An Introduction to Marketing and Sales

1. Sales and marketing intro: Hello, and welcome to this introductory course on marketing and sales. So this isn't a hugely long course. I will be doing further courses and go into more detail. But for this course, it's an overview may be more suitable for beginners, but not only. So we start off with an overview of the terminology in the first lesson. We look at the types of expressions you will hear, what the words mean, the jargon, if you like. In the second lesson, we look at the roles and responsibilities within sales and marketing. So we can see basically who we have in the meetings and who we have around and what their responsibilities are. And in the third and final lesson, we will look at an overview of the sales and marketing process. And here we will look at exactly what happens, when it happens, and also importantly who does it. So we'll refer back to those roles mentioned in the second video. The ideal person, put another way, who would want to watch this? I think this would be useful for people who would like to find out a bit more about sales and marketing, but maybe aren't familiar with it. It's also useful for people who are familiar with sales and marketing, and maybe want to learn a little bit more about other things within that space. And I think also this could be useful for someone who is looking to either move into sales and marketing or wishes to get a job in sales and marketing. They can then see the different roles, what people do. They can look to see what they find interesting, and then they will know what to apply for when looking for vacancies. There is a project with this where you get a chance to try things out yourself, so have a go at that, and I'll give you feedback on it. Otherwise, if you have questions, please use the Q&A. You will get an answer and I hope you find the course informative and interesting. 2. Overview of Marketing and Sales Terminology: Welcome to this overview of marketing and sales terminology. This short is lesson, we'll provide an overview of terminology used in sales and marketing. Specifically, we'll look at the marketing side, the sales side, and the alignment of the two. It's worth noting right from the start that each industry and even each company within the same industry will have their own particular variations of these functions. This isn't a set in stone applies to everybody. It's a guide. Marketing first. I suppose we should ask what is marketing? Marketing, we can call the activities that a company undertakes to promote and sell its products or services. This involves understanding customer needs, creating value, and communicating that value proposition to the potential customers. And key marketing terms will include the target market segmentation, positioning, branding, the marketing mix and market research. We'll look at each of those in turn. Firstly, target market. This is a specific group of customers that a company aims to reach with its marketing effort. For example, a company selling luxury watches may target high income individuals in the age range five to 55, who value craftsmanship and exclusivity. We'll look at market segmentation. This is how we can divide the target market into groups based on characteristics such as demographics, psychographics, or behavior. An example of this might be an athletic shoe company may segment its market into categories such as runners, basketball, players, and gym enthusiasts. It can tailor its marketing messages and products to each group separately. Positioning. This is establishing a unique place or an image for a product or a brand in the mind of the customers. An example of this is a Volvo. They've positioned themselves as a brand that is synonymous with safety. They would then highlight features such as their advanced breaking systems and their robust construction in the marketing campaigns. We look at branding, and this is creating a unique name or a design or an image for a product or a company. A great example of this is Nike or Nike, depends on how you want to pronounce it. They've created a really strong brand image with this iconic swih logo, the doit slogan, and they've also had endorsements from professional athletes and all of that conveys a sense of performance and empowerment. Then we look at the marketing mix. This is the combination of product, price, promotion, and place or distribution used to reach the customers. This is often called the four Ps. For example, Coca Cola's marketing mix includes its unique product, say carbonated beverage, pricing str, with affordable and premium options, promotion through advertising and sponsorships, and wide distribution through retail channels. We look at market research. What we do with market research, we gather and analyze data about customers and about competitors and market trends, and we make informed marketing decisions. A tech company, as an example, may conduct surveys and interviews to understand customer preferences and identify emerging trends, say in the smartphone market. So then we look at the sales terminology, because that was the marketing, and so sales is essentially the process of converting potential customers into actual buyers. And there's quite a lot involved here as we have prospecting, qualifying leads, making sales presentations, and closing deals. A few important sales terms will be a lead, prospecting, the sales funnel, cold calling, the sales pitch, and closing. Now we'll look at each of these in detail in the following slides. What is a lead? A lead is an individual or an organization that has shown interest in a product or service, and you think has the potential to become a customer. For example, a software company might consider website visitors who have signed up for a free trial as potential leads as they have in the action, expressed interest in the product. The prospecting is when you identify and qualify potential leads or customers. A real estate agent might prospect for potential clients by attending networking events. They might search for expired listings or leverage social media platforms in a way of identifying individuals who are looking to buy or sell property. The sales funnel is a series of stages that a lead goes through before making a purchase. This is often called the Ida or the awareness interest, decision and action. A E commerce company may guide customers through their sales funnel by capturing their attention through online ads. They generate then interest with product descriptions and reviews. They facilitate the decision making process, and finally, they prompt them to make a purchase. Then we have cold calling. This is when you make unsolicited phone calls or visits to potential customers to generate sales leads. An example of this would be a salesperson, say in the insurance industry may make unsolicited phone calls to individuals to introduce different insurance plans and generate leads for potential policies. This is not a popular thing. People don't usually like receiving cold calls, and the conversion rate for this is actually quite low. Then we have the sales pitch. The sales pitch is the say persuasive presentation or proposal made to a potential customer, which highlights the benefits and value of this product or service. A sales rep for software company might deliver a sales pitch to a potential customer and emphasize the software's efficiency and cost saving and ease of use. Then we have closing. This is the final stage of the sales process where the salesperson asks for the order or the agreement to proceed with the purchase. So for example, a car dealership, the salesperson may close the sale by presenting financial options, discussing trade in values, and securing the customer's commitment to purchase. And lastly, we have to look at the alignment of sales and marketing. So what do we mean by alignment of sales and marketing? This is the coordination and integration of both sales and marketing efforts that is intended to maximize results, improve customer acquisition, and, of course, retention. We align strategies and goals and communication between the two departments to ensure a seamless customer experience. They work with each other, not against each other. The marketing will provide the salespeople with targeted leads, which they've generated through campaigns and initiatives, and the salespeople provide them feedback on the customer interactions and sales cycle challenges to help the marketing then further refine their strategies. That's a circular type thing. So the example, a marketing team might create content that addresses a pain point identified by the sales team during their conversation with potential customers, and this then supports the sales process by this new content. 3. Roles and Responsibilities: In this next lesson, we look at the various sales and marketing roles and responsibilities. Within marketing and sales, we have a number of specific roles. First, we'll look at the marketing roles and then we'll look at the sales roles. It's also worth noting right now that each industry or company will probably have slight variations of these, and they might also combine two or more roles into one job title. We have for marketing roles. Typical marketing roles could include the marketing manager, the digital marketer, the content marketer, the brand manager, the market research analyst, and the marketing coordinator. We'll look at each of those a bit more detailed in turn. The marketing manager is generally responsible for developing and executing marketing strategies to meet the company's goals. For instance, they would oversee various marketing activities such as market research, campaign planning, branding, and, of course, budget management. So, for example, a marketing manager at a clothes brand could be responsible for developing marketing strategies to include brand awareness and drive sales. That they may plan and execute promotional campaigns, analyze market trends, and consumer behavior, and would also collaborate with other teams to ensure brand consistency across all of the channels that are in use. The digital marketer, on the other hand, focuses on online marketing channels. This would be social media, e mail marketing, search engine optimization, and content creation. Their responsibilities would include managing digital campaigns. They would analyze data and optimize the online presence. As an example, a digital marketer working for an e commerce company would focus on optimizing the company's online presence. They would create and manage social media campaigns. They optimize the websites for search engines. They would run targeted e mail marketing campaigns and analyze website analytics to improve online conversions and customer engagement, quite a lot. Then we have the content marketer. So the content marketers would create and distribute valuable and relevant content to attract and engage the target audience. They would develop content strategies. They would write blog posts, create videos, manage content distribution across various platforms. For example, Content marketer at a software company would create informative blog posts. They'd have case studies and videos to educate potential customers of the benefits from using the company software solutions. They may also develop content distribution strategies. They would manage social media accounts, track content performance and use this to refine future content. Again, it's a cycle. Then we have the brand manager. The brand manager is responsible for developing and maintaining a strong brand image. They would oversee brand positioning, messaging, and of course, consistency, which is really important across all marketing channels. They would also collaborate with designers and agencies in the creation of so called brand assets. Though, for an example, a brand manager at a luxury cosmetics company would ensure that the brand image is consistent and resonates with the target market. They would collaborate with designers. They would develop packaging designs, work with advertising agencies, and create really compelling advertising campaigns, and monitor the brand perception through market research, and customer feedback. And we have the marketing research analyst. So they collect and analyze data to understand customer behavior, market trends, and of course, the competition. They will conduct surveys, analyze market data, and provide insights that will guide the marketing strategies and decision making, and data based decisions or data driven decisions are the best ones. As an example. A market research analyst at a consumer electronics company will conduct surveys and analyze market data and use this to identify consumer preferences and trends. They may evaluate the competitive landscape like the competition. They will look at pricing strategies and provide insights which will guide product development and marketing decisions. We have the marketing coordinator. They provide support to the marketing teams by coordinating projects, managing schedules, helping with campaign execution, and maintaining marketing collateral and materials. A marketing coordinator, say, hospitality company will assist in coordinating and executing marketing initiatives. This could include organizing events and trade shows, keeping marketing materials up to date, managing social media accounts, and assist in tracking campaign performance. That's the marketing, Let's have a look at now at sales roles. Typical sales roles could include a sales representative, an account manager, a sales manager, a business development manager, and a key account manager. We'll look at each of these in turn in the next slide. The good old sales rep. They're responsible for building relationships with customers, they generate leads and will close sales. They may engage in prospecting, they may make sales calls, they can conduct product demonstrations, they can negotiate contracts and also provide after sales support, although many of these things could also be done by other people. An example of this. The sales rep at a telecommunications company will engage with potential customers through phone calls, e mails, or even in person meetings, and there they would present and demonstrate the company's products and services. They might even also negotiate pricing. They will overcome objections and obstacles and ideally close the deal and achieve their sales targets. We have the account manager. The account manager focuses on nurturing and maintaining relationships with existing customers. That's the big difference with existing customers. They ensure customer satisfaction. They would ideally identify up selling and cross selling opportunities. They would answer customer queries and also act as like a liaison between the customer and the company. For example, again, our account manager at a software company will manage existing customer accounts by providing really personalized support for them, and of course, identifying upselling and cross selling opportunities. They might have regular contact with them, just checking in to see how they're doing. They will address customer concerns and also work together with the product and customer success teams to ensure customer satisfaction. Then we have the sales manager. They will oversee the sales teams activity. They will set sales targets and develop sales strategies. They will provide coaching, training, and guidance to the sales team. They will monitor the performance and also implement sales processes and initiatives to achieve the sales targets that have been set. A sales manager at say a manufacturing company would need a team of sales reps. They would set sales targets and develop strategies to achieve these revenue goals. They might also get involved with sales data analysis. They will maybe provide training and coaching to the team and collaborate with marketing to really align the sales efforts with the marketing initiatives. Again, working with each other, not against each other. We have the business development Manager. So the BDM, as often called, will identify and pursue new business opportunities. They'll research say potential markets, establish partnerships, negotiate contracts, and develop strategies that will expand the customer base and ideally increase sales. A BDM, say at a consulting firm will identify potential clients and develop relationships with their key decision makers. They might also attend industry conferences, network with professionals, create strategic partnerships, all to generate new business opportunities. Then we have the key account manager. The key account managers, usually manage relationships with the important customers, maybe the larger customers. They will work closely with these to understand their needs. They might develop tailored or bespoke solutions and again ensure customer satisfaction. So I say a key account manager at a pharmaceutical company will focus on managing relationships with major clients such as hospitals or health care providers. They may also analyze client needs, develop tailored solutions for them, negotiate contracts, and act as a point of contact for any issues or inquiries. 4. Understanding the Marketing and Sales Process: Welcome to this lesson on Understanding the marketing and sales process. The marketing and sales process, generally involves a series of steps and components which all work together with the aim of attracting customers, generating leads, nurturing relationships, and ultimately driving and increasing sales. There are quite a number of key steps and components in this process, and here they are. So identify the target market in customer needs, market research and analysis, developing a value proposition, creating marketing strategies and tactics, implementing marketing campaigns, lead generation and capture, then lead nurturing and conversion, the sales process and closing the sales, and finally, customer retention and upselling. We'll look at each of these in turn. The process generally starts with the identification of the target market or specific customer segments that the company wants to reach. Here, marketing managers and market research analysts will play a key role in identifying those target markets market research and analysis. They will analyze customer demographics and behaviors and the needs and use this to define their target audience. They would analyze, customer demographics and behaviors, and of course, their needs and use all of this to define their target audience. As an example, a fitness equipment company will identify health conscious individuals who are aged 25-40 who prefer to work out at home because of time constraints or other personal preferences. That would be then their target market. Once we've had our target market, we then do market research to gather data and insights about the target market and also about the competitors and industry trends. And market research analysts are primarily responsible for conducting market research, for gathering data and analyzing market trends. They also would look at their competitor strategies, and of course, their customer preferences. They'll put all of this together to provide valuable insights which will guide the marketing strategies. For example, a software company could conduct market research with the aim of understanding their customer pain points and preferences when thinking about project management tools. Then we have to develop a value proposition, and the value proposition is a unique value or benefit that the company's product or service will offer to customers. The marketing managers, brand managers, product managers, they will all collaborate to develop a compelling value proposition. They will conduct market research. They will analyze customer needs, and define the unique value that this product or service will offer to their customers. For example, an eco friendly cleaning product company will highlight its products natural ingredients and effectiveness and environmental sustainability as key elements of its value proposition. We have to create strategies and tactics around our marketing, and we have to do this in order to reach the target market effectively. This includes determining the marketing mix or the so called four Ps, which we covered in a previous lesson, and we select appropriate marketing channels and tactics. Here, marketing managers, digital marketers, and marketing coordinators are involved in creating these strategies and tactics. They will determine the marketing mix, they will select appropriate channels and develop these initiatives in order to reach the target market effectively. As an example, a fashion retailer would develop a market strategy that includes offering trendy clothing options, competitive pricing, running targeted social media ad campaigns, and opening stores in key locations. Then we have to implement the marketing campaigns, and these are executed based on the strategies and tactics that we previously identified. This will involve creating and distributing content, running advertisements, and engaging with customers through various channels. Here, marketing managers, digital marketers, content marketers, and marketing coordinators will work together to execute these marketing campaigns. They will create content. They will run run adverts, manage social media accounts and engage with customers through various channels, whatever they may be. As an example, an electronics company will launch a multi channel marketing campaign for a new smartphone. This will include TV commercials, social media contests, and even influencer partnerships. Then we have lead generation and capture. All these marketing activities that we've previously described are for the whole point of generating leads. These leads, as we said earlier, are potential customers who have shown interest in the company's product or service. Digital marketers and content marketers and marketing coordinators will be responsible for lead generation. They will create and distribute valuable content, run targeted advert campaigns. They will optimize website conversion paths and implement lead capture mechanisms such as landing pages and forms. Example here would be a software company would generate leads by offering a free downloadable e book on project management best practices in exchange for the visitors e mail address. Then they would then go into the e mail marketing. Then we have lead nurturing in conversion. We've got a lead. What do we do with them? We will nurture them through targeted communication and engagement in order to build relationships and move them further along the sales funnel. Here, digital marketers, content marketers, and marketing automation specialists will play a crucial role in lead nurturing. They will use marketing automation tools. They will use personalized e mail campaigns and targeted content, which will engage the leads, build relationships with them, and move them further along the sales funnel. As an example, an e commerce company will send out personalized e mail news letters to leads, which say share product recommendations based on browsing history and interests. Then we have sales process and closing. So here, the sales reps and the sales managers are involved in the process and the closing stage. They will engage with qualified leads. They will conduct product demonstrations, answer questions and concerns, negotiate pricing, and ultimately work towards closing the sale. So here's a car dealership salesperson will provide a test drive, discuss financing options, and guide the customer through the purchase process to close the sale. And finally, we have customer attention and upselling. After the sale, the focus then shifts to customer satisfaction and retention and potentially upselling or cross selling them something else. Here we'll have account managers, key account managers, and sales reps, and they will be responsible for the customer attention and identifying any upselling opportunities. They will maintain their relationships with the existing customers. They will address their needs and explore any options for, as we said, cross and upselling potential. As an example, a subscription based meal kit company could offer exclusive discounts, personalized recipe suggestions, all with the aim of encouraging repeat purchases and upselling on additional products.