When you’re starting a business, the technical terms could be quite confusing. Sometimes they seem almost the same. A good example of this is marketing and branding. What exactly are branding and marketing, and how do they differ from each other? And why should you even care?
Mixing the purpose of marketing and branding could hurt your business, and we’re here to help you distinguish the differences between the two.
The fine line between marketing and branding
Marketing is the way you present your offerings out there to persuade people to partake of them. It may be through flyers, ads, TV and radio commercials, calling them, or sending them emails, blog posts, social media posts, and many more.
Branding tells people who you are as a company. It communicates your vision, what you value, and what you stand for as a company. This also includes the basic brand elements, such as logo, color theme, and brand style guidelines.
Branding is the basic foundation of your company, and sadly, most of the time, most overlooked by many companies.
Branding before Marketing
Branding always comes before marketing in any business because it is what makes you stand out from the competition. Branding aims to be recognizable; when people see a logo, a color, a face, or even a personality, they might think of a certain brand in their minds (think Nike’s checkmark or Mcdonald’s yellow and red).
Without branding, you’ll risk selling without having a solid foundation for who you are as a brand. If you don’t have a solid identity as a brand, there’s a good chance that your target customers will not be able to identify you easily.
Who are you as a brand? What do you want to help people with? How do you want to contribute to your community of target audiences and customers?
Marketing is for Sales
If branding is for recognition and quick recall, Marketing is all about the art of being persuasive. It’s driven by results, conversion, and sales. Marketing focuses more on strategy and is ever-changing according to the demands of the times. Branding, on the other hand, is perpetuated in its vision and mission.
Branding is just an aspect of your business that marketing must promote. If successful branding means that your identity as a business is more recognizable, successful marketing is when more people recognize your brand.
Conclusion
Marketing is a great way to get your customer’s attention by hooking your customers in with an attractive product or service. Branding will help you turn those one-time buyers into loyal customers.
This is not to say that Branding is better than Marketing. Don’t get us wrong—we’re not pitting them against each other. This is an attempt to explain their difference to help entrepreneurs understand that both are equally essential in any business.
If you are still confused about how to build a brand strategy and want it done in an effective way, explore our business kit and find out more about business education and training. We help businesses and entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of starting a new business.
