Branding vs. Marketing

After nearly 10 years of being in this industry and helping business owners with their branding and marketing needs, I noticed a gap where entrepreneurs lacked the understanding of how branding and marketing go hand-in-hand. 

We see it all the time…

Entrepreneurs using these two terms branding and marketing interchangeably. 

These two concepts do compliment each other and should 100% be used together, but they are definitely not synonymous.

First, let’s define branding vs. marketing 

Branding

Branding is the cohesiveness and the representation of your business. Its purpose is to bring trust, recognition, and loyalty to your business. 

Think of branding as the what or the who. Your brand is the way you/your business stands out amongst industry saturation. It helps separate you with the digital chatter and clearly explains to your audience why you are the perfect choice for them. 

Think of your brand as your company’s personality.

It’s the stories you share and the way you are perceived in the market. 

Your brand consists of your mission, vision, core values, brand promise, the visuals, etc. 

It’s important to have these brand components together before starting the marketing practices to make the marketing efforts effective. 

When you think about coca-cola, we don’t buy coke because of the swirly red and white font and the can is red and white. We buy coca-cola because of the stories it reminds us of. 

Stories like: Friday pizza nights with the family when dad we would come home with 2 large pizzas, 2 orders of breadsticks, and two 2-liters. Oh and blockbuster movies, remember blockbuster?

Marketing 

Marketing is the set of tools you decide to use while delivering your brand. It can be the processes, systems, platforms, features, etc. that you leverage to get your brand out there into the online world. 

Let’s go back to the coca-cola example:

Marketing is the way that coca-cola reminds us of the brand and the consistency behind it. Since they are an extremely large brand they leverage commercials and celebrity platforms as their marketing avenues the most. 

Side note: At one point coca-cola made a huge brand fail by changing the color of the can to orange and white instead of the classic red and white. This made consumers believe that the formula had changed just because the color changed. Even though the visual side of branding isn’t everything, it’s still a reminder of the consistent product/service.

Marketing strategies will come and go, it’s always evolving. Your brand (although will need updating or revisited) should never go out of trend. This is why we created Legendary Brands Society because Legendary Brands always stand the test of time.

How to use branding and marketing together

After defining your brand, start asking yourself these questions:

What platforms is my avatar (ideal client/customer)  hanging out on?

Tiktok and LinkedIn are two very different platforms. It’s probably a safe bet to say that the same people probably aren’t switching back and forth between those two apps. 

How and why do they use those platforms?

Are they there to learn? Are they there out of boredom? Are they there to shop? Or are they there to stay in the loop with news apps?

What features of the platforms are they engaging on most?

Do they prefer going through stories? Do they enjoy binging reels/tiktoks? Maybe they like to hang out in Facebook groups? 

How often are they on these platforms?

Are they checking social media just a couple of times a day? Or are they on there enough for it to be a part-time or full-time job?

What times are they online?

If your avatar works 9-5, I would assume they are online more in the evenings or during lunchtime. 

What makes them press add to cart?

Do they buy because of social proof, testimonials, or referrals? Or maybe price value is what makes them buy. One thing to remember is that people always buy out of emotion. 

After you have those questions answered, you can start piecing together your marketing strategy and effectively show your brand to the right people.

We know that this can be a lot to try to figure out on your own, so I invite you to join us for the Launch Party of Legendary Brands Society.

Legendary Brands Society is a self-guided, self-paced membership community that we created to make brand-building resources accessible for every business builder on social media.

We are stoked to launch LBS next month, but to gain access to the founding member’s pricing, prizes, and bonuses make sure to join the waitlist!