Many people confuse marketing with advertising or vice versa. While both components are important, they are very different. Knowing the difference and doing your market research can put your chorus on the path to substantial growth.

Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor. For example, creating a flyer or e-mail blast to tell the public about your upcoming show.

Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers (new members or the paying audience) and sellers (your chorus) for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.

After reading both of the definitions it is easy to understand how the difference can be confusing to the point that people think of them as one-in-the same, so lets break it down a bit.

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie. Inside that pie, you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing (show tickets), distribution, strategy, and community involvement.

Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It's the part that involves getting the word out concerning your upcoming chorus activities. It involves developing strategies such as ad placement and frequency in a local newspaper or on a radio stations. It involves the creation of flyers or postcards, and where to distribute them for maximum exposure. Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with public relations following in a close second.

Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a process that takes time and you must develop a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing as everything that a chorus does to tell the world about your organization.