What is Marketing? What is Selling?

Wendy Wise, owner of Naughty Nicities, finally has her website looking good. But, she’s still having problems.

“I’m not making any sales!” she wailed to me during our meeting last week. “Maybe I should buy some Adwords? Oh, I know!  I’ll get a radio ad!”

“Well, you could do that, Wendy, but I don’t think it’s your marketing that’s the problem, it’s your selling.”

“What’s the difference? Selling—marketing—it’s all the same, isn’t it?”

“Not quite. “ I struggled to come up with a good analogy. Ah! Got it!

“Let’s say,” I continued, “you’ve moved to a new town and you want to meet new—“

“Guys!” Wendy interjected.

“Okay, new guys. Someone throws a party for you and introduces you to the neighbors. They learn about you and what you have to offer.”

Wendy ran her fingers through her hair and smiled. “Quite a lot, don’t you think?”

“Yes, Wendy. The party?  That’s marketing?”

“But how do I get the guy to take me out?”

“That’s where selling comes in,” I said with my own enigmatic smile. “When a guy seems interested in learning more about you, that’s when you switch from marketing to selling. He knows enough about you to be interested and he thinks that going out with you might be a good thing for him. But he hasn’t committed yet.”

“So….” Wendy twitched her hips.

“You need to sell him on the idea.”

Wendy dashed out of the office. “I’m off to sell!”

I figured she’d be back soon.

The Difference Between Marketing and Selling

Marketing is communicating to your market the benefits of purchasing your goods or services. It’s spreading the word so people learn about you, your company and your offerings.

Selling is the actual conversion of the person from a prospect to a customer. It isn’t a simple, one-time event, but could take several conversations and meetings.

It’s important to be clear on the difference, particularly when hiring. Marketing tends to be more creative and idea-driven with less connection between effort and the sale. Sales tends to be more results driven because there is a clear-cut connection between effort and money.