As a business owner or marketing manager, you've probably already taken or had your team take various marketing training courses. Maybe you've invested in online courses, workshops or even a full training program. But despite all that training, your company may still be struggling with the same marketing challenges.

The knowledge is there, but the translation into concrete results is lacking. Your team has taken several training courses, but everyone speaks a different language and works from different principles. You are frustrated because you have invested significantly in the development of your marketing knowledge, but the ROI is not reflected in your figures.

As a head coach at Buzzlytics, I understand your frustration. I have one leg in the traditional marketing world as a teacher at several business schools, and the other in the practical implementation world of our own marketing and sales program. This has allowed me to see firsthand why so many companies become disappointed in traditional marketing training, and why an integrated marketing and sales program is often more effective.

In this article, I compare these two approaches and show in which situations a marketing and sales program from Buzzlytics is a better choice than traditional training - and when it's the other way around. You'll learn the fundamental differences between the two approaches, discover why implementation is so critical to success, and gain insight into how to more effectively leverage your marketing investment for tangible results.

After reading this article, you can make an informed decision about which approach is best for the current phase of your business, so you can finally achieve the marketing results you envision.

Many companies have marketing knowledge, but fail to convert that knowledge into concrete results.

If you want to learn more about marketing, you have several options available to you. You can choose online courses that range from free courses to expensive specialty programs. Google, for example, offers certification programs, and there are numerous platforms where you can develop specific marketing skills.

These online courses are often focused on one specific aspect of marketing, such as search engine optimization, content marketing or social media advertising. They are ideal if you want to gain quick knowledge on a particular topic, but often lack the depth and practical applicability needed to create real change in your organization.

Another option is to literally go to school through business schools or post-graduate programs. These courses offer a more structured approach and are often taught by experienced instructors who can share both theoretical knowledge and practical examples.

Depending on the business school and program you attend, the focus can be broad or specific. Some programs focus on general marketing principles, while others go deeper into specific topics such as customer experience or digital marketing. There are also programs that focus more on management and direction, teaching you how to implement marketing strategies in your organization.

The distinctive feature of these traditional training programs is that they focus on training an individual. You are either trained in breadth, where you gain knowledge on various aspects of marketing, or in depth, where you become an expert in one specific area.

A crucial difference between traditional marketing training and our marketing and sales program is who is being trained. Traditional training involves the development of an individual. One person from your organization attends the training and comes back with new insights and ideas.

This often leads to a problem: that one colleague suddenly has an edge over the rest of the team and is enthusiastic about new concepts and methodologies. But when that person wants to implement these ideas, he or she often runs into a wall because the rest of the organization does not share the same knowledge and enthusiasm.

With our marketing and sales program, you are in the program with your entire team for one fixed price per month. This ensures that everyone speaks the same language and grows into the new approach at the same time. Colleagues who cannot attend a training session right away can watch the recording and still absorb the information.

Traditional marketing training often focuses on one specific area of marketing or on one level. For example, you'll learn all about search engine optimization, or instead get a broad but superficial introduction to different aspects of marketing.

In contrast, our marketing and sales program offers both full breadth and depth. You receive training on content, marketing, website, sales and webinars - in fact, all parts of your commercial strategy are covered. At the same time, you also go into depth, with, for example, specific training on writing good articles, but also on how to drive change in your organization.

This means you don't have to choose between specialized knowledge or a broad base; you get both. This is possible because a marketing and sales program works from principles and methodologies such as StoryBrand and They Ask, You Answer, which are then translated into concrete tactics that fit your specific situation.

In a traditional training setting, an instructor often tries to give examples that are relevant to the participants, but the opportunities to do so are limited. The focus is mainly on imparting knowledge, not so much on how to apply that knowledge in your specific organization.

In contrast, our marketing and sales program is strongly focused on implementation in your specific context. You not only receive general principles, but also concrete coaching on how to apply them within your company, with your team and for your customers.

Especially in the coaching components of programs such as Growth and Mastery, you can get much more specific about the challenges and opportunities within your own organization. The coach can ask much more specifically, "But how does that work for you? What do you need to do?" This level of personalization is hardly feasible in a traditional classroom program with group instruction.

Read also: Which variant of Buzzlytics' marketing and sales program suits my company?

As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest advantages of our marketing and sales program is that it involves your entire team. This ensures a common language and understanding of the marketing strategy, making implementation much smoother.

When only one team member attends traditional training, that person often meets resistance upon their return. Colleagues don't understand the new concepts, don't see the point, or simply have other priorities. This leads to much of the knowledge gained going unused.

By involving your entire team in the program, you create shared responsibility for the success of your marketing strategy. Everyone understands why certain choices are made and their role in the bigger picture.

Instead of having to puzzle through general marketing principles yourself, customized coaching works directly toward applicable solutions for your organization.

Another important advantage is the customized coaching you get. While traditional training often covers general principles, in our marketing and sales program you get specific guidance for your unique situation.

This specific coaching ensures that you can immediately translate the principles learned into actions that fit your company, your target audience and your goals. You don't have to figure out how to apply general marketing concepts; you get concrete tools that are directly relevant to your situation.

Traditional training is primarily focused on knowledge transfer. The point is for the participant to understand the material and possibly pass an exam. Whether you then actually apply that knowledge in your daily work is secondary.

In contrast, our marketing and sales program is completely focused on implementation. Each training is designed to get you started right away. After a session, you'll know not only what you should be doing, but also how to do it and why it's important.

You can see this difference in focus, for example, in how training sessions are concluded. At Buzzlytics, training often ends with a concrete question: "What will you do differently tomorrow?" This emphasis on direct application ensures that training does not remain just an interesting knowledge session, but actually leads to change in the way you work.

This implementation focus results in faster and better results. It is not uncommon for companies to adjust one specific element - for example, their call-to-actions - after one training and immediately see a doubling in their conversion rate.

At Buzzlytics, training often ends with a concrete question: "What will you do differently tomorrow?

Although our marketing and sales program has many advantages, there are situations where traditional training may still be the better choice. For example, if you have a marketing team of twenty people, one of whom is fully specialized in SEO and applies the most advanced techniques in it, this person will probably not benefit as much from the SEO training portion of our program.

For very specific, in-depth expertise in one area, it can sometimes be better to get specialized training from an expert who focuses entirely on that one topic. There are some people who only deal with one specific aspect of marketing on a daily basis and, as a result, have achieved a level of specialization that is difficult to match in a broader program.

Another scenario in which traditional training may be preferable is when you are specifically targeting the development of one person within your organization, without pursuing direct implementation in the company.

Perhaps you want to invest in the growth of a talented employee, or someone on your team needs specific skills that are not directly relevant to the rest of the organization. In such cases, customized individual training may be a better option.

Our marketing and sales program is primarily focused on improving your marketing processes and results, not on developing general leadership skills. If you are a commercial leader looking to improve your general leadership skills, then business school or a specific leadership program may be a better choice.

While there are certainly elements of leadership covered in our program, for example in managing change processes, it is not a substitute for full-fledged leadership training.

An important aspect when comparing traditional training and our marketing and sales program is the return on investment(ROI). How do the costs compare to the returns?

In traditional training, you mainly invest time in gaining and understanding knowledge. You read material, attend lectures and perhaps complete assignments. But the real challenge lies in translating that knowledge into concrete actions within your organization - a step that is often not explicitly part of the training.

Buzzlytics' marketing and sales program, on the other hand, emphasizes implementation. You invest your time not only in understanding concepts, but more importantly in actually applying them in your daily work. This leads to faster results because the concepts you learn are immediately converted into actions that impact your marketing results.

This focus on implementation also means that results can often be seen more quickly. As mentioned earlier, sometimes small adjustments - inspired by training - can already lead to significant improvements in your conversion rates, for example.

Another important difference lies in the duration and depth of change. Traditional training programs are often one-time events: you take a course, complete it and move on. You take the knowledge gained with you, but there is no structural guidance on how to apply it permanently.

Our marketing and sales program is precisely focused on long-term change. Ideally, it is more than a year-long program in which you not only gain knowledge, but also develop a new way of working and anchor it in your organization. The focus is on culture building: creating an environment in which the principles learned are consistently applied.

This long-term nature ensures that the improvement is not temporary, but structurally embedded in your organization. It's not just about learning specific tactics, but about developing a mindset and way of working that will have a lasting impact on your marketing results.

This culture shift is often what makes the difference between short-term successes and sustainable growth. By focusing not just on what to do, but how to implement it structurally in your organization, you create a lasting positive impact on your marketing performance.

The gap between knowledge and action hinders many companies' growth, despite significant investments in marketing training.

The difference between traditional marketing training and Buzzlytics' marketing and sales program is fundamental. Where traditional training focuses on individual knowledge transfer, our program focuses on team-wide implementation and long-term culture change. These different approaches lead to vastly different results.

If you struggle with translating marketing knowledge into concrete results, you probably recognize the frustration of training courses that are theoretically strong but practically fall short. It is this gap between knowledge and action that hinders many companies' growth, despite significant investments in marketing training.

At Buzzlytics, we have experienced this challenge up close, both with our clients and within our own organization. From this experience, we have developed an approach that not only transfers knowledge, but also ensures actual implementation. Our coaching is specifically focused on your business situation, and we involve your entire team in the process so that everyone moves in the same direction.

Are you curious if our marketing and sales program is the right approach for your company as well? Schedule a meeting with one of our consultants. Together we will look at your current marketing strategy, discuss the challenges you are facing, and explore how an integrated approach can improve your specific situation. That way, you can make an informed choice that fits your organization's needs and ambitions.