Many of us who don’t have in-depth knowledge on the subject, consider branding and marketing as two interchangeable concepts carrying the same meaning. To some extent, we can say this misconception is justified as these two concepts seem to overlap more often than not, are pretty similar in nature and application, and are closely dependent on each other. That being said, branding and marketing do differ from each other in their purpose and objective. Branding is responsible for establishing the identity of an enterprise, whereas marketing does the job of popularising that identity among the mass through tractive communication. For brand practitioners and modern ventures, it is essential to distinguish between these parallel concepts and align their strategies accordingly to convey a clear message to their consumers. Branding, as the name suggests, is all about your brand. It is the process of defining your brand and creating a unique identity for your brand in the market. Branding answers solicited questions such as what your mission is, what your values are, and what makes you stand out. We often tend to limit branding activities to the colour of a company’s logo or the website’s design.
Interestingly, in its truest form, branding is more often than not about what people feel rather than what they see. It tells your story the way you want it to be told. It conveys your brand message to customers and tries to connect them with that message. The pinnacle of branding success has been achieved by the soft drink seller “Coca-Cola” with a straightforward yet impactful message- Coca-Cola is an indispensable part of the happiest moments of your life. Thus, you’re looking forward to opening a bottle of Coca-Cola whenever you’re celebrating. This is how branding can forge an emotional attachment between your brand and your consumers and give them a reason to buy from you. So, branding is essentially about creating a shared identity for your business which adds an emotional value to a materialistic product. After you set your brand image, it is up to effective marketing to promote that message to the targeted audience using various channels. The main objective of marketing is to generate interest in the good or service. A company’s identity and what it has to offer are communicated to its target customers through a set of actions called marketing. Going back to Coca-Cola, the soda company launched a promotional campaign known as “Share a Coke”, which was carried out with a simple goal- portraying how friends and families share their joyous moments with Coke in the background. Coca-Cola wanted to embed their brand image of sharing happiness with Coke in this promotional campaign and wanted people to feel an immediate positive association with the product. This is how marketing can help echo your unique brand identity, familiarise potential consumers with your brand and get more people to share your brand’s identity.
Branding vs Marketing: Key Differences
The fundamental difference between branding and marketing lies in the basic characteristic of these two phenomena. Branding is a consistent identity of who you’re. Your brand image, values and purpose should be clear and unchanged from day one to foster a warm connection with your consumers. Any change in your brand identity or core value would untangle the knot of trust and loyalty that you form with your customers as a brand. Nevertheless, branding is not stagnant and requires fine-tuning or upgradation as you grow your venture; it is okay to do so as long as you don’t completely stray away from your core value. On the other hand, marketing should be ever-evolving in accordance with society’s shifting patterns, trends and requirements. It is to say that a brand does not change the core message it wants to convey but can undoubtedly change the medium of communicating that message to its audience, from newspapers to social media handles with the growing utility of technology, for example. Marketing aims to grab the attention of as many people as possible in the shortest span of time. Outreach campaigns can spread the brand to a larger pool but don’t always guarantee successful retention. It is branding which decides the loyal customer base for any brand. Marketing gimmicks are also often set with smaller goals, whereas branding strategy is the pillar on which a company stands. Therefore, branding is a long-term process, whereas marketing can be carried out for merely days or weeks.
Branding or Marketing: Which comes first?
In the business hierarchy, branding comes first as it is a pre-condition to any marketing scheme. Without a clear brand persona, you cannot set a unified tone for your gimmicks, and all your efforts would result in a shot in the dark. People naturally seek a reason to pay attention to you. Therefore, the emotional value of your branding often takes precedence over the utility of the actual good or service. In simple terms, you can only preach a brand effectively after you create one in the first place. Some might argue that marketing should come before branding, giving a company its initial traction and driving sales. Still, it is branding which turns one-time purchases into regular subscriptions and maximises the outcome of marketing efforts. That is why branding is given more significance than marketing in the grand scheme of establishing a venture.
Blending Branding and Marketing
Good marketing campaigns are aligned with the central brand identity to give off a consistent message which is critical for sustained traction. Therefore, the colours, language, captions and overall marketing campaign planning are designed so that your brand identity shines through. It is obvious that there is no point in putting your effort into establishing a brand identity if you cannot promote it effectively. Marketing breaches the communication gap between a brand and its potential consumers. The vital aspect of successful marketing is to find out and approach the correct target group according to the goods or services you are providing. So, marketing takes a company’s brand image and conveys it to those who would find it interesting, helpful or necessary. That means, the identity a business creates by branding is validated by marketing. The bottom line is that both branding and marketing are intrinsically connected, and a business can only flourish by carrying out these activities efficiently.
Despite the overlapping nature of the two concepts- branding and marketing undoubtedly have different roles in building a business. Nevertheless, they work so closely that it is hard to imagine a world where they are not intertwined. Branding brings together a community of loyal customers, but marketing nurtures that connection. Modern enterprises need to bring their A-game to the table regarding branding and marketing and make sure neither of these gets left behind to survive in this fierce competition of the 21st century. Striking the right balance between branding and marketing will undoubtedly bring any brand closer to its ultimate growth and heightened success.
Author – Sadman Bin Ahsan
