At Twelve12 we have the pleasure to work with many aspects of a company and, as a Marketing Agency in Orange County, helping businesses thrive is something that we love. We do sometimes find clients that need more guidance on their best options. In this regard, we want to talk to you about the main difference between a marketing agency and an advertising service.
Marketing is not a synonym for advertising. Whenever you are looking for a marketing company, you should understand very clearly what you expect from them. An advertising agency (they do sometimes advertise as marketing agencies) has very a very specific goal: make your product, service or company known to the world. This is usually achieved by a carefully designed campaign that features a specific message. They operate mainly on massive channels such as social media, T.V., radio, magazines, etc. A marketing agency, however, has a much broader spectrum.
It may sound a little confusing, but it is not! Think about Apple®. You probably have encountered a cool and attractive ad for the latest iPhone; that would be an advertising product. On the other hand, the Apple® image is very distinctive, and if you see their products, stores, online presence or ads, they are usually very clean, minimalistic, user- in appearance and so on. That would be a branding job, which is part of a whole marketing strategy to present the company as a whole and to appeal to a certain type of audience. Marketing and branding do not apply specifically to any single product or service; advertising does. Those features are developed by a Marketing agency or a marketing team.
The objectives are always aligned with the mission, vision and values of the company and everything else is developed accordingly; advertising would have to follow the standards set by marketing to be part of the company.
You are probably wondering why would you care if it is a marketing agency or an advertising company? In the end, you can work with both, as long as you understand that they have different roles and they don’t cover the same aspects. If your company needs an identity, you would be better off with a marketing agency. If you don’t want to make any changes and you believe that your company has a solid image and branding, then you could develop a great individual ad campaign with an advertising agency.
Whether you need a Marketing Agency in Orange County or just an advertising campaign, give us a call today, at Twelve12 we have exactly what your company needs.