Marketing vs. Branding

You should know the key difference
between marketing vs. branding

These two business functions are often believed to be mean the same thing. We beg to differ, and by understanding that Marketing and Branding are two distinct functions, but work together to achieve a specific goal in brand positioning and brand building, you will be better equipped to leverage both and elevate your overall ROI. It’s time to leverage the difference between marketing vs. branding.

Here’s an interesting analogy: Take a moment to think about your business brand as a a Hollywood movie. Your marketing efforts are the SCRIPT and your Brand’-ing’ is role of the ACTORS. A good script (a good marketing campaign) can be a total bust if the actors (your brand) cannot pull it off consistently, memorably, and with full on believability. So, no matter how good the script, if your actors cannot be trusted, believed, and are not memorable, you’ve just wasted a lot of production expenses!

To be blunt and transparent – You and your competition can basically ‘say’ anything you want within your marketing campaigns. But the actual delivery of the messages’ promise is the real litmus test of the brand experience. When/if you don’t actually deliver the experience you are promising, you might as well crawl in a cave and disappear. Because in this day and age of evangelistic, on-the-fly, wordwide web commentary, your brand management cannot be left as a secondary concern. Are you ready to fully deliver on your promises? Do you have your systems and processes in place to do so? Are your employees fully aware of your brand position, your unique brand vocabulary, the brand story, and fully enlisted, equipped and engaged in living and delivering on the brand promise? If not, we should talk.

Your Brand’s DNA is the foundation of building a successful, meaningful and authentic brand story that your customers can connect to and engage with at a deeper, more meaningful level. Live your brand from the inside out first, then market the heck out of it to fully leverage your competitive advantage.

Watch this for a brief explanation of Marketing vs. Branding.

When you build your brand, at the internal level, you are building a powerful foundation for your marketing efforts. Your brand DNA will provide you with clarity and distinctive brand content, vocabulary, and a way of being that will be reflected in your marketing, but more importantly in your brand behaviors. Creating engaging, distinctive, and consistent behaviors will enhance your competitive advantage and build customer advocacy.