The Marketing Eye, Marketing Services, Uckfield, East Sussex

Apples and pears - the difference between marketing and sales

Monday, 22 February 2010

There are very few professions that are as poorly understood as marketing.

The confusion is in part caused by the fact that many people confuse the word ‘marketing’ with ‘sales’, which is a related but different process.

The growth of companies offering to carry out ‘telemarketing’ on behalf of others has helped to perpetuate the idea that marketing is all about selling. Despite what the name suggests, telephoning huge numbers of people at random and trying to sell them a product is not really marketing at all, it is selling – and uninformed selling at that.

“Marketing is a means to an end, but it is not the end in itself” says Neil Edwards, Managing Director of Uckfield based marketing consultancy, The Marketing Eye.

Neil describes marketing as ‘creating the environment within which sales can take place’. “The role of marketing is basically to make the life of sales people easier” says Neil.

Marketers will use a range of techniques to create and drive up demand – witness the annual panic that sees the latest must-have Christmas toy hyped to such an extent that each shipment is “sold out” before it ever reaches the shops.

However the marketers do it – whether it’s using product placement, social media campaigns, shortage scare stories or any other tactic – they never actually sell the product. That’s the job of sales.

“Sales people gain the commitment of the customer and agree the terms” says David Foster of sales and management training specialists, David Foster Associates.

Although the roles are different, it is vital that the two teams work together.

“There is little point in having a great marketing machine if the sales force can't close the sale and equally there is little point in having a great sales force if the marketing team can't create and maintain a demand for the product or service in the first place,” commented David.

Marketing is becoming more and more sophisticated and increasingly involves a strong online presence and use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Buyers make product choices based on a range of influences, including past experience, peer pressure, social media (often the source of that peer pressure) and internet searches, as well as more obvious factors such as advertising and direct marketing.

The marketing team must use all of these tools to raise awareness of the product and create sufficient interest for people to want to buy it. The more subtle tools are now proving increasingly effective as sophisticated buyers become more resistant to the more traditional marketing methods.

With the right multi-touch marketing strategy in place, the sales team can be focused on the right opportunities, briefed and given the tools to close the sale.

“Marketing is a multi-layered process that has little to do with cold-calling a few hundred people,” Neil explained. “Companies must understand the difference and align their marketing and sales activities so that the sales people know who they should be talking to, what they should be talking about and precisely when they should be getting in touch. That’s the role of marketing.”

Notes to Editors

• The Marketing Eye is based in Uckfield, East Sussex and provides marketing consultancy and marketing services to medium and large size businesses in London and the broader South East

• Neil Edwards is a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing with many years' experience in marketing, brand and communications. His experience includes being a Director of Marketing in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group where he was responsible for brands in the UK, Ireland and US

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