Advertising and personal selling

Advertising is communication with many consumers of products and services. To communicate with a large group, we put the advertising message through mass media like the press, magazine and T.V. Advertising is thus one form of mass communication. Advertising communication is non-personal. W e communicates with the buyers through the media. There is no face-to-face conversation. Personal selling is personal communication where a salesman talks person to person with a prospect. Advertising aims at a group, i.e., mass while personal selling aims at individuals. Personal selling is not mass communication but individual communications. These days’ products are mass produced for mass consumption. It is not possible to contact each customer individually. Therefore, advertising a mass communication tool is a must for modern marketer. But industrial products and complex pieces of machinery can be sold better by personal selling where the salesman is tin a position to explain the characteristics of the product to the buyer. Salespersons are in a position to tailor their messages according to unique characteristics of the product to the buyer.