here’s a difference between marketing and advertising, but it takes one to get to the other.

To survive in business, the goal is to turn consumers into buyers. It’s a fairly basic concept, but it’s a bit of a walk to go from producing goods and services to getting paid for them. Marketing and advertising lies somewhere in the middle of that marriage.

Advertising is used to encourage people to buy products or services and build brand identity. Good ads are created as part of a strong marketing campaign. You often hear—or have said yourself—“I hate advertising.” But people don’t really hate advertising: they hate boring advertising, they hate predictable advertising. As Wizard of Ads author Roy Williams says, “They hate the time-wasting, life-sucking sound of too many words wrapped around too small an idea.”

Marketing and market research is a link of ideas and can include events, social media, e-newsletters, and advertising, including print. All of these platforms aim to communicate the same message but present that message in different ways. A typical marketing approach, strategy, or plan uses a mix of these components, including advertising.

So, what’s the take away? Use the variety of marketing tools available to you, and if your marketing strategy includes advertising, make it memorable. Try and tell a story. Everyone likes a good story.