Branding and Marketing: Their Differences and Significance to Firm’s Growth

What is branding and marketing? Do they refer to the same things? Do they differ in their meaning to a business or not? The reality is that many businesses and companies do not understand the difference between the two concepts. Many companies and business executives wrongly use the two terms interchangeably.

Marketing is used to indicate the wholeness of the tactics and efforts that an organization puts in place to push for sales or to attract customers. For instance, marketing may include messages that seek to motivate customers to buy a product or a service because it is cheaper, of a higher quality, sweeter, healthier, and so on. At the end, the main goal of these messages and efforts is to make a sale.

On the other hand, branding is more complex and long-term. While marketing aims at selling a product or service, branding involves the communication efforts that aim to express the true worth of a business, its products, and its services. Branding allows your business to define its true identity, what it truly stands for, and what customers should  consistently expect from your products and services. Branding is the identity that separates your business from the others beyond the types of products that you offer.

Marketing Drives Sales, Branding Drives Loyalty

Marketing and branding lead to different outcomes for your business. The immediate goal of marketing is to drive sales and make sure that your business attains a profit. In this case, the more sales achieved from a marketing effort, the better for the organization, as it is likely to achieve higher profits. To succeed in this, marketing identifies and activates buyers of your services and products. This can be done through many approaches such as increasing social media presence, advertising on mainstream media, or running promotions.

Branding leads to brand loyalty and converts those who buy your services to your ambassadors, repeat customers, and advocates. The way a company sells its products, interacts with its customers, packages its products, and maintains the quality of its goods and services are important factors that lead to branding. As such, your organization’s marketing efforts and the wholeness of its interaction with the customers are critical determinants of your firm’s brand.

Both concepts complement each other and ensure that your organization is successful. Well-planned and effective marketing strategies pay off through sales and brand reinforcement. On the other hand, branding makes it easier for the organization to drive sales and gain brand loyalty from its customers.

Branding and Marketing are Critical: Branding is Bigger

Marketing is essential in ensuring that an organization attains profits and is thus tactical. On the other hand, branding is reflected in all activities of an organization and is therefore strategic. At the end of a marketing campaign, branding still remains. In other words, it is how your clients remember and associate with your services and products. It is the key element in creating the perception of receiving quality products, enjoying a quality customer service experience, and feeling a desire to buy and use your services and products again. A brand determines whether a customer will remain loyal or not to your products and services. As such, all the marketing activities of an organization must strive to ensure that they support the branding efforts of an organization.

The Importance of Branding and Marketing

Marketing is important to your organization as it provides an opportunity for your products and services to be introduced and known to customers. Further, it leads to higher sales, which lead to higher profits. A good marketing strategy can also lead to a better reputation for your company, thus contributing to the strength of the brand.

Branding ensures that the consumers understand and trust the values that the organization holds. It ensures that your organization and its products are easily recognizable. Further, it ensures that the company attains brand loyalty among its customers.

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