How Integrated Sales and Marketing Strategies Drive Revenue Growth

Table of Contents

• So What Is an Integrated Sales and Marketing Strategy?
• Step 1: Align Sales and Marketing Strategies Around Shared Revenue Goals
• Step 2: Build Your Sales and Marketing Strategy in the CRM
• Step 3: Build Sales and Marketing Campaigns That Actually Convert
• Step 4: Optimize Your Sales and Marketing Strategy with Real Feedback Loops
• Step 5: Continuously Improve Sales and Marketing Strategies with Testing and Iteration

“Sales and marketing alignment”. You hear it all the time. It’s a buzzword, it’s a “game changer".

But what does it actually mean?

And how do you actually do it right?

So What Is an Integrated Sales and Marketing Strategy?

Well, here’s what it’s not…more meetings.

But rather:

• Same goals: Both teams focus on pipeline and revenue, not just leads or closed deals.
• Same tools: Everyone works in the same CRM, looking at the same data.
• Same accountability: If deals aren’t closing, both teams are responsible for fixing it.

And here’s what it looks like in action:

• Lead scoring built together so both teams agree on what a “good lead” actually is
• Campaigns coordinated so sales knows what marketing is running and when to follow up
• Clear attribution that shows how both teams influenced a deal, not just who “sourced” it
• Feedback shared in the CRM so marketing can see what’s working, and sales gets better leads

Now, here’s how to build that kind of alignment, step by step.

Step 1: Align Sales and Marketing Strategies Around Shared Revenue Goals

If marketing and sales are tracking different goals, things will fall apart fast.

You need shared goals that actually tie to revenue.

Here’s how...

Stop Measuring Vanity Metrics

MQLs, email opens, and page views might look good on a report, but they don’t pay the bills.

Instead, focus on goals that matter to both teams, and the business.

Why? 

Because organizations that align sales and marketing report a 208% increase in marketing revenue, a 32% YoY revenue growth, and up to 38% higher sales win rates, all proving how powerful shared goals can be.

What to Measure Instead:

• Pipeline sourced (Marketing): How much revenue marketing is generating, not just how many leads they’re passing off
• Pipeline closed (Sales): How much revenue sales is actually closing, based on those leads
• Stage-to-stage conversion rates (Both): Where are leads dropping off? What’s getting stuck? This shows how well your entire funnel is working

How to Align These Goals Inside HubSpot

Shared goals are great, but they don’t end up meaning much if you can’t track them in your systems.

Here’s how to bring that alignment to life using HubSpot:

1. Align Lifecycle Stages to Your Pipeline

Make sure your CRM lifecycle stages (like Lead → MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Customer) match your sales pipeline stages.

If those are out of sync, you’ll never know where leads really are, or who owns them.

2. Create Shared Dashboards

Both teams should be looking at the same data, ideally in one place. 

Build dashboards that show:

• Pipeline by source
• Lead conversion rates
• Attribution by channel
• Revenue by lifecycle stage

Ideally, these should reflect real-time.  No one wants end-of-month surprises.

3. Track Attribution Across the Full Journey

Don’t just credit the first ad click or the last sales email. Use multi-touch attribution to show how marketing and sales both influence a deal.

• HubSpot’s attribution tools let you see which campaigns actually move revenue
• Use this data to double down on what’s working, and cut what’s not

Need help mapping lifecycle stages to pipeline stages in HubSpot? Book a HubSpot Audit. 👇

Step 2: Build Your Sales and Marketing Strategy in the CRM

Once marketing and sales agree on goals and lead definitions, it’s time to make it happen…inside your CRM.

Translation: Turn those good ideas into good results.

Your CRM Should Show Exactly How Leads Move

A solid CRM setup makes sure:

• Everyone knows who owns what
  
• Leads move smoothly from stage to stage
• Nothing falls through the cracks

If your CRM doesn’t reflect your process, no one follows it. CRM adoption isn’t just about tracking, it’s about enabling smarter collaboration. 74% of CRM users say it improves access to customer data, which fuels more effective joint strategies.

Watch: Here’s a quick look at how GTM engineers use tools like Clay to clean, enrich, and route data to the right teams—so your CRM actually reflects the truth. 👇

How to Operationalize in HubSpot

This is how to build your alignment into HubSpot so it runs automatically, and doesn’t rely on memory or manual steps.

1. Mirror Your Lifecycle in the CRM

Use the lifecycle stages you defined in Step 1 (like Lead → MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Customer) and make sure they match the actual deal pipeline.

This keeps your funnel clean and trackable from first touch to closed deal.

2. Put Lead Scoring Into Action

Now that both teams agree on what a good lead looks like:

• Set up scoring based on fit (like job title or company size)
• Add engagement signals (like email clicks or page visits)
• Use these scores to trigger actions, not just report on them

3. Automate Alerts and Handoffs

Make your CRM do the follow-up work so your team doesn’t have to remember to:

• Alert reps when leads show intent (like viewing pricing)
• Assign leads based on score or lifecycle stage
• Auto-create tasks when leads hit key milestones (e.g., demo request)
  
  

Example: What a Smooth CRM Flow Looks Like

• A cold lead revisits your pricing page → HubSpot alerts the BDR instantly
• Lead score hits 70+ → Auto-assign to sales and mark as SQL
• Lead downloads a high-intent asset → HubSpot creates a follow-up task for the rep

Tool Tip

Use tools like Clay or Breeze AI to automatically fill in missing info (like job title, company size, or LinkedIn URL) before leads hit your CRM., 

This helps your workflows and scoring stay accurate without asking for more form fields.

Step 3: Build Sales and Marketing Campaigns That Actually Convert

The problem: Most campaigns fall apart after the form fill. Marketing captures the lead, but sales never follows up, or doesn’t even know it happened.

Solution: Your campaigns need to be built with marketing, sales, and RevOps working together from day one.

What Each Team Is Responsible For

In a fully integrated campaign:

• Marketing creates the offer, runs the ads, and manages the nurture
• Sales follows up with engaged leads at the right time
• RevOps sets up automation, lead routing, and tracking in the CRM

How a Working Campaign Actually Runs

Here’s what an aligned, cross-functional campaign looks like from start to finish:

Step 1: The campaign launches

Marketing promotes a content offer via ads or outbound. A lead fills out a short form.

Step 2: The lead is enriched

Tools like Clay or Breeze AI add job title, company info, and LinkedIn profile automatically.

Step 3: The nurture kicks in

The lead receives a short email sequence from marketing, delivered through HubSpot.

Step 4: The lead engages

They click a link, visit a key page, or reply to an email, which triggers a workflow.

Step 5: Sales is notified

RevOps pushes a Slack alert to the assigned rep with a snapshot of the lead’s activity.

Step 6: Sales follows up

The rep sends a personalized message using Smartlead, Clay, or directly through HubSpot.

Watch: Here’s why great outbound starts with great data—before you automate anything, make sure your CRM is clean, accurate, and actually usable. 👇

Step 7: The lead responds

The whole journey, clicks, follow-ups, replies, is tracked in HubSpot and tied to the campaign.

Step 4: Optimize Your Sales and Marketing Strategy with Real Feedback Loops

Setting goals and running campaigns are good starts, but they aren’t enough. You need a way for marketing, sales, and RevOps to regularly review what’s working and what’s not.

That’s what feedback loops are for: turning campaign results and sales insights into better decisions, faster.

Why Feedback Loops Matter

Dashboards don’t solve problems on their own. You need regular check-ins and shared analysis across teams.

A Simple, Repeatable Feedback Process

Hold a quick weekly GTM sync to review:

• Funnel breakdown by segment (Where are leads getting stuck?)
• Campaign performance (Which offers are turning into meetings?)
• Top disqualification reasons (Why is sales rejecting leads?)
• Win/loss summaries (What’s helping deals close or stall?)

Key Metrics to Track Together

Looking at the right numbers, together, is what makes this work.

Here are the basics to track:

• Lead-to-SQL conversion rate
  Shows if your scoring and qualification rules are accurate
• Time-to-first-touch
  Measures how quickly sales follows up on new leads
• Campaign-influenced opportunities
  Tells you which marketing efforts actually create deals
• Lead source performance across revenue
  Breaks down which channels are driving real pipeline

Step 5: Continuously Improve Sales and Marketing Strategies with Testing and Iteration

Your market, your buyers, and your product will all change over time.

What worked last quarter might flop next quarter.

That’s why the best teams are constantly testing, learning, and adjusting.

Why You Should Refresh Every 30–90 Days

Campaigns don’t last forever. Lead behavior changes. Sales feedback evolves.

Here’s what high-performing teams do:

• A/B test subject lines, landing pages, and outreach messages
• Watch lead quality by channel, not just volume
• Update scoring rules when patterns change
• Tweak automations and workflows based on results

Easy Optimization Wins in HubSpot

Don’t panic, you’re not rebuilding everything. Just start with small adjustments that make a big difference.

Use campaign analytics to compare what’s working

Check performance by offer, source, and persona, then cut or scale based on results.

Adjust workflows based on real outcomes

Use win/loss data to update when and how leads move through your funnel.

Re-score leads who re-engage

If a lead comes back after 90 days, reset or boost their score so sales doesn’t miss them.

What You Just Built

If you followed along, here’s what you’ve built:

• Shared revenue goals tied to metrics that matter
• A CRM that enforces process, not just stores contacts
• Campaigns that don’t die after the form fill
• Feedback loops that drive compounding improvements
• Optimization routines that keep your GTM engine sharp

In other words, you’ve put together the foundation for predictable, scalable revenue…and managed to make sales and marketing besties.

Now go make your CRM do some actual work.