Branding vs Marketing (Understand The Difference)

Have you ever second-guessed yourself when it comes to differentiating between branding vs. marketing? If so, you have come to the right place as here we will spill all the beans about the same.

Branding and marketing are the words that are quite popular among business and startup owners. Most people think of it as the same thing, but there is a difference.

Whether you are building your business from scratch or well-established among your end-users, business words like branding and marketing won’t leave your side. Every business relies on these words.

To understand it better, let’s take a typical example, when you plant seeds and nourish them with water and manure daily, they will grow into a healthy plant. Right?

Here the concept of branding and marketing is quite similar, the nourishment you provide in the form of water and manure are marketing efforts, and the seed you planted, which grew into a healthy plant, is your established brand. Both the terms are correlated, and business is nothing without it.

Most often consumers lean towards an well-established brand while purchasing. For instance, let’s take if I would give you two options to eat such as Macdonald’s burger or any roadside burger; you would pick the first one because you have heard entirely about it and you trust the name. That’s the power of branding.

You might have got an idea of what we are talking about but let’s learn the difference between marketing and branding in detail.

Common Definitions: Branding v/s Marketing

Now let’s learn the definition of branding and marketing in detail. Branding is basically who you are as a business. It includes your ethics, mission, goals, anything that defines your business. Not only this, branding consists of some key and primary elements too, such as logo, business name, mobile application, website, etc.

Whether small or large, every business wants its footprints left on the customer’s mind because customers return to the company that makes them happy and satisfied. That's not possible if you haven’t set up the strategy that shifts you from new business to brand. Branding requires a set of techniques that meets the end-users goals and helps the company to become a popular and well-established name.

The whole process takes time; you can’t expect any business to become a brand in a day. Branding requires proper dedication and execution. Brands like Levi’s, H&M, etc., are well-established names in the clothing industry, but if you think they become famous overnight, then you are wrong. It involves years of dedication and hard work to become an established name and not forgetting the core values.

On the other hand, marketing refers to the steps and actions that strengthen branding. It is a tried and tested method that enhances brand awareness. Marketing efforts help businesses to convert and convince customers to buy the product.

To understand marketing better, let’s take the example of Macdonald’s; why do people love it?

Because of the ad campaign they are running, their service, and the burger they are selling. Macdonald’s was started with a single outlet, but with dozens of marketing campaigns each year, it became worldwide famous.

In simple words, marketing adds value to branding, and that’s why both the terms are correlated and that is why you use it interchangeably.

Common Differences: Branding v/s Marketing

So far, we have discussed how branding is part of marketing but let’s focus on the thin line differentiating the two.

As I mentioned above, branding helps to build your business name among customers while marketing helps you bring new customers and keeps them engaged with the services you are offering.

Both are different and work in a way to strengthen your business. Now let’s put light on some distinctions between them.

• No doubt marketing helps you get customer attention, such as the advertisement we watch on television, but branding enables us to remember the marketing efforts. For example, thousands of Macdonald’s promotions have aired on television so far but only some of them get stuck in your head and also the thing which always draws attention is big “M ''. That’s how people remember the brand and hence branding is done to associate your brand with a certain identity in the customer's mind. That differentable identity could be your logo, product, service or it could be anything related to the business.
• Marketing is done to generate sales , while branding is done to let people use the product or service again and again. Therefore branding ultimately enhances customer retention and later down the line, some loyalty towards the product.
• Another difference between branding and marketing is, all the branding efforts are for customers but the marketing activities are for business.
• Further, marketing efforts influence customers in the buying process whereas branding creates impact in the customer’s mind without buying anything.

Common Misconceptions: Branding v/s Marketing

Those who lack knowledge of branding and marketing often misuse them. There are various misconceptions around the same. Here, I will cast light on the same in this section.

• The first misconception that revolves around branding is that it is all about the promotions. I mean branding goes much deeper than any promotional or marketing activity. The purpose of marketing or promotional activities are to deliver the business message to end-users whereas branding is a placard and live sign of your business.
• The second biggest misconception is business logos are the ultimate representation of branding, which is not valid. The business designs brand values set at the early stage of the business. Still, ultimately customers are the ones who have the final authority to decide if they believe in the business’s brand values or not. A business that fails to analyze customers' perspectives while determining their brand values and ethics, results in ultimate failure.
• Another misconception is there are tricks available that will help you make your brand a success very quickly is entirely false. People fall for such stuff because everything is online today, and there are various types of strategies claimed, but the truth is that things that work fine for one business won’t work best for another. There is no shortcut available; to make your brand a huge success, you have first to analyze it, and by that time, you will develop strategies that will help in your business growth.
• Further, the popular misconception related to marketing is only big business or companies need marketing campaigns which is not at all true. Whether you are a big corporate house or a bootstrapped startup, you will need marketing to reach your customers.
• Moreover, most people think that they don’t need to market their products or services to existing customers, which is not the right thing. No matter how huge the customer base is, most of your customers won’t come back to you until you reach them and retain them.

Common Examples: Branding v/s Marketing

Now that you have a clear idea of branding and marketing let's understand how branding and marketing are essential for business. Have you ever wondered why the prefix “i” holds power in a gadgets world?

If we connect it with any product, people will assume the product belongs to Apple and that’s the power of branding. Good branding creates an impact among the customer that will last forever.

One such example is Nike which is ruling the market in both branding and marketing efforts. Let’s understand the same in detail. Nike has created a perfect branding in the market through its slogan “Just do it”. The slogan represents the company’s value and inspires everyone, particularly athletes, that they can do anything in their power to achieve the desired result.

Also how can one forget Nike’s “find your greatness” campaign. The campaign featured ordinary or common men and pushed them to find their greatness. The simple aim was to motivate people towards their greatness. This was one such great ad campaign.

Hence a series of such great marketing campaigns where the brand’s message is delivered clearly will lead to branding and brand reputation.

Conclusion

That’s all!

I hope that you will understand what branding and marketing are and how they are essential for any business. Branding and marketing go hand in hand, but they are not the same.

Another thing that should be crystal clear in a business owner's mind is that branding and marketing are not one-time things. To make your business successful, you need to experiment with things and need to adapt in multiple ways to connect with your end-users.

Nobody can vouch for your business better than your customers, therefore keep your customer persona at top while doing both branding and marketing.