Sales, Marketing, and Advertising

I'm writing this for my own benefit and to think it through.

I'm trying to get some ideas clearer in my head by reducing them to something specific and simple. Obviously, the real world is more complicated and nuanced. I can't reduce whole industries down to a few paragraphs.

Let's start with some definitions:

Sales: Exchanging money for a good or service. Or activities relating to this.

Marketing: Saying 'here is a thing.'

Advertising: Saying 'buy this thing.'

Of course, people rarely buy something before being aware of it. Advertising and/or marketing create awareness that leads to sales.

When advertising creates enough sales to keep going, a business can be successful.
Put money into advertising. Create sales to more than cover the advertising. Make more money. Repeat.

Marketing is intended to eventually lead to someone buying a thing, but it may do so indirectly. By simply showing a thing, it may lead to people wanting to buy it. But it might "just" be increasing awareness so that someone will consider them (the company or a product) favourably (or at all) when looking to make a purchase in future.

Marketing may also be able to produce something that can "spread" / be shared / "go viral", so that it reaches more people than paying for direct advertising.

A "thing" can also be a concept. People still need to "buy" into an idea!

The marketing of ideas can be a powerful thing.

The boundary between advertising and marketing can be blurry. At least one is needed. A thing won't sell (or spread) if people don't hear about it.

Sorry, no conclusions or summaries here, just a desire to learn and grow.