If you’re new to marketing or aren’t sure what a marketing specialist is, then read on!

Have a look at the job description for a marketing specialist and you’ll find a mix of skills including marketing, communications, and advertising. Sounds pretty similar, right?

Well, not quite. As you’ll discover, there’s a big difference between marketing and communication specialist. And instead of using the acronym CMS to describe the job, let’s use the appropriate title — marketing and communications strategist.

Here, we’ll explore the differences between marketing and communication, and how a strategist can help you navigate this increasingly interconnected world of marketing.

What Is the Difference Between Marketing And Communication?

Before we begin, it’s important to note that marketing and communication are not competitors – they’re actually quite complementary. In other words, a successful marketing strategy often requires strong communication skills and vice versa.

So if you’re wondering whether you need to prioritize your marketing or communications activities, the answer is both! You need to engage with customers to grow your business, but you also need to make sure that those customers understand your offer and can easily spread the word about your business.

It’s important to understand the difference between marketing and communication, because many marketers feel that they’re interchangeable. They may use the term ‘marketing’ to describe everything that they do, without necessarily having a strategic approach to the process. This can lead to confusion and inefficiency, as you’ll soon discover.

First, it’s important to note that marketing and communication are different processes. Marketing is the activity of creating awareness about a company or product. For example, if you’re a car manufacturer and you want to sell more luxury vehicles, you might choose to market to wealthy individuals in other countries. In this case, your marketing would be focused on raising awareness of your brand in Europe and other regions of the world.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have communication. Communication is the process of exchanging information and ideas with other people. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re selling a product or service, but it does mean that you’re engaging with customers and potential customers through various platforms.

A good example of marketing and communication working together would be an online marketplace. Your marketing might be focused on attracting new customers, while your communication is focused on making sure that existing customers can easily find and use your products.

The Importance Of Strategy

One of the main differences between marketing and communications is the level of planning that goes into each process. Marketing is often considered to be a ‘hunch’ or ‘gut feeling’ type of activity. While you may have an idea of what you want to market and how you want to approach customers, much of the strategy is done ‘on the fly.’

Of course, this can be effective in some situations, but it can also lead to problems. If you have a clear picture in your head of what you’re trying to communicate and how you want to go about it, you can choose the right medium and use the right words to get your point across. You’ll find that a lot of planning goes into a strong marketing campaign, especially if you want to target specific groups of consumers – such as Millennials or Generation Z.

The opposite is true for communication. You may use words and pictures to describe a product or service, but you’ll rarely find strong communication without a clear idea of the purpose of the conversation. If you’re not careful, your lack of strategy can result in your message being misinterpreted or simply ignored. For example, if you’re trying to sell luxury vehicles, but your marketing materials feature models of conventional cars, you might end up making the mistake of assuming that your audience shares your excitement about luxurious cars. This could result in you losing potential customers due to misdirected marketing messaging.

What Is a Marketers Toolkit?

If you find that you need to regularly pull together a collection of marketing tools to keep your business going, then you might be wondering what type of kit you should invest in. It used to be that you’d find several tools that would fit into one toolkit. These days, a marketer’s toolkit is much more than just a collection of software – it’s a bundle of skills and tactics that help you to generate more business.

You might be wondering what type of software you need to invest in. Although software is always useful, you can get by just fine with the free version of Google Analytics.

If you need something a little more sophisticated, look at Bitrix24, Miva, or HubSpot.

In the past, marketing software was expensive and difficult to set up. You might need to invest in a developer to set it up for you, or you’d have to learn how to use several platforms independently. These days, all of this is done for you by the software providers.

As for the hardware for your desk, you don’t necessarily need a fancy computer or smartphone to do your marketing. Although these days, we all depend on our technology more than ever, you still have options when it comes to low-cost hardware, such as an old laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone.

Marketing and communications are both important processes that can help you to grow your business. However, it’s important to have a clear idea of the difference between marketing and communication, as well as the value that each process brings to the table. If you prioritize marketing over communications, you may end up losing out on potential customers due to poor strategy and bad luck. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you don’t pay close attention to communications, you could be doing yourself a great disservice by not effectively marketing your business.