What´s The Difference Between Advertising, Promotion, Publicity and Public Relations.

[Frank Tocco]

Seems like people confuse the terms advertising, promotion, publicity and public relations and refer to these words like it´s all the same thing. This is something I keep on my desk to help me remember the difference and stay focused on each task when running my business.

“If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying "Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday," that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales.”


Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[Ron Douglas]

What is Marketing? All those things?

[Michael Mayo]

Originally Posted by Ron Douglas

What is Marketing? All those things?

You beat me to it Ron!

Michael

[Dave777]

There just happens to be an interesting blog post on the exact phrase along with an Assortment of other Goodies and interesting reads! What it Says-What it Means...
What it Says-What it Means: The Circus is coming to town for 2009
http://whatitsayswhatitmeans.blogspot.com/

Dave

[Colin Theriot]

Originally Posted by Ron Douglas

What is Marketing? All those things?

Yes, but it would include a whole lot more, too.

Marketing would also include the criteria for selecting which town you send the circus train to. Lots of times carnivals would have advance scouts to "case" a town well ahead of when the trains would arrive.

If the town's been in a drought for a year, no one's got the money for a circus ticket. However, you could probably pick up cheap labor to ride through to the next town that might have some money to spend.

And marketing would also apply to coming back periodically to the towns where you make the most, and picking pricing for the tickets and choosing days for shows. All of that, too.

Plus making more "products", games of skill, games of chance, sideshows, concessions.

I guess what I'm saying is that "Marketing" is everything you do to identify and a discrete audience and connect them with a particular product. That's before the sale, during the sale, after the sale, and hopefully before/during/after many more subsequent sales, too.

Good story/metaphor in the OP though. I love little shorthand fables like that that you can use to express this kind of thing to clients.

Another favorite of mine is explaining my high rates by using the story of the boilermaker who knew just where to bang his hammer. I'm swiping this one, too.

[JMB Marketing Group]

Originally Posted by Frank Tocco

Seems like people confuse the terms advertising, promotion, publicity and public relations and refer to these words like it´s all the same thing. This is something I keep on my desk to help me remember the difference and stay focused on each task when running my business.

“If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying "Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday," that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales.”


Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

You missed another synonym / point:

MARKETING!

All of the above are all-encompassing! Which means they are all intertwined. Which also means you can't have one without the other! Which also means they all mean the same thing!

Hope this was as clear as mud

JMB