What is Sales and Marketing?

Marketing is the strategy used to develop a product, build a relationship with the consumer or desired audience, and sell the product. It involves a sequence of deliberate steps which include identifying the target audience and then researching the needs and desires of these customers to appeal to them and have the customers invest. Marketing uses intentional avenues to introduce and sell products to consumers. These avenues include commercials, magazine ads, and even Instagram reels. A lot of thought goes into making these avenues appealing.

There are a plethora of avenues in which marketing occurs. Some of the most familiar include digital marketing, social media marketing, and brand management marketing, but these are only a few. Understanding how marketing works benefits businesses in drawing a customer to the product or service available.

While sales and marketing work together to accomplish the same goal, they are not one and the same. Sales, unlike marketing, refers to processes that lead to goods and services being sold. Sales are the link that manages the relationship with a customer that was first initiated with the marketing strategies. If the salesperson or strategies are successful, the customer will find their need, want, or desire fulfilled by investing in the product or service sold.

Sales, like marketing, relies on strategies and understanding the customer. Due to the wide variety of products and services available to consumers, sales are often categorized into four types. These four types of sales include transaction, relationship, solution, and partnership. All of these types rely on the customer already having been drawn to the product or service through marketing strategies. Hence, marketing and sales build upon each other to accomplish a business's goal of successfully presenting a desirable product or service.

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Sales & Marketing Topics

Advertising Management

Learn about advertising management and understand how it is used in a business. Explore the types of advertising management and the career outlook in this field.

Digital Marketing

Learn about digital marketing, also referred to as online marketing, and understand how it uses media. Study digital marketing strategies with examples.

Entrepreneurship

Learn the definition of entrepreneurship and understand the different types of entrepreneurship. See entrepreneur examples and find what entrepreneurs do.

Market Research

Learn the market research definition and understand how market research is used. Explore how to do market research and study the role of a market research analyst.

Marketing Analytics

Learn about marketing analytics and understand how they work. Explore the history of marketing data analytics and see how digital marketing analytics is used.

Marketing Foundations

Learn about the foundations of marketing and understand why foundational marketing is important. Explore the components of marketing foundations and see their uses.

Marketing Management

Learn about marketing management. Study the role and functions of marketing management. See what the return on investment (ROI) is and how to calculate it.

Marketing Strategy

Understand what a marketing strategy is. Learn how to create a marketing strategy, see examples of best marketing strategies, and see marketing models.

Pricing

Learn about pricing strategies. Understand what pricing models are, identify the different types of pricing strategies, and see examples of pricing strategies.

Professional Selling

Learn about professional selling. Read a professional selling definition and discover professional selling skills and jobs. Explore professional selling techniques.

Psychology of Marketing

Learn about the psychology of marketing. Discover how marketing psychology influences behavior and explore effective psychological marketing techniques.

Sports Marketing

Learn the definition of sports marketing and understand its impact. Explore the different types of sports marketing. Discover sports marketing examples.

Resources for Areas of Marketing

It is essential for growing businesses to apply the foundational aspects of marketing. The resources available on Study.com can help expand understanding of the various areas of marketing and marketing concepts, as well as the purpose of marketing. Study.com's resources are a tool in which learners can build upon basic knowledge and develop insights into the complexities of marketing and sales.

Sales and Marketing Courses

The range of sales and marketing courses offered here extends over multiple subject areas. From the Principles of Marketing in Business to Market Research to Intro to Digital Marketing, Study.com has provided the curriculum for learners to build understanding, professionals to strengthen their skills, and for teachers to supplement their curriculum. Engaging in these self-paced courses with video lessons allows independence for learning and studying in time frames that work best.

Business 102: Principles of Marketing

This course explores concepts such as the four P's of marketing, marketing philosophies, and competitive advantages. Learners are able to utilize this course for 3 semester hours that may be transferred to over 2,000 colleges and universities.
Business 203: Introduction to Retail Merchandising

The objective of this course is to provide the foundation for retail merchandising. Learners will discuss ideas like how retail merchandising directly impacts a retailer's competitiveness and profitability and will delve into basic marketing and communication.
Marketing 301: Marketing Research

Market Research looks at how different methods and processes are involved in marketing work. It establishes a skill set that helps categorize and evaluate different types and methods of data analysis in order to best analyze marketing research.
Marketing 303: Global Marketing

This course teaches learners to develop a global perspective to best support businesses' growth and revenue. By engaging with this course, learners will understand how to apply concepts such as import, export, sourcing, licensing, and investment strategies.
Marketing 306: Principles of Selling

Marketing: Principles of Selling focuses on applying strategies for long-term business growth and success. Learners develop sales pitches and forecasting plans, analyze solutions for customer relationship management, and examine ethical behaviors in sales.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What do you mean by marketing?

    Marketing is a process in which many steps occur. The first begins with developing a strategy to engage with customers that establishes a relationship between the customer and seller. In many cases, this requires marketers to research their desired customer's needs, wants, and desires, and then execute a plan to draw in customers based on the found results.

  • What are the four types of sales?

    Sales are a compilation of many strategies that work to accomplish the goal of business growth. However, different products or services operate best with different types of selling, such as transactions, relationships, partnerships, and solutions.

  • What are different areas in marketing?

    Although all marketing entails appealing to customers by using specific strategies, there are different areas of marketing. These different areas include digital marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, visual marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), influence marketing, product marketing, brand management marking, research marketing, as well as email marketing.