Why Is Marketing Important?

Too many companies put their focus on sales, rather than Marketing. Of the two, sales is the cheaper route, but marketing can be the most automated (and usually will require the least amount of effort). So, let's learn the answer to the question, "Why Is Marketing Important?" However, a key point to remember is that marketing doesn't replace sales, as they aren't mutually exclusive.
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It's What Keeps Your Company Afloat

Let's look at sales and marketing in a side-by-side comparison, looking at them from long-term and short-term angles.  Sales is easy to start, as it can be as simple as finding potential clients, contacting them, and then following up until they become clients (OK, not so easy, but still rather simplistic in focus).  Marketing, however, is a wide range of activities, online and offline, that bring awareness to your company in the eventual nurture to become a customer.  Marketing may involve some form of sales to have them become a client, but it's not necessary.  Therefore, in the short-term, you're going to have more success with sales than with marketing.
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However, there's the other side of things as well.  Long-term is a very important factor, as it is what can really drive the company forward.  Sales in the long-term looks similar to sales in the short-term, except more sturdy pillars in place to solidify your sales process.  You may end up with a massive sales team, but if that team falls apart, you lose all that momentum, as sales generally relies on people.  You can automate some of the sales process, but it's next to impossible (and expensive) to automate the entire process, because it usually relies on some form of human contact.  Marketing, on the other hand, is a long, involved process that doesn't always require a human to be doing everything all the time.  Marketing processes can easily be automated, to a large degree, though Marketing automation can be expensive as well.  If the entire Marketing team gets sick for a week, your company will still be doing Marketing in some way, because it's not as hands-on as sales and doesn't fully rely on a team operating it 24/7.

It Can Be Done in Parts

They say that Rome wasn't built in a day, which is true.  However, the good thing is that your marketing doesn't have to be done in a day.  Sales, however, relies on a certain process that you create and implement, so it takes a lot more forethought on your part to implement.

​That doesn't mean that marketing shouldn't be done methodically, but it does mean that at the beginning, not all marketing has to be implemented for it to be effective.  However, for sales, how would it seem to a potential client for you or your team not to follow up?  Yet, for marketing, very little follow up and maintenance is required, at least for the potential client's point of view.
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It Can Be More Effective By Reaching More People

Sales not only is dependent more on humans, it also reaches less people usually.  Marketing, however, does give your company the ability to segment your markets and allows you to focus your efforts on specific types of people that will be more likely to purchase your product or service.  Let's say that we want to reach flower shop owners and market our services to them.  Are these techniques going to be the same as if we were going to sell our services to a gym owner?  Our marketing towards flower shop owners would look different than marketing towards gym owners because they are two different types of people, one is a product and another is a service, and also perhaps the personas would have different ages (speaking of personas, an important part of marketing is finding your buyer persona and making your material aimed directly at your buyer persona).
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Difficulty of Marketing

One of the reasons companies don't want to do marketing is that there's not one clear, consise definition of marketing that could fit all types of companies.  There could always be something added or taken away from a definition, but a good difference between sales and marketing is that sales is reaching out in the intention of someone being a client, and marketing is the relaying of your company's services and/or message to the general public to give them a reason to look into your business.  Marketing isn't as invasive, but they both are essential for the healthy growth of a business.  Is marketing a company difficult?  Yes, certainly it is, because it is an expensive (and time-consuming) method of managing your business.  A main reason is that it doesn't see results so quickly, as some marketing (such as Search Engine Optimization) can take months to really show fruit.
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Conclusion

​There's a lot to look at in marketing, and we haven't even touched the surface.  Hopefully now you understand these concepts:

• The difference between sales and marketing
• The efficiency of marketing
• Short-term and long-term goals of sales and marketing
• How important marketing is for your business

If you'd like more help with marketing, we offer a free marketing consultation.  After this consultation, you'll be given a free plan for your marketing endeavors in your company, including things you should start implementing to market your business better.  Of course, you would also be given an opportunity to work with us long-term to implement these marketing strategies and get you leads and clients.  Our marketing service is results-driven, meaning our marketing activities for you would be aimed at getting you results, not just getting a job done.