Marketing and Advertising are NOT the same
Clearing up the astonishing confusion around this basic business concept
Many people confuse marketing with advertising. The reality is, those two things aren’t synonyms to each other, because they are two different terms describing different things.
Regardless, you probably have a general idea about what “marketing” and “advertising” mean. The key word you might be thinking of is promotion. Marketing and advertising are both linked to promoting a product or service for sale. You’re trying to attract consumers and transform them into customers.
However, on more specific terms, marketing and advertising describe two different processes.
Marketing refers to the process of preparing your product for the marketplace. This involves understanding who your potential customers are (target audience) and what they want to get from your product or service (customer needs).
In marketing, you determine how to meet the customer needs for your product or service. Marketing defines your brand and attracts what market share you want.
On the other hand, advertising is a part of marketing. It refers to the process of making your product or service known in the marketplace. You’re trying to spread the word about what your company has to offer, and overall the existence of your product.
Advertising is the actual practice of promotion through various distribution methods (paid or unpaid). Marketing involves many other aspects such as understanding customer needs.
To simplify, marketing is the preparation and analysis, while advertising is the part of marketing involving the actual execution.
The problem?
There is a larger problem than simply misusing a word when discussing marketing and advertising. There can be two scenarios in the case of someone who is unaware of the difference:
- They believe marketing to be advertising (most common).
- They believe advertising to be marketing.
Either way, this poses a lack in understanding of marketing concepts and overall the entire process, especially to inexperienced / new business owners or marketers.
If one believes marketing to be advertising, then they are ignoring to the preparation stages and other processes involved in marketing as well as important marketing strategies.
If one believes advertising to be marketing, then they can lack understanding in the concepts and strategies regarding advertising. Understanding everything related to the process is essential for marketing success.
The Takeaway
Having a good comprehension of basic or important business terms and concepts is a basic part of being a business owner, entrepreneur, or even someone who works in related fields.
The memorization of specific words and their definitions may seem useless, but they are fundamental in discussions, analyses, and understanding.
Here’s a basic example. For successful marketing you need to understand what Consumer Behaviour and Consumer Motivation is, how they can be triggered, and hence be able to analyze the characteristics, motivation, and behaviour of consumers.
This may involve referencing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, or how emotions can be used in various strategies to influence your audience. Perhaps you can take into account financial elements regarding you audience, and how that may impact consumer behaviour.
The takeaway is the importance of nearly every business concept you encounter, and the significance of understanding them. As seen with the basic exemplar of marketing versus advertising, confusing the two can have negative results and understandings of the field.
Thank you for reading. Follow and subscribe to Shu Hasegawa for more tips & stories on entrepreneurship, building your business, earning money, and writing. Help me by sharing this story; if you think it’s been worth your time.
Get Unlimited Access to All My Articles and Every Article on Medium: