Whether your company is just starting out or is growing quickly, it’s important to understand that there’s a major difference between sales and marketing. While they can certainly be intertwined at times, sales and marketing each require very different strategies built on unique skills and techniques to generate interest in your company’s products and services – which is precisely what you need to grow revenue. In this blog, we’ll take you through a simple, head-to-head comparison of sales vs. marketing to highlight the key differences between the two.
The Difference Between Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing are both vital to the success of any business; it can be argued that the main difference between them is exactly how close you are to converting a lead to a customer when they come into play.
In a nutshell, marketing generates interest about your company’s products and services. It’s the stage in which you can aggregate valuable customer data such as location, contact information and pain points to help you develop more personalized marketing campaigns in the future.
Sales, on the other hand, drive up revenue and help you scale your company. Sales are usually made after a solid marketing campaign has already stirred up enough interest about the goods or services you’re offering to your target audience.
Sales vs. Marketing
Marketing is the best way to grow your brand and drive more traffic to your website. According to Forbes, a shopper has already made about 70% of a buying decision before they ever come into contact with a sales representative. Potential customers with serious intentions typically self-educate on a company’s website before committing to a purchase.
Most of them can spot suspicious sites quickly, and many will not complete a purchase if they don’t feel secure enough on the website. Ensuring that your marketing strategy is spot-on will help build trust in your brand as well as brand loyalty among your customer base.
Traditionally, when a company wants to expand, executives and managers will seek out more sales representatives. A good sales team is crucial to high conversion rates and the generation of revenue. However, consumers these days have become more wary of salespeople, especially if they are in the early stages of the sales funnel.
To gently guide your leads through your online sales and marketing funnel, you need a marketing strategy that encourages your audience to continue learning about your business, products and services. To seal the deal, you need to have a friendly, confident team of professional sales associates.
While sales vs. marketing may seem like a competition, the two types of strategies need one another for your business to thrive. To break down the difference between sales and marketing a bit further, take a look at this useful list of tactics for each one.
Sales Tactics
- Cold calls
- Direct sales
- One-on-one meetings
- Retail interaction
- Trade shows
- Promotional events
- Networking
- Abandoned cart email messages
Marketing Tactics
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
- Mobile marketing
- Blogging
- Brand marketing
- Public relations
- Online advertising
- Traditional print advertising
Keep in mind that marketing strategies can be customized to fit any stage of the sales funnel. More versatile than sales tactics, you can personalize various marketing campaigns for cold, warm and hot leads. Once your marketing strategy has done its job of qualifying a lead, your sales team can step in and finish the sale.
Always remember that with solid sales and marketing strategies that complement each other, you can scale your business quickly and efficiently.
We would love to talk to you more about this, or any other sales and marketing topics you may have questions about. Contact us or get a demo today to learn more!
