The Difference Between Marketing and Advertising

To help clarify the difference between marketing and advertising, entrepreneur Allan Dib narrates a simple anecdote in his book The 1-Page Marketing Plan:

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying “Circus Coming to the Showground Saturday” that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion.

If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed and the local newspaper writes a story about it, that’s publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.

If the town’s citizens go to the circus and you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and, ultimately, get them to spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.

And if you planned the whole thing, that’s marketing.

In short, marketing is the whole big thing: the strategy and the plan you build to attract your target segment and get them to know you, love the product or service you offer and make them buy it using a mix of advertising, promotion, publicity, public relations and sales.

In contrast, advertising is just the way you communicate a message to your target audience, whether that’s through traditional or digital marketing channels. Common examples of advertising include ads in hard copy magazines and on billboards, as well as radio and TV ads. Ads on social media platforms such as Facebook are another common example. Whether a company chooses one medium or another to advertise its products, marketing is what enables it to select the most appropriate medium for its target audience.

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