Many people include lead generation under the umbrella of Marketing but I think that is too broad a definition. I prefer to look at Marketing as separate from Marketing Communications, Lead Generation and Sales so that the process breaks down like this:

Marketing

• Definition – Have we got the right product or service?
• Competition – How are we different from the other guys?
• Message – How do we maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses? How do we effectively and dramatically illustrate our value proposition?

The output is recommendations to feed back to the product or service development team and the message to be communicated to the customers.

Marketing Communications

• Medium – How do we effectively communicate our message to our customers? Print, radio, TV, social media, trade shows, etc.?

The output is advertising/promotional material and a communications plan to promote the material.

Lead Generation

• Execution – The process of following through on the communications plan to generate leads.

The output is a series of semi-qualified leads for Sales to follow up.

Sales

• Closing – Converting leads to orders.

The output, hopefully, is a bulging order book!