Sales and marketing are essential elements for the success of any business, but although they are closely interrelated, they are completely different from each other, as sales is a section of marketing that focuses on direct communication with customers to sell them a product or service, while marketing includes a wide range of activities such as: Market research, product development, brand building, advertising strategies, public relations, selling and pricing. It is necessary to understand the differences between these two terms and how each works in order to increase revenue and achieve growth for the business. In this article, we will explore together the difference between sales and marketing and how to combine them into one strategy to achieve success. 

What is marketing? 

Indicates Marketing It refers to the process of promoting and advertising a product or service to potential customers in order to generate interest in them and urge them to buy. Marketing includes conducting market research, understanding it and identifying its needs and desires in order to provide products that suit these needs and desires. Marketing also aims to build brand awareness and create emotional and psychological bonds. With a product or service in addition to setting the price of the product or service according to certain criteria, and increasing sales by persuading people to make a purchase. 

What are sales? 

It is the most important aspect of any business because it plays a crucial role in the success or failure of projects, as a successful sales team can help the company expand and grow, while a failed sales team hinders the company’s progress and affects its existence. The sales process includes identifying potential customers, communicating with them, and persuading them to buy through Highlighting the advantages and benefits of the product or service and how it can help them, responding to customer questions, overcoming their objections, and closing deals. In addition, the sales team works to build good relationships with customers and potential customers. Sales can be conducted personally through sales representatives, over the phone, or through Digital channels such as e-mail, social media, websites and online stores. 

The importance of integrating sales and marketing into one strategy: 

I did not find a term explaining the close interdependence between sales and marketing, except that they are “Siamese twins” that are inseparable from each other, and both are necessary for the continuity and success of the business, as marketing focuses on creating demand for the product or service through a set of tactics such as advertising, public relations, content marketing and Convincing customers of a specific product or service and then prompting the sales team to answer their questions, respond to their objections, dispel their concerns, and build relationships with them and retain them. The sales and marketing teams can create a strong alliance that helps the company attract and retain customers, build brand loyalty, increase revenue and growth.

Marketing team job: 

If we want to summarize the tasks of the marketing team in several points, the tasks of the marketing team are: 

• Conduct market research and analysis 
•  Determine target markets 
• Create content for marketing channels 
• Create and manage marketing campaigns 
• Promotion and advertising 
• Build a brand 
• Increase brand awareness
• Public relations 
• products design 
• Encapsulation 
• pricing 
• Analyze and improve results 

Sales team job: 

• Identifying and communicating with potential clients 
• Maintaining relationships with existing clients 
• Answering customer questions and responding to their objections 
• Negotiating and closing deals 
• Setting and tracking sales targets 
• Presenting suitable offers to customers 
• Keep abreast of industry and market changes 
• Maintain organized customer and sales data 
• Collaborate with marketing teams to achieve goals 

Best practices for aligning sales and marketing teams:

• Determine the responsibilities and roles of each team separately 
• Establishing channels of communication and cooperation between the two teams 
• Set goals and performance metrics for each team in order to track progress and measure success 
• Customer journey development 
• Create marketing campaigns and sales strategy aligned with the customer journey
• Exchanging information between the two teams regarding the customer's experience and the problems he faces 
• Regularly improve the marketing and sales path and address errors 
• Create a common database between the two teams 
• Promote a culture of cooperation and teamwork 
• Developing the skills of both teams and training them constantly  

It is important to create Strong strategy And integrated between the marketing and sales teams, focusing on increasing the company's sales, achieving its goals, providing added value to customers, building strong relationships with them, and retaining them.

In short: It is true that sales and marketing are two different terms, but the relationship between them is complementary, as without strong marketing, you will not achieve good sales, and without a strong sales team, your marketing efforts will go to waste. Therefore, it is necessary to take good care of both teams and work to combine their efforts to achieve satisfactory results.