Let's Build a Great Brand
Most times, people think that branding and marketing are the same. It is true they have so many features that define both as similar. Beyond that, there are major differences between the two that make each unique in its own way. The important thing is that they both seek to achieve the same goals – awareness and lead generation.
To help you be more effective in lead generation and get more return on your advertising budget, you need to understand some important things about the two and why both are important to the growth of your business.
Let’s quickly differentiate them.
Every business has products to sell or services to render with a promise attached to it. We can see branding as the fulfillment of that promise. It is the thought that people who have had a connection with your business hold on to. Brand strategy, therefore, involves stating precisely a promise and illustrating how it will be accomplished. Effective branding helps develop a well regarded, loved, and respected brand.
To get the best brand personality that will have an impact, you must work with your customers. Key into their opinions. It will help you navigate your way through crafting the most compelling personality for your business.
You need to have a clearly stated mission that guides you through decision-making phases and helps you connect properly with your customers.
Staying consistent with your brand guidelines allows you to stay true to yourself. If your message is all over the place, your audience will be confused about who you truly are and they likely won’t convert to paying customers.
Loyal customers support your brand through thick and thin. To build a team of brand loyalists, the stability of your brand experience must be remarkable. A lot needs to be invested in branding, but the ROI is worth it many times over.
Marketing is what you do after you have a solid brand. Marketing is letting customers know of your brand and why they should buy from you. It’s the process of identifying, analyzing and meeting customer needs. In context, marketing strategy involves using the appropriate channels to let your audience know who you are and to boost sales.<br><br> The essence of marketing is to get sales. It uses the push tactic to promote a product or service. The push tactic is a strategy adopted by a brand to sell (push) its products or services to consumers by using different marketing techniques.
Marketing can be online or offline in the forms of pay per click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, mobile marketing, print campaigns, TV and radio.
Marketing can be done traditionally or digitally. Social media pay per click, blog posts, emails and other contents are forms of digital marketing. Traditional marketing can be done via direct mail, networking, and word of mouth.
Regardless of the type of marketing you choose to employ, the goal is well-defined: to sell. With the right marketing skillset, customers get driven to do business with your brand. For marketing to succeed, the message must be clearly stated, informative, and simplified. In other words, if you don’t build a solid brand before you do marketing, you’ll be wasting your time and money.
Branding and marketing complement each other as one can not do without the other. Marketing presents your brand to the world. But, you should know that marketing cannot be implemented in your company if it does not have a brand-building technique to operate with.
Having a logo, business design, and a motto might make you assume you have a brand automatically. Don’t assume wrongly – you need an integrative branding strategy that works well with your branding strategy. Many companies have taken marketing over branding, believing that’s how the system works. No! Branding should be the first thing every business considers. Marketing will do its part afterwards.
All your marketing efforts will not sum up to elevate your market value if brand management is missing.
When marketing says “buy me,” branding says “hey, have a good look at me. This is what I stand for and this is why I was made. Do you like me? If so, buy me and tell your friends about me.”
As a brand, it is important to use your understanding of how branding differs from marketing to build a strategy that connects with your core values. Listen to your customers and let their feedbacks guide your trajectory.
Having a deep understanding of the difference between branding and marketing will help you set up a strong brand foundation, and expand it through marketing.
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Nectar is part branding powerhouse, part consultancy, and part digital marketing agency based in Manhattan.