As an association marketing professional, you may have heard terms like “branding” and “marketing” used interchangeably. But what do these terms actually mean? And more importantly, how are they different? Understanding the difference between branding and marketing is essential to ensuring that your association is successful and stands out above the rest.
Brand vs. Branding
At its core, branding is about creating an identity for your organization that resonates with your target audience in order to differentiate it from competitors. A brand includes things like a logo, colors, fonts, messages, and imagery — all of which should reflect the mission and values of your association, as well as what sets it apart from other associations within the industry. All of these elements come together to create a visual representation of who your organization is.
Branding also involves understanding who your target audience is and what they want from your association. Your member-facing departments should be familiar with the message behind your brand so that they can accurately represent it when interacting with current and prospect members. This is important because if these individuals don't feel like the brand experience is consistent across all channels of communication, then their trust in the organization will be diminished.
Marketing vs. Marketing Strategy
Now let’s talk about marketing! Generally speaking, marketing describes any kind of activity or effort that helps spread awareness about a policy, event, or product from one person to another through various methods such as paid advertisements or word-of-mouth referrals. It can also include anything from content creation to creating tangible materials like flyers or brochures that showcase everything offered by an organization.
While marketing and branding go hand in hand, since both help establish an identity for your association, marketing focuses on reaching out to potential members through various forms of communication while branding focuses on creating an image for those potential members to connect with. In other words, marketing gets people interested in joining your association while branding makes them actually want to join your organization over a competitor that is offering something similar — and this is where having an effective marketing strategy comes into play! An effective strategy will help ensure that all of your efforts are properly coordinated and directed towards achieving desirable outcomes for your organization.
Though both concepts work together to strengthen an organization's presence in their respective industries, know that there is clear distinction between branding and marketing. Each has its own set of objectives and strategies that must be addressed separately in order for success to be achieved!
Ultimately, having an effective strategy will ensure that all efforts are directed towards desired outcomes while creating strong relationships with members and prospects through robust branding efforts that will keep them coming back time after time! Knowing how to differentiate between these two concepts can help you develop more effective campaigns and increase overall success for your association!
