Marketing and advertising

Vithya Vivekananthan Assistant Lecturer, Eastern University

Marketing is the most common problem for people who run or are hoping to start small businesses.

There’s nothing wrong with advertising

Sometimes business people feel that the advertisements seem to do nothing. In other words, not bringing them the customers, clients or sales they desire. First of all, everyone must understand what is marketing and what is advertising.

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.

From these definitions, it is easy to understand how the difference can be confusing to the point that people think of them as one-in-the same.

Marketing is more than advertising

Marketing and advertising are not synonymous and ‘placing a few ads’ is never going to draw the kind of business a small business needs to be successful. Marketing is a process, not an event. It involves planning marketing goals and implementing marketing strategies to achieve them. Now that doesn’t mean marketing has to be a complicated process. But it does mean what company wants to achieve and get out there and work at it.

Advertising is a single component of the marketing process.

It’s the part that involves getting the word out concerning the business, product, or the services the company 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, direct mail, billboards, television, radio, and of course the Internet.

Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with public relations following in a close second and market research not falling far behind.

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie there are slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement.

Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy.

All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal.

Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective.

Think of marketing as everything that an organization does to facilitate an exchange between company and consumer.

Marketing strategies to increase the customers and sales

Marketing is the most common problem for people who run or are hoping to start small businesses.

* Offer some free classes/workshops related to the products and/or services - in home, in a rented venue or through a local education institution such as a Community College. Target specific audiences or events, if appropriate. For instance, someone with a beauty-polar business might offer special workshops on facial treatments or body and skin care tips for girls.

* Join local business organizations and networking groups. Many, such as home-based business groups, are inexpensive to join and the marketing benefits are huge. Once they get to know about the business, the other business people in the group will mention the business to others and may even give referrals.

Local business organizations are also great opportunities to create and participate in some cooperative marketing strategies, such as holding special Market Days or other events.

* Create or become front and center in a charitable event. A company can get huge amounts of press for events which can translate into new customers. For example, one local artist has painted paper grocery bags which he is selling with all proceeds going to a selected charity. But don’t even have to go to the trouble of creating own event; many charities have established events that can become a very visible part of by becoming a sponsor.

* Create own blog - and use it to build an audience of people who would be interested in the products and/or services. Creating a blog is easier than creating a website. Write regularly about topics related to business and what business is doing. Company will start connecting with other bloggers, business people and potential customers.

* Ask for referrals - If company operates a service-based business, because referrals are the easiest and least time-consuming of all the marketing strategies. But it is one of the least used marketing strategies. If don’t regularly ask satisfied customers for referrals companies don’t know how or feel awkward doing it.

The marketing rope

There’s nothing wrong with advertising. It’s just that in most cases it won’t be not effective marketing unless it’s part of a coordinated marketing plan. Think of marketing as a rope and advertising as one strand of the rope.

A mix of marketing strategies, such as advertising in conjunction with the marketing strategies above, will get the marketing results company want. None of these marketing strategies are going to draw hordes of customers overnight but, assuming company have a good product or service and if company do them and work at them consistently, it will see an increase in customers and sales.