Market your business or sell it

Some people mistakenly think that marketing and selling is indeed the same thing. However, that could not be farther from the truth especially when you consider a powerful variable such as the internet. These two approaches are distinctly different and so are the results that will be achieved when they put into motion. The selling process is direct and involves the introduction of a customer to a product or service and then the facilitating of the sale to that customer. In contrast, Marketing is a much more involved concept which includes selling but adds various other components to maximize the acquisition and retention of customers.

Some differences between selling and marketing to note:

1) Marketing works to awaken the tacit desires in future customers as well as current ones. Selling, on the other hand facilitates only the direct transfer of goods and services from the producers to the consumers.


2) While selling is directed at an actual sale and the revenue and profit generated as a result, marketing studies and targets the needs of current and future customers and adjusts to satisfy them.

3) Selling is not about giving any importance to the consumer. Marketing considers the satisfaction of the consumer as the primary objective of the business.

4) The cost to produce and distribute determines the price of the product in the selling model. The cost for marketing and navigating competition determines the product cost in the marketing model.

5) With marketing the focus is directed on assessing the needs of customers and designing a complimentary product or service for the niche. With selling the focus is on the production of goods.

6) The selling process involves no planning, research and development or forecasting while the marketing process incorporates them all.

7) Selling concentrates primarily on profit maximization. It does not lend any thoughts to consumer needs. Marketing aims at the complete satisfaction of the customer. Profit generation is a secondary goal when it comes to marketing.

Ultimately, the business owners need to maintain focus on branding in order to build customer loyalty. Simply selling to people will not make them your customers in any long term way. For your business to thrive you must make customer satisfaction and customer service your mantra. Think about how you feel when you walk into a business and feel the genuine attention that comes with good customer service. Now think about how you feel when you enter an establishment only to be ignored and left to fend for yourself. The narrow concept of selling is shortsighted and will not contribute towards a sustained business presence.

The business that treats its customers as its most important visitors and realizes that it is dependent on them and not the other way around will always prevail. First by winning the return of those customers and then by the favorable referrals they will inevitably make. Your customers do you a favor by giving you the opportunity to serve them. You are not doing them or your business a favor when you fail to do so. Market your business, never sell it!

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_2254092_64.html

Occupation: Entrepreneur

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