Many people do not think there is a difference between marketing and advertising. So, you are not alone if you thought they were the same up until this point. As businesses grow, they may start implementing marketing and advertising strategies to support further growth. Every business needs a marketing plan. Without one, no one would know that your business even exists. But, can people know about your business without advertising? Well, the short answer is yes. So, what is the difference between marketing and advertising?
Advertising is marketing, but marketing is not necessarily advertising.
What does this mean exactly? We’ll dive into the difference between marketing and advertising, including the relationship between the two, and why they are beneficial to your business.
The Difference Between Marketing and Advertising
Marketing is a set of business processes and activities that create, communicate, and deliver valuable offerings to consumers, partners, and society at large. Marketing is intended to bring buyers and sellers together for a mutually beneficial exchange of goods and services. There are two main types of marketing: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). Business-to-consumer marketing directs messages to consumers. Business-to-business marketing directs messages to other businesses. The simplest way to explain marketing is that it is the development of strategies to promote your products, services, or business entirely.
So, what is advertising? Well, advertising is the attempt to influence customers’ buying behavior by means of paid announcements on different mediums. Advertising is a type of marketing and supports the overall marketing strategy by using paid ads to reach a target audience. This includes paid advertising published on social media, search engines, across the web, in newspapers, on television, radio, billboards, and more. It puts your business’s exposure on the fast track.
Now that you know the difference between marketing and advertising, we will discuss how each work.
How Does Marketing Work?
Marketing is a mix of many different moving parts. The first step in developing a marketing plan is to determine your overall business goals. Sometimes, this starts with a mission statement. What do you want to accomplish? What is the purpose or vision of your business? You then start working on how you will reach your goals once they are determined.
A marketing mix is broken into four stages or phases, known as the four P’s of a marketing mix. This mix includes product, price, place, and promotion. The four P’s consist of internal and external factors that interact significantly with one another.
Product: This phase includes determining the goods and services your business offers. The goods or services you offer should fill a void in the market and satisfy consumer demand.
Price: This refers to the cost of your goods and services. Setting the right price for your goods and services is critical for your success. Prices too high could result in fewer sales, and prices too low could result in profit loss.
Place: This is the phase when businesses determine how to deliver their goods and services to the market. This may include stores, online, online or wherever you want to sell your goods and services.
Promotion: This where the goods and services are actually promoted across mediums. In many ways, place and promotion can tie together, especially if your business is online. This is the phase where advertising finally plays a role.
Marketing Includes Many Steps, and Advertising is Just One Step
Marketing consists of many different elements that must work together, and advertising is only one of those elements. It is a long process that includes developing your goals, and a lot of research must take place before advertising can begin. As mentioned earlier in this post, there are four main stages of a marketing mix. However, each stage may contain many small steps in developing your overall marketing plan. In the product stage, you may be determining your goals and objectives which include performing an audit and market research. In the promotion stage, this is where the most happens. You can implement social media management, advertising, email marketing, public relations, and more.
How Does Advertising Work?
As mentioned before, advertising is a small part of the overall marketing strategy. Advertising uses paid ads to promote your business and its goods or services. Advertising must be timely and strategic. It is the part where you can directly deliver a message to the people you specifically want to reach. Depending on your ad campaign goals, advertising can do the following:
- Raise awareness
- Drive potential customers to your business
- Differentiate your goods and services from competitors
- Promote sales for your goods and services
With advertising, you buy ad spaces, and that is how you publish paid ads. There are many different ways to publish paid ads, including publishing on television, billboards, radio, social media, online, in print, and more. The major benefit of advertising is that it allows you to give your business and its goods and services immediate exposure in the market.
Why Your Business Needs Marketing and Advertising
Now that you know the difference between marketing and advertising and how they work, let’s discuss why you need them. To sum it all up, a business will not be successful without marketing. Why is that? Well, because it includes your website development, search engine optimization, social media management, and so much more. Without marketing, no one would know your business exists. You would pretty much have one for nothing.
Advertising, on the other hand, is a little bit different. It is only a small part of a marketing strategy. Technically, a business can survive without advertising. However, advertising is incredibly beneficial to your business because it allows you to reach consumers that both are and are not currently aware of your business. It immediately allows your business to gain exposure. You are also able to fully control how your business is promoted through targeting. You have the option to get as broad or specific as you want with your target audience. Have you come up with a new food item on your restaurant menu? Let your customers know through advertising. Are you offering a new service? Let your customers know through advertising.
QCM Agency Can Help Promote Your Business
In conclusion, advertising is a small part of an overall marketing strategy. The term “marketing” is a large umbrella with many different elements included. These elements can include social media management, web development, search engine optimization, advertising, and more. It’s important to understand the difference between marketing and advertising, and we are here to help you determine the best route to take in your digital marketing journey. Instead of pushing any and every marketing element your way, we focus on the elements that will truly benefit your business. If you aren’t sure where to start in developing your marketing strategy, feel free to contact us here, or give us a call at (800) 741-7518. Let’s get started on your marketing journey together.
