In today’s boldly competitive business landscape, effective branding and marketing strategies drives the longevity of successful companies. Together, they form a dynamic duo that elevates a brand’s recognition and visibility. In doing so, allows for building authentic connections with the target audience. While discussing in conversations, branding, and marketing usually come up very synonymous, because they work so closely together.
We like to compare the seamless collaboration to that of a wonderfully made PB&J sandwich; two components working together for the success and enjoyment of the business (or deliciousness). In this article, we will dive into the heart of branding and marketing, identify their specific roles and benefits, while explaining how they work together to propel a business to success.
Branding – The Unique Fingerprint of a Business (The What)
Branding is much more than visuals, websites, logos, and aesthetics. A truly successful business knows it’s much deeper than what meets the eye. It is the core of what the target audience experiences when working with a company. While many elements go into developing a solid brand, it is essential to understand the identity of the business, what the strengths are, and how to serve clients and customers better than competitors.
Effectively conveying your messaging is what truly converts spectators of the brand to believers, participants, and fans. While market saturation is not really a thing, it is still important to stand out whether you have 3 competitors or 1,000. When a company complains of market saturation, this usually occurs when they are having issues with connecting with their target audience and identifying/highlighting what truly makes them unique.
Key Elements of Branding- The Fingerprint
Marketing- Connecting and Converting Interest (The How)
Once you have proper messaging and a unique market imprint in place, the next task is deciding how the brand shows up. This is marketing. The strategy, systems, and planned approach to reach the audience. A business can have great services, products, and a magnificent brand, but if it is not properly marketed, you’ll get either crickets or slow sales.
Marketing comes in a variety of channels: social media, email marketing, sales pages, events, books, videos, and the list goes on. Ensuring that your team has identified which marketing efforts and strategies work best for the company is crucial for measuring success. Understanding the client or customer profile- how they best learn, what they enjoy, and even down to their tax bracket provides insight into how to market the company’s services and or products.
When The Lively Creative® works with companies, we take a deep dive into customer profiles and customer journeys. These sets of data will tell you everything you need to know on reaching your people and tapping into their needs and response triggers (again, understanding what triggers a reaction should not be manipulative and done with the utmost integrity).
Key Elements of Marketing- Gaining Interest
Back to the PB&J: The Takeaway
While branding establishes a strong foundation and emotional connection with consumers, marketing provides space to effectively reach and engage the target audience. It is important to note that branding of a business (visual and nonvisual) will evolve over time. There even may major pivots along the way, if necessary. The same goes for marketing and strategies applied. Besides, once a business is clear on the brand promise, audience, and offers, showcasing becomes more intentional, and desired results are generated.
Think of your business as a sandwich, the peanut butter is branding, jelly is marketing. Each piece of bread is the business: services/products and structure. Marketing and branding holds the sandwich (or business) together. If the mix is good, your customers will always remember the first bite and last bite. Design the business’ brand to be a memorable experience.
Lastly, whether you’re a business owner seeking a new marketing strategy or a marketer looking for unique ideas to pitch, it’s clear that one of the most effective ways to get results is through a well-thought-out brand and marketing strategy. A successful business that makes a sustainable impact will always have a well-planned strategy in place, so take stock of all that you know about your products and keep learning new strategies that you can employ to see better results.
