EST 1980
Selling online marketing and sales
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Sep 1, 2018

Are Sales and Marketing Interchangeable?

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by Nicole Stiverson
UNFORTUNATELY, I’M SURE MANY BUSINESS OWNERS ASSUME THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IS “YES.”
“Sales” is all about you: your product, your services, and your business. “Marketing” on the other hand, is all about your customers. Whether inbound, outbound, or all around, it’s all about them. Although not interchangeable, the sales and marketing are definitely . You can’t have good sales without great marketing, and great sales numbers reinforce the need for proven marketing efforts.
Before great marketing can happen, though, you need to go through the process of discovering and understanding who you are, who you want to be, what you sell, and how you want to make sales as a business. Once you’ve identified your brand differentiators—or, what makes you special—then the marketing magic can happen.
Another misnomer regarding sales and marketing is that a salesperson is the best choice to handle marketing. *Buzz* Thank you for playing, but you won’t win a brand new car with that thinking. The traits of a successful marketer include:
  • Outstanding communication skills: The bar has been raised in the world of marketing. Content, social media, inbound, outbound—attach “marketing” to the end of any of these words—all are integral elements in today’s competitive marketplace.
  • Ability to successfully distribute and deliver your message: If you know how to, and consecutively are successful at reaching the right people at the right time at the right place—consider yourself a marketer.
  • Translates ideas into memorable advertising through multiple marketing channels: Also, when potential customers not only see, but remember your company through your website, social media posts, printed ads, YouTube, or any other of the avenues out there in the marketing toolkit, that’s when you see sales!
So unless your salesperson can clone themselves with the above attributes, as well as be out in the field, networking, following up on the leads, and closing sales, well, you get my point.
You need successful marketing people to see successful sales. You need successful salespeople to capitalize on that marketing and increase your ROI. And like it or not, the two, although close companions, are definitely not interchangeable.
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About Watermark:

As a in Denver, we strive to captivate your audience and elevate your brand through Smart Design and Creative Solutions. We believe marketing is a collaborative effort, achieved by practicing agility and working cohesively with your team, not for it. Using data-driven solutions, we implement the best practices necessary to help your business exceed KPIs. 
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