What is the Difference Between Branding and Marketing?
Marketing, Branding, SEO, Inbound, Email, Content: these are all terms that you often hear when talking about businesses in this modern age. But among all the terms branding and marketing are probably the most common ones.
And the ones people confuse the most.
What? Are we saying that branding and marketing are like apples and pears? Well, in a way, they are, and any business plan needs to understand why they are different, but most importantly, how they need to work together to deliver results.
While marketing manages variables such as product, price, and marketing strategies for promotion and distribution, branding deals with variables such as brand identity, brand building, and brand strategy.
But, are they truly that far one from the other? Let us find out more about some of the common ground these terms have as well as their differences.
Branding is your personality and marketing the clothes you wear.
When it comes to launching products or services to the market, you cannot just simply launch them and expect everyone to believe in you and your dreams. It might sound cruel, but you are probably not unique.
And here is where we find the first distinction between branding and marketing.
Since you cannot simply present a product, you need to build something around it, and that is what your brand is. Your brand is the personality your product has, the things that make it different from other options in the market.
A good brand establishes long-term relationships with its customers.
And how are those long-term relationships created? With marketing campaigns and marketing activities.
Some clothes fit better than others. In the same way, some marketing strategies will be more efficient than others for promoting your brand and the personality it has.
What we see and what we feel.
Since branding deals with more “ethereal” things such as identity, feelings, and emotions, it is usually related to intangible things.
On the other hand, marketing, especially digital marketing, is associated with things I can actually touch and measure. After all, an Imbound marketing campaign or an Email-Marketing strategy will deliver results we can read and interpret to make conclusions about the efficiency or weak points in our marketing approach.
You can market generic products and encourage their sales. Branding is the antithesis of generic. Marketing studies the product’s environment: its target market, prices, and target audience. Branding seeks to define the values of a product through a process that goes far beyond the visual.
In a way, we can approach branding as a long-term strategy for businesses to stay afloat and relevant. Branding actions seek to generate emotional bonds between consumers and brands, creating value through “intangibles” with a relational approach that generates long-term loyalty.
Your brand is and always be your most precious asset.
What should I do first?
Fortunately, this is not one of those “egg or the chicken” scenarios.
Experts from different areas have it very clear: you should build a brand before starting your marketing efforts.
Does this mean you should not move a finger until you have everything figure out? Not exactly, but going out to a competitive market without a brand and some information about who your customer is is just wanting to throw money into the garbage.
Can some businesses thrive without branding? Sure.
Will they last in time with loyal customers that always return? I guess time will have to prove un wrong, but they probably won’t.
Finally, they complement and need each other.
Despite the fact branding and marketing are different, they “need” each other to achieve certain goals.
It is way easier to build an Ad campaign for a product or service with a brand behind it. Why? Because you will have important information about the people who might want to buy that product or service: buyer persona, market research, prices, best times to do ads campaigns, etc.
Somehow, the one could not achieve its objectives without the other. There is a necessary interaction for the consumer to respond in the desired way: by purchasing that product or service and trusting the brand enough for it to become part of their daily lives.
Therefore, no company can take off and succeed without a good branding strategy accompanied by meticulously designed marketing campaigns. Because even though both concepts are not synonymous, they are so closely linked that nowadays it is difficult to understand one without the other.
A final word from Inspiral.
These days, markets are getting more and more competitive because of all the available resources to build effective marketing plans and strategies.
Here is where your brand can help you differentiate yourself from others and what they offer.
Take care of your brand always by presenting it on every communication channel in the cleanest way possible. Invest time and money to create high-quality content. Present your brand as if it were a gala show night.
At Inspiral, we are passionate about brands that make a difference in the world. If you have passion, we will share it and grow with you.
Visit our webshop and find a quick Growth Hack you can apply to your business right away and start seeing results.
Growing is a path. Let us take it together.
