Diane Lefrandt, a marketing and PR expert, shares an overview on the fundamental differences between a business's sales and marketing departments.

1. The Major
Differences
Between Marketing
and Sales
Diane Lefrandt

2. For most businesses, their marketing and sales departments are two
sides of the same coin. With a similar goal of generating revenue from
prospective customers, here is how the two departments diverge in
their tactics to get there.

3. The goals of a marketing team
tend to be more long term, as
marketers are more analytic in
their research. They analyze
trends in data to find a best-fit
way to increase the appeal of the
product and will adapt their
marketing campaigns to various
groups of potential customers.
They want to generate enough
interest in a product to get the
customer to take the initiative to
purchase it.
Goals - Marketing

4. Goals - Sales
The goal of a sales department is
focused on the relationship built
with customers and personalizing
a solution to a problem that they
have – the solution is the product
they are selling. Salespeople take
the responsibility of convincing
the customer that they need the
product. Their goals are short
term to close deals and move on to
the next customer as they have
quotas to fulfill.

5. Strategy - Marketing
Marketing strategies develop and
change in keeping up with modern
advancements. Marketers rely on
the internet and technology at
hand to deliver content to
customers, and the internet is
changing every day. As a result,
marketing techniques have to be
up to date and versatile. They use
human psychology to their
advantage when it comes to
promoting a product

6. Strategy - Sales
Sales rely heavily on direct
communication as a strategy,
igniting conversations with
customers about a need and how
to fill it. The fundamental sales
tactics remain consistent. A
conversation that piques
emotional interest will always be
the best approach to selling a
product.

7. Audience - Marketing
Marketing departments are trying
to sell the company and brand as
much as the product. They
exercise strategies that focus on a
larger audience that they can split
into groups to grow brand
awareness. Marketing
departments are turning to an
approach that encourages the
customer to do the marketing for
them by sharing reviews about the
company.

8. Audience - Sales
A sales department’s target
audience is generally 1 customer
at a time. They focus on the
relationship needed to facilitate
the sale of a single product more
than the business. A smaller
audience makes it easier for them
to focus on closing the sale rather
than promoting the company.

9. Diane Lefrandt
All photos from Canva and Unsplash
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