Advertisement vs marketing: Is there any difference?

Advertisement is Marketing, isn’t it? The ordinary answer would be YES but it’s not! If we look at marketing product awareness lifespan, what do we see? If we see Marketing as a whole pizza, advertisement is only a slice. Let’s delve into the concept of marketing vs advertisement. Trust me. It’s worth your time.

Advertisement is Marketing?

Marketing is a process, and advertisement is a part of that process. Let’s go through this process one by one. Then we understand where in this process advertisement falls into. Marketing gives life to a product and defines its goals and objectives. It starts with the product itself.

Production to marketing: The journey

Your job is to define a clear goal for a new product or a service. What a beverage company will suggest you, the team leader of the product development team? They suggest a new flavour of drink to develop. You would do it based on the latest trends, customer demand and competitors market share.

When a product is developed the next step is to set a price or a price range. The price will be based on the competitor’s pricing & product positioning. There are certain pricing strategies which differ from industry to industry. When a Five Star hotel chain start a new spa facility, it would fix its charges like other luxurious spas. Demanding for spa services around the year.

When you develop a product or service, the next step is to define a price or a price range. The pricing depends on the competitor’s pricing and product positioning. There are certain pricing strategies which differ from industry to industry. When a Five Star hotel chain starts a new spa facility, it would fix its charges like other luxurious spas. The charges will also relate to the demand for spa services around the year.

Marketing department: What do they do?

Marketing department develops campaigns to offer customers a discount during off-seasons. . Based on customer demographics, you define the showroom locations and product placement. A product can reach the consumer from its own manufacturer without any medium. Or, a reseller would place the product in his store and sell the products.

Promotional activities start by defining a guideline of advertising a product or service. In this case, the use of different mediums to reach existing and potential customers. A marketing individual or a team would decide how, when and what impressions they want to put in people’s mind. This is when advertisement plays its role in marketing.

Through advertisement, a marketer shows the characteristics of a product. The advertisement starts by defining a few people who are the targeted audience. An Energy Bar brand would target a niche health-conscious audiences.

Advertisers define the demographics of people based on the product or service. Once a target audience is set, it’s time to decide how the ads would attract customers to buy a product or service.

Types of advertisement medium

There are three types of advertisement medium to follow. First one is ATL or Above the Line. Here advertisements are targeted to a larger audience on mass mediums. Such as Television, Radio, Billboards, Street Banners. It has a high cost and high exposure to the audience.

Generally, this type of advertisement is done to build up a brand image in customers’ mind. We can stand the example of the launching of the new Tesla model of the electric car. It creates hype among the audience by placing the ads off on mass mediums. Such as large billboards, TV advertisement & publishing a full-page ad in the newspaper.

Same goes for a new hotel chain of The Grand Hyatt hotel in the city. It will put a billboard on the highway to aspire potential passersby to visit. The second type of advertisement is BTL or ‘below the line’. Here the advertiser advertises directly to its customer. BTL primarily comprises of:

We can look at the Ikea’s experience-based showroom merchandising as an example. It enables customers to experience the feel home at the store. It gives the audience an amazing shopping experience. And also helps them to choose their desired product.

Same goes for the free flyers with testers of Victoria’s Secret Perfume. Without visiting the perfume store this tactic reaches customers. And they successfully create the urge to buy the product. Red Bull sponsors a city marathon and give participants free Red Bull.

They also make them wear Red Bull jersey to associate their brand with stamina and power. Brands Stores across the world organize discount sales during the special holidays. Such as, Christmas, Eid, Puja, Summer sale, Clearance Sale to pull customers in their stores. These are all a part of below the line marketing.

Finally, there is TTL or ‘through the line’ which is a combination of ATL and BTL marketing. The classic example of TTL marketing —

Digital Marketing on Website and Social Media platforms are also part of TTL. It targets both mass audiences through Banner Ads. It also personalizes it while using a call to action buttons (call, direct message or email).

Marketing starts with planning, developing, and positioning a product or service. In contrast, the journey of an advertisement starts before its launch. Marketing and advertising is an integrated progress for any product for sustainace in the long run. The best outcome takes place only when the components fit together.

Illustration by Freepik Stories

Tags: advertisement marketing

Nobonita Roy

Author Since: 30 June 2020