Most people mistake marketing for advertising.
“We need some marketing” they say, and envision newspaper advertisements, commercials on TV and large billboards displaying their product or service.
When in fact you can have a lot of marketing for your business without having any of those things.
Marketing is a process that happens. Advertising is a thing that is.
Similarly, most people mistake design for art or graphics or the look of a thing.
“We need a good design” they say, envisioning custom logos, a fancy paint job, or a pretty user interface.
When in fact design is really about how a thing works, and how the user interacts with that thing, than really about how the thing looks to begin with.
Design is an interface to the user experience.
Good design is a process intimately tied to the creation of the product, not something you just slap on a finished product to make it look prettier.