Traditional advertising pretty much had its way with the 20th century.
Big campaigns with big budgets from big companies influenced the things we did, said, and thought. And it’s safe to say that influence continues into the 21st century.
But content marketing is starting to make some noise of its own. In fact, interest in content marketing has risen rapidly in the last five years.
What are the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of both? When should you use advertising, and when should you use content marketing?
And which method is better?
We’ll answer those questions and more in this article.
What is advertising?
Advertising is a direct form of marketing communication where companies, political parties, religious institutions, government agencies, and interest groups build awareness of their products, services, events, and ideas.
To accomplish this task, advertisers run campaigns with a limited, but focused, use of media that may include:
Billboards
Banner ads
Radio spots
Television commercials
Print magazine ads
Pay-per-click ads
Infomercials
Pop-ups
Skywriting
Product placements
Email
The job of advertising media is to convince people that a product, service, or idea will solve their problems or satisfy their wants.
Here are four ways you could look at advertising:
A company runs a six-month advertising campaign announcing the launch of a new product through a series of television commercials, banner ads, and staged product demonstrations in select cities.
A political party launches a tour of lectures, public service announcements, and emails to inform voters about where their candidate stands on the issues.
A city government purchases newspaper ads and mails out flyers to announce a new recycling program.
A