Marketing Funnel VS Sales Funnel.

Funnel Confusion Explained: Sales, Conversion + Marketing Funnel

We often face the confusion: the marketing funnel vs sales funnel.
The sales funnel and marketing funnel can be used interchangeably and arose from the same origin.

According to Wikipedia, purchasing funnel is the preferred terminology. Wikipedia dismisses “sales funnel,” “customer funnel,” “marketing funnel” as the same thing.

The most significant single difference as to which is used seems to be the context of use, whether it is in a sales or marketing background.

Marketing and selling are two closely related functions that often cause unjustified confusion. Separating one part from another is a difficult task simply because the two roles are closely related.

Moreover, marketing is a broad function covering various commercial activities and is generally associated with sales as core activities.

It’s worth noting that sales and marketing share a common channel. It makes it even more challenging to explain the difference between the marketing funnel and the sales funnel.

Marketing funnel vs sales funnel

Before we define these terms, we must understand the word; funnel.
We can describe funnel as activities that the customer goes through, from the real opportunity to become a customer. 

Simply put, it is a set of actions before the consumer receives the desired service or product.
So do we have a difference between a marketing funnel and a sales funnel?

What is a Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel is a system that leads prospects throughout their course, from the first interaction with the brand to the point where potential customers feel the desire to buy a service or product.

For marketing activities, the top of the marketing funnel is where visitors are classified according to their interaction.
The system defines the personalities of the customers by dividing visitors into interest groups. The next important step is visitor identification.

The marketing funnel helps potential customers to get to know the brand better.
It enables marketing professionals to visualize the buyer’s journey and develop an appropriate marketing strategy.
We can divide the marketing funnel into two sections:

Lead Generation: includes the creation of advertising and marketing campaigns to build brand recognition.
Points like fairs, inbound advertising and marketing, material marketing, popular initiatives, internet marketing, regular email, documents, and more are used to showcase your brand.

Nourishing Potential Customers: Once a potential consumer becomes interested in your business, the next thing to do is feed the potential consumer.
At this point, the company intends to develop a successful collaboration with a potential customer. The prospective customer is offered a product or service with customized web content to assist with the purchase.

What is a Sales Funnel

The sales funnel guides the potential customer from the moment of taking him over from marketing to selling.

Therefore, the beginning of the sales funnel is at the narrowest end of the marketing funnel.

When a potential customer is identified and interested in a product or service, he enters the sales funnel. At this point, the leader becomes a sales prospect.

The sales funnel guides the potential customer from the moment of taking him over from marketing to selling.

In short, this funnel can be defined as a system that guides a potential customer from marketing to the final conversion.

Sales automation tools allow you to create a rating engine that automatically takes the user up the path through different sale stages, depending on how they interact with the site.

Back to our original question:

What is the difference between marketing funnel vs sales funnel?

The confusion of sales and marketing funnels is easy to understand, given that the terms are used interchangeably.
Besides, there are many other types of funnels for many different purposes.
Users create their variations to meet their own particular needs.

The line between the marketing funnel and the sales funnel is relatively thin and separating them is difficult.
The only significant distinction between them looks to be the context of use. 

An increasing trend on the market is the emergence of tools that integrate marketing and sales funnels more and more.

It used to be thought that sales and marketing were two separate ways of doing business.
Everyone has their unique sequence of events that shows the next stages of dealing with a potential customer.

Marketing aims to arouse interest in a product or service, and the bottom of its funnel marks the beginning of a sales funnel.
So the sales funnel is driven by marketing activities that generate awareness in order to create demand for a service or product.

Final Thoughts on Marketing Funnel Vs Sales Funnel

Which funnel should I focus on?

There is no definite answer here. It all depends on what is important to you as a marketer or business owner.
If your goal is to attract new customers and convert potential customers quickly and efficiently, the traditional sales funnel is your best choice.

If you are betting on long-term conversion with a focus on repeat customers, the Lifecycle Marketing model is right for you.