This is an interesting question as there are many differences between sales and marketing. Knowing the difference is essential, for a number of reasons:
1/ If you hire a sales person who has a background in marketing, can they sell? This mistake has been made in the past, by ourselves and likely other companies.
2/ If you need telesales, but use a telemarketing company, are you gout to get the same result?
3/ If you contact a marketing company for help with generating new business, will they deliver? They may be happy to work with you and bill you, but can they generate the results you need?
Sales and marketing have distinct roles in business. Sales is about closing deals and generating revenue through direct interaction with customers. Conversely, marketing takes a broader approach, creating awareness, building relationships, and driving long-term sales growth.
Marketing conducts market research, branding, and advertising to attract and engage a larger audience. On the other hand, sales utilize techniques such as cold calling and product demonstrations to convert leads into customers.
Both, however, are extremely important for business growth. Sales and marketing work together, with marketing setting the stage for sales success by creating value propositions and effective messaging to differentiate products or services in the marketplace.
We really do need to look at sales and marketing in 2020 to get a better understanding of the similarities and differences. If they are muddled, then this could lead to lost revenue, staffing issues and lost time.
Sales or selling is parting with a sum of money for a product or service. The best sales person in the world was Jesus Christ. He died over 2,000 years ago and people all around the world are still buying his offerings. He was selling something that cost nothing, yet cost everything.
Sales is necessary for any business, as all businesses need money to tick over and grow. Sales can be done in a number of ways:
However companies that use sales use marketing. They are very different, but work hand in hand alongside each other. In order not to be confused, they do need to be understood
Marketing is all about communication. This could be a new kind of soft drink to an American audience. This could be about the latest smart phone. It could be a new dog food. Communicating information to either a B2B audience (businesses) or a B2C audience (consumers/the public) about a product or service.
There are different forms of marketing, or ‘vehicles’ that are used to do this communication.
TV – Advertising products and services on TV is as old as the television using television advertising.
Radio – Radio adverts are used by companies all around the UK to market their products and services.
PR – Using media in the news and magazines is a popular form of marketing. This can be done online and offline.
Social Media – Choosing the right social media platform is necessary for social media marketing. This is a heavily growing marketing tool.
Telephone Marketing – Telemarketing has been used for decades for lead generation and marketing or products or services directly.
Choosing a marketing company will always be a challenge, since there are tens of thousands of them in the UK.
Effective marketing often leads to sales, although often direct selling to customers is better. Marketing creates a noise, something that Coca Cola does very well. A well established brand yet they still do marketing in order to keep their brands at the forefront.
The difference between sales and marketing are well defined, but really once cannot exist without the other. Products will not sell without marketing. Marketing cannot exist without sales. Compare marketing companies today by filling in the form opposite.
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