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.

What Do You Want From Your Blogs? Results..

Blogging Guide for the Best Results:

If you're looking for an outlet, a blogging career may be the answer to your problems. You can do many things when you're writing blogs. However, not many people have become successful bloggers. The internet has only room for effective bloggers and not for sporadic and unknowledgeable bloggers. Here are some blogging guides that you can make use to get the best results.

First, you must be a serious and professional blogger. If you want to become a well-known blogger, you must be able to blog frequently. You must post new blogs with fresh contents weekly; if you can post several times a week, even better. Try this and you can attract a ton of traffic to your site. You can gain more exposure by blogging frequently. If you can't blog often, you have to inform your readers. This way, your readers will not forget you.

If you're a new blogger, you can request fellow bloggers with high PRs (page ranks) to exchange links. When Google and other search engines rank pages, you can benefit a lot. You can also get high rankings if you have many links with high PR pages. Exchange links are also very useful for bloggers. You can do this with your friends, relatives, colleagues, and other bloggers.

If you want, you can use Google to search for those who want to exchange their links with yours. However, you should only exchange links with those that are related to your blogs. If not, don't exchange links. Unrelated exchange links will not be of any good to you.

If you're a blogger, make sure that you register with Technorati.com. High rankings in this site can also mean more readers and possible subscribers for your blog posts. Aside from Technorati.com, you should also register with feedburner.com. If you still haven't registered at these two websites, register now. Conduct a research about Technorati.com and feedburner.com to find out more about these sites. You can also ask fellow bloggers about such sites.

Many bloggers use Blogger but it won't hurt if you try WordPress. By using the latter, you can access free templates that you can download.  It also has over 1000 plug-ins that can help in enhancing your blog features. You can install this for free but first you need to have a domain and you should register your very own webhost.

Your blogs should also be responsive to search engines. Budding bloggers may find this a bit difficult but if you only try, you can benefit from it in the future. In all your blogging efforts, you must always focus. This way, you can write effective and interesting content that can catch the interest of many readers and subscribers.

These are some of the most effective guides that you can find online. You can follow these guides to attain success as a blogger. You can search for effective guides to help you in your blogging career. Try them now especially if you're a new blogger.

Internet Marketing Is 24/7, Not A One-Time Stunt

Internet Marketing Is 24/7, Not A One-Time Stunt

An oft-stated principle of Internet Marketing and Social Media Marketing is that it is not a one time stunt—it is a 24/7 endeavor. As we have discussed earlier in this course, you can profit indefinitely from the things that you build. But, that does not mean you can just create a Website and some social media profiles and then leave them to work by themselves. Nothing you build, no matter how clever, will work without your continued attention.

You may have very limited time. You may have a full-time job—perhaps even two jobs. You may have family responsibilities. As grand as it would be if we could, we simply cannot create extra hours in the day. Thus, it is understandable that you cannot devote 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to your Internet Marketing, no matter how promising the future might be if you could. What you can do, though, is care about your Internet Marketing 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can be mindful of it. You can ensure that you do carve out as much time as possible to devote to it.

Your goal is social media is to create conversations. Online conversations are understood to have pauses, no one is expected to be online all the time. But, conversations must have some steady flow or they will dry up. However limited your time may be, make enough time to keep the flow of your conversations as steady as possible. Do your best to respond to everything, even if it takes some time for you to get to it.

The most frequently made mistake in Internet Marketing, from my observations, is that someone will put a great deal of effort into creating a Website and setting up social media pages and then just ignore it, expecting it to work on its own. What you are creating when you create a Website and social media pages is a vehicle, a vehicle that must then be driven before it can go anywhere. You can build the greatest car in the world, but you go nowhere in it unless you crank it up and attentively drive it somewhere. You can take breaks and pauses in your trip, but you have to get back in again soon and keep driving in order to reach your destination.

If You Think You're Done Creating Content, Start OptimizingContent

The platitude, "if you think you're done creating content, start optimizing content', which follows from our discussion above, is expressed various ways. It is just another way of reminding Internet Marketers that the job is never done. There are times when we all feel that we have just said all there is to say for now. We feel we have worked hard and have covered everything that needs to be covered in our Website and our social media pages. When you have that feeling, start optimizing your content on the same regular schedule that you used to create your content.

You can optimize your content in a number of ways. First, you can review the language you used in your content and ask yourself if it could be more clearly expressed. Could you say the same thing is less words? Could you say it in a more understandable way? Are there 'power words' you can use to replace some of the bland words you have used in your content? Is there some better way to say essentially the same thing, but with much more impact? You can always find something to improve in your content. Often, those little improvements can make a big difference.

Always Respond

"Always Respond" is a very concise way of expressing the principle that we have been discussing as it applies to social media. You do not have to respond right away— although it is better if you do—but do always respond to every legitimate communication you receive through your Website or social media pages, regardless of how long it takes you to do so.

In polite conversation among friends, it may not be the best thing to always have the last word. In marketing, though, if you do it thoughtfully, it is good to always send the last communication. This way, you are always acknowledging that you have been contacted. Even if the last correspondence you received concluded all business at hand, it is still good to acknowledge that communication and let your contact know that you are available the next time they need to communicate with you.

Don't Try To Be Clever, Be Clever

We discussed being clever in your social media posts just a few lessons back. It is mentioned again here because it appeared regularly in the recent articles I reviewed. It is worth repeating that being clever only works when there is a surprise and an intelligent point is made. If you try and fail, it falls flat. If possible, have a business associate, friend, or family member review your posts that are intended to be clever and see if they have the expected reaction. If not, perhaps you should rethink the post. It takes a little extra effort to be clever and creative, rather than bland in your communications, but that extra effort pays off.

Not Everything Will Work And That's Fine

On the other hand, if you do try and fail, it is not the end of the world. Do not let the fear of failure paralyze you. Some of your posts will work. Some will not. Some of your Web campaigns will work. Some will not. Study the ones that do work and study the ones that do not work. Try to ascertain what is common among the ones that do work and what is common among the ones that do not work. If you observe your results carefully, you should be able to improve the percentage of your efforts that do pay off.

Conclusion

To have success in Internet Marketing, you must really stick with it. While you may not be able to make it a 24/7 activity, you can make it a 24/7 concern. Always being mindful of your Internet Marketing efforts will help you to find more time to make them work. Any time you have the feeling that you're done for now, focus on trying to optimize what you have done. You can always find ways to improve things and little improvements often make a big difference in outcomes. In social media, always keep the conversations going and always respond to communications, even if it takes you a while to get to everything. Every communication to which you fail to respond may be a lost opportunity. Be clever, at least at times, in your communications and responses. Because failed attempts to be clever can be harmful, have someone review your efforts before you post them. Sometimes your efforts will fail despite the thoughtfulness and cleverness you apply to them. That's OK. Observing what works and what doesn't work, will help you apply your efforts more efficiently in the future.

Material from my SFI Business Tool Kit at: Http://sfi4.com/12688726/First