The Part of Marketing that Everyone Forgets…

Why do companies even have marketing departments? At the end of the day…it’s all about sales.  Marketing people don’t like to think of themselves as sales people.  The reality is, it’s a difference of a macro vs. micro targeting of customers. One to one vs. one to many.

Looking at marketing from that perspective really helps rein in any distraction and focus in on what’s important.  It will always answer the question, ‘why should I do this?’  I have seem many marketers get distracted with pretty colors, fresh direct mail pieces, cool technology, and awesome flash websites, only to find that they didn’t think through the entire value chain. Nine out of ten times, all marketing functions, whether it’s branding, direct marketing, social media, etc, is all about moving the customers along the sales cycle and closing the sale.

My suggestion is get down and have a conversation with your sales folk.  Find out what they’re hearing.  If you have a call center, even better. If you can make the calls yourself, even better then.  The sales teams are on the front lines and hear from our customers everyday.  As a marketer, we should definitely be listening.  As a marketer, “Always be closing!”