Branding vs Marketing II
Today I’m going to share with you the difference between the two to better equip you as business leaders to make smarter decisions when investing your dollars this coming year.
How Marketing Works.
Let’s imagine a guy walks into a bar, notices a beautiful lady, is interested in her and makes an attempt to get her interested in him as well. He walks up to her and we can hear him talk about how he is a great person, great lover, how that he is a perfect ladies man. Now – we all know this guy is probably going home alone.
He’s not getting the positive response from the lady that he had hoped for.
His actions mimic how marketing works. Marketing is designed to push.
How Branding Works. Now, imagine a very different scenario where we see a true ladies man (the guy at the bar that every non-committed girl is interested in ), we walk by two girls and we hear one of them say, ‘oh that guy, I hear he’s such a great person, I hear he’s is honest and loyal.
The kind of attention that this second guy gets is magnetic; this is how great branding works, It’s a pull effect). Unlike marketing, (customers are attracted to and are pulled toward your business rather than pushed into buying).
Branding allows your customers to connect with you, what you stand for creating an emotional bond and immediate trust. Marketing adopts a tactical and tangible approach. It may contribute to a brand, but the brand is bigger than any particular marketing effort. The brand is what remains after the marketing has swept through the room. It’s what sticks in your mind and is associated with the product, service, or organization—whether or not, at that particular moment, you bought or not.
Branding involves taking strategic steps towards growing your business, ultimately setting the business up for long-term gain. Branding encourages customers to make purchases and plays an instrumental role in advancing sales or marketing tactics. Two tips to make better investments with your marketing for the coming year.
1. Understand, define and utilize your brand before implementing marketing. This will save you money, time and frustration. You may want to ask yourself, “Have we evolved to a point where we need to revisit our brand?? What should we be communicating that we aren’t to the world?
2. Make smart marketing choices. Not every marketing tactic will support your business goals or business model. There is an equation I use to see if certain marketing is worth exploring. You may want to ask yourself, “Are we doing a good job of keeping track of our marketing and where and how could we do it better? Do our tactics align with our brand?
About Michelle Roberts
President of Novus - Be Known, Inc.
