Branding vs. Marketing. Many entrepreneurs and creative professionals are confused about the real differences between them. Yes, the two subjects overlap in some areas, but there are some key nuances that will clarify how you go about building and promoting your business. If you’re an agency or consultant, understanding the two will improve your ability to help your clients succeed. In this article I dive deeply into the definitions of branding and marketing — and why it’s critical that you know the difference.
There are a lot of people who are confused about what branding is and how branding is different from marketing. I have even heard a few creative professionals struggling with it.
Branding and marketing — Overview
A “brand” is a name, term, design, symbol, or any feature that identifies a seller’s goods or services from those of their competitors.
In other words, numerous companies are creating the same products. Have you ever thought about what makes you choose one company over the other? The reputation of a brand is what allows others to trust it.
Branding, on the other hand, is the architecture and management of the meaning and experience of the brand with intention. So, in other words, branding is managing what the brand stands for and its principles. Managing the core values of a company’s names, terminology, designs, and symbols that help to set it apart from its competitors.
Here is another interesting quote that describes brands uniquely:
A brand is a commitment. A commitment that a company makes and keeps in every product, experience, marketing activity, action, corporate decision, and customer experience.
Let’s quickly go through the definition of marketing: “Marketing outlines the specific activities of how, where, and when a brand will promote its products and services to its customer targets in the marketplace.”
6 significant differences between branding and marketing:
1. Branding is the what and the why, and marketing concerns the how.
Branding is all about considering what the product or service is, what it will do, and what value it will add to its customers. It is also called the Value Proposition. The why questions are: why would a buyer choose you over others, and why does the seller do something?
On the other hand, marketing is about tactics. How would a seller go to the market and promote his/her product or services? It is mostly about advertising and communicating the benefits, both functional and emotional.
2. Marketing is a short-term approach, but branding is a long-term plan.
Long-term equity and value are at the heart of branding. It’s about establishing a stored memory, a stored experience or perception in the buyer’s mind. It’s about a deep emotional impact on customers that lasts over time.
Marketing is concerned with generating immediate action, mostly about short-term plans and activities that affect consumers for a short period of time.
3. Branding is macro and marketing is micro.
Branding is concerned with zooming out and seeing the bigger picture. It’s about overarching perceptions and attitudes.
Marketing is concerned with details of the actions that should be taken. Its basic goal is to increase or generate sales. Three questions need to be asked while addressing marketing: what do we do, where do we do it, and how do we do it.
4. Branding is a trajectory & marketing is a tactic.
The following is an essential long-term branding direction:
- What direction will we follow?
- Where are we going with the strategic direction of the brand?
- Where is the company positioning itself in the marketplace compared to its competitors?
Marketing is concerned with the actions that we’re going to take. It’s all about pushing forward and taking action that will benefit the company in the short run. What, Where, and When are we going to take that action?
5. Branding Builds Loyalty, While Marketing Generates Action
Branding is concerned with what the consumer feels long-term about the brand. How do you build brand loyalty? What is that long-term preference, those long-term buying habits?
Marketing is concerned with short-term, quick, and immediate actions. Anything that is going to create immediate results for the brand.
6. Branding Creates Value While Marketing Monetizes That Value
Branding seeks to instill that deep emotional resonance, that deep emotional meaning, into the brand. It seeks to create that long-term affinity, those long-term preferences. How many people would recommend the brand? How will they pass it on to their kids, their preferences about what brands to use?
Marketing is all about turning that value into revenue. It seeks to extract tribute and money from the customer for those functional benefits and for those emotional benefits that the brand delivers. Monetizing the value is what marketing is all about.
Conclusion
If we break down a brand, branding would come before marketing. However, creating a brand would take more time than marketing a product or service. I hope this article was informative for you and now you have a clearer picture of branding and marketing. Don’t forget to share your views.
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