The terms of marketing, advertising and propaganda can be both very wide and generic, yet simple and quite clear. There are many different aspects which play into each term. For instance, the term marketing can be used to help define both propaganda and advertising, because it is in my opinion that they are parts of the marketing process. I will break down the overall definition of the three words separately to build a more accurate picture.
Marketing- Marketing is in my opinion the word with the broadest, most encompassing definition of corporations strategy to target customers with their product portfolios. Marketing departments do vast amounts of research in order to determine the target markets for its products. Research and development firms are a part of the marketing process in that the division needs to bring to the "market" a solution which answers the customers needs. For instance, if your designing a new toy, it is up to R&D to determine an emerging market where the toy would succeed, essentially they need to read market trends. They do of course have assistance from other departments within the corporation. But, for that reason I feel like both advertising, and propaganda are an aspect of Marketing, if you are trying to sway customer attention from a competitors toy, you may launch a propaganda ad, which states that x product is built in China, not America. While advertising is crucial to companies because it is how they spread the word and build customer excitement over the given product.
Advertising- Advertising is an aspect of Marketing, it is generally meant to bring forth certain facts of the product they are attempting to sell. For instance, a form of advertising is to use an Authoritative figure to promote your product. An example of this would be when a Colgate commercial says "6 in 10 dentists sponsor this toothpaste". They say this as if it is a fact, but this stat may not actually be true, it is simply meant to stir excitement around the product. This, is simply an aspect of the marketing process.
Propaganda- In my opinion, this form of marketing is the most defined aspect, and has the most direct function. Propaganda is often used in a negative, or "up-front" manner. The most common form of propaganda would be political ad's which consumers often see, they generally attack the politicians competition and are meant to drive popularity from the given candidate. This can also be used for products, for instance with how China often put lead in their toys, American retail stores would release propagated ads meant to sway customer market share towards their own products.
