# How to Build Sales and Marketing Content Alignment
In many Australian small businesses, marketing creates beautiful brochures that sales never uses, while sales reps spend hours creating their own pitch decks because they can’t find what they need. Sales and marketing alignment (often called 'Smarketing') ensures your content supports the entire customer journey, reducing friction and helping you close deals faster.
When these two teams speak the same language, your marketing becomes more relevant and your sales process becomes more efficient. This guide will show you how to synchronise your efforts to drive better ROI.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure you have:- Access to your CRM (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive).
- A list of your current marketing assets (blogs, PDFs, videos).
- 60 minutes of uninterrupted time with your lead sales person.
- A shared folder system (Google Drive, SharePoint, or Dropbox).
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Step 1: Define Your Shared Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Alignment starts with agreeing on who you are actually trying to reach in the Australian market. Marketing might be targeting 'Small Business Owners,' while Sales is only looking for 'Commercial Construction Firms with 20+ staff.' Action: Sit down and document the specific industry, company size, job titles, and geographic locations you are targeting. Ensure both teams agree that these leads are worth pursuing.Step 2: Map the Customer Journey Together
Don't guess what the journey looks like. Map out the typical path an Australian customer takes, from discovering your brand on Google to signing a contract. Screenshot Description: You should see a whiteboard or digital canvas (like Miro) divided into columns: Awareness, Consideration, Decision, and Post-Purchase. Under each column, list the questions customers ask at that stage.Step 3: Audit Your Existing Content Library
Create a simple spreadsheet listing every piece of content you currently have. Ask the sales team to rate each piece on a scale of 1-5 based on how useful it is during a live deal. Common Mistake: Marketing often focuses on 'Top of Funnel' content (blogs and social posts), while Sales desperately needs 'Bottom of Funnel' content (case studies, pricing guides, and competitor comparisons).Step 4: Identify Content Gaps
Compare your content audit against the customer journey map. Where are the holes? If customers always ask about your ABN, insurance details, or specific Australian Standards compliance in the decision stage, but you have no document explaining this, you’ve found a gap.Step 5: Establish a 'Content Request' Workflow
Sales should have a formal way to tell Marketing what they need. Instead of random emails or Slack messages, use a simple Google Form. Pro Tip: Your form should ask: "What objection will this content help overcome?" and "At what stage of the sales process will this be used?"Step 6: Standardise the Messaging and Tone
Ensure the 'voice' of your marketing emails matches the 'voice' of your sales reps. If your marketing is quirky and casual, but your sales contracts and follow-ups are stiff and overly formal, it creates a 'trust gap' for the prospect.Step 7: Centralise Content Access
If Sales can't find it in 30 seconds, they won't use it. Organise your shared drive by 'Buying Stage' or 'Use Case' rather than by 'File Type.' Screenshot Description: A folder structure showing folders named "01-Awareness-Educational", "02-Consideration-Comparison", and "03-Closing-Case-Studies-and-Pricing".Step 8: Create 'Sales Plays' for Marketing Content
Don't just send a new PDF to the sales team. Give them a 'Sales Play'—a 3-sentence blurb they can copy and paste into an email to introduce that specific piece of content to a prospect.Step 9: Implement a Feedback Loop (The Weekly Stand-up)
Schedule a 15-minute weekly meeting. Sales should report on which pieces of content are getting clicks and which objections are trending. Marketing can then pivot their content calendar to address these real-world issues.Step 10: Track Content Analytics in the CRM
Use tools like HubSpot or specialized sales enablement software to see if prospects are actually opening the files Sales sends. If a 'Comparison Guide' is being opened 50 times a month, Marketing knows to create more content like it.Step 11: Recognise and Reward Collaboration
Publicly acknowledge when a lead generated by a specific marketing campaign is closed by sales using the provided sales enablement tools. This reinforces the value of the partnership.---
Pro Tips for Success
- Use Real Language: Listen to sales call recordings. If customers use the word "tradie" instead of "tradesperson," your marketing content should reflect that.
- Localise Everything: Ensure your content uses Australian dollars ($AUD), references local time zones, and mentions Australian success stories.
- Keep it Editable: Provide Sales with templates (like Canva or PowerPoint) where they can add a prospect's logo or specific details without needing a graphic designer for every small change.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- The 'Ivory Tower' Approach: Marketing creating content in a vacuum without ever talking to a customer or a salesperson.
- Information Overload: Sending Sales a 50-page brand guideline. They need a 1-page cheat sheet.
- Ignoring the 'After-Sales': Forgetting to create content for existing customers (onboarding guides, referral request templates).
Troubleshooting
"Sales says the leads from Marketing are low quality."- Solution: Re-evaluate your 'Lead Scoring'. Agree on exactly what actions a prospect must take (e.g., downloading a pricing guide vs. just reading a blog) before they are handed over to Sales.
- Solution: Check the accessibility. Is it buried in a deep sub-folder? Is it too long? Try converting a 10-page whitepaper into a 1-page 'Executive Summary' for the sales team.
- Solution: You don't need it. A well-organised Google Drive and a shared Google Sheet for tracking content performance work perfectly for most Australian small businesses.
Next Steps
- Conduct a Content Audit: Spend this afternoon listing your top 10 most-used assets.
- Interview your Top Salesperson: Ask them, "What is the one question you have to answer in every single meeting?"
- Create a 'Battle Card': Build a one-page document comparing your business to your top three Brisbane or national competitors.
If you're finding it difficult to bridge the gap between your sales and marketing efforts, our team at Local Marketing Group can help you build a cohesive strategy that converts. Contact us today to book a strategy session.