Marketing is a key to success in any business. Before getting deep knowledge of marketing strategies, one should know the meaning of basic terms that are used in the marketing world. It is foolish to learn marketing techniques without having knowledge about the difference between marketing, advertising, and branding. A lot of people do get confused about the difference and they use all 3 terms in similar scenarios which is not a good approach to follow as a professional marketer. These terms are interconnected to each other but are not the same. We have tried to explain these terms in the simplest way possible. Have a look:

Also Read: What Is The Difference Between Customer and Consumer?

What is marketing?

This word has multiple definitions and with the changing world, the definitions are also getting new explanations. In simple words, we can say that marketing is like the way you see yourself. It includes your image, the clothes you wear, the way you present yourself and so on. If we relate it to the business world, marketing is the complete process of researching, manufacturing, promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.

What is advertising?

If we consider above example, advertising is the way you act in the public. If we take marketing as how you see yourself, advertising is the actions you do to support marketing. Advertising is the way of conveying what you are and this will determine how your image has been accepted by your target audience. Technically speaking, advertising is the form of marketing communication used to make people believe in your product or service.

What is branding?

Coming to branding, its definition is also very simple. Branding is the way your audience see you. We can also take this as if marketing is the way you want others to see you, branding is the way they actually see you. Branding depends on the reputation of the company and it takes time to be good at branding. Branding is the thing that makes your brand unique and it distinguishes your brand from other depending upon the relations and trust customers have on your product. You can start branding by answering the following questions:-

• Who are we?
• How are we different from others?
• What problems do we solve?

While there can be so many definitions of these words, we just tried to provide a simplified version of what these terms actually are. If you have anything to say about this, do let us know in comments.