The difference between marketing and sales

The advent of technology and in particular the internet, has opened up many possibilities for individuals and businesses to consume information like never before. With the depth of resources available, the distinction between different departments, roles and functions has never been more blurry.

In this weeks’ blog, we want to highlight some of the key differences between two of the most vital areas for any business, namely, the marketing and sales functions. Most people today believe they are great at marketing. In fact, most traditional marketing companies and individuals believe they can take their knowledge about print marketing and apply it straightaway to digital formats.

However, whilst the essence of marketing is universal, the application and success of strategies is very much down to knowledge and execution. Here at iOB Business, we have a number of years experience in Digital Marketing which really helps us provide a successful base from which our Partners can launch their own Digital Agencies.

Sales is the lifeblood of any business as it helps generate revenue. The vast majority of people often tend to fear the sales process, especially if they have never been in a sales environment before. However, if you take a step back, you can actually realise that you’ve been selling for the vast majority of your adult life, without even realising.

For example, think about a job interview and you are effectively selling your skills, experience and personality to prospective employers. Picture yourself in a meeting with colleagues, you are effectively selling your point of view to others within your organisation to make decisions. One final example, think about your personal life and the chances are you sold the idea of how amazing you are to your partner, husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend etc. We all know how to sell, it’s just how we choose to channel these traits into our professional and personal lives.

Marketing
In its simplest form, marketing is very much about creating awareness for your business and attracting potential customers. Marketing departments tend to devise and execute campaigns that reach a wide audience of potential customers.

Marketing encompasses a whole host of activities, from offline adverts in trade publications right the way through to retargeting ads on social media. With so many options, there has never been an easier and more immediate response to ads in history.

For example, you may be watching TV and the adverts at half time during a sporting fixture have all been devised by marketing teams working for some of the brands that you are exposed to. You may be driving and come across a billboard, again that has been created by a marketing team to build awareness. Finally, if you’ve ever spent any time on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, you’ll see lots of adverts that are displayed as you scroll your newsfeed. These are all common examples of marketing campaigns run across multiple channels and platforms.

That’s the thing with marketing, it is designed to create awareness and illicit a response from the intended audience. Everytime you fill in an enquiry form after viewing an advert, you are fulfilling the objectives of a marketing department somewhere.

Sales
The sales department, personnel or process is all about the activities that lead to the selling of products or services. Sales is focused on often working with a smaller group of the intended audience and demonstrating or explaining how products/services solve a crucial need for the customer.

Like with marketing, the sales effort can be a combination of offline activities such as meetings as well as digital processes such as an online meeting or demonstration. The sales process often centres on the “close’ or converting the person from a prospect into a paying client.

The important distinction here is that the sales process generally takes place after the marketing side has engaged and nurtured the prospect into demonstrating some form of interest. However, it is important that the goals and objectives of both the marketing and sales functions are joined to produce the best results.

Aligning the marketing and sales focus
The most successful companies are those that align the activities of their marketing and sales departments to achieve a common objective. Think about some of the biggest brands in the world and you’ll notice that they have very strong marketing campaigns that are followed up with a frictionless sales process to ensure you become a customer as quickly as possible.

Often with a lot of small and medium sized businesses, their marketing and sales activities are disjointed and often compete with each other rather than working together. Every business should understand when their marketing team should be passing off a highly interested or engaged prospect to the sales team to then nurture and close.

By aligning the marketing and sales focus, every business, regardless of size, can benefit from boosting their conversion rates by reaching out to prospects who will actually benefit from the businesses products or services.

Summary
As we have seen throughout this blog, there are key distinctions between the role of every marketing and sales department. Both are crucial in helping businesses increase revenue and reach new audiences and therefore it is imperative that they work together for a common goal.

To find out how you can launch a Digital Agency and help local businesses with their marketing activities, please contact a member of our team.

Until next time, take care.