Marketing and advertising are two concepts that seemingly have the same objective, which is to make customers aware of their product or service. The survival of a business essentially depends on its customers, and so, a vital part of its activities is to have powerful marketing strategies through which it can attract new customers and retain existing customers.
Marketing is a process through which products and services are promoted in the market, using different tools like marketing research and advertising. It is often considered by many to be the same as advertising; however, the fact is that marketing is a field, whereas advertising is just one part of it. Advertising is a technique used to communicate with people, with the objective of providing information to people about the product/service, generating needs and bringing about action through which the ones paying for the advertisement can benefit.
Definitions and explanations
Marketing
Marketing is actually a long-term business activity, which includes all the ways in which a business gets in touch with its customers or potential customers. It starts from market research and extends all the way to customer satisfaction. It is a very important activity for the business that not only pertains to product promotion, but also concentrates on comprehending the market conditions, recognizing the needs of customers, developing products according to those needs, choosing the most appropriate media tool to promote that product, using different channels to advertise it, determining its price, developing public relations, distributing the product, as well as offering after sales service to achieve customer satisfaction. To sum it up, marketing refers to how effective you are in explaining the value of your product or service to compel the customers to eventually buy it.
The different components of marketing should work independently, yet they should also work alongside each other to achieve the greater objective of developing a unified marketing campaign that puts forward a common message. The complete process of marketing takes a long time, including hours of research so as to ensure that the marketing plan is effective on the whole.
Advertising
Advertising is just one part of the marketing process, the part that involves directly promoting the business, product or service to the target market. Its objective is to influence more and more people to buy/use the product or service. Advertising is a means of sending a single message across to the maximum number of people possible within a limited time frame. It is a technique used by companies to attract the attention of their customers.
There are different channels that are used for advertising, such as television, radio, website, magazines, social media, newspapers, banners, sponsorships, hoardings, etc. Apart from promoting the product or service, advertising is also done to offer relevant information or opinions or to put across public notices. It makes people aware of the different products offered by the company.
In most marketing plans, the greatest expenses are incurred by advertising as it is a paid activity carried out to communicate the message of the company using different media. Advertising is informational and persuasive in nature, and its objective is to influence the purchase intention and behavior, as well as the thought patterns, of the target market.
Difference between marketing and advertising
The way marketing and advertisement differ from each other has been explained below:
1. Meaning
Marketing is the activity carried out by companies to comprehend the market conditions so as to determine their needs and design a product to fulfill those needs. It consists of different activities, from market research to customer satisfaction, so as to get in touch with the target audience.
Advertising is a single component of the overall process of marketing, and its objective is to make a product/service known to the customers and compel them to buy the products.
2. Concerned with
Marketing is concerned with price, promotion, people, place and process, whereas advertising is only concerned with promotion.
3. Purpose
Marketing is done with the purpose of generating a greater number of sales, whereas the purpose of advertising is to attract customers.
4. Focus on
Marketing aims to develop a market for a new or existing product and developing the brand image. On the other hand, advertising aims to gather the attention of the target market.
5. Term
Marketing is long-term in nature, encompassing all activities from market research to customer satisfaction, while advertising is short-term in nature.
Marketing vs advertising – tabular comparison
A tabular comparison of marketing and advertising is given below:
|
||||
| Meaning | ||||
| It is an overall process carried out by a company to understand the market and provide goods and services to fulfill those needs | It is a single component of marketing that involves promoting a product and making it known to customers | |||
| Concerned with | ||||
| Price, Promotion, People, Place, Process | Promotion | |||
| Purpose | ||||
| Create a greater number of sales | Attract customers | |||
| Focus on | ||||
| Developing a market for new or existing product; develop a brand image | Garbing the attention of the target market. | |||
| Term | ||||
| Long-term | Short-term | |||
Conclusion – marketing vs advertising
Marketing and advertising are two very important terms from the perspective of business and so, it is vital to understand the difference between the two. It has been explained in this article that the main difference between the two is that marketing is a complete process, whereas advertising is just one part of it. Marketing involves various activities carried out by a company to get in touch with a customer. Advertising is the actual process that is carried out to make a product/service known to the customers. It can be said that advertising is marketing, but marketing is not advertising.
Hence, keeping in view the differences presented above, it can be concluded that the purpose of marketing is to ‘pull’ customers, whereas advertising aims to ‘attract’ them.
