Why Marketing is NOT Sales

Many people tend to think the two are one and the same, but having worked in the field of Marketing for nearly a decade now, I can vouch to say that marketing is definitely not sales.

A sale is the last process of a business transaction. A sales professional is the face of the business so to speak, as they interact directly with potential customers. I have immense respect for sales professionals. They have to possess a gift of the gab; their role is to foster a relationship with a client on a personal level and seal the deal.

As a marketer, we never have the luxury of meeting our customers on a one-on-one basis. For a marketer, our target market is far wider (think “all women aged 25 to 40 living in the UAE”), and we only interact with them on a subliminal level. We create advertising that talk to the masses; we post comments on Facebook that can be seen by anybody. Unlike a sales professional, marketing is more data-driven than relationship driven. We conduct research and trial and error to foster to the needs of a market.

Also unlike sales, marketing cannot be measured. A sales professional’s success can be judged by the value of sales closed, but marketing works on a cognitive level. A person might be driven to buy a product from seeing a poster ad, but may not even remember this was their call to action.

Sales can therefore work on commissions, marketing is pretty much impossible to measure.

A sale is the end process, the sealing of the deal. However Marketing is business development. Take the traditional 4 P’s of marketing – Product (product or ‘market need’ development), Price (working out profit margins and competitor offerings), Place (logistics and distribution channels) and Promotion (advertising, media relations). Only once these factors have been set can a sale take place. Marketing is therefore a support function that leads to sales.

 

My first full-time job in Marketing earned me the designation of ‘Product Manager’. I had the pleasure of working closely with very talented designers who developed kitchen gadgets for European, American and Australasian markets. I studied how the three markets differ from one another, and how this would affect product development. For example, research showed serving sizes varied greatly between Americans and Europeans so the later got smaller sized utensils.

I also did competitor analysis to understand what was lacking in the current market, how our offering can be made to look more attractive, what customers needed, and what price point would be best. Then came advertising; many people believe marketing is advertising. However, advertising is just a component of marketing. Advertising is the message we put out about a product, but marketing works beyond a simple ad. Marketing is brand management – we need to keep face, continue with more subtle forms of advertising including product packaging, press releases and keeping good relations with the media, try online social media portals, and even use more subtle advertising routes such as social marketing (sponsoring a charity). I also supported the sales team by keeping them updated on new product developments and market trends, and reworked price discounts for special customers. These are just a few hats I’ve worn as a marketer early into my career. Over time many other aspects have been added to my portfolio. I am learning something new every day!

Another aspect of my job as a marketer is training the sales team. In this aspect, the sales team can be seen as an indirect vehicle for advertising. I look after the sales uniform design, train the team on product features and customer etiquettes.

 

A marketer is analytical and looks at the bigger picture. Sales professionals work on developing one-on-one relationships with customers and close the deal. Both disciplines require very different skill sets.

Marketing and sales go hand in hand; they are two crucial steps of the business process, but are two very different disciplines. I am a marketer; I am a vital part of business development but leave the selling to the sales professionals.

- Big Sis.