Marketing versus advertising? Versus? Don’t these two words essentially mean the same thing, you ask yourself. To most people these two words seem interchangeable. But as it turns out while they do share some similarities they’re actually quite different. Personally, when I think about marketing I think strategy. When I think about advertising I think creativity. But that’s not to say that those qualities are restricted to just one concept. I believe a lot of good marketing is coming up with a creative strategy which is therefore implemented in strategically creative advertising. There’s a lot of overlap in the advertising and marketing world but when it really comes down to it we are talking about two very differently define concepts.
Let’s start with Marketing, the bigger picture.
According to the official definition by the American Marketing Association, marketing is 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. The key thing to take away from this hefty definition is that marketing is aimed at capturing market share. It’s “bringing in the money.” It’s the larger operational process that is concerned with the pricing, placement, product design, and promotion of what a brand has to offer. A good marketer is someone who is interested in not only who they should be targeting but also why they are targeting them in the first place. It’s an occupation for the inquisitive, to say the least. Occupations that exist in the marketing world include: brand managers, content marketers, social media marketing managers, marketing analysts, project managers, and marketing consultants. Keep in mind these are only a small fraction of marketing roles out there, marketing is constantly changing and progressing into the digital world and as it does new roles are created. Consequently, the marketing workplace is everywhere. However, in general marketers work within the actually company itself, as part of their particular marketing team or marketing area.
Now on to Advertising, the creative process.
According to Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion, advertising is the communication process of using paid media to reach a selected audience with a persuasive message. Advertising is getting information about a product, brand, or even idea out to a targeted market in a persuasive manner. It utilizes mediums such as radio, television, print, direct mail, outdoor and transit, and digital to reach consumers. In relation to marketing, advertising is a promotional tool. It’s one arm of the multi-armed machine that is marketing. Advertising is communication that that should stop you in your tracks or at least get you thinking. It’s been explained to me as a process that shapes the way we see the world and is an idea that lives well beyond it’s airtime on TV, pages of its magazine, and the period at the end of its sentence. Some occupations that exist within the advertising world include: copywriters, art directors, media buyers and specialists, account planners, account executives, and creative directors. Advertisers (for the most part) work at advertising agencies. It is there that they find a variety in their day to day tasks as they take on various clients and their demands.
As previously mentioned, marketing and advertising do overlap quite a bit. The essential goal in both jobs is positive endorsement of a product, brand, or idea that is going to translate into an increase in sales, revenue, or even awareness. But while this may be true, marketing and advertising will always be two separate entities that, in a way, rely on each other to be successful.
Article by Hali Medina