Do you know the difference between branding and marketing?
Many people think branding and marketing are synonymous, but while they are inextricably linked, there are important differences between the two industry buzzwords.
What is branding?
Branding is the personality of a company.
Branding is what’s left after someone buys your product.
It’s the emotion people feel when they think of a business.
It’s the adjective someone will think of when asked to describe you in one word.
When people think of Volvo, they think of safety. When they think of Toyota, the word reliability comes to mind. This is proper branding, done right.
Branding goes beyond services or products, reaching the core values and principles of your business. It’s what makes people queue out in the rain for days to buy the latest Apple product, or boast to friends about their new Bose speaker system.
What is marketing?
A marketing strategy comprises the tools you use to sell your brand. Those tools can take many forms and change over time. From radio advertising and television, through to internet pop-ups, marketing is how you interact with your customer.
Unlike your brand image, marketing campaigns can change markedly.
Guinness have had serious, award-winning advertising campaigns, and at the same time have quirky, funny ones running alongside them. But no matter which style their marketing takes, the Guinness brand remains the same.
Branding and Marketing – does it ever crossover?
Both branding and marketing are a part of your business, so they are linked together no matter what you do.
Think of it this way, branding is who you are as a person. Marketing is the clothes you wear to show off your personality.
If you’re into fitness and body building, then you might wear tight fitting t-shirts with your gym logo on it. Your t-shirt is marketing who you are as a person, or in other words, your brand.
Because your marketing strategy is based on your brand, the brand must always come first in terms of importance. It is essential to figure out who you are as a brand before planning marketing strategies and tactics.
What is the difference between branding and marketing?
To sum it up, marketing is your message to your customers, branding is who you are as a business.
Marketing is storytelling.
It is a way to draw attention to your company and what it is you do.
You can control your marketing and how it looks, but you can’t control your brand; only your customers can do that.
That means you can tell your customers your business follows ethical practices, but it’s up to them to believe you, and if you don’t have that reputation, there’s not much you can do about it. This is why trust plays a big part in branding, and trust is only something that can be earned, not bought.
How we can help with both identity
Identifying your brand is important, even for a start-up. Knowing who you are as a company, and why you do what you do makes the journey easier.
Once you have a purpose for your business, then marketing can come into play. A good, well-thought-out marketing strategy can get your message out there, bringing in new customers and reinvigorating existing ones.
From initial brand design and packaging ideas, through to international shipping and transport logistics, we can help with solutions to reinforce your brand identity with both existing and new customers, by aligning label and packaging design/styling to your brand.
From small, independent boutiques, through to large, international companies, we have helped many businesses flourish in the apparel industry.
We understand that no two businesses are the same and work with you to create a tailored product design that will ensure a consistent representation of your brand.
Contact us today if you have any questions about what we do, or how we can help take your business to the next level.