--- title: Marketing Needs to Focus on Opportunity Creation, Not Leads | The Sales Blog description: Marketing is more about creating opportunities than creating leads. Marketing believes it is their role to create leads. Sales believes it is marketing’s image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_318471329.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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Marketing believes it is their role to create leads. Sales believes it is marketing’s job to create ready-to-buy [leads](http://thesalesblog.com/2016/12/15/targets-leads/), or leads so far down the path that they are easily closed. Marketing does what is necessary to generate leads, especially on the web where information is easily captured. They put up pages to capture leads, offering free content like white papers and thought leadership pieces. They host webinars to capture the contact information of people who are interested in some topic related to what their company sells. As a measurement of effectiveness, names and contact information is one KPI, even if it doesn’t speak to the effectiveness of the actual marketing. What marketing is supposed to do is generate awareness and interest that can be converted into an opportunity. All of the above tactics generate awareness, but not necessarily interest. Most of the content delivers the wrong message. What marketing needs to do to better serve their organization and their sales force is to create a case for change. Opportunities are created when someone believes they have a reason to change. The message that marketing needs to create needs to focus on compelling the people in their target markets to change. - What message will explain why the people in your target need to do something different? - What is the price of inaction, should your dream clients do nothing? What do they give up by not taking action? - What does their future need to look like to survive and thrive in a world of accelerating, disruptive change? What marketing needs to do now is make the case for change and arm the sales force to do the same. Sales is about two things: [opportunity creation](http://thesalesblog.com/2016/11/03/if-you-only-had-8-hours-to-create-an-opportunity/), and opportunity capture. Marketing needs to do more to create opportunities, and not focus so much time and attention on names and contact information; something that can be bought for a few bucks, and invest more attention on creating opportunities, something more precious. ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2017](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2017) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on May 3, 2017 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. 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What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2021-09-14T6:09:57 PM", "datePublished" : "2017-05-03 22:57:34", "description" : "Marketing is more about creating opportunities than creating leads. Marketing believes it is their role to create leads. 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