Marketing vs. Advertising vs. Public Relations: An Analogy

by | May 12, 2009

Tara Joyce

Written by Tara Joyce

This is space to share my musings—unformed ideas, collections of words that catch my fancy, that sort of thing. I'm the author of Pay What It's Worth and the Cross My Heart series.

Do you have trouble understanding what the heck the difference is between Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations? I know I certainly do. Here’s a quick analogy to help you differentiate:

If a young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person — that’s marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is — that’s advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is — that’s public relations.

Also, here’s some fun, dating-related graphics that’ll also help you differentiate.

You may also like…

Exploring Our Money Shadow

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book from Integral Publishers, Pay What It's Worth: You Don't Need to Set a Price...

The Power of Relationships

Every relationship you develop, from the most casual to the most intimate, serves to help you become more conscious....

What Icarus Can Teach Us

Do you know the Greek myth of Icarus? Icarus is the son of Daedalus who dared to fly too near the sun on wings of...