Advertising Vs Marketing
Across 35-years of guiding small business owners, I’ve found most owners use the terms “advertising” and “marketing” interchangeably as if they mean the same thing. They don’t: Marketing is a strategy – advertising is a tactic that is typically used in marketing.
Advertising Vs Marketing: Strategy sounds like a lot of work, where advertising is easy. Anyone can sell you advertising. In fact, that’s part of the problem: too many “less-than-knowledgeable” sources make it confusing and chaotic. Firms like media companies do not require any experience from reps to sell advertising. You see, they sell audience size and “likes” on Facebook. They never talk about getting the message right. Think of trying to sell your dog products to people that don’t own dogs. So, if the audience is wrong, all the advertising in the world isn’t going to help. About the only thing you can do here is change your message to target “friends” of dog owners to have a chance at making sales.
Most owners say they want advertising. They want exposure on the latest social media. They want updated websites. They want SEO. They want all the things they’ve heard about. Worst of all, unfortunately, are the one that want to “get their name out there”. They’re doomed to spend a lot of money with little to show for it. What I’ve found is most owners have no strategy at all. They spend money and “hope for the best”.
So, what’s a strategy? Marketing, on the other hand, makes all your tactics (i.e.; advertising, website, audience composition/segmentation, data, campaigns, leads, conversions) work together with the end strategy of getting more consistent results by delivering the right message to the right people at the right time with a process of converting them into paying customers. It makes all the difference.
If you’re going to advertise without a strategy, at least get the message right by ensuring you have the four components necessary in all your marketing. Here’s the formula: I + E + E + O (Interrupt + Engage + Educate + Offer). And make sure you have a COMPELLING OFFER.
Compelling Offer: This is where advertising typically fails miserably. Your offer needs to be compelling. Platitudes like “biggest, best, most, family owned, in business since” aren’t compelling. Neither is “10% off, free estimates, sale today only, or call today”. A compelling offer emphasizes consumer benefits your competitors don’t with a low-risk call-to-action. It’s easier than it sounds. We do this every day.
What you need to know: Most business owners don’t want to be “marketing gurus” – I don’t blame them… it’s not why they got into business. I’m here to tell you that you DON’T need to be. But, you do need to know the basics. There are only a few and they’re not complicated. Get the basics down and not only will sales, profit, and ROI improve, but you’ll NEVER need advice from advertising sales reps. You’ll know exactly how to build effective ad campaigns (or ensure someone else builds them properly), you’ll never have to be concerned with audience size, you’ll never waste ad dollars. You’ll be in 100% control even if you assign the work to others.
The goal here is NOT to make you a marketing guru – the goal is to build the business of your dreams.