Branding vs Marketing: Understanding the Key Differences

Branding and marketing are NOT the same!

Often confused, branding and marketing are not the same thing. Your brand represents the core identity of your business, what you do, how you do it, and who you are. Marketing is the process of informing people about your brand and your brand’s related products and services.

Branding is defined by things like company/ brand values, your story, and your mission statement - the reason your business exists and the problems that it solves for your customers.

Marketing is used to communicate the identity of your brand to the people that are most likely to be interested in it (your target audience). The strategies that a business will use to market its brand will change according to what is most effective for various target audiences, while the brand itself will remain relatively static (aside from occasional re-branding efforts).

Consider the benefits of doing your branding well. There are a wide range of advantages to successfully branding your business. Strong branding results in higher profits because strong brands encourage repeat purchases, a sales tactic that is well-known to be easier and cheaper than sourcing new customers.

Customers favor strong brands; deciding to buy a product becomes an easier decision when buyers recognize and trust the brand.

Next, let’s take a look at ways to use marketing to make sure the right people know about your brand.

First, to ensure a marketing strategy is properly focused we’ll need to define your target audience (the people who you are looking to attract). Then, tailor your tactics, images, text, tone, marketing channels, and the marketing tools you use to reach those people. That may include a combination of traditional/offline (TV, print, radio) and digital marketing tactics like content marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and social media marketing.

Digital marketing techniques such as SEO (Search engine optimization) PPC (pay-per-click advertising) content marketing, and social media marketing are very popular. That’s because they tend to be cheaper and more flexible than more traditional forms of marketing, and they can reach a large volume of a highly targeted audience, often achieving an excellent return on investment when promoting your brand.

Again, creating an effective marketing strategy includes first establishing your brand and then aligning the marketing with your brand identity. Remember, it is through marketing that you promote your brand which represents the identity of your business, one that can keep customers coming back to you if done well (think of Apple products).

There are multiple strategies you can use to align your marketing with your brand. The first is to develop brand guidelines for your company as explained here. Brand guidelines document the rules for communicating the look and feel of your brand, both visually and through text, including slogans and tag lines. These guidelines should be shared across your internal marketing staff and with your external marketers and advertisers to ensure consistency across design, visuals, text, and tone.

Another great way to make sure your brand and your marketing strategies are aligned is to leverage your brand story and mission statement in your marketing materials. By telling your story you can not only raise awareness of your brand but help humanize it and make it more memorable, while encouraging potential customers to connect with your values and mission.

Whether you are looking to rebrand an existing business, or develop branding for a new business, or launch a new marketing program, we can help! This will allow you to free yourself to focus on what you do best - running your business. You’ll also have the peace of mind of knowing your marketing and branding is being done right and delivered on time.

Contact us today for a free marketing and branding consultation!