Branding before Marketing
The difference between Branding and Marketing
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The difference between Branding and Marketing 〰️
Branding and Marketing - same thing, right?!........Not quite.
Branding and Marketing are equally important and often overlap - but knowing the difference between each will help you with your strategies. In short, Branding allows you to develop and share your business message before you communicate it through Marketing.
In this blog - we break it down. What is branding? What is marketing? and we share some examples, of Nike’s branding and marketing, to help you understand the difference between the 2.
What is Branding?
Branding is the way a business conveys its brand identity. Creating a brand identity gives your business character and provides a narrative on what you offer, why you do it and where it all leads.
It’s about who you’re speaking to (your target audience), how you communicate with them and building an overall experience between your business and customers.
Part of your brand’s identity is visual through branding elements such as your logo, colour palette and fonts. And the other part of it is represented through the words you use and your style of communication.
If you don’t create a brand identity, people wouldn't be able to relate to you and may choose other businesses selling the same products and services.
Examples of Branding.
Nike is always used as a branding example because of its iconic slogan, “Just Do It.” Their slogan represents the core of their brand: inspiring athletes to conquer anything and keep moving forward – and they believe, if you have a body, you're an athlete. Creative inclusiveness. This idea is complemented by its famous “swoosh” logo which represents motion and speed.
What is Marketing?
Marketing is the way you promote and sell your products or services. It includes your market research, advertising, sales and branding. Marketing involves strategies to reach your target audience, to turn them into loyal customers and grow your business.
Marketing activities include your website and social media platforms to grow your online presence, ensuring every touch point feels familiar using basic branding rules, and connecting with your target audience through brand awareness and engagement campaigns. This is why people are using reels so much at the moment. Video content is a favoured marketing method to connect with your audience through educational or entertaining content.
How you execute your marketing is defined by your branding.
Examples of Marketing.
Nike has a well-known brand for pushing for excellence.
One marketing campaign that made waves was the “Find Your Greatness” campaign. The messaging was simple; it was more about personal achievements over athletes and their championship trophies. It featured everyday people and empowered everyone to go for what they desired.
Nike’s branding to push for excellence was the backbone of this campaign.
The difference between Branding and Marketing.
Easy ways to think about are like this:
Branding is the lyrics and music sheet, marketing is the singer.
Branding is the paint palette, and marketing is the artist.
Branding is the script, marketing is the director and the acting cast.
The 2 have important roles and work together - but each role is different. Each complements the other and needs the other to be successful.
Your brand identity is the base of your marketing plans. You need a meaningful logo, to make an ad. You need a brand persona to define your tone of voice in social media captions. You want people to connect with you, so the emotional value in your branding comes before the actual value of the product or service. Your brand identity is the toolbox that your marketing team uses.
Your marketing is what you create using your brand identity to grab the attention of your audience, build customer loyalty and increase sales.
Examples of how Branding and Marketing work together.
Connecting With Your Audience
Everyone’s understanding of branding used to be the design elements such as the company logo and colour palette. BUT now the importance of the customer experience is being just as important. If your customers support your business, it means they likely have shared values. Branding naturally brings people together, but marketing nurtures that connection.
Businesses continuously evolve, and that is the same for your branding and marketing priorities. The past 2 years are a prime example, with Tiktok and Reels changing the way social platforms push and favour video content.
If you’re a business owner, stay true to your brand values, and be open to new ways of marketing your business. Continuously learn, adapt and optimize your strategy to stay ahead of your competition.
If you're unsure how to do this – and you can’t go wrong with expert help.
Inspiring Design is a Branding and Web Design business, supporting Small businesses since 2016. As a Branding and Web Design service, you can receive one-on-one support on how to create and implement your branding and marketing across your chosen sales channels,
Book a consultation with us today to discuss your Branding needs, and get support to design your Branding, complete with a Tailored Brand Style Guide.
or you can Download our Brand Style Guide Template today to use as you please.
Written by Natasha Tahiwi To Done (NZ) || Published by Inspiring Design
