Why do you have an online presence? Your website, social media platforms, email marketing, blogs? Ultimately, it’s about making sales, right? You want to get noticed so your business will thrive and you’ll make sales.
But no one wants to be sold constantly while they’re online. Or even offline. (I have a No Soliciting sign on my door because if I want to buy something, I’ll seek out people I know, like and trust to buy from. I don’t want someone coming to my door and interrupting my personal time to try to sell to me.)
It’s the same principle online. Who wants to be inundated online with salesy messages on Facebook and in their inboxes?
So if you’re online to make sales, how do you do that without being creepy and sleazy and salesy? Easy. You use marketing messages.
But here’s the caveat. I believe a lot of people think they’re sending out marketing messages, when really what they’re doing is sending sales messages.
[bctt tweet=”Marketing plants the seeds. Sales harvests the crop.”]
Here’s a great analogy I found on a marketing agency’s website. It uses a farmer’s role to differentiate between marketing and sales. Marketing plants the seeds and takes care of the plants while they’re growing. It nurtures those plants as they grow and develop. Sales harvests the crop, when it’s ready. Sales saves some of the harvest to generate seeds for the next crop. If you don’t market, sales can’t harvest. If you don’t sell, there aren’t seeds for marketing to plant.
A Closer Look
Let’s take a closer look at what marketing messages look like vs. sales messages.
So when you’re preparing content for your audience, think about what your intent is. Are you looking to cultivate relationships with your ideal client? Or do you want to persuade them to buy from you?
[bctt tweet=”Marketing vs. selling depends on your intent: to educate or to close the sale.”]
Here’s a hint: If you’re cultivating those relationships, the sales will come naturally. If you are pushing sales, you’re going to turn a lot of people off—and quickly. So yes, it does matter if your message is marketing or trying to sell.
At the end of the day, I want to grow to know, like and trust you before I buy from you. Are you the same?
For more, watch my Periscope on this topic!
