If you asked 50 professionals to explain the difference between marketing and advertising, I bet you would receive several different responses.
Some may think that marketing and advertising are the same thing. This is not true. Marketing is the actual process of preparing your product for the marketplace. Marketing involves understanding who your potential customers are and what they want from your products and/or services.
Marketing has many components. These components include: research, advertising, public relations, analysis, pricing, strategy, branding and sales. These components, working together, constitute marketing. These components further need to work autonomously and interdependently.
Moreover, your marketing methods should be contemporary. Using outdated methods based upon concepts that no longer apply, will not be as effective in this day and age.
If you consider building a paper mill, for instance, there are many different people that are involved. Architects, contractors, project engineers, and many others are part of the process. From building the papermachine itself to installing lime kilns, various engineers and suppliers are involved. These individuals must be able to stand on their own, but they also need to work together. The same is true with all of the components of marketing.
When a company is marketing its products and services, it needs to utilize all of these components to be as effective as possible.
Some companies will erroneously focus on one or two components of marketing and neglect the rest. This is a recipe for failure. Relying strictly on a sales team and making that the only marketing effort a company undertakes is often a mistake. In my current role, I talk to many marketing managers and directors. Some have strong marketing campaigns structured around various areas. Some companies recognize where their marketing is weak and will acknowledge areas that need improvement and will willingly admit where they need help -- it is usually in advertising. Those are the companies I enjoy talking to, as Paperitalo Publications can help them.
Some companies mistakenly think that their sales team is all the marketing they need. They don't understand that without utilizing the remainder of the components of marketing that their campaign will most likely fail.
I had a long conversation not too many months ago with the CEO of a company that was hit hard during the economic downturn. His company still has not fully recovered. He told me that they have to decide on a weekly basis whether or not to open their doors for business. That particular company isn't doing very much by way of marketing their products, other than relying on their sales team. I explained that there are other components involved in marketing their products in the industry, including advertising, and further explained how we could help them with their marketing efforts. Unfortunately, that company was unwilling to invest any funds into a marketing effort. Are their doors still open? The answer is yes, but for how much longer?
I personally hate to see any company struggle and would rather see a company succeed. But unless a company is willing to invest funds and effort into a full marketing campaign, they are more likely than not doomed for failure. In this day and age, a company needs to have a strong marketing campaign in order to be competitive.
As mentioned earlier, advertising is just one component of marketing. Advertising is the method used to get your message in front of your target audience. You cannot have an effective marketing campaign and neglect this component.
Paperitalo Publications has the knowledge and experience to help companies in the pulp and paper industry with their marketing campaigns. We have engineers working for us who have been in the industry for decades. Our engineers have hands-on experience using and working with most of the products used in pulp and paper mills. Having this technical knowledge and expertise sets us apart.
When you think about your company's marketing campaign, is your company utilizing every component involved with marketing? If not, why not?
Helen Roush is Vice President, Communications Sciences at Paperitalo Publications. She can be reached by email at helen.roush@taii.com.
For more information on Paperitalo Publications, feel free to contact:
Curt Gifford
cgifford@taii.com
770-367-4823
Helen Roush
helen.roush@taii.com
937-403-8602
Jim Thompson
jthompson@taii.com
678-206-6010
