Marketing vs. Sales: What You Need to Know

Recently, I turned away a potential client who was not quite ready to work with me. This conversation got me thinking about the relationships between the various departments within a business and how they work together.

One that really interests me in particular: the relationship between sales & marketing.

More often than not, you hear “marketing & sales” or “sales & marketing” spoken together as if they are one in the same.

But, marketing & sales are not the same thing. Not even slightly. So why do we treat them as such?

Marketing vs. Sales

We are likely used to hearing marketing & sales together and under this assumption because many businesses tend to combine these two functions into a single department. But, the two functions have very different roles in the success of a business.

In simple terms, sales is defined as “the exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something”.

Whereas marketing is, “the process of interesting potential customers and clients in your products and/or services”.

So, clearly the two functions are related and you could even go as far to say that one without the other just wouldn’t work. Not the same at least. 

As Christina Nicholson states in her blog post “Five Signs You’re Not Ready for a Public Relations Retainer Fee”, marketing leads the horse to the water. But, sales makes the horse drink it.

What You Need To Know (& Have) To Get RESULTS

Marketing & sales are two very important (but separate) pieces of the machine that both need to be working properly in order for you to get the results you want.

You can have a flawless marketing strategy in place but what happens when the leads come in? Absolutely nothing if you don’t have these set up first:

1. The sales and operations pieces of your business need to be moving smoothly in order to get the benefits from your marketing efforts
2. You need a CRM to capture leads and interest. Following up with them is crucial. Having a system in place for onboarding a client. 
3. Public Relations side – you need to be networking. Out there. Booking podcasts, partnering in the local community, promoting your business
4. Effective sales team

We can attract and nurture your audience but we can’t close the sale for you. These elements are absolutely essential to having a successful partnership with a digital marketing agency. 

Digital marketing is what we specialize in. From researching and writing blog post content, creating editorial calendars on auto-pilot, and getting your content out in front of the world so they know that you are the go-to expert. 

Think you need some help getting your digital marketing strategy in place?

Contact us today for a free consultation!