http://agilebizdev.com/agile_positioning/ Best Practices • Architecting Revenue and Profitability • Sales & Marketing Methodology Sun, 20 May 2012 19:36:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 http://agilebizdev.com/agile_positioning/#comment-191 Christopher Payne-Taylor Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:33:08 +0000 http://agilebizdev.com/agile_positioning/#comment-191 In my experience, the relationship between marketing and sales is similar to the one described in this article. The only difference is that marketing does not guide sales to the target with a laser signal. It carpet bombs, saturating the landscape with as broad an awareness as possible. This is a common fallacy of the new marketing mantra, that it’s all identifying as specific a target as possible, then going after it. Unfortunately, marketing tends to work best when the objective is to create the widest possible impact. For instance, Volkswagen’s “Drivers Wanted” campaign was initially very successful because it targeted a fairly broad demographic of young urban professionals. It wasn’t focused on any particular type of individual, or ones with a previously-identified interest in either small cars or coffee. The target very generically defined – young urban professional, driven, energetic, hyper-caffeinated. In contrast, one of the more spectacular failures was another campaign for the makers of Scion. Originally targeted at a narrow slice of young urban “club kids,” the car was rolled out exclusively trendy nightclubs in major U.S. cities. Unfortunately, it was later learned that the brand’s biggest consumer base was not “club kids,” but soccer moms. So, to go back to the military analogy, it’s relatively simple. Marketing provides air cover while sales covers the ground. Marketing’s mission is to achieve air supremacy, while sales' is to close enough deals to put the company into the win column. Pinpoint targeting is great if marketing has already accomplished its mission. If not, you're going to war with weapons poorly aimed and only half-loaded. In my experience, the relationship between marketing and sales is similar to the one described in this article. The only difference is that marketing does not guide sales to the target with a laser signal. It carpet bombs, saturating the landscape with as broad an awareness as possible.
This is a common fallacy of the new marketing mantra, that it’s all identifying as specific a target as possible, then going after it. Unfortunately, marketing tends to work best when the objective is to create the widest possible impact.
For instance, Volkswagen’s “Drivers Wanted” campaign was initially very successful because it targeted a fairly broad demographic of young urban professionals. It wasn’t focused on any particular type of individual, or ones with a previously-identified interest in either small cars or coffee. The target very generically defined – young urban professional, driven, energetic, hyper-caffeinated.
In contrast, one of the more spectacular failures was another campaign for the makers of Scion. Originally targeted at a narrow slice of young urban “club kids,” the car was rolled out exclusively trendy nightclubs in major U.S. cities. Unfortunately, it was later learned that the brand’s biggest consumer base was not “club kids,” but soccer moms.
So, to go back to the military analogy, it’s relatively simple. Marketing provides air cover while sales covers the ground. Marketing’s mission is to achieve air supremacy, while sales’ is to close enough deals to put the company into the win column. Pinpoint targeting is great if marketing has already accomplished its mission. If not, you’re going to war with weapons poorly aimed and only half-loaded.

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