Branding and Marketing: Can You Differentiate Between Them?

There are always terms that can easily confuse you in the process of running a business, with Marketing and Branding being prime examples. Many people have mistaken these two terms for one. Whether you're a manager or a marketer, it's essential to understand and differentiate between the two concepts in order to apply them effectively, use them with the right objectives, and support the efficient operation and development of the business.

In my opinion, the basic objectives of Branding and Marketing are as follows:

• Branding helps the community know who you are and why they should remember you.

• Marketing helps you reach your community with products, thereby converting them into customers.

The objective of Branding is long-term

Branding creates loyal fans of the brand. It helps foster interaction between the brand and customers, creating a deep psychological connection, contributing to customer emotions and loyalty to the brand. While this indirectly may increase sales, measuring sales and business effectiveness immediately can be challenging.

Branding also helps businesses develop a target customer base, increase the ability to attract and retain customers, thereby creating sustainable business growth.

Furthermore, it plays a crucial role in helping businesses differentiate their products from those of competitors, demonstrating the "unique qualities" of the brand to ensure its existence, enhance competitive efficiency, and develop in the market. Every brand has its own personality – expressed through the message you want to convey and the tone you use to highlight that message. If your goal is to increase brand coverage and assets, finding a unique color for your brand is the first thing you need to do.

The objective of Marketing is shorter-term

Marketing campaigns are primarily launched to create reach, increase awareness, and drive sales.

In 2021, Hubspot surveyed over 1,000 marketers globally, and 48% of them stated that their main goal in conducting marketing campaigns is to attract potential customers and achieve specific conversion goals to serve sales.

Each Marketing campaign is meticulously planned, both in terms of resource investment and expected results. And after each campaign, we can immediately assess its success or failure based on the goals achieved and not achieved.

If Branding is the definition, then Marketing is the execution

In terms of "budget," Branding costs a lot to build, and specific sales targets cannot be immediately measured because it only indirectly supports sales. Marketing, on the other hand, generates revenue and calculates "profit or loss" immediately, often created with revenue goals in mind, estimated and measured in advance (spend how much and earn how much is calculated beforehand). But Branding is the foundation, the key to Marketing bringing in high revenue. Branding is a long-lasting asset, one of the important "economic fortresses" of a business. So, if you consider Branding as your asset, Marketing is how you sell that asset for money.

"Authenticity"

Branding needs to be authentic, reflecting the essence of the brand to the public, enabling the public to distinguish your brand from others. At the same time, being authentic in brand-building helps you build a quality community and truly find the "right people for the right job." Ultimately, nothing is more disastrous than a brand that attracts and appeals, but to the wrong audience willing to spend money on purchases.

Marketing doesn't necessarily have to be "honest" like that; we can see basic examples such as simulating prices and showing deep discounts often seen on e-commerce platforms. Or another example is the use of limited-time sale campaigns, however, these "lack of honesty" usually do not go against business ethics and do not disadvantage customers.

It can be said that Marketing and Branding are both important tools for businesses to operate efficiently and establish a position in the market amidst fierce competition from competitors. These are two completely different concepts, not to be confused, and each serves a different purpose and produces different results. If we combine them reasonably, we can effectively develop our business.

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