What's the Difference Between Advertising and Marketing

By Erin Quinlan

At first glance, marketing and advertising seem to be different terms to describe the same thing - getting a product or service sold. 

However, although they both contribute to the same end objective, they are distinct from each other and each has its own process. 

Confusing, right?

Have no fear, The Silent Partner Marketing can help you figure out what marketing is, why it is king, and the best strategy for your business.

Let’s look at the definitions. Advertising is the paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its existing and potential customers.

Marketing is the systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.

After reading these definitions, it is easy to understand how the difference can be confusing. Let’s take a deeper look at each.

Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It’s the part that involves getting the word out concerning your business, product, or the services you are offering. It involves the process of developing strategies such as ad placement, frequency, etc. 

Advertising includes the placement of an ad in such mediums as newspapers, direct mail, billboards, television, radio, flyers, brochures, emails, cold calls, and the Internet. Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with public relations following in a close second and market research not falling far behind.

An example of advertising is “Long Arm by Fortum” that says you can “control your home from anywhere.” (See photos.) Fortum Oyj is a Finnish energy company focusing on the Nordic and Baltic countries, Poland, and Russia. Fortum generates, distributes and sells electricity, heat and steam and operates power plants. The company also provides other energy related services and products.

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer service and satisfaction, sales strategy, and community involvement. Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. 

All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing as everything that an organization does to facilitate an exchange between company and consumer.

Marketing is also geared toward one product or service, but as you can see, it’s much more involved than simply advertising a product. 

Today’s smart marketers are all about helping their audience – not hyping their products. It’s marketing so useful, people would pay for it. It’s marketing with so much intrinsic and inherent value that people actually want to be exposed to it.

An example of marketing is when Il Caffe di Napoli – an Italian restaurant in Dublin, Ireland – created a great, simple video guide to pronouncing menu items. Of course, the video doubles as an ad for the cafe’s food. To watch the video, click here.

Make a little more sense now?

It is being proven that marketing can actually be more beneficial than advertising for specific businesses and companies. Advertising seems to be becoming more of a thing of the past. While old fashioned advertisement was once believed to be the best way for businesses to reach target audiences and receive business, it is now believed that marketing is the real trick.

One of the main reasons why it is so important to make changes to advertisement is because of the way the consumer feels about the advertisement. Consumers never want to feel forced to buy or like a certain product and they surely do not want to feel as though the company does not understand them. 

Some consumers are very anti-advertising and believe that it is just a sneaky method for advertisers and companies to “steal” money from naïve consumers who are spending a ton of money on products because of advertisements that have been. Some consumers even believe advertisements are leading many people into debt.

Ready to get into the marketing game?

Give The Silent Partner Marketing a call at 866-432-6456 or e-mail Kyle Reyes at kyle@thesilentpartnermarketing.com and we can get you started.


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Erin Quinlan is the Content Marketing Manager of The Silent Partner Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology. You can find The Silent Partner Marketing on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.