Marketing vs Branding: What’s the Difference?

Starting a business brings together a realm of associated jargon and two such topics being Marketing and Branding. Many of us are unclear about marketing vs branding – the core differences between these two elementary yet very critical topics.

So in this article, we try to unfold the core marketing vs branding differences:

In reality, we often take marketing and branding to be synonymous, yet there exist a lot of marketing vs branding points which makes them topics vastly different. Understanding the terms marketing and branding individually and marketing vs branding differences collectively would lead you to utilize them to benefit your very own business effectively.

Marketing:

 Marketing is essentially a set of activities, processes, strategies, tools and actions which directed towards effectively selling off your products or services to customers or consumers, setting aside those products or services offered by your competitors.

Marketing is a more significant set of activities other than the commonly thought concept of just selling. It also is a practice aimed at the generation of revenue, managing finances, setting prices, managing distribution lines effectively and also effectively managing the entire supply chains and production lines or operations.

Branding:

 Branding is that set of activities under the marketing set which aims at increasing your value, setting certain rules and regulations and defining a specific Mission and Vision and actively and proactively working to achieve them. Branding refers to the set of activities that aims at creating a non-monetary impression in the customer’s minds which motivates him or her to buy your product or service setting aside others.

Branding can also include the creation of Logos, Symbols or even the trademarked Name of the company which when uttered or seen by the customer instantly connects him or her with the company’s ideology, quality and trustability.

Marketing vs. Branding: The Major Difference

 Moving on after brief definitions of the terms Marketing and Branding let us move towards marketing vs branding, which is also the heading of our article, marketing vs branding.

Marketing actively promotes a product or Service; Branding is actively working towards Image value creation amongst customers.

Marketing is a set of activities aimed at catching customer’s attention towards your product or service; while branding describes a set of activities aimed at retaining customer’s attention.

Marketing aims at boosting revenue and sales and shooting-up profits; Branding aims at retaining customers, increasing their trusts and boosting their loyalties.

Marketing activities and strategies can change according to the needs and situations and market demands; Branding is a lasting image of your business in customers minds and should not change ideally.

Marketing strategies effectively aim at generating Branding image in the customers, which makes them loyal patriots to your products or services.

Marketing vs branding contd…

Marketing strategies vary from industry to industry; Branding is a permanent image created and does not vary across sectors, for example, Tata Steel and Tata Consultancy marketing strategy would vary while the brand image of Tata is symbolic of their brand image.

Marketing needs constant chopping and changing, and there is always a dynamicity of changing strategies; branding is a challenging process. Once a Brand value ios attained, it demands a rigorous set of controlled activities to keep the image at least constant if not ever-increasing.

Marketing experts are always conscious of their Brand values. It means their activities direct towards retaining the brand image while after Brand value is attained businesses and companies deter from losing that hard-earned reputation and trust and design their operations, keeping the brand image in mind. Both are correlated sets of activities, and it is isn’t very easy to separate them and precisely tell which follows the other. Instead, it would be apt to say that both go hand in hand in driving sales and revenue of a company or business.

Start-ups and newer companies focus on strengthening their marketing qualities, but seasoned businesses focussed on Brand oriented Marketing. Experienced campaigners are risk-averse and are more cautious about losing their hard-earned reputation at the cost of gaining petty gains. They are very wary finalizing their pricing strategy, competitive policies and their general marketing strategy. Newcomers or Start-ups are more aggressive in their approach as they don’t have an experience of the Branding factor, and thus they are risk-takers.

 These are few of the marketing vs branding points which are often unclear to everyday folks like us, and these marketing vs branding points help us what strategy we should follow to boost up our business. These marketing vs branding also enhance our core understanding of Marketing and Branding. Reading through these marketing vs branding points, you can also become aware of what strategy best suits your own business.

 Analyzing these marketing vs branding points of difference can help you to outshine your competitors and make your business successful.

 Utilizing these marketing vs branding points, you can devise which size fits you best, that is aggressive or worrying depending upon which phase you choose from marketing vs branding analysis of your firm.

 The overall growth of your business is related to your understanding of marketing vs branding points. The salient points in the marketing vs branding analysis can be well thought over after deliberations with your core team. And your formulation for an active, adaptable strategy that is whether marketing or branding choice for your business is final after critical Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of marketing vs branding points.

A successful businessman understands marketing vs branding points to the core day in and day out. He or she never confuses the terms Marketing and Branding as he or she is well aware of the marketing vs branding points. 

We hope you have a great understanding of Marketing vs Branding after reading this article.



Henny Darwin is a content strategist and moderator at Designfier, one of the leading graphic design marketplaces.