Is there a difference between marketing and advertising?

Advertising is focused on appealing to new and returning customers by promoting the product, or idea, that you are trying to sell. We are constantly interacting with advertisements in our day to day lives. They are on the TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, billboards, bus stations, websites, and even sent to us directly via email. Successful advertising campaigns tend to include jokes, catchphrases and songs to draw in an audience. Celebrities are often used as a familiar face or voice, to make the advert more attractive. Some even offer special gifts for their campaign. A good example of this is CompareTheMarket.com, who use an anthropomorphic meerkat to promote the website as a mascot. They also offered soft toys for a while, and are now offering cinema tickets to their customers. The company has even released a book off the back of it, showing how successful strong advertising campaigns can be.

Marketing is much more complex. It is a process by which a careful strategy is formed for a new product or idea to be placed into the marketplace. This can be done using familiar things such as logos, colour, and branding. In order to be successful companies need an instantly recognizable brand. A brand will often develop and change as the market place does, changing its design and goals depending on what the public want. Ultimately a brand is what the public will see you as, so when forming a brand the company must take this into careful consideration.

A brand also needs to reflect the company. Take Disney and Lloyds banking, the first being the most famous entertainment giant in the world, the other a bank. Both will have very different branding and marketing strategies. Disney focuses on their young audience and shows the “magical” side of the company. Whereas Lloyds Banking is a lot more serious, simplistic, and has a brand that appeals to adults.

Both marketing and advertising are vital for a company to succeed in the business world. Both require intensive research into the target demographic. Such things as customer testing and focus groups are done to assess the viability of products and their ensuing advertising and marketing. This is to ensure that they are reaching the ideal corner of the market.

Your first step in launching your product is to work on your product’s marketing by building your brand and ensuring that it is liked by your target audience. Then build your advertising campaign up to place your product in the market. Doing both of these things and recognising their different roles is the first step towards a successful launch.