If you work in the business world or you are just starting your own business, it is possible that you forget the difference between marketing and advertising on a daily basis. But why is it so important to be clear about these concepts? Basically, thanks to them you can boost your business to levels you never imagined.
Just because you don’t remember the difference between marketing and advertising doesn’t mean that all your past actions are nonsense. However, mastering these disciplines can bring you many more benefits than you think. would you like to know them? In this article we tell you everything you need to know.
Discover the difference between marketing and advertising, and start working today on concrete actions to grow in the industry!
Organize your toolkit to boost your business
Before knowing the difference between marketing and advertising, let’s see at what point in the trajectory of the business is inserted and why it is important to take them into account when planning your future actions.
As in many aspects of the business field, having a strategic plan of action is essential to achieve the goals we set at the beginning of it. But how do we achieve our goals in the most cost-effective way possible?
first of all, experts recommend having a clear idea of the tools that will allow you to successfully carry out your business activity. For this, it is necessary that you study in depth the needs of your business and what objectives you want to achieve in the medium and long term.
Once you detail what your goals are and the resources you have to achieve them, it is time to generate a concrete action plan that will take you on the best path to results. This “path” is popularly known as a business marketing plan.
In other words, the marketing plan is:
An important tool for managing a company’s efforts for its communication, attention, promotion and brand presence actions. It is part of the business plan, as it helps to organize actions to achieve established goals.
Thus, having a marketing plan is a fundamental necessity for any business that seeks to achieve its objectives and optimize its resources. Haven’t you developed your business plan yet? We recommend you to start thinking about your strategy with a digital point of view: check this step-by-step guide and start your strategy.
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why is it important to keep in mind the difference between marketing and advertising?
We have already seen the meaning of marketing within a company, but what exactly is the difference between marketing and advertising and why is it important to recognize it?
In the first instance, although these concepts are deeply related, they are different elements of business strategy, and therefore work in different ways according to their particularities.
Having a clear understanding of the difference between marketing and advertising will allow you to make the most of both tools and complement them when necessary.
So, while marketing, also known as merchandising, is all those strategies that help companies achieve their objectives, increase sales and improve brand perception in the eyes of the customer. Advertising is only one type of action that may or may not be included in a marketing plan.
We can understand marketing as a discipline and the marketing plan as a concrete document, both are the guide to follow that indicates the best way to achieve the business goals. Remember that every plan is thought for a determined period of time and space, adapt the general lines of marketing to your own enterprise.
what types of marketing are there?
To carry out an effective marketing plan, you need to choose the strategy that best aligns with your business objectives and the resources available to achieve them. Explore some of the most popular strategies in the industry and find out which one is right for you:
Relationship Marketing
Affiliate Marketing
Inbound Marketing
Content Marketing
As we have already said, these types of marketing may or may not be supported by advertising strategies. Do you remember what this concept means?
Let’s see together what exactly advertising is
Advertising, on the other hand, has as its main objective to publicize the products or services offered by the company. In this process, it seeks to generate a good brand reputation and build customer loyalty through the ” top of mind” strategy.
According to Shopify’s Encyclopedia for Business,
Advertising is a marketing tactic that involves paying for space to promote a product, service, or cause. Promotional messages are called advertisements. The goal of advertising is to reach as many people who are willing to pay for a company’s product or service and entice them to buy it.
As for the types of advertising, we can find various ways that respond to different specific objectives and opportunities for realization. Before selecting one, you should take into account a number of aspects that will dictate the future of your ads:
what is the advertising objective you want to achieve?
who is your buyer persona, who is your target audience?
What will be the channels through which the advertisement will be transmitted, does your buyer persona consume them?
what is the best format to communicate the message?
how much budget do you have?
After answering these questions, you can decide which type of advertising best suits your particular situation. You can think between types of advertising according to the channel: radio, television, point-of-sale, digital; or according to the strategy through which you transmit the message: comparative, emotional, push-pull, etc.
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Up to this point, we can see that marketing and advertising are two concepts that complement each other but do not mean the same process. Let’s take a closer look at the difference between marketing and advertising and how to apply it to your business
Now, let’s see the 5 differences between marketing and advertising that you cannot overlook
First of all, one difference between marketing and advertising refers to their impact on the business strategy. While marketing is a process that encompasses the entire comprehensive plan to achieve the objectives, advertising is only an action that may or may not present that plan.
On the other hand, we can make a difference between marketing and advertising according to the period of time. Marketing thinks about strategies for a medium-long period of time in the trajectory of a business, generally renewed annually. Advertising, on the other hand, thinks in a punctual moment, an action that begins and ends in a short period of time.
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Thirdly, marketing differs from advertising according to the types of objectives it sets. Generally, marketing understands business objectives in a more general and comprehensive way. Advertising, on the other hand, seeks to achieve very specific objectives.
An example of an advertising objective may be to increase sales of a particular product, during a specific period of time and in a specific sales channel or branch. A marketing objective, on the other hand, would be to “increase sales”.
A slightly more complex difference between marketing and advertising concerns the elements of which they are composed: marketing is based on the “4Ps”: product/service/people (now focused on customer needs), point of sale, price and promotion.
Advertising, on the other hand, is made up of the parts that create an advertisement: bullet, title, supporting text, audio/visual content, CTA, contact, brand, slogan, etc. It is important to remember that not all these aspects will always be present in an ad, but they depend on the results to be achieved.
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Another difference between marketing and advertising is the relationship with communication and the external environment. When planning a marketing strategy, it is essential to know the environment in which the business is inserted, since this will determine future decisions. However, it is not necessary to communicate the plan outside the organization.
On the other hand, advertising focuses precisely on the external announcements generated by the company to provoke a certain concrete action in its potential customers. Without a communication and press department, or an advertising agency in charge of these tasks, it is not possible to carry out advertising within the company.
if all this information has made you want to specialize in the subject, check out our online courses on digital marketing and advertising to take the leap your business needs. Access your premium membership, explore exclusive courses, personalized mentoring and get your diploma!