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What is the Difference Between Marketing and Sales?

Marketing, over sales, is the broader term and marketing is about the branding, advertising and public relations aspects of being business. Sales is then an activity of marketing – it is the closing of the deal. So marketing creates the demand and sales meets that demand.

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“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
– Mark Twain

Businesses that neglect marketing will have fewer sales and customers. Why? Well, marketing is where lead generation begins and sales is where it ends with the lead converted to a sale, revenue and customer for the business. Marketing is about branding, advertising, customer discovery SEO, SMM, content, community and public relations.

Sales, on the other hand, is more focused on converting a lead i.e. closing a deal. So marketing creates the demand and sales secures that demand for the business.

Creating a balance between these two areas is key for the success of your business. When you’re a startup you may need one person to do marketing and sales. Every marketer should be able to sell and every salesperson capable of some marketing tasks.

However, as your business grows so too will its need for dedicated experts in key areas of marketing and sales.

For example, every business needs a professional online presence. Your website, blog, social media profiles need to be professionally crafted and consistent attractive branding. Plus your business will need an SEO and marketing strategy.

From your marketing strategy through to closing a sale, the rule of thumb is that eight contacts are required to take that potential client through to becoming a paying customer.

It is so important that your business develops a process that melds sales and marketing, this then enables your business to reach customers at the cold, warm, and hot lead levels.

Sales and Marketing Strategies

  • Cold Leads – At this point the strategy is a marketing focused strategy, educating and creating awareness of your product or service in the market by direct mailing online and in print.
  • Warm Leads – Once your leads are “warm” you need to follow up and at this point the strategy switches to sales. The focus then becomes one of closing the deal and ensuring contracts are signed and a relationship is built with the client.

Often the Sales and Marketing team will work alongside one another to ensure potential clients become clients, but keeping the balance is important and reviewing the partnership is critical. For further advice and information on this topic and many others see Mobilize Mail.

Thanks to Laura Lake for the information in this article, click here to read Laura’s article on Marketing Vs Sales.

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