Many people still don’t know the difference between “marketing” and “advertising” based on how often they use the terms interchangeably in conversation. Some people seem to think that anything that helps their business is advertising. Some people combine “sales” and “marketing” because the two words are often used together (like in “sales and marketing”). Even though “marketing” and “advertising” are often used interchangeably, we’re here to tell you that they are not the same thing.
Differences between B2B Marketing & Advertising
Yes, the two words are very similar, and there is some overlap between the two fields of study. Also, there are many important differences. Of course, you need to know the differences between marketing and advertising in order to do both well for your business. First, we’ll quickly go over both ideas, and then we’ll look at the main differences.
What is business-to-business marketing, or B2B marketing?
At its most basic level, B2B marketing is just the processes and activities that make your B2B products and services interesting and appealing to people who might buy them. These often include talking to potential buyers on the channels they prefer, building and keeping relationships with these prospects, making sure that current customers are happy, and giving support before and after a sale. Marketing includes things like market research and segmentation, strategic pricing, brand building, and promotions.
What’s business-to-business advertising, or B2B advertising?
Advertising, on the other hand, is a paid way to talk to people who might buy your B2B products and services. Simply put, any kind of publicity that costs money is advertising. The main goal of advertising is to get people to choose your goods and services over those of your competition.
Advertising is another key part of marketing. If “marketing” were a football team, “advertising” would be the quarterback, “branding” would be the wide receiver, “market research” would be the fullback, and so on.
What Makes Them Different?
You might be able to get away with not advertising all the time, but you won’t get very far with any of your business’s key performance indicators if you don’t have a good marketing plan that is always changing. If you know the differences, you’ll be able to plan and strategize for both of them in the best way possible. Let’s look more closely at how the two are different in three important ways.
Advertising and marketing go hand in hand, and each helps the other succeed. But they are not exactly the same.
Specific Responsibilities
What Marketing Needs to Do
Marketing’s main job is to make sure that a business makes money. Several things that marketing does help it do this. First, it builds and keeps up your brand, and if necessary, changes and improves it. Your brand is what makes you stand out, plain and simple. If you do a good job of branding, your target market will be more likely to choose you over your competitors. With good branding, your prospects will see you as the one who can help them with their specific problem or need.
Second, marketing is in charge of planning and developing a long-term strategy for communicating with and engaging your customers and potential buyers, as well as creating new opportunities for your sales team to turn into new clients. This also means keeping an eye on current trends that you can use to keep your business ahead of the competition, as well as putting in place tools that make these tasks easier and more efficient.
Most of the creative work that goes into your advertising is also done by marketing (which will include advertising). Lastly, marketing is in charge of planning and managing marketing budgets. This is done to make sure that your return on investment (ROI) stays in the black by figuring out which projects, initiatives, and channels are profitable enough to keep using.
What advertising needs to do
Advertising’s main job is to get potential buyers and current customers to buy your products and services by paying for promotion. To do this well, your advertising team needs to study how people act in general and how your target audience acts in particular. Then, they have to come up with campaign plans, including budgets, and pitch them. If approved, these plans will help them make creative. Other important tasks include buying media, keeping in touch with key teams and groups, and collecting data on how well the ad did after it ran.
Objects to aim for
To keep getting good results from your marketing and advertising, you need to set goals you can measure and keep track of. You decide which goals to work on and how much they affect your success, but these are the most common ones:
Marketing Objectives
- Getting leads
- Getting a new customer
- Keeping customers we already have
- Management of customer satisfaction
- Research and development of products
- Opportunities for upselling and cross-selling must be found.
- Planning for important marketing projects
Advertising Objectives
- Change and sway people’s buying decisions
- Promotion, reinforcement, and upkeep of a brand
- Management of reputation and image
- Improve customer loyalty
- Boost brand recognition
- Bring in new possible buyers
- Encourage customers to stay with you longer
- Find the best platforms for B2B advertising to use for campaigns
The fact that marketing and advertising have some of the same goals only shows how important advertising is to a larger marketing strategy.
Advertising is when you have to pay money to get people to know about your brand, product, or service.
Things That are Done Every Day
The standard practices and strategies that marketing and advertising can use to reach their goals are another area where they are very different. Research shows that marketing often puts out a variety of content in different forms to address customer pain points. Then, these content assets are shared on different channels and platforms, like email and social media, which makes it easier for people to get involved and talk to each other. When it makes sense, marketing can use user-generated content like feedback, reviews, and comments as part of the bigger plan.
Most of the time, especially when it comes to B2B marketing, the focus is on showing facts and data that prove your products and services are useful and can be used. Blogs, for example, help to show that you are an expert in your field when you talk about and solve common problems in the industries you serve. Case studies show how your products and services have been used in the real world and how they have helped other businesses succeed. White papers explain in real-world terms what your products or services can do.
Depending on the platform, paid advertising can use already-made marketing materials. This is common on social media, where you can pay to boost posts. B2B advertising sometimes needs its own content and creative, in formats that are shorter, more eye-catching, more compact, and less expensive, so that you can quickly get people interested in what you have to offer. Even though facts are still important in advertising, most of the time they are used to make people feel something and get them to buy something.
Getting ahead with B2B marketing and advertising
Marketing and advertising can’t work on their own. They need each other. To be successful, you need to use both to reach the goals you currently value most. If you’re just starting out, it’s likely that you’ll work on your marketing strategy before you do any advertising. This is a good idea because it makes sure that the two are in sync. You can also get a head start if you start with qualified leads who have a strong desire to buy. Then it would be your job to get them to decide to buy. It’s a very good thing to have. Are you interested? Talk to us today, and Iscope Digital can give you that head start.
