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Key Differences

Know the Differences & Comparisons

Difference Between Advertising and Promotion

advertising vs promotionMarketing mix implies combinations of various elements that help the company in attracting customers, to buy the products offered by the company. It includes product, price, place, and promotion. Promotion is a marketing mechanism, that involves informing the customers about the product offered by the company, and includes advertising, public relation, personal selling, direct marketing, etc.

Most of the people are having the opinion that promotion and advertising are one, and the same thing but both of the terms differ in the sense that advertising is that form of communication, which is intended to induce potential customers, to buy your product, over the competitors. It is a tool that reaches thousands of customers in one go.

In this article, our main focus is to explain all the difference between advertising and promotion. But, first of all, you must know that promotion is a marketing technique, and advertising is a promotional tool.

Content: Advertising Vs Promotion

  1. Comparison Chart
  2. Definition
  3. Key Differences
  4. Conclusion

Comparison Chart

Basis for ComparisonAdvertisingPromotion
MeaningAdvertising is a technique of driving public attention towards a product or service, through paid network.The set of activities that spread a word about the product, brand or service is known as promotion.
What is it?SubsetSuperset
ObjectiveBuilding brand image and boosting sales.Short term sales push
StrategyPromotional strategyMarketing strategy
EffectsLong termShort term
ResultsGenerally slow, can be seen over time.Instant
Cost involvedHighly expensiveCost Effective
Best suited forMedium and big enterprisesAll enterprises

Definition of Advertising

Advertising is an impersonal promotional tool which is used to draw public attention towards a product or service, through a selected and paid media. It is a means of communication that helps to communicate a single message, to a large number of people in less time. In a nutshell, advertising is nothing but “telling and selling” of commercial items.

Advertising is a technique used by most of the companies, to persuade the potential customers to buy the product. Various channels are used for the purpose of advertising like television, radio, newspaper, magazines, billboards, pamphlets, posters, cabs, buses, walls, etc.

Due to extreme competition between companies, the cost of advertising a single product is very high, these days. In general, people get attracted to the advertisement and the demand for that product increases. So, the effects of advertising are positive. The result of advertising is seen in the long run when there is an upward movement in the sales figure.

However, it is quite difficult for a common man to identify good products among an array of products because only positive aspects are disclosed in the ads. The more the ads are displayed to the customer, the more it will make an impression on the customer’s mind. In this way, it helps the companies to make money easily with their product no matter whether the quality is up to the mark or inferior.

Definition of Promotion

Promotion refers to the set of activities that communicate the merits of a product, service or brand to persuade target customers to buy it. It is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. It is a way of attracting, inducing and creating awareness among the people to initiate the purchase.

The ways of promotion include, discount coupons, free distribution of samples, rebate, offers like giving two items at the price of one, trial offers, offers on festivals and occasions, contest, value added services, etc. Due to these methods, the companies get an instant boost in their sales because customer response is impulsively when they know that they will get more at the price of less. It involves activities like:

  • Direct Marketing: It is a technique in which companies sell their products directly to the customers, by eliminating the middleman.
  • Advertising: Advertising (as explained above) is a paid announcement, wherein the message is conveyed to attract the customer and bring is attention towards the product, through a medium.
  • Public Relation: Every company wants to build and maintain an image in front of the public, through various channels.
  • Personal Selling: In this technique, the salesman sells the company’s product by directly visiting and influencing them to buy the product.

Key Differences Between Advertising and Promotion

The following are the major differences between advertising and promotion:

  1. A monolog activity, which draws the attention of prospective customers towards a product, brand or service is known as Advertising. Promotion is a communication tool that includes all the activities which aware and persuade customers to buy the product or service.
  2. Advertising is a part of the promotion. Therefore, it can be said that advertising is also an act of promoting the product.
  3. Advertising is done to build brand image and increase sales, whereas Promotion is used to push short-term sales.
  4. Advertising is one of the elements of promotion while the promotion is the variable of the marketing mix.
  5. Advertising has a long term effect but at the same time promotion has short term effects.
  6. The results of advertising are shown by the passage of time. Conversely, the results of the promotion are seen immediately.
  7. Advertising is an expensive tool. Unlike promotion which is an economical tool.
  8. Advertising is suitable for medium and big enterprise whereas Promotion is for all kinds of enterprises irrespective of its size.

Conclusion

After the deep discussion, we can say that both the terms advertising and promotion are different. However, there are certain similarities like both are a part of marketing strategy. The tools are mainly used for influencing the demand for the product or service and to get the desired response in the target market.

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Comments

  1. Maria Alexiadou says

    June 23, 2016 at 10:58 pm

    Thank you

    Reply
  2. rob says

    January 30, 2017 at 2:42 pm

    nice article

    Reply
  3. Charloth Chepkemoi says

    February 5, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    really nice article

    Reply
  4. Nyoka Reid says

    April 25, 2018 at 1:29 am

    Thank you. This was really necessary for me to read!

    Reply
  5. Tigist says

    March 22, 2019 at 1:20 pm

    Thank you,

    Reply
  6. Sarah says

    October 31, 2019 at 7:06 am

    God Bless U

    Reply
  7. HANNAH says

    October 31, 2019 at 7:08 am

    WOW THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS EXCELLENT ARTICLE. IT CHANGED MY LIFE. HERE I WAS, NOT KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION LIKE A COMPLETE IDIOT AND THIS ARTICLE FELL INTO MY LAP LIKE A BIRD FLEW IN MY DOOR AND GAVE ME DROPPINGS OF WISDOM.

    Reply
  8. oside wisdom says

    February 7, 2021 at 10:21 pm

    thanks this has helped me a lot

    Reply
  9. R K Rao says

    July 20, 2022 at 6:53 am

    Thank you

    Your explanation is clear and easy to understand

    Reply
  10. Araali Daniels says

    September 27, 2022 at 3:03 pm

    It’s really a nice discussion, I have learnt a lot! Thanks very much.

    Reply

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