Branding & Marketing support

When you’re building a business, there are so many buzzwords that get thrown around, it can be hard to keep them straight. And there are two concepts in particular that have a tendency to get lumped together—marketing and branding.

The truth is, marketing and branding are two very different concepts. As a business owner, it is essential that you understand branding and marketing both in great detail, so that you can effectively utilize them together.

Where Marketing Ends, Branding Begins

So you’ve got a business and you’re ready to push your branding efforts online. The first question you encounter is “How do I go about with branding?”, it involves the following:

● Logos, color schemes, and website design

What should my logo be?
What colors represent my business best?
How do I go about with my web design?

● Brand mentions, links, and social popularity

I have to be as visible online as possible, because this promotes brand recall

● SERPs visibility, ad campaigns, and other promotional efforts

If you answered any of the above, then you’re looking at branding the wrong way. The items I mentioned are all marketing tools and strategies, and they only scratch the surface of branding.

In a nutshell, branding is who you are—and marketing is how you build awareness. Branding is your strategy, while marketing encompasses your tactical goals.

Below is a closer look at the differences between marketing and branding and how can you use both to build a successful, impactful business?

Marketing is defined as the set of tools, processes, and strategies you use to actively promote your product, service, and company. Think of marketing as the actions you take to connect with your customers and get them to buy your products or services.
Branding, on the other hand, is the marketing practice of actively shaping your brand. Branding is about defining who you are as a company. It’s your mission, your values, and what makes you special and unique. It’s your key brand elements, like your logo, your website, and your brand style guidelines. If marketing is what gets people to engage with your company for the first time, branding is what keeps them coming back for years to come.

Marketing is vast and wide. It can be heartfelt, funny, or serious. It can be any mix of text, keywords, photos, charts, graphs, and videos. Marketing will be performed by a variety of online and offline methods—some of the most common being:

SEO
Content Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Pay Per Click Marketing
Mobile Marketing
Television
Radio
Print Campaigns

However, there are many other methods of both online and offline marketing for you to consider working with your marketing campaign. While marketing methods will come and go, and the methods you utilize may change drastically from year-to-year, or from season-to-season—your brand will always remain constant.

Which Comes First—Marketing Or Branding?
Branding is at the core of your marketing strategy, so branding must come first. Even if you are a startup, it is essential to clearly define who you are as a brand—before you begin to devise your specific marketing methods, tools, strategies, and tactics.

Your brand is what will keep your clients coming back for more, it is the foundation upon which you will build consumer loyalty. Think of restaurants and retailers in your local area (independently owned, or major corporations), it is the brand that keeps customers coming back generation after generation.

As an example, consider where you order and pick up prescriptions for yourself and your family. Whether the pharmacy or drugstore you shop in is locally owned, or part of a larger chain—they have built your trust and your loyalty, and you have most likely been a customer with them for many years. While you can purchase the exact same prescriptions at any other pharmacy in town, it is their branding that keeps you coming back time and time again.
While marketing methods will evolve, and respond to current industry and cultural trends—branding remains the same. Even if you make adjustments to your brand, they will typically be in response to your growth or expanded services offered—but is rarely an overhaul of your core principals, mission, or values.

Your branding includes attributes such as a high commitment to quality, community, convenience, communication—or an ongoing commitment to a specific need your target audience needs to be fulfilled.

Also, keep in mind that branding is something you and your team must do on a daily basis, and with every transaction processed, with every phone call received, and email responded to. However, your marketing is most often partially or fully outsourced to marketing professionals. When speaking of branding vs. marketing, branding is who you are—while marketing is how you attract consumer attention. Also, think of branding as the way you keep current clients and marketing as how you attract new clients.

The One Area Branding And Marketing Overlap
While branding and marketing are distinctly different, there is one area where they overlap. When selecting imagery to be utilized on an ongoing basis, branding and marketing become one in the same. As the saying goes “A picture speaks a thousand words.” With that in mind, when you choose your company colors, graphics, and logo—remember that they must first represent your brand—but that they will also play a substantial role in your ongoing marketing campaign.

The Importance Of Understanding Branding vs. Marketing
If the difference between marketing and branding are now clear, but you are still unsure of the importance of understanding the two—it all comes down to conversions. While you could create your marketing strategies with nothing other than keyword trends, and the most effective marketing methods within your industry—your conversions will be lower if your consumers are not connected to you as a brand.

Your branding is what generates a timeless connection. Even if your current marketing efforts are designed to engage, it is the ongoing branding that keeps customers coming back. Competition is fierce, and the fact of the matter is that there are companies who offer comparable products and services—or even the exact same products and services that you offer. It is your branding that will keep your customers returning for more. It is your branding that builds loyalty and trust. It is your branding that makes you unique.

Without branding, you may achieve success, but with branding, your success will be far more substantial. All strong structures have a solid starting point and foundation, and understanding the difference between marketing and branding will allow you to build your foundation of branding—and your extensions via marketing.

Source: https://www.outbrain.com/help/advertisers/branding-vs-marketing/

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