Do I Really Need Marketing and Branding?
You’ve no doubt heard of marketing and branding, and how you need them to have success as a business.
But do you really need both? And what’s the difference between them anyway?
Marketing tells customers what you’re selling and who you are. Branding is the message from which your business was created. Good branding will let your customer implicitly understand who you are, without having to loudly tell them.
Let’s take a closer look.
Marketing
Marketing is a method of selling your brand. It involves using multiple tools, processes, and strategies to communicate your offering to your audience. These might include:
- Social media marketing
- Search engine advertising
- SEO
- All other digital marketing
- Content marketing
- TV advertising
- Radio advertising
- Print campaigns
It’s ultimately used to drive sales. The goal of marketing is to make money. That’s why marketing will often push a certain product or specific message.
Marketing is crucial for a business to make money— how else will consumers come across your product? It’s possible for consumers to come across a brand purely organically, but you’d be silly to bank on it.
Branding
Branding, on the other hand, is who you are and not just what you offer. It’s your style. It’s what people think of when they think of your brand—associations, vibes, aesthetics. Some of the building blocks that make up your branding are:
- Who you are
- What makes you unique
- What do you look like
- What’s your house style
- Content guidelines
- Mission statement
- Tone of voice
- Values
- Key messages
These are our area of expertise. Branding is how your customers perceive you. Because of this, it’s what drives engagement and loyalty.
Branding is simply the truth of the business. It’s not a sales tactic. Often this truth needs to be drawn out of brands and reflected for them. Then they can properly understand who they are and see themselves from the consumer’s point of view.
How They Work Together
Think of it like this: If your brand was an iPhone, your branding would be the Apple operating system—and your marketing would be everything you do to get your customers excited to get their hands on one.
Branding is who you are and marketing is how you sell it. So naturally, this means branding should typically come first. Your branding will inform how you market and to who. It’s the foundation. You can put thousands of dollars into marketing, but it will only achieve great success if the brand behind it is strong.
Having a solid brand and a clever marketing plan delivers loyal customers who spend money.
The overlap between branding and marketing happens when it comes to your creative, including design and copy. When you write an ad or publish a post on social media, both the image and the copy need to match your house style, while also selling something.
Marketing captures your audience’s attention, and your branding makes them stick around.
At Bellman, we’re here to make the foundation of your branding solid so from there you can build awareness and loyal customers.
