The term Branding people usually use it interchangeably with logo design, identity design & sometimes typography and all design-related stuff, which is not really what Branding is. Let’s start with what branding isn’t because it is not all the staff people say it is.
Branding is not a logo
A logo is a useful tool for a business but it is not branding. A logo is a symbol for the Brand
A Brand is not a Product
Usually, you will hear a lot of people talk about buying this brand or that brand and they are really talking about buying this product or another product. The brand is not that.
Branding is not a promise
Some people say a brand is a promise that a company makes to customers. There’s a certain truth in that, it ends up working as a promise but it is not that either.
Branding is not an impression
Some say is an impression a company makes on its audience. If you’re trying to sell a lot of impressions I can see where that may be useful to you but from a business perspective why will customers want that? it doesn’t even help creative people understand what is it that they really have to do.
A brand is a result.
It is a customer’s feeling about a product, service, or company. it ends up in their heads and hearts. A brand is like a reputation, it is how customers feel after they had an experience with your company.
A lot of people usually confuse Sales, Marketing, and Branding as the same thing. Although they are all related to building a successful brand, they don’t mean the same thing. Lets briefly go through what they mean and how are they different.
Difference between Sales, Marketing and Branding
Sales is the exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something, it is all about convincing. You will hear sales coaches teach more about how to handle objections because it is all about convincing. Marketing is all the activities that you do to generate business while branding is all about influence.
How are all 3 connected?
Earlier I did mention that all 3 are different but connected, this is how they are connected. Let us pretend you own a clothing store, Marketing is what makes customers come to your store, sales is what makes them buy what you sell and branding is what makes them come back to buy more from you.
