76. Marketing vs. Branding. What's the Difference?

If you've ever found yourself confused about the difference between branding and marketing, you're not alone. While these terms may seem similar, they actually have totally different meanings and purposes in your business and most importantly in how they help make your business money.

On this episode of the High Performance Marketing Podcast I'll identify the difference between the two so you can leverage both to their fullest potential, increase revenue and make the most out of every dollar you invest in each.

Transcript

Welcome to The High Performance Marketing Podcast, a show focused on helping entrepreneurs and small business owners connect with their ideal customers using simple marketing and quality content. I'm your Marketing Guide, Ali Garbero.

What if I told you that something that’s costing you money is the confusion between marketing and branding.

For some reason, somewhere in the realm of insider language, branding and marketing became two terms that are often used interchangeably. But branding and marketing are two completely different things and more importantly they have very different purposes in business.

On today’s episode of the podcast I’ll dive into what Branding is, what Marketing is and how they make your business money so that you make sure to enlist your marketing dollars on what will get you the quickest return on your investment.

Let’s begin with branding.

First, I don’t blame you if you’re confused on the difference between branding and marketing and if you’ve focused more on branding. The reason entrepreneurs and business owners start with branding - is because when we’re first getting our businesses off the ground, we know we need a digital and online presence, so we create a website so that people can find us.

Which means we turn to the branding and design elements that include all the fun like picking pretty fonts and fun colors or designing a logo.

Branding: The Heart and Soul of Your Business

At its core, branding represents the personality and identity of your company. So let’s talk about that first.

Branding encompasses the values, mission, unique character, and overall the perception that clients and potential customers associate with your business. Now, what do I mean by this? How do we put this into context with real life examples?

Well, all successful businesses have a core personality that makes up the soul of the brand. For example, at Dyson, it's efficiency. At Disney, it's magic. If I were to mention Dwayne the Rock Johnson, you would say it’s hard work and hustle, right?

During my brand messaging workshops one of the questions I always like to ask near the end of the workshops to help with this question is “if your brand was a celebrity, who would it be?” For some reason that question seems to help spark ideas around your brand's core personality and values.

Now before you write this off as fluff like “Ali, c’mon what does this have to do with me making more money, selling, more of my services?”

Well, what if I told you that 75% of consumers buy from brands that share the same values? And think about the brands you align with and give your money too? Most likely it’s because there’s something they’ve done within their branding to communicate and signal to you what matters most to them.

I know I love Cotopaxi, which is an outdoor gear company because of their Gear for Good campaign, which says: Our Gear for Good® promise is to make durable gear as ethically and sustainably as possible, and to use our company as a way to support communities in need.

That’s branding - that’s how I feel not only about the company, but how I feel as their customer.

So this is why defining your brand personality is important because you’ll need it so that you can build a brand identity that later seamlessly connects with marketing activities like your future campaigns, and more importantly so that you can connect with customers on a deeper, more personal level.

I hope that wha