Sales and marketing are closely related activities involved with creating a demand for the company’s products and moving them from the company to the customer.The sales function includes the near-term activities involved in transferring the product or service from the business to the customer.Marketing incorporates longer-term functions necessary to promote and distribute products in the marketplace, provides support for the sales staff, conducts research to design products that customers will be interested in purchasing, and determines the appropriate pricing for the products. Marketing begins with an identification of the target market for the organization’s product or service. Once that has been identified, decisions about the four p’s of marketing (product, price, placement, and promotion) can be made: