Branding vs Marketing? Be Careful Who You Partner With

Branding versus Marketing. Which one do you need?  Which one is a better investment? Which one do the smart people pick?

Although it would be nice to have a clean, easy answer, it’s not quite that straightforward. In fact, I’d argue that you actually need both marketing and branding...and they aren’t even two separate things.

Branding is a PART of Marketing, Not a Separate Thing

My brain got amped about this subject after running across a certain type of post on social media over and over...and over. I couldn’t stop seeing posts telling me that branding and marketing are two completely different things. And clearly, the designers making this content favored branding way over marketing. Branding is often described as building trust with people by telling your story to create a community of loyal followers who will ultimately sustain your business; whereas, marketing is that icky business of selling directly to people to get quick wins without developing a true fan base. And folks that philosophy is just wrong!  You can’t argue branding versus marketing because branding is actually a specific discipline within marketing. These designers seem stuck thinking that marketing only involves direct response advertising, when in reality...marketing is so much more.

Marketing includes everything needed to promote your product, provide an amazing customer experience, and appropriately price it within the market. It is SO MUCH MORE than just a pop-up ad or flyer in the mail. And having a strong brand is a component of a great marketing strategy. 

Be Careful About Using a Brand Strategist

Now, why did I get so amped about this branding versus marketing battle?  First off, the folks pushing you to pick branding over marketing are giving bad advice because clearly you will need all aspects of marketing to be successful, not just branding.  And not only that, but this designer community is looking for you to pay their ticket out of the graphic design community onto bigger and better things. Here’s what I’ve noticed: the designers want to move away from just doing graphic design, so they have started to offer brand strategy instead. By selling themselves as brand strategists, they believe they are offering your business more value than just creative graphics. And although I understand their intent to add more value, I have a question for you: Does a designer really know what it actually takes to run a business? Do they understand marketing...have ever done more in marketing than just design things?  Perhaps some designers have, but the vast majority likely have not. And if they don’t really understand marketing, they will surely be providing bad advice for your business which puts both of you in a difficult situation.

The Real Battle: Brand Storytelling versus Direct Response Marketing

So, instead of going down the branding versus marketing path, let’s ask the real question:

Should your business be using brand storytelling or should you use direct response marketing?

And when you've got that debate pitted against each other what you start understanding is this: you can’t pick just one of the other. Think about the blockbuster brands that are absolutely crushing it at brand storytelling...Redbull, Nike and Apple just to name a few. Well besides brand storytelling you better believe they are also doing direct response marketing so they can sell energy drinks, shoes, and computers. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to learn from these powerhouses and embrace both strategies. Just brand storytelling or direct marketing alone isn’t enough to build a top-notch brand, but the synergy of both is magic.

And just to clarify -- you need to utilize both strategies at the same time. See, this is another frustration I’ve run into with the branding versus marketing argument. An artist may say to use both, but they will push branding first then follow-up with direct response marketing second. Additionally, direct response marketing is positioned as a tool only for quick wins...so why even bother to invest much? Creatives would love for you to indulge in this philosophy because it helps them steer clear of entering the icky world of salesmanship and actually learning how to sell stuff. Artists yearn to be purists, believing the art they make will speak for itself. They don’t need to stoop to the low level of selling; they are too good for that….they won’t sell out. But that mentality could seriously compromise your business’s ability to sell products….and stay in business. Can you really trust your business to someone with this attitude? 

Your business can’t survive without sales. Can you afford to hand over the reins to someone who doesn’t even believe in selling...someone who may even be morally opposed to selling? Answer: You just can’t afford that mistake.

Trust Someone Who Understands Marketing

Instead, you need someone who understands how business actually works and knows how to pull together brand storytelling and direct response marketing in an authentic way. Of course no one likes receiving annoying or coercive messages convincing us to buy something we don’t really need. We all recognize fake and do our best to get out of dodge when confronted with poor direct response marketing. But direct response marketing can be redeemed. Instead of having that high-quality authenticity only in your brand storytelling, you must pour that authenticity all over your direct response marketing as well. Your materials must be effective. 

And let’s face it -- if the end goal of your marketing campaign isn’t getting somebody to take a specific action such as buying an item or donating to a cause, then you’re wasting money on those marketing materials. Of course, I don’t mean to say brand storytelling is a waste of money (I am a brand storyteller after all!), but it must be done strategically. It’s straightforward to think brand storytelling’s end goal is to create relationships and build a following, but I want to challenge you to think further.  A second goal of marketing with brand storytelling is lead generation to make sales. Marketing that doesn’t lead to sales is just wasted money. So ultimately, brand storytelling done right will serve your current customers by continuing to build the relationship, but also build new leads.

Focusing part of your marketing on building those relationships is essential because your business can’t survive without forming strong relationships. If a business just cycles through people, well then that’s what we call a scam. That’s why scams only last a short duration. After people find out the product is no good, then the scammers must disband and create a new scheme.  But you aren’t after creating a scam. You’re building a lasting business that brings value to people.  You aren’t tricking anyone through marketing. You’re providing a solution to a problem. 

Don’t Create a Divide Between Branding and Marketing | Use Them Together

So you need to be wary of someone who creates this division between branding and marketing and looks down on direct response marketing. That type of person won’t help you make the sales you need. Instead, they are operating from the perspective of an artist and seeing you as their patron rather than a client with specific goals they can help achieve. This “brand strategist” will come in with this mentality and try to convince you that brand storytelling is all you need. Don’t be duped. You still need help to get those short wins with direct response marketing that are essential for every business to survive. Your business can't make it without money. 

There is a time and place for both strategies; use them both in tandem to create marketing gold. If all you have is brand storytelling, then you’re never going to ask someone to commit, buy the product or send the donations. But if all you’re doing is asking someone to buy, they’ll miss out on being part of the bigger journey with your organization. They’ll never develop the identity to become a loyal customer.

Ultimately, you need to partner with somebody who has a broader perspective of marketing and embraces salesmanship.  You don’t want to be treated like a patron.  No, you deserve to partner with someone who will strategically help achieve your goals by using their creativity and marketing brain power.

So be careful when you see this ideology. They’re trying to get you to think they know something special you don’t. Spoiler alert: they don’t. The success of your business is too precious to hand it over to the hands of these artists. Only trust a true master marketer.