Marketing vs. Communications [infographic]

While related and frequently overlapping, these two specialties require complementary strengths and skills.

Carrie Osgood
2 min readSep 19, 2018

Businesses frequently combine Marketing and Communications into the same position (aka “MarComm”). As a result, many people falsely assume that Communications and Marketing are interchangeable words meaning the same thing. They don’t.

Sure, they both fall under the umbrella of Outreach and Engagement, requiring strong written and collaborative interpersonal skills. They also share the common goal to inspire target markets to take action. However, these two critical roles in business can veer off in alternate directions, requiring different outlooks, priorities, strengths, skill sets and vocabularies. Clearly not one in the same, both are required for success.

So if you are looking for someone to create anything visual for you, that falls under Communications (specifically Communication Design). If you need help getting people to commit to your programs and events, then a Marketing specialist is for you. Marketers don’t build custom websites and Communicators don’t build lists. However, if your goal is to grab your audience’s attention and impactfully engage with potential clients, customers and referrals, that’s when you need to make sure that your services incorporate both Marketing AND Communications, either as a MarComm specialist steering your ship, or as a team of strategists, creators and publicists who can help you achieve your goals.

Learn more: CLO-Communications.com + CarrieOsgood on LinkedIn

Copyright © Carrie Osgood | CLO Communications. All rights reserved.

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Carrie Osgood

creating connections that educate & inspire | consults via https://clo-communications.com | visual + verbal storyteller | pulitzer-nominated journalist