Marketing is the message, Branding is who you are.

The two are connected, yet individually are completely different. Your brand is a representation of you and your business. It should be unique and specific to you. Marketing is how your brand is communicated.

Branding should come first. Many think a logo or a slogan is sufficient for a brand, but your brand should define your business. A strong brand will take your business far, and allow for much more ease when it comes to marketing. When done right your brand will be coherent across your business, it’s not just visual or the use of a certain colour or typeface – but instead a complete package which reflects your core values and influences customers emotions. The visual components should emulate this.

Marketing refers to the strategies undertaken to communicate your brand. Marketing is a key part of any business, as its how you get your core values across to your customers. There are many different marketing strategies, it’s true that marketing now has predominantly taken a digital form – we’ve already compiled a blog post focussing specifically on digital marketing you can take a look at to help get a better idea.

You can do well with good marketing, likewise you can do well with good branding. But combine the two and you have the foundations for your business to be incredibly successful.