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We hear the two concepts confused pretty often, partly because they’re usually bundled up in the same category in a budget. But haphazardly blending branding and marketing together can lead to some mixed messaging going out to your potential clients.
A clear, concise message is the key to making an impression. And, to get the right emotional response, you want to speak that message loudly, proudly, and consistently.
So, what is branding?
Branding is how you present your business to the world at large, what, how, and why you do whatever it is you do. More specifically, it’s how you present your business to your dream client. What emotions do you want those few special people to feel? What do you want them to say about you?
To understand what your brand looks like and what it should say, there are some simple questions that you can answer. What values do you hold as a community of professionals? What is your mission? What inspires you? What makes you so different?
Answer these and you’ll understand what your branding should be.
Then, what is marketing?
Marketing is about projecting and amplifying a message, a call to action. Marketing sells your brand to more people than you might bump into down the street.
Any way that you can think of to amplify your message and reach more people is already a tried-and-true marketing strategy that some firm somewhere uses. Social media, search engines, radio, print, television? What about billboards or even a skywriter?
While branding is an entirely internal process, marketing looks outwards. It takes a whole different set of skills and priorities to run a marketing campaign than it does to make the perfect brand.
That’s why we do branding, not marketing.
The process of weaving your history, vision, and culture into a tangible, interactive experience that truly appeals to your ideal customer is a creative journey. While we need some understanding of what does and doesn’t work from a marketing standpoint to make branding that works, it’s not something we professionally engage with.
The brilliant part of being a design studio is that our job is to translate our client’s vision into something that engages with the right people. So long as the brand we build is true to their story and hits the right notes with their audience, it will make an excellent base for a marketing campaign.
This brings us to the next point.
Where branding and marketing meet.
We said that mixing the two where you shouldn’t leads to confusing messaging, but having one without the other can also miss the mark.
Branding without marketing will leave you with a small voice no one hears. You can have a few really engaged people, but you might find that you don’t have the reach you need to really grow your business.
Marketing without branding will reach people, but it can feel bland, repetitive, and uninspired. You’ll miss the engagement and feeling people really look for before they trust your business. In the worst case, you can annoy people and turn them away.
Finally, your brand needs to come before your marketing campaign. It’s more than just your marketing materials featuring your branding. Your brand should inform your marketing campaign.
If you have serious, no-nonsense branding based on trust and security, your marketing can go down the path of clean advertisements and educational videos. On the other hand, if you have a playful brand that’s a bit cheeky, you might find more success with a fun social media, promotion-based strategy. Maybe even include a stunt or two.
Regardless of how your business operates or who your ideal client is, spend enough time with your favourite creative agency to get your branding just right. It will make your life so much easier when you run your campaign with a marketing company.
Studio Sondar is your branding studio.
Branding is a big deal for us at Studio Sondar. The process of exploring your business, culture, history, and clients to find what best represents you is something that we always treat with a lot of care.
If you’re ready to build the foundation for growth for your business, or if you suspect it might be time to refresh your branding, we’d love to see what we can do for you.
If you’d like to talk about your new branding, or if you have any questions or ideas of your own about making branding work, we’d love to hear from you.
