A lot of us will often use many different words to describe the same thing. I say ‘dinner’, you say ‘tea’, I say ‘street’, you say ‘road’, maybe we should call the whole thing off. But whichever way you cut it everyone knows the result. This same thing happens when we talk about marketing or do we mean branding… advertising… communications. It’s all the same thing, right? Wrong.
This miss-categorising of tasks or roles is quite common and something that can be done unknowingly, and if left unaddressed, can cause inefficiencies and a confused approach to a business’ self-promotion.
Let’s nail the definitions
The easiest way to think of the two is this; Marketing is the 3 for 2 discount offers on the fruit and veg stall, branding is the signage on the stall, the way the produce is laid out and the manor in which person selling the produce engages with you.
Branding is what creates the mental image of what people think when they hear your name or see your logo, website or social posts. It’s the instant gut feel they get, the all-important first impression. It’s also the platform to share the core beliefs and values held by the brand, reassuring people that the way they feel about you, is right. Marketing is about how you can effectively reach out to your target audience. Creating opportunities and motivating them to take desired actions, whether that’s purchasing, educating, or signing up.
Long Term Vs Short Term
Branding firmly focuses on building an identity over a long period of time through consistent messages. These branding initiatives such as logo design, content creation and social media engagement will have an impact on customer loyalty and brand awareness over time.
Whereas marketing is squarely aimed at boosting short-term actions such as sales and drawing in customers within a specific period. Open-ended marketing that does not drive people to take an action is ineffective. The use of marketing techniques such as email campaigns, campaigns targeting new customers, or promotions gains visibility in the short term.
Loyalty Vs Response
Effective marketing generally requires an immediate response from its audience. Using strategies such as promotional offers or discounts to generate leads and inquiries, eventually converting them into paying customers. Branding on the other hand, is a relationship-building exercise, creating a sense of connection with customers over time. Branding that focuses on creating a consistent visual identity that resonates with people will drive loyalty.
Create Value Vs Extract Value
Branding at its best helps create additional value for your product or service above and beyond the sum of the physical parts. It reminds you why you chose this brand and why it’s the one you keep going back to. Branding adds soft touches and perceived extras to round off the whole consumer experience. Whereas marketing is the extraction of value from the marketplace by raising awareness about a business and its offerings. By using different tools such as digital marketing, SEO and influencer marketing, brands can target potential consumers to create sales.
So, to put it simply branding is the creation of a visual, written and spoken personality that aligns with the business and that resonates with customers, while marketing leverages public relations, ads, and media to boost reach among customers. Knowing these simple differences will allow you to optimise how your business communicates with the outside world and ultimately customers.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. We would love to hear your thoughts on Branding Vs Marketing, so please share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comments below.
If you want to find out more about the design process read ‘You can’t design what you don’t understand.’
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