What is Branding?
Branding is the perpetual process of creating a strong, positive image of a company or brand, of its products or services, by combining elements such as logo, slogan, design, icons, or even mission statement, align with brand direction/ positioning throughout all marketing communications.
It helps customer to identify the brand quickly and effectively, while enables brand itself to differentiate themselves from other competitors and grow customer loyalty. In short, branding is how your brand/ product appear in your customers’ eyes, how they define it in first impression.
For example, McDonald highly recognizable with its iconic golden arches ‘M’, combination of strong colors – yellow and red, even its everyone knows slogan ‘im lovin’ it’ ! That’s what makes the brand McDonald unbeatable and the most successful fast-food restaurant chain.
What is Marketing?
Marketing, namely the process or communications to promote and sell products/ services. It involves market research, advertising, branding, customer service and publicity. Every company and organisation must now incorporate marketing into their brand growth and strategy, regardless offline or online in short term. As it helps to promote themselves in terms of long-term brand exposure while increasing sales revenue. In short, sales and marketing achieves the same thing fundamentally but slightly different as in marketing focuses more on market, while sales focuses more on the product.
For example: McDonald focuses more on its 4P as in Placement, Product, Pricing and Promotion. Besides the strong mascot and very well-known jingle, McDonald spent a lot on billboards and TV ads, and they are everywhere! They are also recognizable with its strong brand positioning as in convenient, tasty and affordable fast food that make it approachable across all age groups. McDonalds also offers seasonal products, as in BTW meal set, Durian McFlurry and Sundae.
what’s the difference?
A company’s brand is its name, reputation and image. It is more of the long term positioning of a brand whereby marketing is more of ‘return of investment’ and sales conversion in short period. Branding is a ‘waste of money’ yet a long term investment, whereby a brand spend to gain exposure, build brand image as in how customer perceive the brand. Marketing as selling products/ services that fulfilling customer’s demands and needs, meeting the right audience and buyers.
Both marketing and branding are essentials that must collaborate in order to achieve both long term and short term goals of a brand/ company. People frequently do not understand the distinction between marketing and branding because the two concepts are so inextricably linked.
Try to put yourself in these scenarios, will you purchase a service/ product without brand? When it comes to a specific product like sunblock that is widely supplied by many brands, will you be considering which brand is the most reputable one? Trust me, you will still.
Or let us put up a game for you, what’s the first brand that pops into your mind?
Smart phone?
Camera?
A search tool?
Luxury Car?
Social Media app?