Advertising |
Personal Selling |
1. Advertising is an impersonal form of communication. |
Personal selling is a personal form of communication. |
2. Advertising involves transmission of standardised messages, i.e., the same message is sent to all the customers in a market segment. |
In personal selling, the sales talk is adjusted keeping view of customer's background and needs. |
3. Advertising is inflexible as the message can’t be adjusted to the needs of the buyer. |
Personal selling is highly flexible. as the message can be adjusted. |
4. It reaches masses, i.e., a large number of people can be approached. |
Only a limited number of people can be contacted because of time and cost considerations. |
5. In advertising the cost per person reached is very low. |
The cost per person is quite high in the case of personal selling. |
6. Advertising can cover the market in a short time. |
Personal selling efforts take a lot of time to cover the entire market. |
7. Advertising makes use of mass media such television, radio, newspaper, and magazines. |
Personal selling makes use of sales staff, which has limited reach. |
8. Advertising lacks direct feedback. Marketing research efforts are needed to judge customers’ reactions to advertising. |
Personal selling provides direct and immediate feedback. Sales persons come to know about the customers’ reactions immediately. |
9. Advertising is more useful in creating and building interest of the consumers in the firm's products. |
Personal selling plays an important role at the awareness stage of decision making. |
10. Advertising is more useful in marketing to the ultimate consumers who are large in numbers. |
Personal selling is more helpful in selling products to the industrial buyers or to intermediaries such as dealers and retailers who are relatively few in numbers. |