What is the Difference Between Marketing and Marketing Management?

What Is the Difference Between Marketing and Marketing Management?

With all of the different marketing terms within the area of marketing, they can all start to sound quite similar. Marketing vs marketing management are examples of terms that can seem similar and interchangeable. Though similar sounding, there is a difference between marketing and marketing management. However, each marketing department will need both to function well. 

So what is the difference between marketing and marketing management? Marketing is the collection of activities that reach customers with information about your product. Marketing management is the business practice of overseeing marketing functions. Marketing refers to the public-facing activities, whereas marketing management refers to internal activities that keep the marketing activities maximized and moving forward.  

It might help to consider a few examples of each term. Marketing includes activities like the following: 

• Sending email newsletters to prospective clients
• Posting on social media with a discount code for future purchases
• Hosting a webinar on a topic that interests your clients
• Designing pamphlets to hand out at an event
• Conducting market research to determine the ideal target audience

On the other hand, marketing management includes activities like these:  

• Managing annual budgets and staff resources
• Setting goals and objectives for the marketing department
• Creating the marketing plan for the year
• Monitoring marketing analytics to determine whether to make adjustments to the marketing plan
• Ensuring marketing activities remain within their set scope and remit and realigning them where necessary
• Coordinating teams where overlap for marketing activities is present

Marketing management usually has a role in every marketing activity in some way, but marketing managers probably won’t be tasked with carrying out the day-to-day marketing activities. Instead, they will help oversee the bigger picture of how the marketing department functions and how well the marketing team is delivering on their goals and objectives.