Sales And Marketing…important But Separate
Jun 26
Sales And Marketing…important But Separate
In boom times sales easily come in and businesses can get away with little or no marketing plans because customers are prevalent. On the contrary in the lean times when the economy is tight more businesses face the need to market their business. In my experience as a marketing consultant and freelance commercial writer aka copywriter I have encountered numerous businesses that are either afraid of marketing or confuse it with sales. The two are separate yet equally important functions of all businesses.
Sales is easy to understand and easy to see. Sales is simply converting noncustomers to customers. Boomhellip;a transaction is made when a buyer finds a seller that serves his or her need. Sales is pretty black and white. A sale is either made or not made.
Marketing on the other hand is often an invisible function of a business. A lot of marketing activities involve planning and strategies that before launched can require a large time commitment. This is work that is done behind the scene; think of it as behindtheseen;. Once the marketing strategies are in place defining the target and secondary markets; creating plans to reach those markets; determining strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats also referred to as SWOT analysis competitive information etc. the marketer then creates campaigns or activities to reach those markets using terminology and strategy that supports what was learned in the abovementioned activities SWOT analysis target market segmentation etc.. The result of all this planning and implementation is what sets marketing apart from sales.
Marketing is creating awareness building demand creating brand identity and in effective campaigns it is also creating leads to give to the sales team to convert to sales. In order to run a successful business throughout the cyclical nature of business and the often temperamental economic climate businesses need to understand what marketing is the role of marketing in their business and understand the importance of investing dollars into a marketing budget. By investing time and money into a strategy businesses can enjoy a lessvolatile sales figure by keeping the pipeline full of leads and ensuring that all marketing campaigns created to generate more business are efficient by targeting the right crowd with the right message.
Marketing doesnt have to be scary. Running a business without a marketing plan is scary and without it what do you have to lean on in a tight economy?
Jennifer Jena L. Taylor
The Word Tailor
jenathewordtailor.com ndash; 970.364.4127
copy; 2008 Jennifer L. Jena Taylor
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About the writer: A seasoned sales and marketing professional Jena has been keeping up with business marketing and technology for more than 15 years. In 2001 Jena launched The Word Tailor a freelance marketing writing company. Last year Jenas first book was published and today she is busy working on three more books. Visit http://www.thewordtailor.com for more information.
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