What IS the Difference Between Marketing and Sales?

There seems to be a never ending argument among marketing and
sales professionals as to what really is the difference between
marketing and sales functions. More often than not, both
business activity terms are used to describe any business
activity that is involved in increasing revenues. For small
businesses, with limited resources, there often is no practical
difference in marketing and sales functions, all revenue
generating activities are typically implemented by the same
personnel.

As a company grows in revenues and number of personnel, it
typically follows a logical business function progression of
“specialization”, a process where the lines between more
generic, departmental descriptions and functions became much
more definitive and associated functional responsibilities
become much more focused. Marketing and sales functions are no
exception.

Marketing and sales functions are diverse yet very
interdependent. Typically “sales” cannot exceed revenue
objectives without an effective marketing planning and support,
and “marketing” directives ultimately becomes useless without
sales to implement the plan.

Like many complex business issues, it is sometimes easier to
define something by what it’s NOT as it is to define it by what
it is. Let’s take a closer look at marketing to better define
what sales is not.

Simply defining “marketing” as the “Four P’s”, product, price,
place and promotion, based on your Marketing 101 class in
college is not practical in today’s global markets. In a
general sense, marketing is more theoretic than sales, focused
on purchase causality and is more prescriptive in purpose than
descriptive. Marketing involves micro and macro market analysis
focused on strategic intentions where sales is driven more by
tactical challenges and customer relations. Let’s take a closer
look at how marketing is truly different from sales:

Marketing responsibilities are distinct from sales in that
marketing:

* Establishes and justifies the company’s best competitive
position within a market

* Initially creates, helps sustain, and rigorously interprets
customer relationships

* Locates and profiles potential markets and key participants
within

* Generates quality sales leads

* Develops effective selling tools

* Formally analyzes and tracks competitor’s business strategies
and tactics

* Defines, prioritizes and justifies new product or service
improvements and developments

* Promotes an explicit company product or service image

* Facilitates information transfer from customers to the rest of
the company

* Simplifies the customer’s product or service procurement
process

A full time Marketing Manager would be responsible for the
following tasks:

New Product Rollouts:

Strategy development, program incentives, timing and media
coverage

Agency Evaluation:

Selection and evaluation of outside marketing contractors

Customer Database Management:

Software selection, training, maintenance of customer contact
Information

Market Research:

Market definition, prioritization, project management, data
gathering

Pricing Analysis:

Pricing as a marketing tool…initiate and analyze competitor’s
pricing practices

Product Audits:

Establishment of a formal means to evaluate competitive
offerings

Public Relations:

Establishment, guidance and coordination of all areas of public
Relations

Trade Shows:

Definition, participation, prioritization and audit for
effectiveness of all trade shows

Product Promotions:

Strategy formulation, program composition, premium definition,
all media coverage

Marketing Communications:

All printed / electronic communication: brochures, catalogs,
price lists, case histories

Media Selection:

Assist in selection and prioritization of all media options:
print, broadcast, multimedia

Internal Communications:

Establish and maintain all inter-company corporate communication
means

International Marketing:

Establish company presence in targeted international markets,
audit for effectiveness

Strategic Planning:

Offer strategic information and alternative insights to
corporate management strategies

Board Meeting Participation:

Communicate and reinforce the company marketing priorities,
strategies and tactics

Corporate Vision Statement:

Proliferate and reinforce the corporate vision throughout the
Organization

Corporate Identity and Image:

Create, maintain, improve and “manage” all corporate images and
symbols

To a “pure” marketer, the marketing role in a company is not
just a business function, but a business philosophy. An
effective marketer truly believes “dominating” their target
market is “owning” their market. The more a marketer can do to
maintain market leadership the more effective they are
perceived within the organization and within the industry.

As customer retention has become more of a business priority in
our intensifying competitive markets, the marketing function
has evolved from influencing potential customers to involving
them the company’s business planning and advancement. Effective
marketing also has blurred the distinction between product and
service and continues to apply more influence on the company’s
sales representation priorities.

In conclusion, marketing and sales functions are deeply rooted
in each other’s purpose and revenue growth intentions. There
are few functional areas in business that relate more to each
other. So the next time you hear someone say the word “sales”,
when the appropriate description would have been “marketing”,
or vise versa, think of this article and choose from any one of
these documented business functions to make your point of
distinction!