5 Sales & Marketing Strategies [+Examples] from Top Companies

Marketing and sales strategy play a key role in the growth of any business. However, creating a streamlined strategy that focuses on sales and marketing can be daunting. 

Developing a sales strategy is not as challenging as it sounds. There are many businesses out there that developed and implemented stellar sales strategies. Some of the most popular names are HubSpot, Shopify, Apple, and the list goes on. 

We have come up with a comprehensive guide to show you how some of the most recognized brands have aced their sales and marketing activities with innovative strategies. 

Top Sales Strategy Examples to Learn from in 2022

A sales strategy is a plan to help the sales reps understand the business objectives and develop their sales process accordingly. In addition, a targeted sales strategy simplifies activities like competitor analysis, market research, and product positioning. 

Here are a few sales strategies and examples that can come in handy for businesses: 

Value-based Selling 

Value-based selling is one of the most used sales strategies of all time. A brand adopting this sales strategy positions its products and services based on perceived value. With value-based selling, brands focus on the benefit rather than the product. 

 Pros 

• If performed well, value-based pricing can establish high brand value for businesses. This sales strategy achieves customers’ trust through a strong value proposition and makes them perceive that your product is of high quality. 

• Value-based selling can help you achieve higher profitability margins. For a product with high perceived value, customers are usually willing to pay higher prices. Hence, the scope of attaining a high profitability margin is always there. 

• When a product addresses customers’ pain points and adds value, it can easily connect with the customers on an emotional level. Hence, value-based selling is capable of boosting customer loyalty. 

Cons 

• Value-based sales strategy only works for small, niche-specific markets where your product has a high demand. If you are targeting a broad market, this may not be the right strategy. Mostly because it is difficult for the sales reps to interact with every customer in the broad market and offer personalized benefits. 

Example - Shopify 

Shopify is one of the largest eCommerce platforms. Since the very beginning of its sales journey, Shopify has been successfully implementing a value-based sales strategy. If you visit Shopify’s website, you’ll notice how this brand has summarized all the value it can add to the customers through its services. 

The “Home page” of this platform appeals to the visitors with the top benefits it can offer like: 

• Building a store from scratch with zero coding experience 
• Selecting customizable themes for your eCommerce store 
• Adding numerous features and functionalities to the online store 

Shopify further adds social proof from existing customers to establish that it lives up to its promises. One of the customer testimonials on the Shopify website says, 

“We’ve been able to build something in 3 years that a lot of brands haven’t actually gotten to in 10 years.” Chioma | Co-Founder & CEO

Social selling 

Social selling is one of the most emerging sales approaches.

According to HubSpot, 77% of social media marketers feel that social media has been an effective sales and marketing channel this year. 

Under this sales strategy, brands interact with their prospects, nurture relationships and convert prospects into qualified through social media platforms. 

Social selling is a fresh take on modern networking and relationship-building. It can replace traditional sales techniques like cold calling and engage prospects in meaningful conversations. LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms to practice social selling. 

Pros 

• Social selling is an excellent practice for early-stage startups that don’t have a strong sales team yet. Additionally, new entrepreneurs can start their social selling journey solo even though they don’t have a solid team to support them. 

• Most social selling platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are free! Hence, you can start your basic social selling strategy for free. However, you might need premium plans as you approach an advanced social sales strategy. 

• A robust social sales strategy backed by strong social media content can help businesses for a long time. Social selling allows companies to convert their social media into a retainer lead generation engine that can produce multiple opportunities.  

Cons 

• Organic social growth takes time. Hence, it may not be the right sales strategy for you if you are looking for overnight growth and recognition. 

Example - Nike 

Social selling is not just about persuading prospects to buy from your brand. It is more about using social media throughout a prospect’s user journey and navigating them across different sales funnel stages. 

A brand that does social selling pretty well is - Nike. 

If you check Nike’s Instagram account, you will notice how this brand: 

• Responds to each customer query to make them feel valued. Whether the customers are enquiring about new products or asking for a refund, Nike always helps them out. 

• Nike also joins conversations on social media platforms and engages with customers through catchy dialogues and phrases. 

All these make Nike a top favorite among consumers. 

Challenger Selling 

Challenger sales strategy is a fast-growing approach that depends on the sales scenario, the sales rep, and the target customer. According to this sales strategy, the sales rep needs to take full ownership of the sales process and offer the customer a personalized benefit for a specific situation. 

A challenger sales rep purposefully creates tension in the customers’ minds and forces them to develop a fresh perspective. This sales strategy focuses on solving a strange problem for the prospects. This sales methodology is particularly effective in long, complex B2B sales cycles. 

Pros 

• It is the only sales strategy to help customers develop a fresh perspective on your product and address their struggles with a personalized solution.  

• Challenger sales strategy requires the sales reps to perform in-depth research about the prospects. As a result, sales reps can easily understand the critical value drivers of the brand and personalize their sales pitch. 

Cons 

• Only experienced sales reps can handle this sales approach confidently. However, for new reps, it can be a challenging sales methodology. 

Example - ConvertFlow

ConvertFlow is a funnel-builder tool for eCommerce stores. This brand has adopted a challenger sales strategy in the following manner: 

• ConvertFlow makes the most of content for answering potential objections. The target customers of ConvertFlow are marketing teams of startups, large enterprises, and agencies. Accordingly, this brand’s content answers the most common queries of these customer groups.  

• ConvertFlow uses interactive templates for each target buyer. In addition, ConvertFlow invites potential customers to try the tool for free for each piece of content. As a result, their content is super-relevant and encourages the target audiences to take action through content. 

• ConvertFlow website has tons of useful resources to push the leads through different funnel stages. In addition, this brand has a targeted content hub for all potential buyers and the right set of tools to direct them without making them feel overwhelmed. 

Top Marketing Strategy Examples 

A targeted marketing strategy should back a powerful sales strategy. When sales and marketing go hand-in-hand, success is on the cards. 

Here are a few marketing models and strategies that can make a difference: 

Make the most of User Generated Content (UGC) - GoPro

User-generated content (also known as UGC) is brand-specific content created by users and published on different social media channels, emails, landing pages, etc. UGC can be of different types, including images, testimonials, reviews, videos, podcasts, etc. 

UGC can come from customers, employees, and loyalists. It is useful across different stages of the buyer's journey. High-quality UGC can boost engagement and drive conversions.

Pros

• UGC frees up your marketing teams’ time from creating content. It allows brands to outsource relevant content from users and focus on other critical areas of marketing. 

• UGC can cause remarkable growth in a brand’s reach and engagement. Active user campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. social channels drive high views and persuade the users to take actions. 

Cons 

• Not all users will agree with your brand messaging. Hence, UGC can easily lead to negative feedback from potential users. 

Example: GoPro 

GoPro, one of the leading video equipment brands, has been using UGC for years. The YouTube channel of this brand features videos created only by its customers. As a result, some of the top user-generated videos have acquired millions of views for this brand on YouTube. 

GoPro has taken UGC to another level. Currently, this brand organizes award shows and promotes photo challenges to encourage customers to click creative pictures using GoPro products. 

Running strategic retargeting campaigns 

A great marketing strategy, often useful for lead nurturing, is running retargeting campaigns. The purpose of retargeting campaigns is to reach out to the people who have already visited your website and nurture them to complete their purchases. 

Pros 

• Users quickly notice retargeting ads because they already have some knowledge about the brand. Hence, the Click-through Rate on retargeting ads is often higher with greater revenue earning potential. 

• Retargeting campaigns can free up the advertisers time. Largely because retargeting ads are subjected to known audience groups, advertisers don’t need to spend much time figuring out the user persona for these campaigns. 

Cons 

• Users can get annoyed by seeing the same ads from a brand repeatedly. As a result, the brand’s reputation gets affected and may lead to permanent customer loss. 

• Repetitive retargeting ads can encourage users to install ad blockers. This can significantly affect the overall revenue of a brand. 

Example - HubSpot 

HubSpot is a winning name when it comes to retargeting campaigns. Notice this retargeting ad by HubSpot below: 

See how HubSpot adds a relevant image and copy to directly address a common pain point of their target customers - setting up a sales CRM tool. This brand knows that CRM tools take forever to set up, and most advertisers are hesitant to make a purchase decision. 

HubSpot’s ad tries to end this dilemma by assuring that it takes only 25 seconds to set up and saves up a lot of time in the long run. This can quickly grab users’ attention and persuade them to click on your ad. 

Final Thoughts 

The Internet is filled with numerous marketing and sales strategies. What works for one brand might not necessarily work for others. Hence, it is difficult to identify which strategy will be fit for which situation. 

Therefore, no matter which sales strategy you select from the above list, ensure that it is aligned with your target audiences and market. Also, you can personalize each strategy based on your business requirements and make it your own. 

Also, when it comes to sales, make sure that you have the right stack of sales tools. These sales tools can simplify the implementation of your sales strategies and fulfill your sales goals. 

Are you looking for an all-in-one, real-time sales automation tool to help your sales team? Try Salesken. 

Click here to book a demo!