The School of Real Marketing
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F1-03·F1 — What Marketing Actually Is

Marketing vs. Sales vs. Communications

The productive tension

Distinct disciplinesandinterdependent functions

The synthesis

Marketing, sales, and communications are not synonyms. They are distinct disciplines with different objectives, time horizons, and skill sets. But they are also deeply interdependent -- each requires the others to function. The organisation that treats them as interchangeable destroys value. The organisation that treats them as siloed destroys coordination. The evidence-based approach is distinction with integration.

Learning objectives

  • Distinguish between marketing, sales, and communications by scope and objective
  • Explain why conflating these functions leads to organisational dysfunction
  • Identify the different time horizons and metrics appropriate to each
  • Describe how the three functions should interact and reinforce each other
  • Apply the Both/And lens to marketing-sales alignment

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