Where's the Sale?

RT @GabrielGrimes I've run into the same question again. "What s the difference between Marketing and Selling?"

This question implies there is a gray area between marketing and sales and Gabriel is trying to draw a line between the two.

This question sounds remarkably like the typical ethical dilemma, "what is the difference between right and wrong." Instead of trying to classify right and wrong as two sides of a coin, it is better to consider them as extreme ends of a continuum. At either end things are clearly right and wrong, but between is a giant gray area.

However, in this case the extreme ends of the continuum are not marketing and selling, rather they are marketing and collecting. At one end is the attempt to shape market forces in order to draw attention to the product. At the other end is the transaction exchange, i.e. receiving something of value in return for delivering the product,i.e. "collecting." "Selling" is an optional, interim step, not the end game.

In my terms selling as a one-to-one interaction that results in an agreement for a transaction. The transaction is the sale. In modern times, transactions occur without selling.

The newest social technologies, Web 2.0, take this one step further. There is a new gray area between marketing and customer support. The modern view should be that producers must establish relationships, Web 3.0, with consumers. Periodically this relationship results in a sale. The sale can occur to this particular consumer, or to another influenced by the relationship. In the interim, the producer must ensure customer satisfaction in order to keep the relationship positive and subsequently the influence of the relationship.