A few years ago, companies were limited to the more traditional means of advertising their products or services, such as brochures, business cards, television, radio and print advertisements.
Since the development of new technologies and the rise of the Internet, the traditional marketing methodology has changed and marketing has had to adapt to the new circumstances and embrace the technological revolution.
Today, the Internet opens the doors of advertising so that any business can find its audience, spread its brand and make sales online. However, it is important to understand two concepts, which may seem to be the same, but are actually completely different terms: marketing and advertising.
what is digital marketing?
Marketing is the discipline that studies the behaviour of markets and consumers and its main purpose is to attract, capture, retain and retain new customers; in short, to increase the sales of a brand or company.
Digital marketing encompasses all those advertising actions and strategies that are executed in the media and channels of the Internet, a phenomenon that has been applied since the 1990s as a way of transferring offline marketing techniques to the digital universe.
Due to the high technological development of recent years, online marketing has undergone profound changes, both in the techniques and tools used and in the possibilities offered to users.
Digital marketing offers us a series of highly diverse tools from which we can carry out small actions at practically zero cost to complex strategies in which we can combine an infinite number of techniques and resources. These are the main ones:
what is digital advertising?
Advertising is a form of communication aimed at consumers that aims to increase consumption of a product or service, enhance a brand's image or position it in the consumer's mind. Specifically, digital advertising is all forms of advertising a brand and its products or services via digital devices or channels.
The change in consumer behaviour and the evolution of technology were the drivers of digital advertising. People started to use the Internet for everything from solving a simple question on Google to shopping on an online portal. Moreover, beyond promotion, it allows to connect with the target audience and create a relationship with consumers.
For this reason, in recent years the Internet has become a place where companies have to be, and if the public is on Google, social networks and blogs, brands must establish their presence in these spaces.
As a result, digital advertising has become increasingly complex and powerful in recent years, and the diversification of formats, charging methods and audience targeting options has made the platforms more robust and full of possibilities for companies.
what are the differences between marketing and advertising?
While it is true that most people and professionals in the field see them as similar concepts, there is one fact that makes the two terms different in the commercial world.
Marketing, as we know it, deals with the 4 P's of marketing: Price, Product, Distribution (Place) and Promotion.
- The product: In this case, we refer to both physical goods and services.
- The price: Determining the price of your products and services is fundamental. Within this strategy, you not only have to deal with your price positioning with respect to your objectives, the competition and what the customer is willing to pay.
- Distribution (place): In this part, you have to analyse how you want your product to reach your customers.
- Promotion: It is important to choose the communication of the product, how you want the customer to receive it and through which channels.
This 4-pillar concept determines how a brand presents itself in the market. It is obvious that when it comes to Digital Marketing, these factors are focused on the online environment.
On the other hand, advertising is defined as a set of strategies aimed at making products and services known to society. However, it is not only about letting people know that you exist, but also about giving a certain reputation to what you offer.
Without using this sponsored communication, it would be very complex to position yourself in the minds of consumers as something of good quality. You can already understand that digital advertising is a tool of Digital Marketing. Therefore, in practice, many people see them as synonyms.
Advertising, therefore, is a tool that we can locate within Promotion. It is one of the ways in which companies promote their brands and products to the public, and digital advertising is the tool to do so in online media.
Digital advertising is a great way to connect with your audience, and it takes advantage of marketing strategies and research to get the consumer's attention on the channels they use most in their day-to-day lives.
Don't forget that due to the great diversity of platforms, formats, channels and targeting possibilities, you now have an arsenal of resources to boost your marketing strategy.
