Differences between Marketing and Advertising

Differences between Marketing and Advertising:

Marketing and Advertising, although they sound similar but in reality they are not. Advertising is only a part of the bigger game called Marketing. Marketing encompasses complete conceptualization of a brand right from research to designing to advertising to sale. Advertising, on the other hand is a component of the marketing process which is nothing but conveying the message through variety of mediums to promote the product.

Advertising is one of the most important component of a marketing strategy and also the most expensive. Advertising constitutes sending the message across the public about your company, product or services. It also constitutes behind the scenes work like the process involving formation of various strategies and coming up with a right one to target the viewers. The strategy consists of planning things like placing ads, deciding what media to use, what time, frequency etc. The advertisements are generally placed via mediums like television, snail mail, newspapers, internet, emails, radio, magazines, mobile messaging, flyers, billboards etc. The most popular one is of course television although advertising on internet is becoming increasingly popular too.

Easiest way to differentiate advertising from marketing is to consider marketing as a cake and if you cut the cake, advertising as one of the pieces of that cake. The other pieces of cake are market research of the product, product designing, media planning, PR, product pricing, customer satisfaction, customer support, sales and many more. All these components or pieces of cake should work independently but collectively in achieving the bigger goal i.e. sell product and build company's reputation in the market. Marketing is a marathon process involving many tasks that involve hours sometimes days of research. The research part of marketing takes the longest duration as it involves thoroughly understanding the behavior of people towards a product. Designing the product and developing advertising strategy is also a time consuming process. Only components that take less time are executing advertisements and sales. Marketing can also be perceived as a medium between consumers and the company.

But many companies often make mistake of confusing advertising with marketing. They try to ape big companies like Coke and Pepsi in advertising but they simply ignore the work that goes behind that. The classical example of this is, take the case of logo for instance. Many business owners are so hysterical about the logo of their company in their advertisements that they think that it will simply bring in the sales. But what makes a logo works is none other than the reputation of the company and the logo must have a feeling to it and should truly reflect company's values. One should also remember that these companies spend fortunes on advertising which a new start up business can't. Rather than spending unnecessary money on branding your product one should invest money and time in communicating to the consumers that they can address their expectations. After building reputation and growing to a big size company one can think of these lavish ideas. Educating the consumers also helps as it will give them an understanding that you know what you do and are best at doing that.

Smart marketers are aggressive in approach rather than passive. They provoke reader's minds by prompting them to do something rather than just making them knowledgeable of the product. Smart marketers also bring home the names, addresses and contact numbers of people who are really interested in hiring your company by employing aggressive marketing. Thus having a good marketing campaign speaks a lot about the company and their products and advertising gives that finishing touch to the hard work done by the marketing people in selling a product.

Keep Customers Buzzing About Your Business

Use Email Marketing To Keep Customers
Buzzing About Your Business

by Tim Knox

Email marketing can be a great tool to keep you in the forefront of your customers' minds. But don't stop at just sending out a weekly or monthly newsletter. Here are some email ideas that will have your customers buzzing about your business.

Email marketing can be used as an effective tool for communicating with customers. Its is an effective medium of communication to boost sales by ensuring that your customers constantly remember you.

Obviously Paul's dentist reads my column because I've been preaching about using email to keep in touch with customers for years. OK, maybe he doesn't read my column and is just a brilliant guy in his own right. Either way, the point is clear: using email - no matter what type of business you're in - is an excellent way to keep the lines of communication buzzing between you and those folks who keep you in business.The other day my radio show cohost, Paul Finley, mentioned that he had received an email from his dentist. The point of the email was to let Paul know that his office would be closed for a week and included instructions on what to do in case of a dental emergency.

You'll notice that I didn't say to keep the lines of communication "open." I said to keep the lines of communication "buzzing," as in active, as in constantly communicating messages that will entice them back into your business.

The difference is huge. "Open" simply means that you're there if and when your customers happen to think about you. "Buzzing" means that you proactively do things to keep your business in the forefront of your customer's mind. Instead of waiting for them to come in only when they need something, you send emails that give them reasons to come in as soon as possible. You don't wait for Mohammed to come to the mountain; you send the mountain to Mohammed via email.

It's called "email marketing" and every business - including yours - should be doing it. Don't confuse email marketing with spamming. The emails you send your customers are never unsolicited or intrusive. You get their permission to send them occasional emails that are of benefit to them. And by benefiting them you increase your business and solidify your relationship with the customer.

Ideally you should collect email addresses from everyone who walks through your door, whether they buy something or not. Offer them the opportunity to sign up for your free email newsletter or announcement list and offer them an incentive to do so, maybe a $10 discount off their first purchase if they sign up today. The allure of saving $10 not only entices them to give you their email address, but to also make that first purchase while they are there to save the $10. See how that works? You got them added to your email list and they made an immediate purchase. You can now use email marketing techniques to turn them from a one time customer into a repeat customer.

Remember the number one rule of sales: it's easier to sell to current customers than to sell to new customers. The first sale is always the hardest. You should concentrate on building a legion of repeat customers and email marketing can help you do that.

Email should be a part of every business's marketing strategy. If you own a hair or nail salon you could email customers on slow days and offer a special discount if they come in by a certain time. If you own a clothing store you could email your customers every time a new clothing line comes in or if you're having a sale. If you're in the furniture business can email your customers about excess inventory and offer them a discount if they come in by a certain date.

Email marketing works for professional service providers, as well. Accountants can email their clients with special bulletins about changes in the tax law or to remind them when it's time to file forms. Stockbrokers can email clients about changes in the stock market or to tell about a hot new IPO that's on the horizon.

Doctors and dentists can use email marketing to notify patients that it's time for their annual checkup, to remind them of impending appointments, to inform them of new office hours, or to let them know about new services. Or perhaps you're in practice building mode and you want to offer a referral bonus for current patients who refer their friends and family to you.

You get the idea. Email marketing can increase your business's revenues, solidify your reputation, and keep you fresh on your customer's mind.

If you have questions about putting email marketing to work for your business just shoot me an email and I'll point you in the right direction. Or if you've successfully used email marketing to increase your business let me know about it and I'll share the news.

I'm sure others would love to hear about how smart you are.