You will often find that many people confuse marketing withadvertising or vice versa. While both components are important they arevery different. Knowing the difference and doing your market researchcan put your company on the path to substantial growth. Let'sstart off by reviewing the formal definitions of each and then I'll gointo the explanation of how marketing and advertising differ from oneanother: Advertising: The paid, public, non-personalannouncement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; thenon-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to itsexisting and potential customers. Marketing: Thesystematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of businessactivities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for themutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products. Afterreading both of the definitions it is easy to understand how thedifference can be confusing to the point that people think of them asone-in-the same, so lets break it down a bit. Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It'sthe part that involves getting the word out concerning your business,product, or the services you are offering. It involves the process ofdeveloping strategies such as ad placement, frequency, etc.
Advertisingincludes the placement of an ad in such mediums as newspapers, directmail, billboards, television, radio, and of course the Internet.Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with publicrelations following in a close second and market research not fallingfar behind. The best way to distinguish between advertising andmarketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you haveslices ofadvertising, market research, media planning, publicrelations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, salesstrategy, and community involvement. Advertising only equals one pieceof the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only workindependently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal.Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours ofresearch for a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing aseverything that an organizationdoes to facilitate an exchange betweencompany and consumer.