Advertising Vs. Marketing

Before you can execute a successful online advertising campaign you have to understand what advertising is and what it isn't. Many people confuse advertising and marketing, assuming they’re essentially two different words for the same thing. While advertising and marketing do overlap, it is critical to the success of any business in the long run to have a solid grasp on the important differences between the two functions.

What is Marketing?

The AMA’s widely accepted definition of marketing defines it as:

...the activity set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

If that sounds like a mouth full it is. Marketing is the broad systematic function within every business responsible for developing product and service ideas, researching the validity of those ideas, designing their final form, pricing those products and services, communicating them to the potential customers, and facilitating the exchange of those products and services with customers. Marketing also includes, developing efficient supply chains and effective customer & support programs.

One of the many functions of marketing includes promotions. Promotions are also commonly confused with advertising, but again aren't exactly the same. Promotions are broadly any effort to communicate an offering to a market. This includes, Public Relations, Telemarketing, Web Pages, Brochures, and drum roll….

Advertising!

What is Advertising?

According to the AMA, advertising is the placement of any persuasive message placed in the mass media in paid or donated time or space by an identified entity.

For example, an advertisement would be a spot on television or a spread in a magazine (Mass Media) that had been paid for by a person or organization (or on behalf of a person or organization) that is clearly identified in the ad.

Advertising is merely a single piece of the broader promotional process which itself is a single piece of the broader marketing process. So all advertising is marketing, but not all marketing is advertising. See… Big difference.

Online it can take a little practice to distinguish between the two. For example, a Facebook page may promote a brand, but it is not by definition an advertisement since the space is not paid for by the company that created it. Instead, it’s merely a promotional tool. However, the strip of pictures running down the right side of the Facebook page are advertisements because they are paid and identifiable placements.

It’s important to not confuse what is meant by “paid”. While a company may “pay” a great deal for the design and management of a Facebook page it is not paying for the space (the page itself) and that’s required if we’re to consider it advertising. Even if the page was owned by the company it wouldn't count because the price they pay is not tied directly to time and space. That is, a company webpage can be as long or short as it desires and can exist indefinitely. Advertisements have a specific predefined cost associated with where and when they are displayed.

Now that you know the difference between marketing and advertising you can truly begin your journey to developing powerful online advertising campaigns.