Difference between advertising and sales

Difference between Advertising and Sales

Advertisements are everywhere. The Tc breaks in between your favourite shows, the continuous Swiggy notifications, all of these examples count as advertisements. Advertising is a huge part of marketing. If you miss out on advertising you miss out on a lot. Advertising is the best short-term method of getting your product known to potential customers. Sales, in comparison, are completely at variance. Sales heads in when the customer is ready to buy the product or service. It is what helps you close the deal. Sales are what your hire sales professionals for. It is also a subset of marketing. If you’re still a little confused, worry not as we are here to help. Today, we’ll be looking at the differences between Advertising and Sales.  

What is advertising? 

Advertising is the process of employing an openly sponsored, non-personal message to promote or sell a product, service, or idea. In other words, advertising is how you get your message out there in the world for people to see or engage with. 

Advertising is just a paid placement of an advert in front of an audience. While most of us have a pretty good idea of what advertisements are: a 30 min window, a catchy jingle, and a memorable slogan. But, there is so much more to advertising.  

Do you know that every individual is exposed to an average of 4p advertisements in a day? Exhausting, right? Advertising has been prevailing in the world since time immemorial. As the world is evolving, advertisements are evolving with it. The first example of advertisements comes from Egypt, where papyrus was created by a slaveholder searching for an escaped slave. Then later print came along and advertisements were the prominent means of selling anything. And what we see today is surely entirely different from any of those things.  

Advertisements may have changed but the need for advertisements hasn’t gone away yet. Advertising is all about creating a message that persuades a customer into buying something. A good advertisement is influential and memorable. It may be a sign on the road or a poster inside a restaurant, advertisements are usually everywhere. It cuts through all the information clutter and grasps the customers’ attention forcing them to take an action.  

Well, this might arise the question if advertising is what sells the products, does that make it the same as sales? The answer is no. 

What are the differences between Advertising and Sales? 

Many companies who do not comprehend the marketing mix completely often compile both advertising and sales as the same department. This makes it even harder to connect to the different meanings and processes behind both terms. 

Advertising and Sales are not the same. 

Sales come in when the customers are sure that they want to buy a product or service from you. While advertising is everything that leads them to that position. Advertising begins way before sales. Sales take over when the prospect is ready to become a customer.  

So, you have a business and you have a product to sell. You have researched the market to shape it according to the need and wants of the customers. Then, you decide to sell it. That’s when advertising comes in. You need to promote that product first to get the audience to know that it exists. Advertising helps you do that. One person likes your product and decides to take an action towards buying it. Now, at the point when they are ready to become a customer, a sales professional usually takes over and closes the deal. That is how sales fit in the whole process of selling a product. 

Advertising is merely a promotional facet. Sales control how your customer will ultimately remember you.

Major differences between advertising and sales: 

1. Advertisements are done through public promotion so they cater to a large group audience. On the contrary, sales are mostly one on one communications.  
2. Advertisements are meant to pull the audiences’ attention toward your product while sales are meant for pushing the customer into buying your product. 
3. The advertising process starts way before the product is placed on the market and hence, is a long-term process. While sales are a short process of closing the deal.  
4. While advertising relies on sales to close the deal, sales rely on advertising to generate leads. 
5. Advertisements are just used to promote products. Sales are used to sell products. 
6. Advertisements contain promotions to resonate with the target audience. Sales contain promotions to close the deal. 
7. While advertisements build brand reputation, sales build customer relationships.  

Conclusion 

Advertising and sales may look alike but they are not the same. The present market landscape is all about on-demand products and services, and, it is still evolving. The social media aspect has also changed things drastically. Now market experience doesn’t matter as much. Hence, all the small businesses. It also depends on what industry you’re trying to influence. Certain industries rely on advertisements alone. If you just want to sell a product, run a favourable ad campaign. If you want to build a brand image, tell a story, market your product accurately. 

With the post-pandemic effects, you can depend on the market constantly unfolding for a few years at least. When everyone is converting to digital, it is only clever to adapt to the changes early on. Today customers decide for themselves when to buy a product. A sales pitch rarely influences anyone these days. But certainly, the importance of methodically marketing your product doesn’t change. Through SEO, SEM, Social Media Marketing, and Email marketing one can use advertisements to their favour. 

Taking advantage of social media could be your best strategy, but with caution. You need the right mix of sales + advertising to get real results. Keeping in touch with your customers’ needs and wants minimizes your failures. Appropriately communicating your ideas generates sales. The key is to recognize the difference between sales and advertising and maintain a healthy relationship within.  

Tos India is the best advertising company in India. We make the finest advertising strategy for your business and make the perfect sales strategy plan. Give us a call for making your business marketing strategy.