Lesson #1: Branding and Marketing are Not the Same!

Branding vs Marketing

I started my career at J&J's Skillman campus, where I was trained as a brand manager.  I didn’t realize that you could do marketing without branding.  Fast forward in my career, I transitioned from CPG into the Medical Device sector & was surprised at the realization that many device companies were marketing but were not building a brand [purposefully].

In a nutshell, brand is the foundational elements (strategy) that will guide your marketing (the execution). Your marketing strategy & tactics can change and should change based on market trends, but your brand elements should stay consistent. 

A brand is made up of a name, logo, visual identity, voice, tone, values, and positioning statement. However, the main objective of a brand is to have purpose, a reason for existing.  The goal is to create a longstanding relationship with customers, built on trust and consistency.  In today’s environment, capturing attention and engagement, is more challenging than ever, and that’s where purpose, trust, and consistency can make a difference.  Each brand should have its own purpose, personality and positioning statement, which should serve as the guide to marketing strategies, tactics, & for the brand purists, it should guide product development & future investment. 

One brand can have many products, but not every product should be a brand. 

Marketing involves the strategies and tactics to drive awareness, consideration, and purchase of your products. Marketing is the avenue we use to help communicate brands or products' value propositions and messages. 

Marketing plans will change and be determined by the budget & resources, market trends, customer needs, & goals.  Should you start advertising on Instagram?  Should you invest in TV? These are examples of marketing tactics, but what you say, how you say it, & the emotion you want to evoke should be driven by your brand purpose. The best brands have connectivity and consistency across their marketing channels, while still being able to customize for today’s environment & for the channel in use. 

A brand expert will be able to establish a strong foundation (for new brands) or build on the current foundation (for existing brands) with the objective to develop the brand for the long-term.  A brand expert will also likely be able to activate and amplify marketing strategies to deliver on the short-term to build momentum and meet the business objectives.  Not every marketer is a brand expert, and not every strategic mind knows how to activate and execute. If your organization or team are looking for brand marketing expertise, let’s connect.

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