Sales Vs. Marketing | What’s the Difference?

Sales vs. marketing. What's the difference and how can understanding each help you in both areas? First up, let's dive in with a sales and marketing definition. 

Sales Vs. Marketing

Marketing refers to brand awareness campaigns and lead generation. Sales focus on closing the deal and converting a lead into a customer. 

Those two might sound like the same thing, and they have a lot in common! The difference is in the end goal. 

Marketing is all about generating traffic. By wielding the power of SEO and SEM, a marketing campaign aims to draw as many eyes as possible to your content. An expertly employed marketing campaign results in increased site traffic, brand awareness, and most importantly, lead generation. 

But what about customer conversion? The point of digital marketing is to attract clients. Don't worry. Our sales and marketing definition has two parts for a reason. 

Once you have mastered lead generation and have a bold brand presence, you are ready for sales. Your digital marketing should have earned you an email list and social media following. Your digital marketing master plan will also have gathered vital info about who your viewers are and what they need. This info will help you sell to your leads.

You may be asking, why not sell directly? What's the harm in selling while you market?

That's why it is so important to understand this sales and marketing definition. Sales language can quickly drive away a visitor who is looking to be informed rather than treated to a sales pitch. 

In our digital world, absolutely everyone is tired of looking at advertisements. Your marketing stage must aim to inform and interest, not sell. Only after establishing a lead and gathering some demographic information from your viewer should you attempt to deploy a targeted pitch. 

I hope it has become clear that sales and marketing are two sides of the same strategic coin. Let's talk about how to keep that coin shiny!

How Does Sales and Marketing Work Together?

It should be clear by now that sales and marketing must work hand in hand to accomplish their mutual goals for your company. Wondering how does sales and marketing work together?

In a large business with multi-member departments, a sales and marketing alignment is a formal agreement between those departments.

For a small business, where a small number of people carry out sales and marketing plans, a sales and marketing alignment takes the form of a cohesive set of best practices.

How to Craft Your Sales and Marketing Funnel

No matter the size of your organization, your sales and marketing funnel should not be separate entities. The key to sales and marketing alignment is making sure both groups are freely sharing information and taking direction from the same source.

Each step of your sales and marketing funnel serves to bring the customer closer to your end goal - customer conversion. 

Here is an example of a sales and marketing plan that maintains sales and marketing alignment.

When read vertically, we see two separate plans—a sales plan and a marketing plan. Each column lists what each department needs to reach its goals. By lining them up, we see that each step can be accomplished by a single joint action in the third column when they work together.

That wasn't so hard, was it?

Closing Thoughts on Marketing Vs. Sales

Got the hang of marketing vs. sales yet? Or should we say, sales vs. marketing? Either way, do you have a complete understanding of how to deploy them in tandem for maximum efficacy? Hopefully you do!

You might be wondering, if this is so simple, why doesn't everyone do it?

Anything worthwhile takes effort. Just remember, to cement your sales and marketing alignment, you need a cohesive checklist for both sales and marketing. These two lists should lend each other strength without interfering with their individual goals.

Still not confident enough to get started and implement what you've learned on your own? That's okay! I am here to help you master these skills and grow your business. Whether you are a new laptop nomad or a seasoned small business owner, I have tools to help you.

Learning digital marketing basics and setting up one-on-one consultations with me are ways you can learn the basics or fine-tune your knowledge. The best investment you can make is self-investment. 

The template above is a good start; that's my gift to you. When you are ready to return to the classroom and master these skills, I will be waiting for you.