Promotion, Selling, Marketing — Know the Difference and You'll Drive Sales

A young man says to a young woman: "My father left me three houses. Be with me, and one day they'll all be yours!" That's promotion.

A young man says to a young woman: "I can play guitar and piano, I can sing, I can paint, and cooking is no problem for me. I am the best! I promise to make you happy for the rest of your life — spend it with me!" That's selling.

"I'm Eddie Peng." That's marketing.

The man never confesses his feelings to the woman (in fact, they never even speak), yet she is already captivated by his charisma and poise. Even if he doesn't know her, all of her friends can't stop praising him. That is the power of a brand.

Ultimately, what you want to build is goodwill and customer trust — and through them, win high-value, loyal, lifelong customers.

To market successfully, a brand needs to invest time in building awareness and showing the public the distinctive value you can bring them. You demonstrate that you care about society and your target customers; you make everyone understand that your brand is committed to solving their problems (rather than simply selling a product). And none of this can be achieved by reciting a "list of features" or by fighting a price war.

Here's another example. Xiao Ming owns a flower shop. When he sees a customer hesitating, he says: "For this special occasion, every bouquet is 20% off!" That's promotion.

Out on the street, Xiao Ming spots a couple strolling together but holding no flowers, and says to them: "It's Valentine's Day today — buy a bouquet for your loved one to show how you feel!" That's selling.

Xiao Ming brings out beautiful bouquets, takes a series of romantic photos of an attractive couple, and posts them on social media to catch the public's eye. That's marketing.

In short, marketing is packaging your service or product so that customers understand they choose you not only because you offer a practical product or service, but because you deliver value and solutions.

Sales is really an exchange of value and price. To see the difference between promotion, selling and marketing more clearly, it helps to analyze them through the lens of value and price.

Promotion is the simplest and most direct of the three methods — but it also does the most damage to a brand

Promotion means slashing prices in a big sell-off, pushing the price below the product's target perceived worth in the customer's mind in order to close the deal. It's the simplest and most direct of the three methods, but it also does the most damage to a brand. Not only does promotion fail to raise a product's perceived worth among target customers, it also trains them to expect the next price war. In the long run, target customers stop valuing what makes the product unique and fixate on price alone — which means the soul of the brand gradually fades and is forgotten, until eventually every customer is lost.

Promotion: the product's value doesn't matter; just lower the price so target customers buy the product.

Selling is primarily about getting target customers to buy the product

In the selling process, a brand communicates both the product's inherent value and any added value it may carry in the context of the transaction — for example, "Buy jewelry for your partner on Valentine's Day and she'll love you even more." Selling is primarily about getting target customers to buy, so during a campaign the brand actively reminds them to make a purchase decision. But whether it raises the product's perceived worth in the customer's mind is not the main objective of selling.

Selling: state the product's value and ask target customers to buy it.

The core work of marketing is "creating value" and "communicating value"

First, you must create value for each product — through methods such as using product positioning to establish an anchoring effect, or using advertising to build an excellent selling atmosphere. Then, you use the right methods to communicate that created value to your target customers, gradually raising the product's perceived worth in their minds. Remember: marketing is not about aggressively reminding target customers to make a purchase. Marketing communicates a product's value mainly through subtle or passive activities.

Marketing: create and communicate the product's value to raise its perceived worth in the target customer's mind.

Creating value is the marketing that lasts.