. Incompatible incentives may even shift the problem towards metrics that favour one team.<\/p>\n<p>Periodic review needs to identify outdated definitions, unanswered handoffs, and fields that no longer provide useful information. <strong>Continuous governance<\/strong> keeps the agreement aligned with changes in products, segments, channels, and purchasing processes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: Smarketing is an approach to coordinating sales and marketing teams so that they work with shared objectives, definitions, data, and processes. The term combines sales and marketing and describes operational alignment rather than requiring the two departments to merge. Its purpose is to reduce the internal silos that arise when marketing attracts and qualifies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1076,409],"class_list":["post-47788","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-internal-marketing","encyclopedia-tag-marketing-automation-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/47788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=47788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}