Many people confuse marketing with advertising or vice versa. While both components are equally important, they are also very different. Knowing the differences between the two can put your company on the fast track to success. Let's start off by reviewing the formal definitions of each and then we'll explain how marketing and advertising differ from one another:

Advertising: 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: 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 both of the definitions, it is easy to understand how the differences can be confusing to the point that most people think of them as one and the same. So, lets clear up the confusion.

Advertising is but a single component of the marketing process.

Advertising entails publicizing your business, product, or 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, yellow pages, television, radio, and of course the Internet. Advertising is the single largest expenditure of most marketing campaigns.

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is the pie chart. Mentally, visualize breaking the pie chart down into several slices that include advertising, product pricing, distribution, customer service, sales strategy, etc.

Using this method, you can see, advertising only equals one slice of the pie in the marketing strategy. All of these components must not only work independently, but they also must work in unison towards the ultimate goal of publicizing your business and obtaining customers.

Marketing, on the other hand, is simply a process that an organization goes through to facilitate an exchange between buyer and seller.

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