Branding Is Not Marketing
Branding vs Marketing: What’s The Difference?
In this story. I want to talk to you about the differences between branding and marketing. Because it seems a lot of the time when I’m talking to clients, they seem a little bit confused about what branding is and then how that differs from marketing. I’ve even heard creative professionals struggling with it. So I wanted to come on and write an article to try to describe and get across what’s the differences are between the two.
So first of all, let’s start off with some definitions.
A brand is a name, term, design, or symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.
Now branding, on the other hand,
Branding is architecting and managing the meaning and experience of the brand with intention.
So said another way, Branding is managing the meaning of the brand. So managing the meaning of the names, the terms, the designs, the symbols that go into making any company distinct and different from its competition. And here’s another great quote that describes brands in a very interesting way.
A brand is a promise. It’s a promise that your company can keep. You make and keep that promise in every product, experience, marketing activity, every action, every corporate decision, every customer interaction.
So now let’s look at a quick definition of marketing.
Marketing outlines the specific activities of how, where, and when a brand will promote its products and services to its customer targets in the marketplace.
Let’s talk about six key differences now between branding and marketing.
Number one, branding is the what and the why, and marketing is the how. so branding is concerned with the what of the product, what the products and services are, what do they do, what is the value that’s delivered. We also call this the value proposition. Branding is why the seller does something. Marketing, on the other hand, is about tactics. It’s about how the seller will go to market, how they will promote their goods. Marketing is about advertising. It’s about communication it’s about communicating benefits both functional emotional.
Now number two is branding is long-term and marketing is short-term. Branding is concerned with long-term equity, long-term value. It’s about establishing a stored memory, stored experience, a stored perception in the consumers mind. It’s about a deep emotional resonance that lasts over time.
Marketing, on the other hand, is concerned with generating immediate action. It’s about short-term activity.
And number three is branding is macro and marketing is micro. Branding is concerned, as I said, with that big picture. It’s about overarching perceptions and attitudes. It’s about zooming out. It’s not about short-term activity. Marketing is concerned with details. It’s concerned with actions being taken. It’s concerned with activities that’s happening, activities that are generating sales. what we do, where we do it, how we do it.
And number four is slightly along the same lines, and that is that branding is trajectory and marketing is tactics. So branding is really concerned with the long-term direction. What is the North Star? Where are we going with our strategic direction of the brand?
Where is the company positioning itself in the marketplace in relation to its competition. Now marketing on the other hand is really about tactics. It’s concerned with the actions that we’re going to be taking. What is the action we’re going to take? Where are we going to take that action? When are we going to take that action? It’s about moving forward. It’s about taking short-term action.
And number five is kind of about results. Branding builds loyalty while marketing generates action. Branding is concerned with, again, what the consumer feels long-term about the brand. How that loyalty is built. What is that long-term preference? Those long-term buying habits. Marketing, on the other hand, is concerned with short-term, quick, immediate action. Anything that is going to create immediate results for the brand.
And finally, number six is about value. Branding creates value. while marketing monetizes that value. So branding seeks to instill that deep emotional resonance, that deep emotional meaning into the consumer about the brand. It seeks to create that long-term affinity, that long-term preference. How do you get people to share about the brand word of mouth? How do you get them to pass it down to their kids, their preference about what brands to use? Marketing on the other hand is about turning that value into money. marketing seeks to extract tribute, extract money from the consumer for those functional benefits, for those emotional benefits that the brand is delivering. So monetizing value is what marketing is about.
In short,
- Branding what and why, marketing about how
- 2. Branding long term, marketing short term
- 3. Branding macro, marketing micro
- 4. Branding trajectory, marketing strategy
- 5. Branding build loyalty, marketing quick action
- 6. Branding create value, marketing monetize value
Let me just tell you to feel free to check out my profile to get more insights about branding, marketing, product development and more.
