These are the same thing. Just because you're not taking each potential customer to a steak dinner, it doesn't mean you're not selling them. I don't see how you get customers without showing them the benefits of your product. No matter what the medium is (blogging, advertising, interviews, SEO) - Pitching, selling, it's all the same thing.
"I talked to 100 clients last week and got 1 client."
"Let's try for 500 clients this week. 100 clients per day is more than doable," you tell yourself.
"I'll up my calls to 150 per day, and direct mail the rest to reach 2000 contacts this week."
"2000 contacts produces 20 new clients."
I dunno, "talking", "calling", and "direct mailing" in volume sound significantly different (and way more time consuming) than SEO, mass marketing, and word of mouth. Just different enough that a programmer can make time for the latter but not the former.