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Things really are a team effort around here. I’m sure it’s the same at your organization – collaborating on content, customer activities, and marketing programs, to name a few. Nothing is more satisfying than being part of a successful, high-performing team, right? Hmm, perhaps I should be signing these posts ‘the Royal We’…

Give this song a listen as we see what the experts are saying this week.

The Ever-Elusive Alignment of Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing alignment. It’s been preached to death, hasn’t it? There’s no question how important it is – yet rarely do we see it happening!

SiriusDecisions found that companies with sales and marketing teams aligned achieve 24% faster growth rates and 27% faster profit growth. Are you struggling to get to that point? Well, here are a few more stats on why this ‘royal we’ is better together…

A collection of statistics that ZoomInfo compiled reflects 10% or more of revenue left on the table when B2B companies can’t align their sales and marketing on the right processes and tech (among many more findings – check out the full list here).

MarketingProfs shares a handy infographic with some pretty compelling numbers. Aligned organizations can:

• Increase revenues by 34%
• Increase customer retention by 36%
• Improve win rates by 38%

You said you believed it but believing won’t fly. It’s great to talk about sales and marketing alignment, but talking about it isn’t enough! If you’re still working to achieve that alignment, what’s holding you back?

Fake Artists, Passive Streams and DSPs

Whether you’ve stayed up-to-date with Spotify’s constant changes and announcements, it can’t be ignored – streaming services are top of mind! This article caught my eye, as it explains the “digital cesspool of greed” that is the world of Digital Service Providers (DSPs).

In particular, ‘fake artists’ comprise about 3 billion of Spotify’s streams. These are employees of production houses that generate songs at royalty rates lower than those normally paid to artists. Apparently, much of this music is generated in Sweden – and one production house in particular is responsible for creating songs for at least 62 fake artists on Spotify representing 7.7 million listeners per month!

This process is particularly rampant on Amazon Music, where around 70% of all activity is instigated via Alexa devices. The vast majority of streams are ‘passive’ sessions: users ask Alexa for some general kind of music and are channeled to pre-curated stations or playlists, all concocted by Amazon. And – you guessed it – a lot of this music comes from these production houses.

Does this really matter? There are always mass-produced content providers. In the context of B2B this is probably like hiring a larger firm that pumps out huge amounts of content vs. a freelance writer. Yes, these production houses are taking streams away from other artists, but is this just the natural behaviour of a free market?

You tell me!

As always, don’t hesitate to call ‘the royal Us’ to brainstorm or just say hello.

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

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