Marketing and Advertising: Understanding the Difference Through a Sailing Metaphor

Let’s get this straight: marketing and advertising are NOT the same thing.

Advertising is just one part of marketing.

To clarify, let’s pretend your goal is to sail a boat.

Marketing is the sailboat itself, which, as you know, has many components.

The main one is the product: the hull and deck, which vary depending on your needs.

If you want to cruise, you’ll need a cruising hull; if you want to race, you’ll need a racing hull.

Let’s say you decide to race and aim to win: you already know how to sail, you have experience, and you know who will be on your crew.

Your product must meet different requirements depending on whether you want to race in a one-design world championship, sail around the globe like the Ocean Race, or compete in your regional winter series.

Or, you decide to cruise, so you’ll focus more on storage space, cabins, and berths based on how many people you’ll have on board.

And here, it’s already clear that different goals require different products.

Next step: the sails.

They represent communication:

  • The mainsail is your press office.
  • The genoa is your social media communication.
  • The spinnaker is your newsletter.
  • The code zero is your promotional material for live events, etc.

If you have a complete set of sails, you’ll obviously have more power. But even if you remove one or two sails, you can still move forward.

Of course, you’ll go slower—sometimes much slower—and with certain sails, you won’t be able to do everything: you can’t sail upwind with a spinnaker.

The engine represents advertising: in certain conditions, it’s essential—like in ports or when you’re becalmed (if you’re cruising).

Can you do without it?

Yes, as long as you have a tender to tow you in and out of harbors (or always anchor outside) and are willing to wait when there’s no wind.

In any case, having extra power when you need it ensures you keep a higher average speed.

And then there’s the crew, representing the professionals you need to manage your marketing: graphic designers, copywriters, strategists, social media managers, press office managers, and so on.

Can you do it all yourself?

Of course, just as there are solo sailors, but in this case, you must have all the skills for each role and work much harder—or accept going without that role.

And if you’re missing, say, a designer at the start of your adventure, it will be difficult to foresee a happy ending to the story.

Obviously, to determine how much it will cost to go cruising or racing, the cost of sails, the engine, and the crew is calculated from the start as part of the initiative: sailing.

So, why do people still think that promotion is an extra cost compared to producing the object or delivering the service they’re selling?

If, at this point, you want help figuring out which boat you need, whether you can do without the engine, or if you’d like to add another sail, send a message to info@lliquida.com—we’ll help you sail happily.

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