More than often people confuse Marketing and sales. A lot of people think Marketing is a dressed up word for sales, or that the two words are synonymous and go hand in hand. This is not the case.

Selling is one of the ways that companies communicate their marketing message. A sale is the point at which the product or service is offered, and the purchase takes place.

Without all the preceding steps prior to the sale, fitting the product to the target market, benefits, features, packaging, price, and distribution or availability and without all the effort involved in advertising, publicity and promotions even the best sales effort stands only a fraction of a chance for success.

The difference between promotions, advertising, sales and marketing is this.

1. If the fair is coming to town and you paint a sign saying Fair here in town this Wednesday – That’s advertising.
2. If you put the sign on the back of large vehicle and drive it through the town – that’s promotion.
3. If the vehicle knocks down the wall of the local town hall, that’s publicity.
4. And if you get the local major to laugh about it that’s public relations.
5. If the town’s populations attend the fair and you are able to show them many different rides and stalls and explain how much fun it is and they spend money, that’s sales.

Because marketing involves more than just communication here’s what might be different with a bit of research, product development and the rest of the marketing components built in.

1. If before painting the sign, you checked the community calendars to make sure your event was not conflicting with anything else and studied who might visit the fair, and how much they might be willing to pay and what they would expect….that’s Market research.
2. If you design something to give out with tickets and people are waiting to go on rides, that’s product development.
3. If you create an offer that combines a ticket, a toffee apple and a special photo on the big wheel, that’s packaging
4. If you get a local shop called fairground to sell tickets then that’s distribution
5. If you ask everyone who rode on the big wheel for their opinions that’s customer research.
6. If you follow that up with a thank you and another free ticket to the fair in another year that’s customer service
7. And finally if you use the research to develop new rides and revise your price that’s the process all over again.