Marketing vs. Advertising: A Quiz

At first glance, the differences between marketing and advertising seem pretty insignificant: after all, they’re both about branding your company, getting your name out there, and (ultimately) landing the sale. But it’s there that the similarities end—beyond the basics, marketing and advertising take very different paths.

It’s pretty well established at this point that advertising is annoying. Marketing, and inbound marketing in particular, is becoming the way for businesses to make their name known.

But how do you know which tact you’re taking? Find out in a minute or less with this handy dandy quiz!

5 quick questions

You have a mailing list of 3,000 subscribers of different ages, genders, and interests. When it’s time to send out a mailing, you: 

1. Create two or three slightly varied emails to send to specific segments based on key differences and similarities.
2. Send the same email to all 3,000 subscribers.

Your company blog is a place where prospects and customers can leave comments, positive or negative, and receive timely, helpful feedback.

1. Yes.
2. No.

The bulk of your marketing/advertising budget is spent on:

1. Creating targeted content for your blog and website, and promoting that content through social media and PPC advertising.
2. Filming, producing, and running radio and television commercials.

Which of these best describes your company’s website?

1. A site that is constantly being updated with targeted blog posts, fresh advanced content, and free offers.
2. A “brochure” site that describes all of your products and services.

You use programs like HubSpot or Google Analytics to measure metrics and see which content you create is the most popular and gives you the best return on your investment.

1. Of course!
2. What are metrics?

Your results

Mostly 1s - Congratulations, you’re marketing! You routinely put yourself in your prospects’ shoes, and try your best to provide them whatever they need to succeed. You engage in open dialogue, listen to what your prospects say and then endeavor to make changes for the better.

Mostly 2s - You are firmly entrenched in the land of advertising. But take heart: it’s never too late to begin an inbound marketing strategy. With some time and a lot of elbow grease, you can stop advertising to your customers and start engaging with them.

Now what?

If you’re interested in inbound marketing but don’t know quite where to start, consider downloading Digett’s Marketing Guide to Growth. This whitepaper is a practical guide to setting up your marketing team, establishing an editorial calendar, analyzing your efforts for the best return on your investment, and more.

So are you marketing or advertising? What are some differences between the two that you’ve noticed? Let me know in the comments!

Image: morgueFile