When you think of marketing, what comes to mind? Do you think about creating brilliant brochures, if a TV ad campaign would work, or if a newspaper ad is better? If so, you are confusing marketing with advertising.
Actually, advertising is only a small part of the activity called Marketing. Marketing encompasses the entire conceptualization of a product or service from research, design, product creation and refinement, advertising, sales, and delivery. Each of these phases operates independently, but collectively, to achieve success in selling the product or service and enhancing the company’s reputation.
Hopefully, you have seen that advertising is only one component of the marketing process: it is the delivery of the message through various mediums, to promote and sell the product. Done properly, the advertising process involves reviewing market research and developing and analyzing strategies to generate ads that appeal to the target audience.
The advertising strategy consists of determining the appropriate medium to use, the times and the frequency. When considering where to advertise, most businesses immediately think of newspaper, magazine, television, and radio campaigns; however, there are many other advertising channels available, including letter boxes (flyers), flyers on billboards or community bulletin boards, community group sponsorships, sms or text messages, and of course, online and internet marketing (e-mail). email, ppc, banner advertising, social networks).
Possibly the most important factor in developing an advertising strategy is determining the best (and most effective) channels to reach your target audience (the people who will buy your product or service). It is the marketing process that will define your target audience and their preferences and it is the advertising strategy that details which medium to use to deliver the message.
By understanding the difference between advertising and marketing, you can determine the best place to spend your time and money to get the most out of it. For example, initial product branding may not be as important as reaching out to the customer to educate them about your company’s unique offerings and discover what your customer is really looking for.
Smart business owners will take the time to develop a marketing strategy so they can understand their target audience, what benefits their offering should offer the customer, and the best places to reach the target audience, among other things.
Armed with this information, effective and powerful advertising campaigns can be developed.