Marketing is NOT the Same as Advertising: Learning the Difference Between the Two Can Make a Huge Difference in Your Business's Bottom Line

How many times have you looked for a article online that will give you some good tips on marketing for your business, but found that the tips are all the same as the tips you found for advertising? It's very common that people mistake the two or even think they mean the same thing. While the two go hand in hand, marketing is a whole lot more than advertising. It's imperitive for any business owner to learn the difference, so they can make both marketing and advertising work for them.

Advertising is what you do when your objective is to get your business name out there. Placing ads, desigining ad campaigns, and even passing out flyers are all forms of advertising. Marketing is a little of everything all rolled into one. Think of marketing as a pie and advertising is one slice of that pie. Advertising is probably the most expenisve part of any marketing plan and that's probably why the two get confused. Marketing isn't just advertising though, a good marketing plan will also contain public relations, customer satisfaction, product pricing, and even distribution. All of these things make up the pie that is marketing. Understanding that, is the first step in creating an effective marketing plan that will benefit your business immensely.

Advertising will be the portion of your marketing plan that takes the most funding, with public relations coming in a close second. You can then divide your remaining budget amoung the other areas of your marketing plan in wahtever way you feel it will best benefit your business. Once you know how you would like to divide your budget, you can begin creating "sub-plans." You will create a separate advertising plan, a separate PR plan, and so on. All of this together will become your marketing plan.

It doesn't matter what kind of business you are in, understanding how comon business practices work is the first thing you should take the time to learn. If you don't have an effective marketing plan, then your busines will suffer. Understanding that advertising only makes up a portion of marketing is the first step in your business education. Now it's time to creat a marketing plan that will increase your profits and put it to good use!