What is the difference between branding and marketing?
Even marketers often confuse these two terms. Marty Neumeier defines branding as “a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company.” Per this definition, marketing is a tool for enforcing and reinforcing that gut feeling. We, as humans, are emotional beings and make decisions based on intuition and reaction regardless of how logical the journey. Branding leverages that intuition to influence our choices.
The question is not what do people think about a brand, but how do they feel about it and why.
We coined a simple analogy showing the difference between marketing and branding. If your marketing is the invitation, and your customers are the guests, then your brand is the party.
If you have invitations and no party, guests arrive and stand around thinking, “Where’s the party?”. Conversely, if you plan the century’s most epic party and neglect to send invitations, then no one knows it exists. Lastly, imagine you plan a party and send out beautiful invitations—if your guest list is made up of the wrong crowd, then people might know it exists, but they won’t talk about it, and they will certainly not show up.
Just like when you throw a party that people love and remember, a brand, its marketing, and its customers must align for a successful outcome.
Remember: when you know what your party is about, you’ll know who to invite, and where to send the invitations. First plan your party (develop brand strategy) and build your guest list (define your target audience). Then make and send your invitations (develop and launch your marketing plan).
