Are you Advertising or Marketing?

Companies need to decide if they are advertising or marketing. That decision can mean a lot in the evolving traditional/digital/social media landscape.

Gord Hotchkiss, writing for MediaInsider spelled out a great way to view the problem. “You’re invited to a party at a friend’s house. When you walk in the door, everyone glances over to see who’s arrived. When they recognize you, each person immediately has their own idea of who you are and how they feel about you.

That is your brand. It has already been formed by your marketing, how you have interacted with others your entire life. At that moment of recognition, your own brand is beyond your control.

But now, you have to mingle. You scan the room and see someone you know who is already talking to someone else. You walk over, hoping to work your way into their conversation. That, right there, is advertising. You’re asking for their attention. They have to decide whether to give it to you or not. How they decide will be dependent on how they feel about you, but it will also depend on what else they’re doing — how interesting the conversation they’re already engaged in is.

Another variable is their expectation of what a conversation with you might hold, and the anticipated utility of said conversation. Are you going to tell them some news that would be of great interest to them, ask for a favor, or just bore them to tears?

So, the success of the advertising exchange in the eyes of the recipient can be defined by three variables: emotional investment in the advertiser (brand love), openness to interruption and expected utility if interrupted.”

The Point

There are two key takeaways here. When choosing to craft a message, you should be clear what your focus is. Are you reinforcing how consumers feel about your company and its products or services (branding)? Or do you want them to transact with your company where they trade something of value to receive something of value (advertising)?

The second is advertising engagement requires that the advertiser offer something in return. Not just a promotion, but value for both the consumer’s time to actually engage the ad (education, information, entertainment) as well as something of value if they act on the ad.

It is not enough to just spend money to get your message out there. You need to really think about what you want to say, why you are saying it and what your goal is once the message is out there.