Marketing vs Branding: Touchpoints & Differences

Marketing vs Branding: What is the Difference?

The aim of marketing is to promote your services or products, while the role of branding is to actively shape your brand, establish its identity and determine what it means to the world.

Branding and marketing have different goals and different results, so your company needs different strategies for each.

• Marketing gets a customer's attention, branding keeps it
• Branding drives loyalty and recognition. Marketing brings in leads, converts them to MQLs and then to SQLs, and basically drives sales.
• Branding always must come first and marketing must come second
• Branding, when done right, is forever. Marketing strategies are designed to deliver results and then end.
• You need a brand that impacts in a positive way all stakeholders, not just your customers

Branding comes first, marketing comes second?

Which comes first branding or marketing? Branding always comes before marketing in the process of building a business. Why? An undeveloped brand is hard to market.

Prior to developing a marketing strategy, focus on your brand. What makes you unique? What problem do you solve? How do you define your values? What will you tell your target customers? And how will you do it?

After you build your brand, you'll have a better understanding of who you are, your customers, and how to best connect with them and be able to develop marketing strategies that fit that vision.

You get a customer's attention with marketing. Branding is how you keep it.

In any industry, there are plenty of competitors. Marketing is essential if you want to make waves and get the attention of your customers. But once you’ve got your customer’s attention, you need something to hold it—and branding does just that.

In order to keep your brand in front of the right people," you need to build a brand that people can connect with. Marketing helps you break through the piles of data and reach the right people and if you are doing it right, it connects your brand with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

To sum up, your brand needs the right marketing strategies to stand out from the competition and say to your customers: "Hello! I can solve your problem!" Branding is necessary to cultivate a relationship, create a long-term connection, and keep them coming back long after that first introduction.

Sales are driven by marketing, brand recognition and loyalty are driven by branding.

Content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, banner advertising, affiliate marketing, etc. are all designed to generate results. And, most often than not, those results are revenue from sales.

However, branding is more long-term in nature. If you want to drive sales, branding isn't the best option. But it?is?the best solution if you’re looking to build brand recognition, drive positive brand sentiment, and foster customer loyalty, which is just as if not more important and which, coincidentally, will have a major impact on your ability to drive sales in the long run.

So, when it comes to sales, think of marketing as a sprint—while branding? That’s more like a marathon.

Branding is here to stay, while marketing strategies serve their purpose and end.?

Any interaction or communication with a brand is a touchpoint between the brand and its customers. Brand touchpoints are usually crafted by the brand in order to engage customers and give them the best brand experience possible.

The five consumer touchpoints include:

1. The brand promise
2. Brand story
3. Innovation
4. Purchase / Order
5. Consumer / User experience

The consumer will be confused and likely shut out that brand if the brand doesn't send a consistent message.

In order to successfully market your business, you need to use strategies that are temporary, as each has a beginning and end.

Branding is a little bit different. Every step of the way, no matter where you are in your business, you will be working on defining your brand, shaping the perception of your brand with your target audience, and nurturing a deeper, more meaningful relationship with your customers. Your branding will have to grow and evolve as your company grows and evolves.

Ultimately, marketing strategies will come and go (this is a good thing!). But what about branding? Branding lasts forever.

Branding goes far beyond your customers

It is just as important to brand to all stakeholders as it is to brand to your customers!

Branding can have just as profound an impact on your team, your partners, your investors, influencers and followers as it does on your customers. For your company to succeed, they all must believe in your brand. Any team will be more dedicated to their work when they're building a brand they truly believe in.?

Therefore, your team should develop your marketing strategy, but to get to the next level, you need to create a brand that all involved, both internal and external stakeholders, are passionate about.

Branding, when done right, can go a long way. A great brand speaks for itself.

Great branding books I really loved reading:

1. Start With Why by Simon Sinek

2. Hello, My Name Is Awesome by Alexandra Watkins

3. Power Branding by Steve McKee

4. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by?Donald Miller?and?HarperCollins

5. The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design?by?Marty Neumeier

6. Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits by?Debbie Millman?and?Rob Walker

7. What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest?by Denise Lee Yohn?

8. Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team?by Alina Wheeler?

9. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by?Al Ries &?David Drummond

10. Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities by?David Airey

Great marketing books I really loved reading:

1. The Psychology influence of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
2. Positioning by Al Ries & Jack Trout
3. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
4. Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less by?Joe Pulizzi?
5. Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by?Martin Lindstrom & Paco Underhill
6. Social Media ROI by Olivier Blanchard
7. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by?Charles Kahlenberg &?Chip Heath
8. Social Media Marketing Workbook 2022 by?Jason McDonald &?Michael Goodrick
9. Conversion Optimization: The Art and Science of Converting Prospects to Customers by?Khalid Saleh?and?Ayat Shukairy
10. Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith

Where to start?

• Identify your core beliefs and values.
• Write down your mission statement.
• Why did you start your business?
• To whom will your products or services be marketed?
• How are your products or services unique?
• How would you describe your corporate culture?
• How would you describe your professional style?
• How would you describe your communication style?
• When people hear your business name, what should they think of?
• What are you hoping people will feel when they hear your business name?
• Why should people remember your brand?

You can create a better understanding of your brand by answering these questions.?