What is the main difference between advertising and the other forms of promotion?

What is the difference between advertising and promotion?

The company need to set up strategies on how to attract customers to buy their products and marketing is one of the methods.

Promotion and advertising are a marketing mix that tends to confuse many people. These marketing tricks have some slight similarities and wide differences.

The article provides a detailed insight into the difference between advertising and promotion with examples. Let’s find out:

What is the main difference between advertising and the other forms of promotion?

What Is Advertising?

Advertising is known to be an impersonal promotion that is typically used to draw the attention of customers towards products or service through a selected paid media.

Also, advertising is a form of communication that is used to convey a single message to a large population within a short time.

The main aim of advertising is to persuade, inform, and create awareness of a product or service to a customer.

The core sources of advertising are television, radio, newspaper, magazines, billboards, pamphlets, posters, cabs, buses, and walls, etc.

The effect of advertising is quite positive and this is the reason why making an advertisement for a single product tend to be too high.

What Is Promotion?

Promotion is a set of activities with the main aim of persuading the customer to buy a product, service or brand through highlighting the advantages.

It is one of the core elements of the marketing mix and it is suitable for creating awareness, attracting and inducing customers to initiate a purchase.

Discount coupons, value-added services, trial offer, free distribution of samples, offers on festive seasons, and rebate are among ways how promotion is done.

Promotions help the company to increase sales since the goods or services are offered at a low price. Direct marketing, advertising, personal selling and public relations are activities involved in promotions.

Comparison Chart: Advertising Vs Promotion

Basic Terms Advertising Promotions
Meaning It is a method of driving customers’ attention towards products or services through paid media. It is a set of activities that inform, persuade and create awareness about a product, service or brand
What is it Subset Superset
Core Objective Building a brand image and boosting sales A short term technique of pushing sales
Strategy Promotional Marketing
Impact Long term effect Short term effect
Result Gradual and slow but can be seen after sometime Tend to be fast but short-lived
Cost Too expensive Cost-effective
Suitable for Medium to large enterprise All enterprise regardless of the size
Communication One way Process Two-way process
Approach Unique to product Not necessarily unique to the product
  1. Advertising has a unique approach to products or services while promotions have no unique approach to products or services.
  2. The result of advertising tend to be slow whereas that of promotion is quite fast
  3. Advertising has a long term effect while promotions have short term effect
  4. The core purpose of advertising is to build brand and continuity while the promotion is to increase sales and attract customers
  5. Advertising is suitable for medium to the large enterprise while the promotion is suitable for all enterprises.
  6. The price of advertising is too expensive while that of promotion is relatively affordable and manageable.
  7. Advertising based on assumptions that will lead to sales while the promotion is directly related to sales.
  8. The nature of advertising is emotional and objective to create a brand image while the promotion is unemotional.
  9. Examples of advertising are through TV and newspaper while promotions are giving free gifts and discount coupons.
  10. The core strategy of advertising is promotional while that of promotion is sales oriented.

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Comparison Video

Summary

Generally, advertising is suitable for large companies while promotion for all enterprises regardless of their size. The cost of these methods tends to set them apart.

The core difference between advertising and promotion is that advertising is focused on a larger area with the aim of building the brand image, unlike promotion.

More Sources and References

  • Advertising and Sales Promotion. SlideShare
  • Advertising and Publicity. Marketing19

What is one key difference between advertising and other forms of marketing?

In basic terms, marketing is the process of identifying customer needs and determining how best to meet those needs. In contrast, advertising is the exercise of promoting a company and its products or services through paid channels. In other words, advertising is a component of marketing.

What is the difference between advertisement and sales promotion?

Advertising is a permanent strategy that involves marketing and sales, whereas sales promotions have a limited time frame. Advertising appeals to the wants and needs of a target audience, and seeks to persuade prospective customers that your company is worthy of their attention.

What are the two major differences between advertising and public relations?

Key Differences Between Advertising and Public Relations Advertising is a purchased or paid media, whereas public relations is an earned media. Advertising is a monologue activity. Conversely, public relation is a two way communication process, wherein the company listens and responds to the public.

How does advertising differ from any other form of promotion quizlet?

How does advertising differ from any other form of promotion? It must be paid for, while another form of mass selling-publicity is unpaid.