The world of business is so huge that terms and concepts often get overlapped. And with time such technicalities are not bothered much about as the going gets smooth.

Thinking in the larger context, as businesses are we doing right to the customers who bestow their trust on us? Certainly not.

There is a whole gamut of unsaid trust and loyalty factor that works "for" or "against" a business. Jeopardizing it by conveying wrong information, even if by omission, is not a morally acceptable thing.

Being technically correct is as important as delivering the finished product or rendering a wholesome service, satisfactorily. It is but obvious that in the customer-seller relationship, the latter is considered to be more knowledgeable about what they are selling. To hand out the right statistics and product details is the byword of building a market presence then.

Coming onto the prime catch words in the eCommerce niche - "marketing" and "advertising", people often take the two to be synonymous. Well they are not!

To go by the book, Advertising is "the paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its existing and potential customers." Marketing on the other hand, is the planning and implementation of the business activities through a combination of strategies.

In a nutshell, it is clear that the two terms are inter-related but certainly not the same. While Marketing is the big umbrella that inter-meshes various promotional and service strategies, Advertising is a small component of the larger marketing process. It includes creating ads, publishing and placing them on various online and offline platforms, directing mails to target audience, using electronic media like TV, radio, social media sites etc.

Advertising, in this sense, is nothing but helping your product reach out to the customers who might be looking for it. Added to this, marketing techniques help this promotional activity look attractive in a market with multiple suppliers of the same product. It involves everything from naming a product, to research, to organizing its delivery to the customer's doorstep.

To further simplify the two concepts, we can assume that Marketing is a big pie with delicious slices that have an essence of their own. Advertising is only a single slice of the baked pie. And all the slices combined together is what will ultimately make a refreshing eatery. Likewise in a business operation, all components are necessary to function effectively.

With the development of the Internet, eCommerce is being metamorphosed rapidly. Change is the only constant and businesses have to keep up to this pace.

1. The first thumb rule is never take advertising as a added expense to your larger business goals. Advertising is what will help your product come out of the covers with a bang. It is essential to build a consumer base first and then converting it to actual clients.

2. Come up with a cost-effective marketing budget. Just because you have cash on disposal, you cannot opt to squander it wastefully. Do your marketing research, capture the essence of the consumer needs and know your competitive arena well. This would help in estimating the product/service acceptance across various demographics. If you are one of those who has just begun with no idea of how to go about, its best to concentrate on short term budget plan say 45 or 90 days. Achieving this goal will get you set for the higher road next.

3. Developing a healthy customer interaction is the key to further expansion. You may have good plans but are they compatible with consumer demands is a million dollar open-ended question. The ready answer, especially for SMBs is to equip themselves with a organized marketing plan for increasing the operability in market.

4. How one chooses to market themselves is a art unto itself. Having a right mix of the old ways and new tactics is essential. SMBs usually try to emulate the existing ways rather than taking calculative risks. Doing this will only make your business "one among the many". Even if ideas fail at the outset, SMBs need to persevere their goals with renewed self-motivation.

We hope that we were able to put across our points and demarcate the subtle line that divides the two concepts. Do let us know your thoughts on the topic in the section below.

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