The Difference Between Advertising and Marketing

There was a time when marketing and advertising were all part of the same department. This was when advertising was straightforward; place an ad in the paper or on television, hand out some fliers, and that was about it. Many business owners did things themselves. As time went on, advertising became more complicated. Many business owners believe they are the same thing. They are different aspects of a business.

In short, marketing is the broader scope of the brand. All aspects of the message and public face stem from marketing. Many people think marketing and advertising are one in the same. Advertising is a tiny part of the marketing mix. Some businesses believe they are marketing themselves by placing an ad in the local paper and sending out mailers. Marketing is a multifaceted plan usually called the four Ps: product, placement, promotion, and price.

A look at advertising

Advertising is first a paid, public medium. It can go from slapping a flier onto a telephone pole to naming yourself after a football stadium or paying for the halftime show. Ads are paid for, packaged publicity almost always intended to entice a sale. In short, advertising is just a tiny piece of the marketing puzzle.

What is Marketing?

Marketing is everything that improves your brand and sales. Too many people ignore every other aspect of marketing to only focus on sales and advertising. Anyone can place an ad. Advertising is not special. Marketing is what makes your ad special. What makes you special? Why should people respond or even look at your ads rather than anybody else? When your commercials come on, do they change the channel, or watch it and talk about it? Do they show the ad to their friends? The ad is the critical piece of material; the marketing is what makes the ad work. I can place an ad on Instagram; if my market is selling insurance to senior citizens, it will not do very well. Marketing will tell me this like it will say to me I am better off placing an ad in a print publication or during the nightly news for those markets. Marketing helps not only you to understand how your customers think and behave, but it helps your potential market know what you think and feel. How you act in the community and what you do to help your customer are more important to your brand than the actual ad.

We at Zilker understand that this is especially important in an online marketplace. If your only focus is price, you will find yourself never winning in an ever-changing market. Therefore, we like to focus on what the people of Austin in particular and Texas in general want, and tailor to that. We realize that the customer is essential, more important than what we are selling and that our function as a business is to help our customer. If you market yourself well, you do not even need to use advertising.

With a proper marketing mix, and with advertising as a part of a broader strategy and a focus on building your brand as an authority. A friend to the community is what makes your advertising work. Shoving out ads and waiting for the hordes to arrive is the thinking of previous generations. A multi-faceted approach is what we at Zilker like to provide for our friends and businesses in the Austin, Texas area.