Marketing vs. Advertising: Job Roles, Differences, and Salaries

Companies use marketing and advertising tactics to promote their products and services. Marketing focuses on meeting customers’ needs, while advertising uses specific tools and strategies to encourage potential consumers to purchase products from the brand.

Learn more about marketing and advertising, their differences, and the careers and salaries you may find in both industries.

Read more: Marketing Strategy: What It Is and How to Create One

What is marketing?

Marketing is a task performed by a company that focuses on the needs of a potential consumer. When you work in marketing, you’re looking to predict and then fulfill your customers' needs. 

Furthermore, marketing is the process of making consumers aware of your product and business. You can implement a marketing strategy when a new product or service is made available to the public to encourage potential consumers to buy or use it. The more people see a product or brand, the more they may feel encouraged to purchase or interact with it.

Read more: Marketing: What Is It and Why Do Companies Need It?

Who uses marketing?

For-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals all use marketing practices. Each company may use different marketing tactics to accomplish its goals, including selling a product, increasing brand awareness, and spreading a mission. 

Marketing has seven principles to keep in mind: products, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, people, and process. These seven principles are important when it comes to marketing a product or service and increasing sales for a business or organization. To ensure success, companies, organizations, or individuals can incorporate each principle in a marketing strategy or campaign. 

Marketing skills

To have a successful career in marketing, you can master the following skills:

• Social media: With social media on the rise, you must have knowledge and expertise in social media and content creation. Knowing how to use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn may help you connect with audiences and build your organization’s brand.

• Communication: As a marketer, you work directly with the client and the consumer. Strong communication skills can help you build relationships with both parties and effectively convey the messaging and mission of the business you work for.

• Project management: In a marketing department, you may have to juggle multiple projects, platforms, and campaigns at once. Knowing how to meet deadlines and keep your projects on track is beneficial. 

• Data analysis: To create a successful marketing campaign, you must be able to analyze previous marketing data. Marketing data can show consumer trends and social media performance charts, giving you a better idea of how to market a brand to your intended audience.

Read more: 14 Key Marketing Skills to Boost Your Resume

What is advertising?

Advertising is a business practice that focuses on selling a product or service. Whereas marketing is more consumer-focused, advertising is geared toward sales and growing a business or organization. In comparison to marketing, advertising has more control over a company's messaging since it can intentionally create and place ads to reach a certain audience. 

Advertising can take many forms, including but not limited to social media ads, print ads, television commercials, radio broadcasts, billboards, and handouts.

Who uses advertising?

Businesses use advertising to entice consumers to purchase their products. If marketing is about bringing awareness to a brand through meeting needs, advertising is what happens when you encourage people to purchase a product from the brand through catchy slogans, taglines, or an ad they can remember.

Advertising skills

To have a successful career in advertising, you can master the following skills:

• Creativity: Advertising is all about coming up with new, innovative ideas. Creativity is a big part of creating new ads that are unique and get the customer’s attention. To stand out from other candidates, you need to have ideas that show you are creative and willing to adapt to changes and new requests made by clients.

• Time management: In advertising, you may work for several different clients simultaneously. To best serve their needs, you must manage your time effectively to meet deadlines.

• Copywriting: Advertising requires writing copy for brands to get the attention of potential consumers. Being skilled in writing different forms of copy, such as scripts, emails, blogs, and billboards, can boost your resume. When applying for a copywriting advertising position, it’s beneficial to include a portfolio with writing samples to show that you have experience and are able to adapt to different writing tasks.

• Collaboration: When working for an advertising agency, you may have to work with your teammates to create copy or strategy for ad campaigns. You also have to work with clients to rework previous ideas and adapt to changes they want you to make, which requires the ability to receive feedback and apply it to your work.

Difference in marketing vs. advertising careers and salaries

A career in marketing can take many different paths, depending on your strengths and areas of interest. If you’re interested in sales, you may work behind the scenes for an agency or company. If you’re more creative, you might work in public relations or run social media for a business or brand.

If you want to pursue a career in advertising, you have many options for your career path. An advertising career may focus on the creativity behind advertising, such as creating advertisements, commercials, and campaigns for a company, or you may work as an account manager or web developing role.

Take a closer look at some common job positions and salaries for both marketing and advertising careers. 

Marketing jobs and salaries

Below is a breakdown of five common marketing positions, including their salaries, job outlook, and job descriptions.

1. Sales manager

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $88,304 [1]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 4 percent [2]

Sales managers work to drive and organize sales for a company. As a sales manager, your responsibilities may include analyzing data, training employees, and developing business plans. 

Read more: Sales Manager Career Guide: Duties, Pay + How to Become One

2. Social media marketer

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $54,905 [3]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 4 percent [4]

Social media marketers use social media to raise awareness of a company and its products and services. As a social media marketer, you must know how to manage and use various social media channels and analyze data after conducting a marketing strategy.

3. Public relations specialist

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $62,117 [5]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 6 percent [6]

Public relations specialists are responsible for creating a public persona for a business, company, or organization. As a public relations specialist, you release statements on behalf of the company and create the business's identity that responds to questions and concerns from the public.

4. Marketing coordinator

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $53,560 [7]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 6 percent [8]

As a marketing coordinator, you aim to solve customers’ problems and implement marketing strategies based on sales and previous marketing data. Your responsibilities may include growing brand awareness, reaching out to potential customers through advertisements, and executing social media or digital outreach strategies.

Read more: What Does a Marketing Coordinator Do? Your Guide

5. Brand ambassador

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $56,896  [9]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 7.1 percent [10]

Brand ambassadors promote a business's products or services, typically through social media content creation. As a brand ambassador, you may be responsible for attending events and gatherings to raise awareness for a company’s brand and posting directly to your social media channels about a company’s services.

Advertising jobs and salaries

Learn more about five common advertising positions, including their salaries, job outlook, and job descriptions.

1. Copywriter

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $64,803 [11]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 4 percent [12]

Copywriters work for companies and advertising agencies to write language that sells a product or service. As a copywriter, you may write ads, emails, social media captions, and blogs for a company or brand. 

2. Creative director

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $108,781  [13]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 6 percent [14]

Creative directors work with art directors to design media that can advertise a product to potential consumers. As a creative director, you use your knowledge of the industry to decide how to advertise specific products and services in a way that can encourage consumers to purchase them.

3. Event planner

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $58,993  [15]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 8 percent [16]

Event planners focus on coordinating events and ensuring things run smoothly. As an event planner, you work with the client to help achieve their goals, whether that be to raise awareness for a product, service, or foundation or throw a party or fundraiser in honor of a person or organization.

4. Web developer

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $83,666 [17]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 16 percent [18]

Web developers create websites for a company and make revisions and improvements to them as time goes on. As a web developer, you may be responsible for updating a website to include new products, advertisements, and other content that the client or business asks for.

5. Account manager

Average annual US salary (Glassdoor): $73,208  [19]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 6 percent [8]

Account managers work directly with clients to learn how they want to advertise a product or service. As an account manager, you can then work with the creative department of an advertising agency to meet these deliverables and report them back to the client.

*All salary data is sourced from Glassdoor as of October 2024.

Marketing vs. advertising degrees

If you’re interested in starting a career in the marketing field, you might want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a creative field. If you want to start your career in advertising, consider pursuing a bachelor’s degree in either advertising, marketing communications, or a related field. After you complete your education, an internship can be advantageous for starting in the field and gaining experience before applying for marketing jobs.

One of the main differences between a degree in marketing and a degree in advertising is the type of bachelor’s degree. A marketing degree is typically a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, while an advertising degree is a Bachelor of Arts. However, both degrees can be useful for a career in advertising or marketing because of the overlap in subject matter.

Getting started with Coursera 

Roles in marketing and advertising have similar responsibilities and skills but ultimately accomplish separate goals. When choosing a career path, determine if you want to focus on consumer marketing or advertising the sale of products for a company or organization.

On Coursera, you can find many courses to help you start your career in marketing or advertising. If you’re looking to start a career in advertising, consider the Advertising and Society course offered by Duke University. You can also learn more about the world of marketing with Google’s Digital Marketing and E-commerce Professional Certificate on Coursera.