How is branding different from marketing? Which one is more important? Which one should you use and how? 

The difference between branding and marketing is often a source of confusion for business owners and entrepreneurs. And understandably so as both work towards the same end goal – which is to grow the business by appealing to the relevant audience. They also support each other in achieving this shared goal. 

But branding and marketing are very different in their approach. 

Marketing

Marketing is about strategically placing the right message in the right place at the right time. It’s the act of promoting a brand – using a set of tools, processes and tactics – with the goal of influencing the audience to buy or to take step towards buying. Marketing is more directly focused on driving sales than branding.

Marketing examples:

– search engine optimisation (SEO)
– social media advertising
– content promotion
– promotional emails
– google ads
– traditional marketing (billboards, flyers, print ads etc)

Branding

Branding is about making a connection and building trust in order to nurture relationships with new or existing customers and ultimately grow a loyal customer base. Branding is shaping the perception you want to be known for.

You’re branding when:

– you post a non-promotional content
– you engage with your audience through social media
– you launch your new website
– you maintain a consistent look, voice and persona in your designs and communication
– you tell a story
– you send out non-promotional emails

An easy rule of thumb to remember when differentiating between your branding and your marketing:

marketing attracts, branding nurtures.

A simple example

Say your goal is to settle down with the right person. You have a branding and a marketing department to help you reach that goal based on who you are as a person.

Your marketing department is in charge of creating the best-dressed version of yourself who’ll go out and attract potential suitors using the best pickup lines.

Your branding department is in charge of the dates that follow, sharing stories, holding hands, and cuddling up at night. It’s your branding department that creates the connection, builds trust and nurtures the long-term relationship.

You see, without marketing, you might never meet that person in the first place. And without branding, you wouldn’t be able to hold on to them. So you need both.

A common mistake

Where most business owners get it wrong is that they mismanage the order and the balance between branding and marketing. They want to make sales, they want something that can give them an ROI and justify the money spent on their business. So they end up spending too much time, energy and money on marketing tactics, pushing sales and short-term gains without a long-term vision and a clearly defined strategy for their business as a whole.

But here’s the thing. You can’t do marketing without doing branding first. Without branding, you have no direction. You don’t know who you are as a brand, what you’re bringing to the marketplace, what message you want to say, who should it speak to and how.

Through audience research, positioning, personality, brand voice, messaging, storytelling and visuals, brand strategy provides the tools for the execution of the marketing strategy.

So, branding always comes first.

Key takeaways:

Marketing is based on shorter timeframes (marketing campaigns).
Branding is long-term and ongoing.

Marketing strategies come and go.
Branding is forever.

Marketing strategy wants a transaction.
Brand strategy wants a relationship.

Marketing gets a customer’s attention.
Branding aims to keep their attention.

Marketing drives sales.
Branding drives recognition and loyalty.

Branding comes first.
Marketing comes second.

Branding and marketing are two different components of your business. They support the same goal – growth. And they are both crucial to the long-term success of your business.

Understanding their strengths, their differences and how they feed into and build on each other will allow you to create a system that attracts new customers as well as nurtures long-term relationships and creates a loyal community.