The difference between Marketing, Advertising, Sales & P.R

This piece was inspired by David Adeyemi who recently reached out to me about his soon to be published book which he is writing about the importance of artist P.R.

I was going to start off talking about P.R alone but then it dawned on me that people often mix up the different arms of Branding and mistake P.R for marketing, sales, or advertising, so here I am, writing my first medium in an attempt to help us understand what the differences are.

The first thing we need to do is understand that P.R is just one piece in the engine of branding.

The “BRAND” Engine is made up of these different pieces

- Marketing

- Advertising

- Sales & P.R

You’ll see why I’ve grouped sales and P.R together as we progress, but we need to understand the difference between these 3 engine parts and how they all work together for Branding.

Let’s touch base on our understanding of a brand, what is a brand?

The answer is simple, a brand is a character, an archetype, an experience.

Whatever people experience when they meet you, that is your brand.

If you’re the friend that’s always checking in and making sure everyone is good, then you’re a caregiver.

If you’re the one everyone goes to for advice, then you’re a sage. Etc etc etc.

To some you’re a good guy, to others you’re a bad guy.

Your brand is a mix of your first impression and the consistency of the words and actions that follow to tell a full story.

So, what is Marketing?

Marketing is simply when you try to control everyone’s experience of you.

Once you tell the “full story” with consistency in words and actions that lead up to the big picture; who you are, and what you’re about.

A bit like manipulation, but with capitalist intent (lol).

And how do you do that? By using Advertising, Sales and P.R.

The act of Marketing is simply employing strategy in relation to what your brand is. It’s like coming up with a battle plan on how to move units.

You do a little research on the number of people that have a great first impression about a thing (in this case let’s use you as an example).

You find out why these people love you so much, is it because of the way you look? The way you talk? Where you’re located?

You note these things down and become conscious to make a habit out of them. By doing this, you have identified who you should be talking to and an idea of what they react to, thereby creating your Market Segment / identifying your market share.

Your next step is to create materials that amplify this character that your Market Segment loves.

You make videos, you create radio commercials, theme songs, digital ads, billboards, skits, music, films and all sorts of content.

The process of putting all this content together with the application of the knowledge and strategy from your marketing is Advertising.

So, if this was an equation it’ll look like this

Advertising = Marketing ( Strategy x Creative ) / Brand

Next, we have Sales & P.R.

Sales and P&R go hand in hand and here’s how.

“Sales” simply means “to sell” and to sell anything in this world you need good P.R (public relations).

Good P.R drives sales, and this is only achieved when you have a salesperson who understands your brand and knows exactly what to say and how to say it. This Salesperson is pretty much your ambassador.

Let me give you an example.

You go to the electronic section of a mall and you’re about to buy a washing machine.

Note that whatever company makes this washing machine has figured out that someone who earns a certain amount and can afford the comfort of a washing machine would most likely visit the mall. So the wise thing to do is get a piece of market share and visibility at the mall (Marketing)

They figure out what this person likes, the tones and colours they prefer, the music they react to, and align their brand with these things (Strategy)

Then they create visual and audio content (advertising) that appeals to their audience, which by virtue of going to their store, you have now become a part of.

Right there at the point of purchase, is a salesperson, waiting to make sure you close the deal, they’ll tell you all the fantastic things about the brand, even advise on what type of product under their umbrella to purchase, using the information from the brand’s advertising as their tool. This is what P.R is; breaking down all that awesome stuff about your brand into easy relatable language and gestures, at the point of purchase.

People don’t just want to hear or see your brand, they want to feel it, and great P.R is a sure way to do this.

In the digital space, P.R companies play the role of these salespeople, using the creatives and content supplied by the advertising agencies, brand partners, artists etc, as tools to drive clicks.

They take this info and tell the story in a way tailored to the different channels which they service. E.G P.R on an e-commerce site looks and sounds different from P.R drives on a music blog, on social media or on a fashion blog.

To conclude, as I said before, all these different parts of the brand engine are important to tell the full story, and with P.R playing the role of the final touchpoint between the brand and the user, it is an extremely important step in closing off a sale.

Love, light, and small chops.

Truce.