The Difference Between Marketing and Branding

Written by Mark Klossner, Founder & Fractional CMO, Many Hats Marketing - nearly 30 years in marketing leadership at Fortune 500 brands including, John Deere and Mercury Marine. About Many Hats Marketing

It's not enough to simply tell customers to buy your product or service. You have to give them the "why" to pick you over the others.

Marketing and branding.

They kind of seem like the same thing sometimes, don't they?

Start a conversation with anyone that doesn't work in the marketing profession, and you'll hear the two words used like interchangeably. To be fair, even to marketing professionals sometimes the lines between the two are blurred.

Well, the words are definitely closely related. You can't have one without the other. But their roles and purpose are definitely different. How?

I'm not going to take credit for coining the phrase, but one of my favorite ways to explain in very simple terms, the difference and connection between the goes like this:

Marketing is like asking someone one a date. Branding is the reason they say "yes" or "no."

Think about that. Nearly everyone can relate to it.

The general word marketing covers a lot of ground. It's a noun. It's a verb. In general, it's the practice of communicating with an audience (customers). It's done in many different ways - especially in today's world. The essence of marketing is this, we are a company that makes things/provides services that we'd like you to purchase.

Now the tricky or "gooey" part. Why should they purchase from you and not someone else?

That's when branding kicks in.

There are a number of strategies to convince someone that you/your business, service, product are the right one for them. We often consider these questions for branding:

• Does our brand clearly know who our customers are?

• Do we clearly understand what problems our customers are trying to solve?

• Do our company values align with our customers' values?

• When we advertise, write content, publish videos, does what we are saying or writing connect with our customers or are we just talking about ourselves?

• Do we understand what our customers go through on a daily basis?

• Do we have a clear understanding of the expectations our customers have when it comes to our brand, product, services?

• What do others say about our brand via reviews, testimonials, etc? Also, where are they talking about our company? (Google Reviews, Reddit, Yelp, etc).

Of course, there are more questions to consider but at the heart of branding is trust.

When we think of branding, we have to think about a little bit of everything. A customer's emotions, fears, aspirations, goals, values, dreams (both good and bad), how they view themselves, how they want others to view them. It's really a complex stew of psychological ingredients.

The best brands are really good at understanding all of the factors that impact their customers and blending those factors into messaging, content, etc., that clearly resonates with them. The brands that stay away from "self-speak" and engage in "we get you" are the most successful. Is it easy? No. It's a craft.

When I look at a company's branding, the first thing I think about is "Who is/are their target market, you know, their Ideal Customer Personas (ICPs)Marketing 101? Does what they are saying or doing in their marketing resonate with that group? If you pay close attention to the marketing or advertising today, sometimes the brand will literally state who their product or service is targeting. For instance, if you listen to the voice over of a pharmaceutical brand you will hear them say "for people with XYX condition." That's a clear statement of their target market.

Other branding maybe harder to decipher. Many times, the visuals that tell the story. What the person is wearing. What they are doing. Where they are. How they are acting. All of it can tell you who they are targeting. They potential customers see what the paid actor is doing, what he/she is wearing. The expression on their face. The environment that they are doing it in, and they think to themselves (if it's done well) "yeah, that's who I am. That's who I want to be. That's what I want others to think about me." That's branding.

When I work with my clients I dig deep into the physique of their ICPs. I perform an Empathy Audit of their ICPs, with a series of questions that goes well beyond the typical demographic stuff. I want to know EVERYTHING that influences them personally and professionally on a daily basis. Why? Because in reality, for all of us, the two worlds overlap each other constantly. Our personal lives impact our professional lives and vice versa. Those overlaps are often layered with very personal emotions - like fear, embarrassment, dread, joy, insecurity, confidence just to name a few. For a marketer, there's gold in them hills because it can give you a messaging framework that can impact them deeply and meaningfully.

Strong branding that hits the mark can create brand advocates and in more extreme cases, brand zealots. A brand advocate can be your best friend as a marketer. They carry the torch for your brand - recommending it to others, defending it against nay sayers. They talk about it in their social circles and more broadly on their social channels. A brand advocate does NOT take an extreme position about a product. In other words, they recognize and acknowledge things that aren't perfect with the product or service. There's a thread of authenticity to that acknowledgement. During my time at BOSS Snow and Mercury Marine, we used brand advocates to do our branding work for us. We put them out front in our marketing efforts and let them sell for us. Its effective because most consumers will trust an average person that uses the product more than a corporate voice. That's human nature and it's something to be leveraged for marketers.

Brand zealots (sometimes called "evangelists") can also be an effective tool for marketers. Google's definition of a Brand Zealot: A brand zealot is a consumer or advocate who displays extreme, uncritical loyalty to a specific company or product line, often defending it passionately against competitors or criticism, much like a religious or political fanatic. 

The danger with the zealot is loss of credibility. Specifically, the words "extreme. uncritical loyalty." Most consumers hold at least a partial sense of skepticism when it comes to products or services. Afterall, can we agree that there's no such thing as a perfect service, product or company? Anyone that doesn't acknowledge that a product, service or company might have a weak spot or two becomes uncredible in the public's eye. I've launched dozens of new products during my marketing career, and I can assure you, none of them are/were perfect. The burden of a marketer is that they know the truth "behind the curtain" but have to promote it, as well as the company, in only the most positive light. Hopefully, the company has a solid reputation of supporting their customers after the purchase, especially when things go wrong. That really is the thing that separates "good" companies from "great" companies. That support, or lack thereof, becomes part your brand. Does the customer trust you to take care of them, or don't they?

As a marketer or the owner of a brand, company, product, service think carefully about your branding. Think about the problem(s) your customer(s) may be trying to solve. Create a clear path in your branding that shows that you and what you do/sell will help them overcome those problems and remind yourself that those problems may be embedded deeply within their life situation, circumstances, self-identity, hopes, fears, aspirations, nightmares goals, etc. Problems in their professional life, homeownership, etc. can and do impact their personal lives, mindset, sense of security, sense of self-worth - all of it.

Talk TO them not AT them.

Of course, I love working on this stuff. It's what I do. If you need help, just hit the button below and we can talk. It's free to talk. :)

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