
Marketing and public relations are often thought of as the same thing by the public, but in reality they are both very distinctive, although both may use similar methods. Bearing in mind another misconception; that Marketing equals advertising. Sure, advertising is what the public mostly associates it with and it is a very important tool for the marketing mix but marketing activities start well before an advertising campaign. It starts from finding more information about the potential consumer (through market research) and finding ways to approach the potentials through a message and finally supports the sale of the product. As a result, Marketing principles focus clearly on the market and the consumer.