Working Together Differently
Branding, Advertising and Marketing are not uncommon words now. Anything connected with a brand is now named either of the three. Every business uses these to grow in the market. These three help the business to acquire, drive sales and retain customers. These terms have a connected purpose and tend to support each other and thus making people get confused among them. Why is it important to understand the difference between these words? Understanding the difference also helps in creating focused business initiatives and also effective use of each.
Marketing: It is the image you present your brand to others. A marketing strategy for your brand is how you want to perceive. It conveys the vision and value, along with expressing it in a way that the audience will recognize & associate with you. It encompasses strategies to build awareness of your brand, thus every message is a part of the representation.
Branding: If marketing is how you want others to see your brand, branding should be how they actually see it. If you want to establish a strong brand, you have to spend more time building its foundation. Loyalty and long-term commitments are promoted through branding. The visual elements of the brands also create an association in people’s minds.
Advertising: Advertising is focused mostly on acquiring customers and bringing in sales. It is generally related to the paid campaigns that are carefully created with a purpose to reach the target audience through various media. Brands leverage advertising to promote and establish themselves. It establishes a one-way communication channel, where companies broadcast to a general audience. When a company places an ad, it holds complete control over the content involved.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARKETING & ADVERTISING
| Marketing | Advertising |
| It is the activity of understanding the market to identify the customer needs and positioning the product that sells itself. | It is a part of the marketing communication process, done to seek the attention of the target audience towards the brand. |
Advertising is marketing, but marketing is not advertising. Marketing is done with the intent of increasing sales while advertising is done with the objective of inducing the customers. Marketing is a long-term process while advertising remains short-term. Marketing is more focused on creating the market for the brand building a reputation while advertising is more towards seeking public attention.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARKETING & BRANDING
| Marketing | Branding |
| It can be defined as a set of tools, processes, and strategies which can be used actively to promote the brand. | It is a marketing practice of actively shaping the brand, by defining brand mission, value & uniqueness. |
Brand identity is the foundation of all marketing plans. A brand identity is like a toolkit that the marketing team uses depending on the objective. It is marketing that gets people to engage with the brand, then branding is what makes them come back again. This is why choosing brand value is very important. A poor brand value might throw a negative image and in the worst case, the brand may flop when customers don’t show up.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADVERTISING & BRANDING
| Advertising | Branding |
| Advertising is a part of brand building that reflects the value & mission. It is targeted to your audience and convinces them to take a certain action. | Branding deals with everything done with what makes your customer brand loyal. It also helps in building relationships with the audience. |
Advertising can be said to be a paid announcement by the brand aiming to persuade the existing and potential customers. Brands aggressively put the word out about themselves through different media. Branding is a process of creating a positive perception of the brand & a consistent theme throughout all marketing communications.
CONCLUSION
The terminologies like marketing, branding & advertising are usually confused and people tend to adopt to use them as an alternative to each other. Advertising enhances the potential buyer’s awareness while loyalty is built by branding. Likewise, these two concepts are a component of the marketing process, and all three work as a cohesive unit and march towards increasing sales and enhancing the company’s reputation.
