Take a minute to ask yourself this; what is the difference between branding and marketing? Some of you, particularly those of you who don’t have an extensive background in business or marketing, won’t exactly know how to answer this.
While the two are by all means interdependent, meaning one can’t exist without the other, they are two very distinct disciplines. Clearly being able to distinguish them is important because each play different (but critical) roles in any business, no matter which sector you’re in.
Branding vs Marketing
1. Marketing is the message you want to convey while branding is your identity
Your brand is the identity and personality of your business in that it’s the name, symbol, design, and reputation that represents it.
Brand identity is the face of your business and is conveyed to through your brand's logo, slogan, fonts, and colour scheme. All these aspects do a good job in representing your company's values, mission, and services because it will work to establish a connection to your business in the minds of the customers once you've built a strong brand identity.
Brand personality is a much more abstract concept. It refers to the feelings, emotions and qualities that make up a business. Typically, a brand's personality will reflect that of its target customers because it will assist in building a strong connection with them throughout the business' lifecycle.
Strong branding makes your business easily identifiable and distinguishable amongst other businesses and competitors in the market. Marketing refers to the tools that are utilised to communicate your brand and particular messages to your audience.
2. Branding drives your marketing
Your marketing strategy should be executed with the aim of building awareness of your business as well as the products and services that it provides. It should also promote and protect your business’ brand identity and personality. This means that every interaction you have with potential clients and customers through your marketing, whether it be with social media, printed materials or content on a website, should reflect your brand.
3. Branding is a long term strategy and marketing is a tactic
It should be made clear that having a brand isn’t the mere possession of a name, logo or design, but is an encapsulation of all those as well as the non-tangible, abstract ideas held in the hearts and minds of the stakeholders who have a connection to your business. These abstract ideas are generated over a long period of time through effective marketing tactics.
4. Marketing helps you find and entice buyers while branding devotes them and instills loyalty in them
The purpose of marketing is to generate a response in convincing your audience to act in a certain way. This could be to drive them to your website, get them to try out your services or buy your products. Branding, on the other hand, aims to engender a deeper and long-lasting connection, trust and loyalty with consumers, potential clients and customers to keep them coming back to your business beyond the first interaction.
5. Branding is consistent while marketing can be flexible
Your branding will remain with your business over time and has to be consistent through both marketing and non-marketing exchanges in order for it to successfully ingrain itself in the conscience of the stakeholders. Marketing tactics, however, have the flexibility to be able to change throughout the lifecycle to adapt to the requirements of the environment of your industry. Methods of marketing that were once effective may not be effective anymore and you need to be able to adapt your business’ marketing tactics to these changes.
Successful businesses and brands use their understanding of the differences between branding and marketing to create campaigns that work with both harmoniously. It’s important to be aware of the differences between the two because a clear establishment of both is crucial to not only driving new customers and retaining current customers to the business, but also to achieving many of your short and long term goals for your business.
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