a small work rant

This morning I decided to see what kind of marketing or advertising jobs are available in the region in which I live. It is a pretty rural area, so this was really a curiosity search. Upon entering the term "marketing jobs sioux falls", what resulted were about a dozen jobs that were labeled as marketing jobs, but were actually sales jobs in disguise.

Come on! I have found this to be the case quite a bit in different regions. Why do people automatically lump marketing and advertising with sales? I can assure you they are quite different. Both are extremely important aspects of a successful company; however, what separates the two is that marketing professionals create marketing plans based on sales goals, and salespeople sell the product/service. Marketers rely on research, trends, analysis to help do their job. Salespeople rely on their exceptional people skills and sales savvy. Advertisers are also different from salespeople. Advertisers help implement the marketing plan. They produce the design and copy, whether it be print, interactive, etc. that transmits the marketing message. Salespeople can capitalize on sales based on advertisements, and also based on the go to market strategy. Each is a cog in a very large wheel; they have to work together to make the wheel turn. They are all vital, but they are not the same.

I implore companies looking for salespeople to advertise those jobs as simply that; sales jobs. That, after all, is what you will want in that position, not an advertising person. Likewise, if you want someone to create copy and design, list the job as an advertising position. Same with marketing.

Are there any other jobs tha you can think of that are often confused?