Marketing, Advertising, Sales - Who Does What?
It's so easy for the confusion to begin when you start talking about advertising, marketing and sales. Truth is most individuals don't understand the difference. The good news is there is a difference and each of these components have a part to play in the success of a company. Today, I want to clear up the confusion.
I started to see the misunderstanding of these roles when I was spending time browsing and sorting through job listings. It is not uncommon for sales jobs to be listed in the marketing jobs classifications and the same was true when it came to jobs that pertained to advertising.
I'm going to say it one more time, before getting into the details - they are not the same.
Let's take a look at the defining differences:
Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.
Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its existing and potential customers.
Sales: The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. The sales process consists of interpersonal interaction. It is often done by a one-on-one meeting, cold calls, and networking. It's anything that engages you with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance. Advertising and marketing lay the ground work to warm up the lead and prepare them for the close of the sale.
When you are looking to place job listings, be sure to list them in the right category and you will more than likely detour the chances of getting applicants that don't fit the requirements for the positions you are listing.
When it comes to the world of corporations and business structure look at the different roles and use them to help define how departments can work together with the other departments and the role that each department plays when supporting the others.
All three of these components are necessary when it comes to the success of a business, but having a deeper understanding of their purpose can help in organization and planning for that success.
For a greater understanding of the differences use the following resources:
Laura
I have to agree with you about the confusion over these words but in my experience it goes even further.
Many people – not just in the US but also here in the UK and in some of the other countries I work in – confuse so many of these words. I would add words like communications and marcomms as well.
To me there is just Marketing and all the rest like advertising, communications, and sales are just subsets of marketing.
I also find confusion about some of the jobs people do. For example many webdesigners and graphic designers confuse what they do with marketing – sure it is a subset of marketing but however good they are marketing is a lot bigger than design and although i don’t want to denigrate these guys they are not marketing managers, marketing consultants or marketing directors.
They maybe excellent at what they do but most of them don’t appreciate the breadth and width of marketing and focus on just a subset of it.
The truth is marketing is huge and if you want to produce a marketing plan – or career – that covers all the bases you need to think far bigger than just advertising, sales, direct mail, communications, design or any of the hundreds of other marketing channels that come under marketing
Enjoy your marketing!
I also find that many people
Hi Laura,
I completely agree! Having been in marketing for over 20 years I’ve seen just about every job description there is.
I just posted a blog on my website about how many business owners like to combine a marketing position with something else, such as an administrative assistant position.
Educating the employer on the differences between marketing and other jobs (even if they’re somewhat related) is key. Your article is spot on!
I totally agree, esp. with Marketing Magician re: graphic designers and Web designers. My beef is they seldom realize their “aesthetics” and layout are a tiny subset of overall mktg. The design need to work with and complement the key objectives and messages, not compete with them!
Also, one more term for additional confusion: promotion.
Thanks for starting this discussion!
thanks!this has really helped alot.
am young, tryin to start a career in marketing-brand strategy so these articles amd comments are just great for me!