When most people think of marketing the first thing that pops into their head is an advertisement. This leads many people to believe that marketing and advertising are actually the same things. They aren’t.

Here is the definition of marketing according to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary:

Marketing is "the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service."

And here is the definition of advertising:

Advertising is "the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcement."

So you can see that by definition, marketing is much broader than advertising. Advertising is actually a part of marketing. But it’s not the only part of marketing.

Sure advertising is a major part of marketing, but it isn’t even the majority of marketing. The two terms are not interchangeable. And marketing is much larger than advertising. Therefore, in order to be successful with your marketing efforts, you have to concentrate on much more than just advertising.

What is Marketing?

The next logical question to ask is: What is marketing?

You just read the definition of marketing above. And from that definition you can see that marketing is pretty much everything. This is a fact that you need to always remember.

Marketing is everything!

It’s everything you think it is and it’s everything that you never thought was part of marketing.

Again, everything you do is part of your marketing efforts. Sure, marketing is the mailing you do once a year and marketing might be calling past customers to see if they need your services again. And marketing is putting flyers around the neighborhood and giving away Frisbees with your business name on them. Marketing is all of the direct efforts you make to promote your business.

But marketing is so much more than this too.

Marketing is also the way your present yourself, how you present your product or service, how you deal with customers and potential customers, its your expertise, your goodwill, your ability to more than satisfy your clients. It’s the quality of your product, or the quality of your service. Its how you deal with people you have contact with, and how people you don’t have contact with perceive you.

All these things that marketing is, makes it very easy, or very hard, depending on how you look at it. If you accept that marketing is everything, then its easier. If you are constantly trying to determine what part of your activities are marketing, so you can put your marketing hat on, then it gets more difficult.

Just accept that virtually everything you do sends a marketing message.