When you start building a business, many terms get thrown around that can be not very clear and throw you off, two of which are branding and marketing.
They get thrown around in conversation as if they are the same thing when the fact is, they are two separate things.
Two halves that make up a whole.
Your business wouldn’t be able to get in front of new customers without marketing, and your marketing efforts would be wasted if there wasn’t a solid mission statement behind your brand to back up your values and resonate with those people.
We will be going over the key differences between the two and distinguish what is important and clarify what you need to do today in your business based on the stage you are in.
What Is Branding?
Branding Represents how your business is seen and experienced by your customers.
It’s not just your brand’s logo or business name; it goes further than that.
Proper branding comes down to how your business makes your customers feel and the relationship’s emotional connection.
When someone encounters the problem that you solve in their world, their brain naturally is running through the options available, and the brand associated with the option is what they choose.
The brand that created the best impression and nurtured the relationship between them and this customer is always the winner by default.
Everything plays a role in this relationship; customer service calls, emails, the customer’s experience on your website, and the impression they were left with to your brands’ mission statement.
Not only do your first impressions make a difference here, but they also define how the relationship will grow.
Branding is important to maintain through every contact point made with your brand, and one crack in the foundation most likely will not be forgotten.
What Is Marketing?
Marketing is how you get your brand in front of more people for the potential of them converting into customers.
Think about marketing as the tools, strategies, and processes you actively use to promote your business to gain more customers.
It is all the actions that you take towards getting more people through the door.
Whether it be on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or your blog, you are trying to get people to experience your brand, and it is all classified as marketing.
Any time you are trying to get more customers through the door with advertising or organic search, it would be classified as marketing.
The Key Differences Between Branding And Marketing
These two terms get interchanged quite frequently, and it is a misconception that they are the same thing.
Yes, they can play a role in each other’s efforts; however, they’re simply two halves to a whole when interacting and growing the business.
To solidify this, let’s take a walk through some examples that would help better break it down for you to understand.
1. Marketing is used to gain people’s attention; branding is used to keep it and build relationships
Marketing is good at getting your message in front of the people that are within your key demographic.
Plus, it’s a must to advertise and market your business to stand out from the crowd and compete with other companies in your industry.
However, once marketing gets customers through the door, it’s your brandings job to help build that relationship once they come through the door.
Your brand greets them at the entrance and asks them if they would like a glass of water and a place to sit.
It’s like a mutual partnership where both sides are playing an equal role Towards a common goal.
Your branding is what solidifies the decision to move forward with the purchase or form sign-up.
A story will happen in your customers’ minds once they enter your landing page or website will stick with them and impact whether they decide on coming back.
Therefore branding is the essential relationship builder once marketing has created the introduction.
2. The way you market your business can change over time, but branding represents your business and its values forever
There’s no indication that the need for marketing will ever stop.
It’s the backbone of all consumer decisions in one form or another; however, it is important to note that marketing methods shift constantly.
Strategies and techniques change as the years go on as consumers’ buying habits change.
Maybe VR and AR will take over consumers’ attention, and traditional advertising just won’t cut it anymore.
Who knows, maybe YouTube or Google will no longer be a thing in the future?
Whatever is to come, though, one thing is sure.
Your brand’s mission will stay the same.
You will still be trying to build meaningful relationships with your customers and people interested in your brand.
The work of trying to create an actual bond with the people who support your company’s vision will never end.
Facebook marketing may disappear eventually, but your brand mission stays the same and continues to guide you.
3. Branding builds your businesses’ culture and the people that claim it as their own; marketing makes it easier for customers to find you and be introduced to your mission.
Like we said before, marketing is what gets people through the door to buy your product or service.
As your business continues to grow with more people becoming aware of who you are and why they need you in their lives, a community will blossom.
A community filled with like-minded people that support your brands’ overall mission and want to play an active role in helping it succeed.
An example of this is the brand Yes Theory on Youtube.
They have a fantastic youtube channel that documents a group of people pressing their boundaries in life and inspiring people to get outside of their comfort zone regularly.
The message behind the movement is that happiness can be achieved outside of the comfort zone.
By going outside our comfort zone frequently, you can expand who you are as a person and grow.
They’ve created a culture around this movement full of like-minded individuals who feel the need to press the human condition and the boundaries we have given ourselves.
Every video they put together, you are always on the edge of your seat, getting pumped up and ready to take on the world.
Positivity runs through their veins, and it transfers directly to the viewer and the people who support them.
Another prime example of this is Hubspot.
Hubspot markets to business owners and marketing professionals they know would be a potential fit for their product.
Once customers get through the door, they are offered a free product to test out and use along with enough documentation and educational resources to level up the business and their team.
People like me continue to return to the website to read up on their fantastic blog that usually leaves me feeling leveled up and ready for more.
More times than not, they over-deliver in value, and I’m not the only one who thinks that.
There are many other like-minded people out there to support them and the mission: help millions grow better.
4. Branding is First, marketing is second.
Which do you think comes first, branding or marketing?
Let’s put the debate to rest once and for all here.
the answer is branding for a few reasons:
- You can’t market a brand that hasn’t been created yet; you have to have a solid foundation before building upwards with marketing.
- Your marketing messages will not be congruent if your brand’s value foundation and mission statement doesn’t exist as a guide.
- You need to know what your brand stands for before finding the people who want to support that mission(employee or customer).
If you were to start marketing for a brand that is not entirely sure what it is trying to offer the marketplace, you are essentially wasting your efforts and shouldn’t expect that business to survive into the future.
Follow the rule of operations and do things in order so that way you aren’t back-peddling later on.
Which Is More Important Between Branding Vs. Marketing?
They both play a significant role in your business’s overall success in obtaining new customers and creating a substantial impact.
Try to understand that they’re both important, but it depends on the operation order in which they are done.
The way people view your business has to be built up over time, and the relationship you form with your customer is dependant on how transparent you are with your business’s overall goal.
Once the groundwork of branding is done, start to take aggressive swings with your marketing efforts and get as many people on board and aware of your business as possible so you can start building up an audience who loves what you do and wants more.
Does Marketing Or Branding Come First?
Begin with the end in mind; think about where you want to be in the next 2-5 years with your business and what it looks like in your head.
Now, what are the values that you have to uphold to make that happen?
Plan out your next five moves and how each one will line up with the next, ultimately allow you to achieve what you’re after.
Once you have a clear vision of where you’re going, now it’s time to think about the details like logo design colors, website layout, what type of content you’re going to create, and how to make the best possible customer experience.
Think about how you want to be perceived in the people’s eyes that come in contact with your brand.
Plan it out, write out exactly how you want people to interact with your business and the memory that you want them to have after that interaction.
Over time you will accumulate feedback from your customers who will let you know what is happening with your business, allowing you to adapt and grow closer to your end goal.
Conclusion
Branding and marketing both play an enormous role in your business’ success.
The critical thing to remember is that there’s an order of events that must occur before one thing happens over the other.
Branding is the first thing you should worry about and how you would like to position yourself in the marketplace.
This means getting to the bottom of your core set of values and what kind of experience you want your customers to have when interacting with your brand.
Once all the legwork is out of the way, you can start making progress on your marketing goals and getting your business in front of the right people.
Take aggressive swings with your marketing efforts to make the most significant impact.
Thank you for hanging out with us today; as always, we appreciate you!
If you enjoyed this article and would like updates when we drop more just like it, subscribe to our email newsletter below!
0 Comments