Though it\u2019s often targeted by demographic, it is by its very nature non-personal. You\u2019re not speaking to your audience, you\u2019re talking at them. Still, an effectively-targeted or well-designed advertisement can generate a great deal of positive publicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just look at the campaign Old Spice ran back in 2010 \u201cThe Man Your Man Could Smell Like<\/a>.\u201d Featuring a series of hilarious TV spots starring Isaiah Mustafa (and later a face-off between Mustafa and another former spokesman, Fabio), it generated an incredible amount of awareness and goodwill for the brand. Even today, it\u2019s arguably a perfect example of how to do advertising right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because it\u2019s very easy to do it wrong. There\u2019s no shortage of horrible, intrusive, creepy, or just downright off-putting ads out there. It\u2019s given advertising – especially online advertising – an extremely negative reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s not getting better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cConsumers don\u2019t hate ads,\u201d explains Video Design\u2019s Lauren Nettles, \u201cThey hate bad <\/em>ads…People feel overwhelmed, interrupted, and stalked by bad digital ads, but they don’t really mind the good ones.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll talk a bit about how you can be better at advertising later on in the article. For now, however, let\u2019s touch on the marketing angle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s where it gets confusing. See, the main reason so many people confuse marketing and advertising is that advertising is actually part of marketing. In other words, all advertising is marketing, but not all marketing is advertising. Put another way, marketing is the engine that drives all advertising. It\u2019s the strategic, systematic planning process that serves as a foundation for all of a brand\u2019s customer outreach efforts. It encompasses the following components. In other words, marketing isn\u2019t really any individual process or pursuit. Rather, it\u2019s the sum of its parts, a conglomerate of how a brand interacts with both its audience and its competition. When measured against advertising, marketing is geared more towards long-term, strategic planning than immediate returns. An ad campaign might be established with the goal of promoting the sale of a specific product or service. That campaign might be part of a larger marketing push to change the public\u2019s perception of the brand. The two ultimately serve the same goal, yet the former is more immediate than the latter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Right. Now that we\u2019ve gone over the difference between marketing and advertising, let\u2019s talk a bit about how you can do both of them better. How exactly do you ensure your tactics don\u2019t contribute to advertising\u2019s public image problem? How do you ensure your marketing draws in prospective customers rather than alienating and frustrating them? In broad strokes, by being respectful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understand what separates a bad advertisement from a good one. Understand how modern consumers want to be treated, and what sort of behavior turns them away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s talk about pop up ads – namely, why they should be left to die in the 90s, which is the last time they were relevant. Sure, there\u2019s a chance someone might see a popup and find it interesting. But there\u2019s a far greater chance <\/strong>they\u2019ll close out of the site they\u2019re on in frustration. Popup ads simply aren\u2019t worth it for the amount of frustration they\u2019ll create in your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By that same vein, obnoxious or resource-heavy ads are also incredibly bad form. As a general rule, if an ad would interrupt a user\u2019s browsing experience, don\u2019t use it. If someone\u2019s interested in your products, you don\u2019t need to be irritating or overbearing to sell them on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It doesn\u2019t matter who your demographic is – today\u2019s consumers appreciate honesty and integrity above all else. If a brand displays neither, they\u2019ll remember, and make a point of choosing the competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This applies to your ads as much as it does your marketing tactics. When interacting with your audience on social, treat them like people rather than leads. Generate a personality for your brand that aligns with your business\u2019s core values, and endeavor not to deviate from that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be active. Be passionate. Show your audience that there are real, passionate people behind your business rather than faceless marketing mooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your customers will remember that behavior, and respond in kind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine, if you would, you\u2019re sitting in the library reading a particularly enthralling book. Then some obnoxious idiot walks up and starts screaming in your ear. Frustrating, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what it feels like to have a video start playing when you navigate to a page. Auto-playing video, whether it\u2019s an ad or on-site content, is one of the most terrible design choices on the modern web. If you knowingly use it, your website is bad and you should feel bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Commercials are an important part of cable television. I\u2019d even go so far as to say they\u2019re necessary. Not only can they provide as much entertainment as the show itself, their existence has for the longest time allowed people to take a breather from what they\u2019re watching – to get a drink of water, to go to the bathroom, or just to stretch their legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, it seemed like a lot of brands looked at digital media like YouTube and concluded that it\u2019s basically the same as television. That\u2019s the only logic I can conceive of that would make anyone <\/strong>think unskippable video ads are a good idea. Because they aren\u2019t. You\u2019re forcing someone to sit through an ad before they can see the content they\u2019re actually trying to view. You\u2019re wasting their time <\/strong>and frustrating them. <\/strong>No matter how good your ad is, they\u2019re going to associate that frustration with your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there\u2019s one piece of advice you take away from all this, it should be to treat your audience with respect. This holds true in both marketing and advertising. Never <\/strong>assume you have to dumb things down for your audience. The idea that you should cater to the lowest common denominator is both harmful and insulting to your audience. In most cases, your customers are much more intelligent than you give them credit for. Treat them as such. If your market research shows people don’t understand your ads, that’s a problem. It might be with your buyer personas, not your audience. A good guideline is to think about how you would want to be treated. Would a particular behavior or attitude frustrate you if you as a customer? If so, you should stop doing that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Privacy is at the forefront of everyone\u2019s minds these days. And why shouldn\u2019t it be? We\u2019re living in an era where data breaches and privacy scandals happen with the same frequency as the sunrise. An age where the \u2018big five\u2019 tech companies know literally everything about us.<\/a> Not surprisingly, consumers these days are hyper-sensitive to tactics that leverage their personal information. They don\u2019t like feeling as though your business is stalking them. When it comes to targeting them based on behavior or demographic data, you need to be extremely <\/strong>cautious<\/a>. If you\u2019d not do it in person, don\u2019t do it online. Pretty simple, right? \u201cLet’s say a customer is browsing in your store and you see her pick up a pair of sunglasses,\u201d she writes. \u201cYou might walk over to tell her that they’re on sale, or that you have another color in the back, or to share a cool story about the brand\u2014each of those interactions add something for her, and she might even welcome them. But if you follow her around the store going \u2018did you forget those sunglasses? Are you sure you don\u2019t want those sunglasses? What about now?\u2019 You\u2019re going to lose a customer.\u201d Another good rule of thumb is that the more relevant you can make a personalized or targeted ad, the better. To that end, research is your best friend here. It might seem strange, but the more you know your audience, the better. You’ll be able to adjust their brand experience more effectively. And you won’t seem like a creepy stalker.![\"Advertising](\"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Advertising-vs-Marketing.webp\")
What Is Marketing? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nBeing Better: Acing The Intersect Between Marketing And Advertising<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nAvoid using intrusive ad techniques<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nBe authentic and engaged<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Stay away from auto-play<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t treat customers as a captive audience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nBe respectful<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t be creepy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nLauren Nettles has some good advice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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