Brand VS Branding VS Marketing. More Than Just the Basics.
Learn the differences between a brand, branding and marketing to set your B2B company up for a successful future--one with a clear strategy.
Know the Differences and Set Your Business Apart in Your Market
Brand and branding are two of those critical terms tossed around professional circles, but they play an important role in any business—Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). Most know that an effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in your competitive market. But, as a business owner, can you answer these questions related to building a successful brand strategy?
What does branding mean? How is it different from a brand?
What is the difference between branding and marketing?
Is branding part of marketing?
What are branding tips for small businesses?
What are effective branding techniques?
What Is Branding and Why Is It Important?
Often to manufacturers branding is misunderstood as simply the visual identity of a company—but it’s so much more. While the visual identity is a large component of the big idea of a brand, branding is so much more. A brand defines who you are. It’s your promise to your customer. It outlines:
What they can expect from your business
What differentiates you from your competitors
Who you are, who you strive to be and how people will perceive you
What your brand personality is
Are you the innovative, solutions provider for your industry? Are you the experienced, thought leader? Are you the high-quality product manufacturer? Or do you offer a low-cost option? You can’t be all of those to all customers. Who you are should be based on your true capabilities, your targeted market, their pain points and who they need you to be. These are what make your brand.
Branding is the visual identity that communicates all the above to audiences. We will outline branding techniques more later. But know they work together as part of a plan—a brand strategy.
Before You Strategize, Define Your Brand
Consider this a process of self-discovery for your business. It’s time consuming. It can be difficult. But it’s a necessary step before making a sales or marketing plan. While this critical step may not be the most exciting part of your to-do list, it’s critical you dedicate some time to conducting research, gaining a thorough understanding of your target audience (not what you think they think, know what they know) and answering the following questions.
What is your company’s mission?
What are the benefits and features of your products and services? How are they different from competitors?
What is the industry’s perceptions about you, your products and services, and company?
What qualities do you want people in your industry and target audience to associate with your company?
What is your value proposition?
A Consistent Brand Strategy Delivers Strong Brand Equity
Your brand strategy is the plan of how, what, where, when and to whom you will communicate and deliver your brand messaging.
By remaining consistent and strategic in your branding and with your brand, you will eventually build a strong brand equity. This brings added value to your company that allows you flexibility in product or service pricing because your customers trust your promise over others. An obvious example of this is Apple versus another technology company. Apple customers have a strong following because the company has built a consistent brand that the marketplace trusts—and thus, they are able to charge higher prices because their customers are willing to pay for Apple branded products.
Brand equity, also sometimes referred to as customer loyalty, can also come in the form of perceived quality or emotional attachment. Continuing with the Apple example, their customers remain loyal because they perceive the products to be the best, and perhaps it’s the only technology they are familiar with, so they continue to use it for fear of switching to something unknown.
Create Branding to Build Brand Awareness
Once you move beyond defining a brand, it’s time to create assets to support it and get the word out. Below are a few simple branding techniques to get you started. And when you need help, find a partner that has experience with generating a brand and branding, it will be worth it in the end.
Create a logo, color scheme and tagline, as well as rules around how they can be used.
Formalize your brand messaging—the key phrases you want to communicate about your brand. What messages will support your brand promise?
Plan your brand’s impact in all business processes. How will your team answer phones? What will your team wear in the office and in front of customers? What does your email signature look like? What do your offices look like and how should people feel when they enter?
Create a “voice” and a “feeling” for all marketing materials. The voice and feeling behind your brand should be incorporated into all written and visual communications (link to visual content blog). Is your brand technical, friendly, formal or something else?
Design templates and brand standards for your marketing materials.
Always be true to your brand. And be consistent. The effects of unsuccessful branding is detrimental. It could lead your audiences to think you are breaking your promise and can’t be trusted.
Brand vs. Branding vs. Marketing
After outlining the steps to building your brand strategy, you may ask “aren’t those steps part of marketing?” Though many think the difference between branding and marketing is semantics, it’s far from the truth. There is some overlap, and while they work in tandem, they have distinct goals and roles.
Brand and Branding FAQs
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The most successful brands make specific promises to their audience. All aspects of the business work to keep those promises and build brand equity (trust among customers). Successful brands also stay relevant by telling a story, playing off nostalgia to stay connected with customers and evolving with industry demands.
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Before taking actions to increase brand recognition, first, conduct an assessment that will lay a foundation and highlight where and why your brand is weak. Then consider operational and marketing changes to improve those areas. Ways to improve brand recognition may include: increased marketing and updated messaging, addition of new tools or platforms to better connect with your audience, and seeking opportunities for your audience to spread the word about your business—connections at industry events, networking, etc.
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The research or assessment phase will give you an honest evaluation of your business’ and brand’s faults and strengths, as well as opportunities in your industry and your competitors’ weaknesses. The answers to this evaluation will bring attention to your true value. It’s also best to have this assessment done by a third-party organization to ensure the results are impartial and don’t take into consideration any bias you may have about your own operations. The worst thing you could do for your business is make a brand promise you can’t keep.
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Making initial statements about your values and unique selling points doesn’t require you to spend anything. However, making a proper assessment of your organization, industry and crafting your messaging requires time, and occasionally help from third-party resources with this kind of experience. Consider that developing these assets takes a lot of time and finessing to get it right. Then, if you need physical assets developed such as logos, font and color guidelines, and marketing materials, that’s an additional investment. Every organization proposes these projects different, and makes different recommendations. Regardless of where you look for this help, know that you will need to make financial and time investments if you want to create the best brand to support your business long-term. Find a partner that knows your business, industry and competition, and one that has your best interests at heart.
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The brand development process typically takes a minimum of 6-8 weeks due in large part to the discovery and assessment phase, and the several parties involved in the brand building process. Building brand equity and recognition on the other hand can take many years. It will take a significant amount of time for customers to accept your brand values and move your company in a positive direction.
A marketing campaign should only come into play after the brand has been defined, a manufacturer’s branding guidelines are outlined and a clear brand strategy is in place. Thus, a B2B brand marketing strategy is interchangeable with marketing strategy—what are your goals when promoting products and services to audiences, the objectives needed to obtain the goals, and the individual actions the team will take to get there? Wondering how to market your brand effectively? Get started by creating a marketing plan. When in doubt, contact a partner that has experience building a brand, branding guidelines and brand marketing.
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