The Difference Between Branding and Marketing
AND WHY YOU CAN’T MARKET YOUR BUSINESS UNTIL YOU HAVE A BRAND
If you’ve landed on this page, you’re likely looking to increase exposure and revenue for your business through branding and marketing. And maybe you’re a bit confused about which one to focus on or how either would benefit you. We understand your confusion; there’s a lot of conflicting information about branding and marketing floating around out there. Let’s break it down and explain why it’s important to establish a solid brand before investing your time and money into marketing.WHAT IS BRANDING?
If you ask the average consumer what branding a business would entail, you’d likely hear something about designing a logo. And while logo design is important to establish your brand identity, it’s not the whole story. Of course branding includes things like choosing your business’s colors, designing a logo, and deciding on a font for your website. But branding also serves a much higher purpose. Branding establishes the personality of your business. It defines the position and it’s essence. Many of us create “brands” for ourselves by the way we dress, how we decorate our home, and the music we listen to. Which is why the term has become a colloquial phrase to say that some things we like or do are “on brand” and some things we hate are “not on brand.”![branding agency partner](https://nice-branding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/branding-agency-partner.jpg)
THE PROCESS OF BRANDING
If branding consists of what you say, do, and how you present yourself, then the truth is branding happens regardless of whether you invest in establishing it or not. So if you don’t take the proper steps to plan and take control of your message, you won’t be consistent, and without knowing EXACTLY what you want your brand to be, you could end up with a brand that is messy and drives your target customers away unintentionally. The world is already a messy place. Strive to be a source of comfort and consistency for your customer. Consistency is key. People avoid and distrust unreliability. Cohesive branding will help establish a trust between you and your customer. Create a brand personality and you will befriend your customers. That way, even if they don’t need your services or products when they first come into contact with your brand, they will remember and it will be branded into their memory. So how can you create a unique personality for your business that will inspire a deep and lasting relationship with your customers?![logo design nashville](https://nice-branding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/logo-design-nashville.jpg)
HOW IS MARKETING DIFFERENT?
Once you’ve established who you are as a business, marketing is your next move. Marketing is an action you take as a brand. It’s the promotions for your products or services, the advertisements, the email campaigns, the content creation, the social media (we can help with that too). It’s how your customers get the vital information they need to understand how your brand fits into their life and what it can do for them. Your marketing, however, must stay true to the image and personality you’ve established during the foundational branding stage.![difference between branding and marketing](https://nice-branding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/difference-between-branding-and-marketing.jpg)
HOW BRANDING AND MARKETING WORK TOGETHER
Branding and marketing have a symbiotic relationship; they help each other thrive. When done correctly, and in the correct order, brand-based marketing works effortlessly and will have a lasting impact. Properly aligned marketing will build your brand. Poor marketing will harm your brand. Branding is the precursor to marketing and it will make your marketing far more productive. Trying to jump right into selling without first establishing who you are, why it matters, and what your position in the market is won’t build a connection or a memorable reputation. Marketing simply won’t reap as many benefits without a thoughtful and purpose-driven brand.![best brand agency](https://nice-branding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/best-brand-agency.jpg)