Marketing is not Sales

In the marketplace of ideas there is a fierce competition between of products and services. For the professional marketer, this can quickly become messy because oftentimes clientele views marketing as the same thing as sales.

Marketing is Distinct From Sales

This is not true. Marketing is distinct from sales and both can and should be appreciated as the professional disciplines they each are.

For the marketer or salesman, the distinction must be made, although there is commonly overlap and financial gain for both partners. In order to maximize the potential for explosive growth, every entrepreneur should understand the difference between the two professions and leverage each accordingly. 

Marketing is Promotion, Sales is Relationships

Marketing is all about reaching new people, spreading the word, and promoting your brand. The very essence of marketing is telling people about what your product or service is, does, and can do to make their life better.

The common misconception is that marketing should convert to return on investment (ROI) or directly relate to sales. This may happen, but it's not the case.

Your Branded Name

Marketing exists to get your name out into the wild and let people know who you are and what you do.

The Relationship

On the contrary, sales is all about relationships. Everybody prefers to buy from their friends and your product or service is no different.

In sales, you need to build the relationship, create trust, and develop a mutual understanding and respect for your prospect because your job is to make him more profitable, give him more peace of mind, and provide convenience of doing business.

The job of marketing should lead to more sales, but marketing is not responsible for sales.

Marketing is Storytelling, Sales is Creating Your Story

Marketing is all about telling your story. This includes the grind of starting a new company, the challenges of scaling, and the grand finale of making it big. 

The most fun part of marketing is that you get to connect your story to the story of other people. Remember, business is about relationships and the more you can build, develop, and create new relationships, the better.

On the other hand, sales is about connecting with another person to help him create a new part of his story. Marketing is sharing your story, sales is creating your new story.

Sales happens when your prospect decides to partner with you and change the trajectory of his company and path. This means that his company grows, his impact grows, and his relationships with others grows.

Marketing is Reaching New People, Sales is Converting Prospects Into Customers

Remember, the primary goal of marketing is to get your mission, your purpose, your product or your service out to the world. The number one goal of sales is to convert prospect into a customer.

Unfortunately, the two are often confused and a successful entrepreneur must do well both.

You need to recognize and value the importance of marketing. 10-20 percent of your top-line revenue should go directly to marketing, and most of that needs to be digital. If you're really smart, savvy, and trying to scale, then more of your budget needs to be earmarked for marketing your company.

In a similar vein, sales cannot be forgotten. Marketing helps the job of those in sales but sales is still required to grow your company, increase profit, and scale your company.

To do both effectively, be sure to understand the difference between marketing and sales, fund both appropriately, and empower both parties to work together and create a wonderful impact in the marketplace. 

Next Steps

In order for your startup to become the best company in the world, you need to hire the best marketer and the best salespeople. 

Remember, these two are not the same. Marketers get your name out into the world and should make selling easier, but their job is not to create sales.

Sales should convert any person into a customer and hopefully their job is made easier by marketing, but it's two different parties.

As the smart entrepreneur that you are, you need to recognize, value, and leverage the importance differences between sales and marketing to make your company #1.