Sales vs Marketing

In the same way that logos are often refered to as "brands", "sales" is often misconstued as marketing. The truth is that sales is merely one component of sound marketing.

Of course selling is very important, but sound marketing leverages many other important opportunities to maximise business health, profitability and growth. Marketing moves beyond a sales focus to the more strategic realm of business management and branding - creating a positive perception of an organisation and/or it’s products within the minds of targeted consumers.

Why is a sales focus often more popular than marketing planning? It takes less work and quickly generates results that everyone can feel good about. Sales results are easy to measure, and setting up a sales team is not overly difficult. Sales focuses on improving turnover, marketing focuses on improving health, growth and profitability. It's a classic example of the Hare and the Tortoise scenario.

Marketing success is largely determined by business planning and management objectives. Common signs of a sales-driven or marketing-blind organisations are: reactive, short-term "fixes" to declining sales or changes in the marketplace; internal caos caused by an isoloated focus on selling, rather than on overall business health; a revenue graph looking like a roller-coaster cycle; bewilderment as to why the business is not growing in the way it could be, or at the same rate a competitors.

A part of marketing is identifying or creating something that sets you apart (differentiation) from your competitors, and telling the right people about it - the people who relate to the messages and the associated benefits that flow from your branding. It's often more than just a product or service that customers value, and you can leverage that to the benefit of both parties.

Luminosity believes that the only way to maximise return on marketing expenditure is to develop (and follow) an integrated branding and marketing approach to building your business.

To find out how a branding and marketing plan can increase your businesses profitability, visit our main website or contact us to discuss your specific scenario.