Although they overlap in places, branding and marketing are not reflective. They are two different concepts that you need to know to differentiate in order to use both elements as well as possible.
By strategically using branding and marketing tools, you will achieve the goals of your campaigns, and by combining both functions, you will build a brand image and increase revenues. However, before you do that, you need to know the difference, similarities and places where the concepts overlap. With a clear vision, you will be able to isolate the details you need most and use them to your advantage.
Both concepts are essential for building a business, but it is important to know that branding is eternal, and marketing is short-lived. This is the basic difference from which we need to start in order to separate these two concepts in more detail.
Without further ado, let’s start answering questions.
What is branding?
Brand refers to your business identity. Every piece of the puzzle you can think of (logo, slogan, sign, name, colors, style, tone, reputation, price…) put together, creates a brand. You get a brand by synthesizing those intangible values through short and long-term strategies to engage and maintain the targeted market.
Branding is a set of activities you practice to differentiate products or services from the competition with the help of advertising tools. The process of branding includes a collection of particular steps that will help you to create a name. It includes marketing practices for the continuous development of the brand.
To create a brand you need to think about the brand’s personality, feelings you inspire, uniqueness, accomplishments you are aiming for, who you are going to collaborate and associate with, what causes you are going to support, what are your core values, etc.
What is marketing?
Marketing is a management process during which you use tools to deliver the message of your brand. It is a link between your company and customers and results in grabbing customer attention, bringing them closer to your product and services where the expected outcome would be “influenced to buy”.
Marketing appears from the beginning to the end of a lifespan of a product: formation, development, distribution, promotion, purchase and customer care. It includes a range of activities: exploring and researching the market, creating a strategy, setting promotion and advertisements, selling items, delivering it to the customers, building a relationship with partners, etc.
We can divide marketing into 2 parts: Business-to-business (B2B) and Business-to-consumer (B2C).
Speaking of types of marketing, we can mention: print campaigns, direct mail, television and video, radio and podcasts, social media, pay-per-click advertising, SEO…
So, where do branding and marketing overlap?
Let’s make it easy. It is not possible to market a business without building a brand and it is not possible to brand a business without marketing it. Those 2 activities coexist and nurture each other within your company.
When you are working on social media marketing strategy, you need to take branding into consideration because both activities lean towards the same goal – customer satisfaction. If you want to use marketing design to send the right message, elements of branding will support the design which will ultimately result in business growth.
Although marketing and branding follow their own roads, they overlap from time to time so that one can complete another. While branding tends to be strategic, marketing is tactical. Therefore, you cannot apply marketing if you don’t know what your brand is.
But the most important thing is that branding comes before marketing.
Therefore, what are the differences between marketing and branding?
Let’s make it even easier. Marketing strategies come and go, branding is forever. Branding is who you are, and marketing is how you build the perception. Marketing makes you buy and branding makes you remember what you bought. Marketing is logical, branding is creative.
I could continue lining up one-sentence differences but I think you got the point.
You cannot promote a brand that does not exist. Use marketing to find a customer base, catch attention, present the company, stand out and use branding to keep the customers close, interested, and entertained.
Branding is a continuous occurrence, it focuses on long-term aims. It is eternal. Marketing appears to support it. Marketing methods are short-term and they tend to be adjusted to the industry trends and audiences wishes.
Ill give you an easy example. You organize a wedding. Therefore, you have to create and send invitations. You put effort into it and make it nice to reflect your personality. People will receive the invitation and come to the wedding. That is marketing. On the other hand, the party the guests are going to experience, is branding.
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