Advertising can be traced all the way back to ancient civilizations when Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters. Marketing vs advertising: Today advertising conjures up images of TV shows like Mad Men, and Super Bowl ads, while some think of marketing simply as an umbrella under which advertising exist.

So what’s the difference between marketing and advertising.

Here’s what I think is the big difference between marketing and advertising.  Advertising is something you do to people, while marketing is something you do for people.

Silly rabbit Trix are for kids! Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun (of course this is what’s on a Big Mac) are just two fun ads etched into the memories of most Americans more than 30 years ago.

Decades ago if you wanted to get the word out about your product, company, or brand you ran an ad. Ads were cheap, fun, and effective. And, the folks making the ads (the marketers) made a lot of money running ads for clients and so Marketers decided that they were Advertisers. So for a long time marketing was synonymous with advertising.

But advertising doesn’t work so well anymore. With the average person seeing 70,000 ads per week people are actively working to shut ads out. So now advertisers are learning to become marketers.

A few ideas on what it means to be a marketer today

• Being a marketer means that you’re generously helping others accomplish their goals (which may have noting to do with running ads).
• Marketing is about finding your voice (4 personal brands), your company voice (4 corporate brands).
• Marketing is finding the others (people like us do things like this).
• As a modern marketer you’re still working to be seen and heard but not always by millions…just your target market will do.
• As a modern marketer you’re looking to lead a tribe, spread an idea, and do work that matters for people who care.

Happy marketing!