What is the difference between marketing and advertising?

Marketing vs. advertising — do you know the difference? All advertising is marketing, but not all marketing is advertising. It sounds like a riddle. That might be why the two terms are often used interchangeably. Advertising is an essential part of marketing and shares the objective of reaching your target audience.

Marketing vs. advertising

Let's revisit the definitions of these terms and why both are important for business growth. Marketing encompasses all brand-building efforts that impact how the company is positioned in the market. It is how you communicate the unique benefits of your product or service — through marketing campaigns, promotional channels, sales, and partner activities.

Advertising is a marketing tactic. You may be familiar with the 10Ps marketing matrix. It is a framework of 10 essential elements of marketing: product, price, people, process, promotion, programs, place, physical environment, partners, and positioning. Of these 10, advertising fits into promotion. Advertisements are paid promotions, but promotions can also include non-paid activities such as organic social media promotion.

You can see examples in the 10Ps marketing matrix below, created in Aha! Knowledge. The promotion section includes both "Paid search: Google" — a form of digital advertising — as well as organic promotion via social channels.

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