Marketing and advertising are often confused, but they serve different purposes. Marketing is the big picture – it’s about understanding your customers, building relationships, and creating value through strategies like research, branding, pricing, and product development. Advertising, on the other hand, is a specific tool within marketing focused on promoting products or services through paid campaigns.
Why It Matters:
- Marketing builds long-term customer loyalty and business growth.
- Advertising drives quick visibility and immediate action.
Key Stats:
- Businesses spent $733 billion on advertising in 2023.
- Small businesses allocate about 46% of their budget to marketing, while larger companies spend around 33%.
- B2C companies spend 5–10% of revenue on marketing, while B2B companies spend 2–5%.
Quick Comparison Table:
| Aspect | Marketing | Advertising |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Broad strategy covering all customer touchpoints | Focused on paid promotional campaigns |
| Goal | Build long-term relationships | Create awareness and drive immediate action |
| Timeline | Ongoing, long-term | Short-term, campaign-based |
| Budget | Larger portion of revenue (e.g., 5–10%) | A subset of marketing budget |
| Activities | Branding, research, product development | Paid ads, messaging, design |
| Measurement | Tracks overall growth and customer lifetime value | Measures campaign-specific performance |
Understanding these differences helps businesses allocate resources wisely and align short-term advertising efforts with long-term marketing goals.
The Difference Between Advertising and Marketing
Marketing vs Advertising: Basic Concepts
Marketing Explained
Marketing is all about understanding and meeting customer needs in a way that drives profit. The American Marketing Association defines it as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large".
It covers a wide range of activities, including:
- Market Research: Learning what customers want and how they behave.
- Product Development: Designing solutions that address those needs.
- Pricing Strategies: Setting prices that attract customers while ensuring profitability.
- Distribution Channels: Ensuring products reach customers efficiently.
- Brand Development: Building trust and loyalty over time.
Take Spotify as an example. In March 2023, Spotify worked with Mailchimp to clean and verify its entire database. This wasn’t just about advertising – it was a strategic marketing move that improved email deliverability and brought in an extra $2.3 million in revenue.
Advertising Explained
Advertising, on the other hand, is a more focused piece of the marketing puzzle. It’s about creating and distributing paid messages to promote a product, service, or brand through various channels. While marketing focuses on the big picture, advertising handles the specific task of getting the word out.
Key features of advertising include:
- Paid Placement: Businesses pay to control when and where their messages appear.
- One-Way Communication: Ads are sent out to reach a broad audience.
- Measurable Results: Campaigns are tracked to evaluate their success.
- Multiple Channels: Includes TV, radio, online platforms, digital billboards, and more.
| Aspect | Marketing | Advertising |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Broad business strategy | Specific promotional tool |
| Control | Covers multiple touchpoints | Focuses on paid placements |
| Timeline | Long-term relationship focus | Short-term campaign-based |
| Focus | Customer satisfaction | Promoting products/services |
Understanding the difference is essential for any business. Advertising delivers quick visibility through paid efforts, while marketing builds deeper, long-term connections with customers. In 2023, businesses spent nearly $733 billion on advertising, showing just how critical it is within the broader marketing framework.
Main Differences Between Marketing and Advertising
Size and Focus
Marketing and advertising play distinct roles in driving business growth. Marketing takes a big-picture approach, covering everything from product development to customer engagement. Advertising, on the other hand, hones in on specific promotional efforts, like increasing sales or brand visibility.
Picture marketing as running an entire restaurant – handling the menu, decor, and service – while advertising is the billboard showcasing today’s special. Marketing shapes the overall experience, while advertising is about drawing attention quickly. This difference in focus also impacts how soon results are seen, as we’ll explore below.
Short-term vs Long-term Results
Advertising delivers quick results, while marketing focuses on building lasting value.
Jessica Horvath, Senior Advisor at BDC, explains:
"So much depends on the kind of business you have, your business objectives and revenue." "Think about your customer segments – the personas you want to reach and what their needs are."
Successful businesses often allocate their marketing budgets strategically:
- 10–20% for brand awareness
- 10–20% for lead nurturing and remarketing
- 60–80% for direct response activities
Side-by-Side Comparison
Here’s a quick look at how marketing and advertising differ:
| Aspect | Marketing | Advertising |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Goal | Build long-term relationships and drive profitable actions | Create awareness and prompt immediate action |
| Approach | Covers the entire customer journey | Focused on specific campaigns or objectives |
| Timeline | Continuous, ongoing process | Short-term, campaign-based |
| Budget Scale | 2–5% of revenue (B2B) or 5–10% (B2C) | Budget tied to individual campaigns |
| Measurement | Tracks overall growth and customer lifetime value | Measures campaign-specific performance |
| Activities | Includes branding, research, product development, pricing | Involves paid ads, messaging, and design |
Understanding these differences helps businesses align marketing and advertising strategies for better results.
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Combining Marketing and Advertising
Money Management
Allocating your marketing and advertising budget wisely can make a huge difference. For established businesses, a common guideline is to set aside 7–8% of annual revenue for marketing, with 15–20% of that portion going to advertising costs.
Here’s a typical breakdown of marketing budgets:
| Marketing Activity | Percentage of Budget |
|---|---|
| Content Marketing | 30–40% |
| Paid Advertising | 20–30% |
| Creative Design/Branding | 5–10% |
| PR and Events | 5–10% |
| Analytics Tools | 2–6% |
| Marketing Software | 10% |
| Staff and Training | 10% |
To keep spending balanced, many businesses follow the 70/20/10 rule:
- 70% goes to tried-and-true marketing methods
- 20% is for newer strategies
- 10% is reserved for experimental campaigns
Small Business Example: Blip Billboards
This structured budgeting approach works for businesses of all sizes, including small ones. Digital billboard campaigns, for instance, are a smart way to combine marketing and advertising. Blip’s self-serve platform offers small businesses flexibility to:
- Start with a low investment (as little as $20 per day)
- Focus on specific locations based on market data
- Adjust campaigns in real time to improve performance
- Pay only for ads that are actually displayed
Take Tableau, a business analytics company, as an example. By allocating 51% of its revenue to combined sales and marketing efforts, Tableau achieved impressive growth, with revenue soaring from $412.6 million in 2014 to $1.16 billion in 2018.
James Munnerlyn from Blip emphasizes the importance of flexibility in budget management:
"Smart business owners should instead look to find ways to profitably manage and grow their marketing budgets without setting arbitrary minimums or ceilings on their spend."
Blip’s real-time bidding system takes this flexibility to another level. Businesses can tweak their outdoor ad spend every 10 minutes, ensuring they get the most out of their advertising dollars. This method aligns short-term advertising needs with long-term marketing goals, creating a well-rounded strategy for growth.
Tracking Results
Marketing Success Measures
To gauge long-term marketing success, focus on growth metrics that align with your business’s stage. Interestingly, only 23% of marketers feel confident they’re monitoring the right key performance indicators (KPIs). For small businesses, identifying and tracking the most relevant metrics during each growth phase is crucial.
Here’s a breakdown of how businesses at different stages can prioritize their marketing metrics:
| Business Stage | Primary Focus Areas | Key Metrics to Track |
|---|---|---|
| New Business | Business Model & Growth | Website Traffic, Social Media Engagement, Email List Growth |
| Established Small Business | Customer Acquisition & Retention | Customer Lifetime Value, Cost per Acquisition, Brand Awareness |
| Scaling Business | Market Share & ROI | Market Penetration Rate, Revenue Growth, Customer Retention Rate |
In today’s digital-first world, having an online presence is essential. With over 2.6 billion people – more than 33% of the global population – shopping online, businesses must leverage these metrics to drive growth. While these long-term metrics paint the bigger picture, advertising metrics provide insights into short-term campaign performance.
Advertising Performance Numbers
Advertising metrics are particularly useful for assessing the immediate impact of campaigns like outdoor advertising (e.g., digital billboards). For instance, out-of-home (OOH) ads are shown to boost mobile engagement by 17% and achieve an 82% ad recall rate after a month.
"Advertising, on the other hand, relates to the process of creating paid messages to promote products or services using multiple channels, including digital ads, TV commercials, streaming services, radio, print media and the like. Unlike marketing’s broad strategy, advertising delivers targeted messages to specific audiences to influence immediate consumer action."
When running digital billboard campaigns, businesses should track these key metrics:
- Impressions: The total number of times the ad is displayed.
- Geographic Reach: The coverage area and audience exposure.
- Engagement Rate: Measured through interactions like mobile device engagement.
- Conversion Tracking: Using tools like QR codes or dedicated landing pages.
- ROI Calculation: Comparing ad spend to the revenue generated.
Thanks to modern tech like GPS, geolocation, and Bluetooth beacons, advertisers can track these metrics with precision. These tools also allow for real-time campaign adjustments, ensuring ad budgets are used efficiently. By combining short-term advertising insights with long-term marketing metrics, businesses can fine-tune both their immediate efforts and broader strategies.
Next Steps
Main Points
Understanding the difference between strategy and tactics is essential for effective planning. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, having a marketing plan helps you stay on track with both your schedule and budget.
Here’s a simple framework to guide your efforts:
| Strategy Level | Key Actions | Expected Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing Foundation | Define your value proposition, identify your target audience, and set a clear budget | 2–3 months |
| Initial Advertising | Choose the right channels, create targeted campaigns, and establish baseline metrics | 1–2 months |
| Integration | Align messaging, coordinate timing across channels, and track combined results | Ongoing |
This method connects your long-term strategies with immediate advertising efforts. Research shows that 89% of top marketers rely on metrics like gross revenue, market share, or customer lifetime value (CLV) to measure success. This highlights the importance of having a system in place to track results.
Once you’ve outlined your goals and framework, it’s time to put your plans into motion.
Getting Started with Blip
If you’re ready to kick off your advertising efforts, Blip’s self-serve digital billboard platform is a great starting point. Chris Leslie, Founder of Leslie Lightcraft Co, shares:
"It’s not a social media thing that you see on your phone. It’s not word-of-mouth. It’s big and bold and out there in public. I would say this is the first step of looking big and public".
Paul Willey, Owner of Mr. Charlie’s Chicken Fingers, adds:
"Working with Blip has given Mr. Charlie’s the momentum to get our new location on the map while accelerating growth for our original location".
Here’s how you can begin:
- Start small but visible: Test different billboard locations with a budget as low as $20/day.
- Track performance: Use Blip’s analytics to monitor impressions and engagement.
- Refine your messaging: Create bold designs that align with your overall marketing strategy.
Keep in mind that 78% of marketing organizations have recently adjusted their metrics. This shows the importance of staying adaptable and fine-tuning your campaigns based on real data.
