These two words are used interchangeably so often, it’s no wonder most people think they mean pretty much the same thing. But there’s a fundamental difference that every organization operating in a free market economy should know.<\/p>\n
Your brand is how you are perceived: by customers, potential customers and even your own employees.<\/p>\n
All these characteristics combined make up your brand: the strong, unique identity that produces recognizability, confidence and loyalty in your audience.<\/p>\n
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If the brand is strategy, marketing is tactics. Using your brand identity as a guide, you can make high-return, cost-efficient decisions on how best to reach \u2014 and sell \u2014 your audience.<\/p>\n
Say your company is a high end clothing boutique known for giving customers a luxury shopping experience. To reinforce this selling point, you send out elegant invitations to a private VIP wine & shopping night. The customer experience is your brand. The invitation is your marketing.<\/p>\n
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You might think your brand is self-evident and doesn’t need to be spelled out. But without having such a platform in place, it’s easy to react to a passing fad or market condition and sabotage your brand without realizing it.<\/p>\n
What if your clothing boutique, instead of promoting luxury goods and service, sent out a Black Friday flyer offering “50% discount to the first 50 customers”? Yeah, you might get some extra traffic from people outside your defined customer base. But you’ve weakened your original reputation … and probably the customer loyalty you had because of it.<\/p>\n
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Branding is an investment that pays for itself the more \u2014 and the longer \u2014 you do it. That’s a difference you can take to the bank.<\/p>\n