Advertising and promotion are two marketing tools and both are used in modern marketing. At first glance, it is very difficult to see the exact difference between advertising and promotion. Both advertising and promotion use the same techniques and the results obtained are basically the same.
However, there are some things that highlight the difference between advertising and promotion. These differences are the following:
- amount of time spent (advertising needs more time to get results, while promotions have instant effects)
- impact on general sales (advertising can generate higher profits, promote lower profits)
- general costs
- general purpose
- type of company
Advertising techniques are often used by medium and high level companies. The objectives of these companies are the strengthening of their brand and the construction of long-term sales. The most popular types of advertising are television and radio ads, national or local press advertisements, large billboards and posters.
The main power of advertising is to create strong brands and make long-term sales. In addition to long-term sales advertising, it also helps improve sales in the short and medium term. The construction and strengthening of consumer loyalty is the ultimate goal of advertising.
After starting an advertising campaign, we must wait a longer period before we can see substantial results. This period of time can be from months to years. Due to this time frame and high initial costs, advertising is only suitable for large companies and corporations.
Against advertising, the promotion is more focused on short-term results. Although the promotion also participates in the brand creation process, this is not your goal. The only main objective of the promotion is to build sales in the short period of time. The most popular forms of promotion are discount coupons in the local press, two for one, special promotions, free product samples and other special events in stores.
The creation of promotions is very easy and can generate very good profits in the short term. The cost of the promotion is significantly lower than advertising and, because of this, promotions are more suitable for small businesses. The profitability and time frame required do not exclude medium or large companies to organize promotions. On the contrary, the medium and large companies also establish promotions, the daily example is the promotion of daily or weekly products in the large national chain stores.
Of course, there are a number of similarities in advertising and promotions. These two marketing tools sometimes support each other and it is not uncommon for advertising campaigns to also use promotions. During advertising campaigns, promotions are used to further increase the overall success of the campaign.
