Everyone is talking about the “blurred line” between Sales & Marketing. But to me the line is super clear. It’s not about what job title you have or what department you report into. It’s not about what channel you’re using. It’s about the MINDSET you bring which drives your activities and your goals. So here’s the definition: Sales = I’m trying to CONVERT someone now. Marketing = I’m trying to educate someone to build affinity & build brand. The line is ULTRA clear. Most Salespeople spend some portion of their time doing Marketing. And that's great. And most Marketers spend some portion of their time doing Sales. And that's great. But it may be challenging for some people to adopt these definitions because they’re not tangible. You don’t have something easy like job title or channel to point to - the only way is looking inwards at your mindset. Lots of marketers don’t have the awareness & discipline to recognize where they are operating. Based on that definition: -Most marketers actually mainly execute Sales (lead gen & supporting sales). -Some of the best Salespeople are actually just great at marketing. -Performance “marketing” is actually Sales. -Direct response “marketing” is actually Sales. To be clear, it’s not a bad thing for Marketers to execute Sales. What’s important as a marketer is that you recognize the percentage of your time and effort and budget that’s allocated to these definitions of Marketing vs. Sales. When people have intent, I’m trying to convert them too (Sales). But I recognize that a far majority of your available market does NOT have intent (>99%). And for that segment, the best option is to execute MARKETING. So I allocate my time and effort and budget accordingly - heavily weighted to actual Marketing (non conversion-based education & affinity). Lots of people will struggle with these definitions, I get it. But if you can really internalize it, this is a serious superpower. I started operating this way in 2016 and my career trajectory changed forever. #marketing #b2b #demand #sales
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