The Difference Between Marketing and Advertising
The main difference between marketing and advertising is that the latter focuses more on securing new and repeat customers by promoting a new product or idea, but marketing is a complex process by which a careful strategy is formed for a new product or idea to be placed into the marketplace.
Marketing and advertising are often confused for one another. They are intrinsically linked but are actually two remarkably different concepts. Put simply, advertising is the presentation of a product or an idea, whereas marketing is the introduction of something new to the marketplace. Nevertheless, they work well together but are two different processes which must be combined to create a successful campaign.
Marketing
Marketing is a complex process by which a careful strategy is formed for a new product or idea to be placed into the marketplace. This can involve using a variety of devices such as logos, colour and branding. To be successful, companies today are required to have a recognisable and relatable brand in order . A brand is something a company develops which represents them in the marketplace.
The question to consider when building your brand is ‘how do you want your company to be perceived?’ Two prime examples would be HSBC and Innocent. The former, being a bank, has built a brand around being helpful and friendly but without losing a serious undertone. Whereas the latter approaches healthy eating and environmental issues in a fun and often silly way; their customers like the quirkiness of their product without being put off by anything too serious. Innocent use bright colours, recognisable illustrations, and informal language; HSBC use subtle colours which echo their logo and a brand tagline of ‘The World’s Local Bank.’
Advertising
Advertising focuses more on securing new and old customers by promoting a new product or idea. Adverts are found nearly everywhere in today’s world. We can see or hear them on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, on the sides of buses, websites, and even directly into our email inboxes.
In recent years, some of the more successful advertising campaigns have developed narratives, jokes, catchphrases, or even gone so far as to offer cuddly toys to customers: CompareTheMarket.com came up with the idea of use meerkats to promote their insurance comparison website; the cuddly critters were initially complaining about the mistaken connection between it and their own CompareTheMeerkat.com. Since then, they have been involved in an extensive campaign which often has little to do with insurance, but are still instantly recognisable.
How the two concepts work together
Both marketing and advertising require research into how best to reach certain demographics. For instance, there’s little use in branding and advertising campaigns to the elderly if you’re trying to sell children’s toys. To reach the ideal corner of your market, customer testing is done to assess your products’ viability, ensuing advertising and marketing. Firstly, work on your product’s marketing by building your brand and ensuring that it’s liked by your target audience. Following this, you would build your advertising campaign up to place your product in the market. Doing these things and recognising the difference in marketing and advertising roles are the first steps towards a successful product launch.
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Edited by Olivia Newman – 16/05/2019.
