07 May Marketing vs. Sales

Marketing and sales. Both are aimed at increasing revenue, but these two terms are so closely intertwined that people often don’t know the difference between the two at all. However, bigger firms have made a clear distinction between them and even have specialized people handling them independently. Sales can be termed as a process which focuses or targets on individuals or small groups. Marketing, on the other hand, targets a larger group or the general public. Let’s take a closer look at what differentiates the two.

Marketing is the first step! Creation of prospects to leads.

Marketing

Marketing is the systematic planning, implementation, and control of business activities to bring together buyers and sellers. Most marketing techniques exploit human psychology but the delivery is a function of the available technology. Marketing includes identifying the needs of the customer, development of products, promoting the product or service, and building awareness to consumers. In marketing, you are essentially focusing on the client relationship. Future needs need to be determined and a strategy needs to be set to meet those needs in the long term. Marketing shows how to reach the customers and build long-term relationships. Marketing targets the construction of a brand so that it easily becomes associated with the needs fulfillment. Marketing is understanding applied.

Marketing can mean:

• Email  Blasts
• Social Media Posts
• Website updates / website redesign
• Offers & promotions
• Reviews / Testimonials
• Press / News Article Features
• Brochures
• Direct Mail
• Analyze competitors
• Branding / Overall professional look of organization
• Educational information spread across different marketing channels

Sales

Sales is the in-person engagement, prospect qualification and direct education of the product or service.

It is the task of the salespeople to sell the product or service. In sales, you have to make the customer demand match what the company is offering. The customer does 70% of talking, while the salesperson covers the other 30. The focus is to fulfill sales goal objectives. While marketing is usually long-term, sales is primarily short-term and is the ultimate result of marketing. Once the product or service has been created for the customer need, it’s the job of the sales team to persuade the customer into purchasing the product to fulfill their needs. In sales, it’s meeting individual needs at the right time. There’s no premise of brand identity, longevity, or continuity. Sales is persuasion.

Sales can mean:

• Phone calls to prospects / leads
• Sales prospecting
• Following up via any form of communication directly
• Initial meetings with leads
• Pricing meetings
• Networking through events
• Door to door sales
• Sales presentations
• Answer objections

Marketing is always changing, while sales primarily stays the same.

Marketing is a media-oriented function. Therefore, the best channels of advertisement and promotion should be adopted in order to increase sales, which is people-oriented.  Both marketing and sales are opportunities for the creation of mutual benefit. What you want from a buyer, however, is not a sale. What you want is a relationship. The last step of marketing is sales, which requires good marketing. That is why they are so intertwined. Although they are essentially different, they both play an important role in the longevity of a business.

Did not close? No problem!

Marketing then comes back full circle to nurture leads into sales. Not all potential customers are ready at this moment. It can mean frustration to many sales people and may lead to aggressive sales tactics however they are not necessary. Marketing will remind these prospects how valuable your services are through different mediums from your website, to emails and social media. Prospects and leads take time to trust the companies that they are working with and not all mature at the same rate. Make sure to show these folks what you are working on and what you are doing to build value for others that have not tried your product or service.

Many people interchange these tasks in order obtain the overall objective however to know the difference may assist whether your company may need a sales person or a marketer (sometimes both).

At Design Moves, we know and understand the differences between the two terms and what they mean for business. We can help businesses thrive to the top of their marketing. It all starts with the basics. For more information on our South Florida Marketing Services please visit: https://dmoves.com//