The difference between branding and marketing

Companies use branding and marketing to build relationships with consumers and increase their sales. While both strategies work toward a common goal, their usage is slightly different.

Marketing is 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.

Key differences between marketing and branding:

While marketing is used to promote your product or service, branding is used to actively shape your brand and who you are. You need strategies for both and they have different goals and different results.

Marketing drives sales, branding drives recognition and loyalty

At the core, most marketing strategies are meant to drive results and, more often than not, the results those strategies are trying to drive have to do with sales.

But branding takes a different, and more long-term, approach. Branding isn’t the best solution if you’re looking to drive sales. But it is the best solution if you’re looking to build brand recognition, drive positive brand sentiment, and foster customer loyalty, which is just as important and which, coincidentally, will have a major impact on your ability to drive sales in the long run.

Branding comes first, and marketing comes second

You know the old saying “which came first? The chicken or the egg?” Well, if we’re talking about the business version of that saying, it would probably be more along the lines of “which comes first? Branding or marketing?”

In the grand scheme of building your business, branding always comes before marketing. And for good reason! You can’t exactly market a brand you haven’t designed yet.

Before you even think about putting a marketing strategy in place, you need to focus on your branding. Who are you as a brand? What do you want to bring to the marketplace? What are your core values? And, most importantly, how are you going to communicate that to your target market?

Only when you have the answers to those questions does it make sense to start thinking about marketing. Because once you have your branding in place, you’ll have a better understanding of who you are, who your customers are, and the best ways to connect with those customers.

Marketing strategies come and go—but branding is forever

The strategies you use to market your business are temporary; each marketing tactic is going to have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Branding is different. No matter where you are in your business, you’re always going to be working on defining who you are as a company, shaping your brand’s perception with your audience, and fostering a deeper, more meaningful, relationship with your customers. As your company grows and evolves, you’ll need to grow and evolve your branding right along with it.

Bottom line is, marketing strategies will come and go (as they should). But branding? Branding is forever.

Do you need assistance with your branding? Beso Media is here for all your branding needs.