SALES vs MARKETING — Evolution through the ages.
In the days before the digital revolution, marketing and sales, for small businesses, were practically synonymous. Marketing was typically the more expensive activity, and direct sales offered better ROI.
Hence, the focus was on increasing sales through marketing techniques like carpet bombing ads, newspaper ads, flyers, banners, advertisements in newspapers, and so on.
With the advent of the digital era, the face of sales and marketing changed completely.
Impact of the Internet on Sales and Marketing
The luxury of having a separate marketing budget was previously the purview of big brands and companies. With digital marketing and the internet, it was like the gates of marketing heaven were opened wide to all small and mid-scale businesses.
There were several advantages of digital marketing over traditional marketing, such as
- Lower costs
- Improved ROI
- Greater reach
- Faster delivery
- Better communication, and
- Easier tracking and analysis
The digital wave did not just introduce new marketing methods, it also led to better customer research, data analysis, and stronger client-customer relationships.
With advanced analytics and tracking methods, it became easier to understand the impact of any given campaign, and hence measure the precise ROI.
Consequently, today, marketing is no longer a luxury, it is an indispensable activity.
Push vs. Pull Marketing — The Branding Factor
However, marketers are typically still stuck using the traditional marketing methods, which were once used for offline marketing.
You see Google Ads pushing products, following you around on social platforms, sales and discounts trying to lure you by creating FOMO, cold calls and emails pitching you services…and it just doesn’t work!
The reason is simple. These ‘marketing’ strategies are still rooted in sales techniques. They still focus on selling products rather than convincing customers to buy them.
These are what we marketers typically call ‘push marketing’ activities. They have a temporary impact, increase company sales for the time being, and then bring you back to square one.
Pull-marketing, on the other hand, works at a deeper, more intrinsic level. Original content creation, branding, thought leadership, and focus on customer loyalty are some of the ways pull-marketing assures you a more permanent place in your customers’ hearts.
At Brand You Digital, we have often successfully used campaigns based on pull-marketing to drive results for our clients.
One such example is the promotional campaign we ran for ‘Devika Rani’, a play based on the famed yesteryear actress, portrayed by Ira Dubey. Directed by Lillette Dubey and produced by the Primetime Theatre Company, the play was set in the 1940s and required a completely unique approach in terms of marketing.
As most of the target audience was above 50 years in age, we had to use diverse platforms for generating awareness about the event, from conventional Facebook and Google ads to OTT and senior citizen-friendly websites.
This successfully captured their interest and drove campaign ROI through the roof!
Interlinking Offline and Online Platforms
One of the interesting ways in which companies are now implementing marketing strategies is by using a mix of online and offline platforms. This interlinking of digital and non-digital marketing is a much more rounded, multi-faceted method of promotion, creating waves in the marketing industry.
Ideally, an interlinked online-offline campaign is designed so that all offline activities contribute to the chief online marketing activities being undertaken.
For example, one of our pre-pandemic projects was the promotion of the Bhramara Festival of Dance, a two-day gala that hosts 6 different Indian traditional dance genres. There were over 2000 tickets for sale and since the target audience was school children and their parents, typical social media ads were not the only tool we could rely on.
Hence, we brought in some traditional marketing methods and posted event collaterals physically on billboards, in schools, sports clubs, and dance classes, to attract the audience to the offline event!
This hybrid marketing model worked like a charm, proving that interlinking of digital and non-digital platforms can be a success when implemented well!
Branding — The Future of Sales and Marketing
The audience of this digital era is savvy. They are wary of push marketing, and rightly so. With hundreds of companies trying to sell them thousands of products every single day, who do they trust and why should they?
Hence, they turn to the brands they know. Whom they have known for years. They buy from the brands that have made the effort to get to know them and their needs. Who have taken the time to build a strong relationship.
That is the singular superpower of branding. It offers you marketing recognition in an overcrowded world.
Today, branding is becoming the cornerstone of marketing. With extensive user research and customer psychology having an impact on marketing principles, the lines between sales and marketing are blurring. Branding is the point where the two meet, to create a connection with the company’s audience.
We know that brand awareness makes a significant difference in the ROI of marketing campaigns, ergo, impacting sales.
What will be interesting to see is, will the future hinge on this? Will brand recognition be the only reason why a customer makes a purchase in the future?
Time will tell..
For now, if you wish to tap into the power of branding for your company, connect with us. And feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below!