Do you know the difference? Aren’t they the same?
Well sort of, the easiest way to think about marketing and advertising is this way. Marketing is the overall big picture of building brand awareness and advertising is one of the vehicles that marketers use to build a specific brand.
Marketing is everything from word of mouth, exceptional customer experiences, user-friendly and vibrant points of purchase, and incredible customer service. From the first engagement with a customer or potential customer, we’re seeking to build your brand with the hopes of some type of transaction.
In the 1980’s business cards were the most common piece of marketing materials, now it’s your website. Like business cards, your website tells people who you are, what you do, and how you can help them. We’re all marketers!
As mentioned, advertising is a tool, we use to market our brand. There are various verticals for advertising. Everything from traditional mediums like print, to more modern areas like digital which can range from Social Media, to pay per click. When advertising is used properly it should not only build the brand but cause people to take action. Advertising needs to draw people in and give them a reason for engagement.
When we understand the difference between advertising and marketing, we can better plan to grow your business.
Before we think about advertising, we must have a marketing strategy.
We hope these next questions will help point you in the right direction for developing a strong marketing and advertising strategy.
What do we want to communicate to potential customers and current customers about who we are, what we do, and how we do things differently? What makes us unique in our field of expertise.
In regards to advertising ask yourself these questions; what is the best way to get people to act, is there an exclusive story we can tell to cause people to choose us over our competitors. If you don’t have a story ask yourself about a deal, offering, or reason for them to choose you.
We hope this information is helpful and if you would like to chat about developing a marketing and advertising strategy please don’t hesitate to ask us for help.