Difference Between Finance and Marketing

Finance and Marketing are two domains of study that every business needs. In simple terms, the marketing department takes responsibility for generating revenue. The finance department is responsible for transporting this revenue in different activities to ensure maximum growth of the wealth.

So how are these two different? In this article, we will investigate each of these domains of study and carefully analyze the outlook of these subjects, the education you require to be able to be proficient in these fields, the primary tasks or responsibilities you need to handle, work-life balance, compensation you would receive and lastly the pros and cons of being in these two professions.

They are very broad in scope. We will pick up the most common professions under this domain and discuss them in detail.

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Let’s get started.

Comparative Table

Even if finance and marketing are two completely different fields, another will hardly exist in an organization without one. Finance vs. Marketing Outlook

  • Excel skills
  • VBA MacrosVBA MacrosVBA Macros are the lines of code that instruct the excel to do specific tasks, i.e., once the code is written in Visual Basic Editor (VBE), the user can quickly execute the same task at any time in the workbook. It thus eliminates the repetitive, monotonous tasks and automates the process.read more
  • Financial Analysis
  • Financial Modeling Best PracticesFinancial Modeling Best PracticesFinancial modeling refers to the use of excel-based models to reflect a company’s projected financial performance. Such models represent the financial situation by taking into account risks and future assumptions, which are critical for making significant decisions in the future, such as raising capital or valuing a business, and interpreting their impact.read more
  • Valuations
  • Capital BudgetingCapital BudgetingCapital budgeting is the planning process for the long-term investment that determines whether the projects are fruitful for the business and will provide the required returns in the future years or not. It is essential because capital expenditure requires a considerable amount of funds.read more
  • Risk Management
  • Writing Skills
  • Analytical Skills
  • Knowledge of Statistical Tools

 

  • Source funds for the business related to borrowing, IPOs, etc

  • Investments of funds

  • Investment of funds in projects

  • MIS, report writing, communicating to the Top Management

  • Performing Market Research

  • Understanding the Market for Bridge the gap by offering products that consumer wants

  • sales promotion, direct selling, online advertisements, email marketing, copywriting

  • Delivery of Products

  • Feedback of Product and Services

  • Lots of choices with finance

  • Investment Banking

  • Equity Research

  • Risk management

  • Corporate Finance

  • Capital Budgeting

  • Accountant

  • Finance Controller

  • Quantitative Finance

  • Awesome Work-Life Balance

  • Lucrative Compensation

  • Compensation in lower grade roles is not lucrative

  • Work-life balance in IB and financial analyst rolesFinancial Analyst RolesFinancial analysts analyze the financial data and other relevant information and provide valuable insights to the management for better financial decisions. In addition, they diagnose the economic conditions, company’s performance and fundamentals to forecast future performance and recommend a course of action.read more in virtually none

  • More of a personality job than a technical job

  • Presentation and negotiation skills make a lot of difference

  • Face rejections from clients

  • Blackstone

  • Goldman Sachs & Co

  • Morgan Stanley

  • Bank of America Merrill Lynch

  • Credit Suisse

  • Citibank

  • Deutsche Bank

  • HSBC

  • UBS

  • J.P.Morgan Chase & Co

  • For example, suppose the marketing function is being removed from an organization. In that case, no revenue will be generated, and thus the finance department would not be required at all other than sourcing the funds from other resources for productionSimilarly, if the finance department is being removed from any organization, then the marketing function would generate profits but will in no way be fruitful as there won’t be proper distribution of profits.

So we can understand that these two functions are complementary to each other.

Now we will pick each of them and see the outlook of each function.

Finance Outlook

  • If we look at finance, there are two main functions. First is the procurement of funds, and second is the utilization of funds. The chief aim of the procurement of funds is to reduce the cost as much as possible.And the primary goal of the utilization of funds is to maximize the returns.Generally speaking, these two functions can further be divided into two sub-parts – short-term and long-term. When the finance department procures funds, they think of two things – short-term source and long-term source. With short-term sources, the organization takes care of the day-to-day operations, whereas, with long-term sources, the organization makes financing decisions. There are two types of investments in the case of the utilization of funds.In the short term, the firm thinks about current assetsAbout Current AssetsCurrent assets refer to those short-term assets which can be efficiently utilized for business operations, sold for immediate cash or liquidated within a year. It comprises inventory, cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, accounts receivable, etc.read more, and in the long term, they invest the money in fixed assets or projects worth investing.If you decide to become a finance professional, usually you would deal with these basic things.Now, finance is very broad and its scope is huge. The functions and objectives of finance (in different organizations) change as per the scope and opportunity of the work domain.

In the case of marketing, it is an art and science of attracting businesses and people to buy your products and services and your philosophy of business.

Marketing Outlook

  • Through marketing, the selling process becomes much easier. But marketing has evolved a lot. In the middle 90s, marketing was used to fulfill only one objective: to generate profits. Thus the tools and techniques used back then have become obsolete for the current generation of people. Today, marketing is based on permission.No one likes to be bombarded with irrelevant advertisements even when the products and services you offer are of high quality. You need first to understand what customers want and then find a way to fulfill the customers’ and this is the way things work in marketing nowadays.It’s completely customer-centric and even before making profits, the company should concentrate mainly on fulfilling the expectations of your existing and potential customers.Marketing is not only used to generate revenues but also to source the best talents. If a company sells good products and services and has impeccable integrity, more and more talents would get attracted to the company.But that will not happen just by sitting across. It’s the function of marketing to convey the message and reach the existing & potential customers and people in general. Once a company’s marketing is taken care of, everything else takes care of itself.

Education

If you want to do good in finance, you need technical skills and communication and interpersonal skills. But to be good at marketing, you need to understand business and be a master of communication more than anything else.

So, let’s have a look at what education would be ideal for both of these fields.

#1 – Finance Careers

  • If we talk about finance, there are many courses and many avenues you can take up as your potential career choice. But the question remains which one! If you want to be in finance, you should start with the core subjects at your graduation.The possible degrees you can pursue in your graduation are Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor in Finance & Accounts, Bachelor in Economics, Bachelor in Mathematics, etc.Economics and mathematics are special if you want to go in the core finance domain like in investments or risk management.After graduation, you can go for an MBA in Finance from a top-notch institute, or you can opt for CFA depending on whatever career goals you have.There are multiple opportunities and openings if you decide to go for the finance domain. So set your career goal first, do your research and then go ahead with your preferred career choice.

#2 – Marketing Career

  • In the case of marketing, it’s all about understanding the business side of things and learning how to be a better salesman.You always don’t need to go door-to-door to sell pieces of stuff, but you need to know your customers, how they respond to changes and who they are and their tastes and preferences. Generally speaking, the best option for you is to pursue a graduation field where you want to get in shortly and then further your studies accordingly.After your graduation, MBA in Marketing from a reputed institute will make the work easy for you. The marketing function is very important because if you ever dream of becoming an entrepreneur, the first thing you will need is marketing which will ultimately help you generate profits for your business.

Finance vs Marketing Primary Tasks or Roles

This section will give your ideas about what you can expect from these two domains. What types of tasks you need to perform daily and what skills you would require would be of immense importance.

#1 – Finance Professionals

Now, you may understand that finance is a very vast field, and to make a list of key tasks from all is a difficult task. Still, let’s look at the usual tasks you need to perform as finance professionals. According to your chosen finance profession, you can add up a few core tasks to the list below.

  • Finance is the heart of business as it pumps money into every department. The primary responsibility of finance professionals is to source funds for a business. It may be in borrowing money fromFinancial institutions refer to those organizations which provide business services and products related to financial or monetary transactions to their clients. Some of these are banks, NBFCs, investment companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies and trust corporations. read more financial institutionsFinancial InstitutionsFinancial institutions refer to those organizations which provide business services and products related to financial or monetary transactions to their clients. Some of these are banks, NBFCs, investment companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies and trust corporations. read more or conducting an IPO to sell shares to the public and amass the money for investing in the business. To finance professionals, your responsibility can’t be overemphasized.Sourcing the funds is important, but it is equally important to invest the funds in the right places to get the maximum ROI from the investment. The finance professionals need to decide which department needs maximum attention. Usually, they should concentrate on their Competitive advantage refers to an advantage availed by a company that has remained successful in outdoing its competitors belonging to the same industry by designing and implementing effective strategies that allow the same in offering quality goods or services, quoting reasonable prices to its customers, maximizing the wealth of its stakeholders and so on and as a result of which the company can make more profits, build a positive brand reputation, make more sales, maximize return on assets, etc.read morecompetitive advantageCompetitive AdvantageCompetitive advantage refers to an advantage availed by a company that has remained successful in outdoing its competitors belonging to the same industry by designing and implementing effective strategies that allow the same in offering quality goods or services, quoting reasonable prices to its customers, maximizing the wealth of its stakeholders and so on and as a result of which the company can make more profits, build a positive brand reputation, make more sales, maximize return on assets, etc.read more and on making that competency as the core one. Because once the firm has its core competencyCore CompetencyThe core competencies in business refer to its resources and unique fundamental capabilities that distinguish it from market competitors. It is an essential component of marketing strategy leading to brand recognition and business growth. The concept serves to be useful for companies focusing on multiple product lines and operating more than one business unit at a time.
  • read more built properly, the company’s growth can’t be stunned by uncontrollable factors.After investing the money into the business, let’s say the business makes a huge profit. What would you do with the profit? Should you plow back the profit and reinvest it into the business, or would you share the profits with your shareholders? Suppose you decide to share the profits with the shareholders; how much should you give to your shareholders, and how much should you keep for reinvestment? As finance professionals, your job is to find out the answers to the above questions.Lastly, as finance professionals, your job would be to communicate what you thought would be appropriate for business. You need to know how to write reports, communicate with the top management, and present your ideas so that the top management can understand the why of your decisions and how these decisions would affect the business in the long run.

#2 – Marketing Professionals

According to the designation and scope of the work, you need to perform a few core tasks. Marketing professionals also have to perform a few typical common tasks for most marketing professionals. As finance professionals, marketing professionals can also choose core areas like social media, copywriting, strategy, key-account handling, salesmanship, etc.

Let’s have a look at the primary tasks of marketing professionals –

  • The most important task of marketing professionals is market research. If you have a product or a service to offer, your primary job would be to know about the market. You need to go deep and find out about the potentially prone customers to your types of products/services, their age, lifestyle, habits, expectations from a product/service, and many more such insignificant details. Once you know these, you will be able to take action on the inputs. There are many arguments on whether marketing research is the job of core marketing professionals or not, but the truth is it’s part of the marketing function. If the organization’s scope is huge, then market research becomes the responsibility of market research professionals.Aftermarket research, the main concern of marketing professionals is to bridge the gap between the products/services and potential customers. Thus, as marketing professionals, you can take many measures to reduce the gap. You can do sales promotion, direct selling, online advertisements, email marketing, copywriting, etc.The next step is delivery. There’s a part of customer service inherent within it, but it’s also one of the most important marketing tasks as it ensures repeat customers. Only planning about the strategy won’t help. You need to know how to deliver the products/services so that the customers’ experience becomes maximum.Once the customer is satisfied, you need to go one step further and offer to know how their experience is with the products and services offered by your company. Using that feedback, you can improve your products and services further.

Work-life balance

In the case of finance professionals, work-life balance differs from profession to profession. For example, investment banking professionals have no work-life balance as they need to work even on the weekends to meet the clients’ needs. Whereas, a finance analyst’s work-life balance is good as he works scheduled hours and gets enough time to spend his weekend with his family.

In the case of marketing professionals, work-life balance differs as well. Professionals directly linked to sales may need to stay late to achieve their targets. But people who are social media specialists or copywriters may not need to stay late or work beyond the stipulated time.

Compensation

According to Payscale.com, the median salary of finance professionals is US $84,800 per annum.

source: payscale.com

Let’s have a look at the salary of finance professionals as per the experience –

Let’s have a look at the salary of marketing professionals.

The compensation of marketing managers is lucrative.

As per Salary.com, the median salary of the marketing manager is US $93,459 per annum. But this amount varies as per the scope of the work, the position/designation, the core areas they cover, and how much experience they have in a similar field.

Career Pros & Cons

#1 – Finance

  • The career choices are much more in finance than in any other domain.So if you choose to be a finance professional, your chances of getting the right job would be higher than others.The success of being a finance professional depends on technical skills. Thus if you can be proficient in these technical skills like financial analysisFinancial AnalysisFinancial analysis is an analysis of finance-related projects/activities, company’s financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, and notes to accounts) or financial ratios to evaluate the company’s results, performance, and trends, which is useful for making significant decisions such as investment, project planning and financing activities.read more, valuation, financial modeling, etc., chances of success are much more.

  • To be compensated well, you need to choose a core finance domain and then become proficient in it.If you choose to work in general finance, the compensation is not lucrative.Even if work-life balance differs according to the core profession, work pressure is always there in the finance domain.

#2 – Marketing

  • The work-life balance is great. Other than sales professionals, rarely marketing professionals need to go beyond the scheduled hours.They compensated very well. The main reason for getting lucrative compensation is the very nature of the function. Marketing helps generate revenues for the company.

  • It’s more of a personality job than a technical job. If you can present yourself well, you will make your mark.Thus not many professionals become successful in the field of marketing.Rejection is a natural part of this profession.Your effort often won’t work, and you need to step beyond your failures, learn from them and begin again.

This has been a guide to Finance vs. Marketing. Here we discuss the difference between Finance and Marketing with the help of these subjects, and education required, primary tasks or responsibilities, work-life balance, etc. You may also have a look at the following articles –

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