Marketing and Sales are different!
If you have a small or medium-sized business, you probably don't see much difference between the marketing and sales departments, because you don't have enough strength to focus on these two departments separately. You may also think that marketing and sales are both the same.
Marketing and sales are very different and With separate management and better support for each department, you can increase sales.
If the marketing department is to be managed only with the aim of increasing current sales, its function will be limited to supporting sales with an internal focus. However, if marketing finds its place in the management team, it can become a good growth element with an external focus that will also increase your sales.
Better separation and support of sales and marketing, when combined with SEO-friendly practices like buy real website visitors, can help your business grow and increase your customer base.
In this article from the KeyUpSeo blog, we want to fully explain the differences between marketing and sales and what role each plays in a business.
Sales means selling what you have
Sales means selling what you have, and in essence, it is about turning what you have into cash!
It turns leads into customers who pay your company, and this is done by interacting directly with potential customers to convince them to buy.
Every business has specific products and services that need to be sold. To do this, salespeople must have a close relationship with the customer (and sometimes colleagues), pave the way for the sale, overcome customer objections, and negotiate on price and terms. They usually have to make sure that other company personnel meet these customer needs after the sale.
The sales department looks from the inside out of a company, that is, towards the customer. Its focus is on the present, and its horizon is limited to this week, this month, or ultimately this season.
The reason is simple: if sales are not focused on the present, there is no guarantee of the company’s current profits.
In marketing, you are always with your customers
In marketing, you are aligned with your customers now and in the future. The typical goal of marketing is to interest potential customers in your product or service and generate sales leads. Therefore, its activities include the following:
- Consumer research to understand market needs
- Developing innovative products that can meet current and future customer needs
- Advertising products and services to increase awareness and build the brand
- Pricing products and services to maximize long-term profits
A key role of the marketing department, then, is to understand the market from the perspective of a customer, who is the company’s target audience, and to help the company move in a direction that will meet the wants and needs of the said customer in the future. As a result, the job of marketing is to guide a brand towards market segments and customer groups in which the company can compete and make a profit.
What is the purpose of marketing?
The marketer must help the brand change its offerings, pricing, and relationships to better meet customer needs and, as a result, increase the company’s sales.
Of course, the marketer’s job doesn’t end there. The marketing department must also be able to translate its understanding of the market into tools and tactics that allow the company to capture more market share, strengthen relationships (usually digital), and generate more sales leads.
Marketing can also send the sales department to the segment of the market that needs to hunt and provide them with the ammunition they require. Of course, keep in mind that when marketing’s function is limited to helping the sales team in the present, your business will miss out on the future.
These are just a small part of the big world of marketing and a small part of the benefits of marketing in business.
Without marketing, sales will suffer
You can’t have a successful business without having useful services for users.
The market is constantly changing, and this can affect sales. This is where marketing plays an important role. The marketing department must prepare the company for these changes and help salespeople understand where to sell or advertise.
If marketing is only useful for today, how are we supposed to understand where our industry is heading and how to react to it? This will limit the growth of our business.
Marketing and sales are two separate departments
One person should never be responsible for both marketing and sales. Because focusing on the present and driving sales requires skills that are not very compatible with the future-oriented and customer-centric view of the marketing department.
The sales team usually feels that they have a good understanding of customers and their needs. But this view is a bit far from reality. Why? Because the customer can always feel the salesperson’s efforts to persuade him in the background of the sales conversation. As a result, he will never fully talk about his needs and wants.
For a company to truly grow, someone must look to the future and see where the company should move in the future. In many companies, this department is usually the responsibility of the main manager, and Digital marketing techniques are simply an accompaniment to the sales team. But when a company grows, management alone becomes a permanent job and the strategic role of marketing may be forgotten.
Examining the impact of marketing on company growth
Let us share the results of a study in this field with you to better understand the importance of separating the two departments of marketing and sales.
A study conducted in late 2011 by the University of Texas at Austin surveyed nearly 200 mid-market business executives across 27 industries and found some interesting results.
Here are some of the interesting findings:
Marketing plays a key role in the growth of companies. When a company has marketing experience on its management team, it will experience greater growth and even be better at turning opportunities into reality. In addition, such a company is also more skilled at identifying the impact of its marketing and advertising methods, and as a result, it can achieve greater returns from its marketing programs. Of course, this is also true to some extent for those companies that, although they do not have experienced marketers, follow marketing principles.
However, despite the high impact of marketing on growth, 59% of the companies surveyed did not have a marketing department at all.
Differences between a Marketer and a Salesperson
Let’s take a deeper look at the differences between a marketing person and a salesperson.
In general, a marketer and a salesperson have the following characteristics:
Salesperson Characteristics
Here are the characteristics of a salesperson in each part of a business from the perspective of a salesperson:
- Product: I have a product that I want to sell. So my job is to convince the customer to buy.
- Price: Price is usually the biggest barrier to sales. Customers always tell me that our prices are higher than the competition.
- Offers: In my opinion, offers that are related to the product and offer discounts have the most impact.
- Audience: Most of the time, I prefer to talk to the buyer - the person who places the order. My job is more one-on-one interaction.
- Horizon: I am judged by weekly and monthly sales. I have to sell the product as quickly as possible.
- Brand Reputation: I represent the company. When people think of our brand, they will think of me.
- Strategy: My strategy is to get the product out the door. Yes, my main job is to sell products.
- Activities: My activities are to convince the customer to buy to meet their needs.
Characteristics of a Marketer
Here are the characteristics of a marketer in each part of a business from the perspective of a marketer:
- Product: I have a range of products and my goal is to make sure they meet the needs of the customers.
- Price: I need to know the value of the product, understand what the customer wants, and how much they are willing to spend for it. I want to make sure we don’t lose money.
- Offers: The offers should elicit a positive response from the target audience, which is anyone who can make the decision to buy our products.
- Audience: My audience can be broad and include decision-makers and influencers in addition to buyers. This could be end users or company executives.
- Vision: I have a long-term view, and I always think about where my business will be in a year or two.
- Brand Reputation: For me, becoming a brand is an exceptional opportunity for our company. If we can build a good reputation, we will be far ahead of our competitors
- Strategy: My strategy is to attract users to the company. I want to increase their interest in our company and our products
- Activities: My activities are market analysis, advertising, sales, public relations, service, and customer satisfaction.
New businesses should focus on sales
My suggestion to new businesses and startups is to focus on sales. Specifically, focus on attracting users and getting them to use your service to begin with. It might be a good idea to read Jessica Livingston’s talk on this subject. Her specialty is helping startups launch successful businesses:
In my experience, sometimes founders don’t want to face the shortcomings of their product and accept the hardships of building a startup. As a result, they prefer to take a broad, superficial approach called “marketing.” Because they can’t face the reality of the business and the unpleasant truths that talking to users shows them.
So my advice is to always build a perfect product and then go after customers manually yourself. Of course, these two paths are closely related. This means you need to have an initial audience in order to build an excellent product. So focusing on a narrow, deep path to sales and then marketing is not only the most effective way to acquire customers, but without it, your startup will die.
Conclusion on the two concepts of marketing and sales
As we have seen in this article, a successful business distinguishes well between sales and marketing and at the same time maintains a good connection between these two parts. Let's look once again at the most important features of both parts:
Sales focuses on the present and its goal is only immediate profit. It is this part that must ensure the survival of the company in the market. But marketing has a long-term view, and its goal is to determine the direction of the company and create interest in the market for the company's products. In this way, we can be sure that the company will move towards growth and better markets.
I also recommend reading the reverse marketing content to get acquainted with one of the most popular methods of reverse advertising.
Release date : 12 January, 2025