A lot of people ask me what is the difference between branding and marketing. Most of the times they see no difference between the two, they see it is as one big basket that holds all the eggs. Even though they look very similar, there is a major distinction in between the two, and in this very short article I’m clarifying it. Ok, so let’s take them one by one.
Branding in the Oxford dictionary is stated as:
“the activity of giving a particular name and image to goods and services so that people will be attracted to them and want to buy them”
Marketing in the Oxford dictionary is stated as:
“the activity of presenting, advertising and selling a company’s products or services in the best possible way”
In another words, if you have no brand, you have nothing nothing to market.
If you have no brand,
there is nothing to market.
Branding, is really discovering your value proposition, finding the tone you use when you speak to your audience.
Marketing is what you use to leverage and sell your brand with. All these tolls come complementary to help you sell your brand. Campaigns, strategies, media, promotion, offers, sales calls, advertising, leads, SEO, social media, channels are part of marketing strategy.
Have a look on the graphic below, for a proper understanding.

You can now better understand the difference in between the two, and I hope you will know what you are looking for at this stage. I highly encourage you to ask for help from a branding specialist if you are in the branding phase of your business. Even if you are a specialist it is hard to see things about yourself, and pretty much always is better to have an unrelated consultant help you go though the discovery process. Don’t overcomplicate things, because then you’ll have no product to market. And remember, progress not perfection!
Stay on the rollercoaster until the ride ends. Great things need time to manifest, so be patient with yourself!
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Love,
Claudia