This week we are going to talk about the differences between marketing and advertising.

What’s up Fish Fans! My name is Marcus. You’re watching Marketing Madness, the Blue Fish vlog!

Most of the population uses the terms marketing and advertising interchangeably, but the truth is, they are related but different. Advertising is a component of marketing.

Marketing involves design, creation, research, and data mining. It strives to align a product or service with the target audience. In every single marketing textbook used in college, marketing strategy is broken down into the 4 P’s: product, place, price, and promotion. Marketing strategies strive to help a business isolate how best to serve their client base while maximizing revenue. This can include making changes to the actual product in order to increase its appeal to the client base.

Some types of marketing include:

Digital marketing leverages search engines, email, websites, blogs, and other techniques to reach customers. Social media marketing uses platforms like Facebook or Twitter to reach potential clients. Global marketing for brands with a global reach or global aspirations employs a unified strategy to reach customers at the local, regional, national and international levels at the same time. Relationship marketing relies on customer happiness to help retain and satisfy customers, relationship marketing strives to build raving fans. Brand management attempts to create a bond between a customer and a brand. A company’s products or services and their logo, design, packaging, and any other collateral they use, helps build trust between a customer and brand. And finally, product development is probably the most important leg of the marketing chair. Product development is the process of transforming a business opportunity into a sellable product or service. Successful product development includes identification of client needs, as well as, market research and analysis.

Advertising is defined as the action of paying to place messaging or branding in a particular location. Businesses use advertising to promote their products, services, establish corporate culture, and brand. When done correctly, advertising helps fill the top of an organization’s sales funnels. Practical uses of advertising are to publicize new offerings, improve brand perception, generate customers, and retain existing customers.

There are a number of channels by which you can advertise. For instance, traditional advertising includes newspaper ads, magazine ads, and TV and radio commercials. Retail advertising refers to product placement within stores, ads on shopping carts, and featured product displays. Online advertising includes ads in search engines, ads on websites, promotional videos, and sponsored content. Outdoor advertising includes billboards, signs on buildings, and branded vehicles. Pay Per Click or PPC Advertising refers to ads designed to drive traffic and the best part is you only pay when users click on the link in the ad.

Again, marketing refers to preparing a product for the marketplace. Advertising is making your product and service known to an audience or marketplace.

Well, that’s a wrap for this week! I want to thank you for checking in. Make sure to hit that like button. And if you have any questions or comments leave them down below. If you want to talk about how Blue Fish can help you grow your business just send us a message and we’ll get the conversation started!