If the worlds of branding and marketing feel ambiguous to you, you’re not alone. We all know the terms “brand” and “marketing,” but what do they really mean? Should you focus on working with a branding agency first? Would a marketing team give you the most bang for your buck? Is there even a difference between the two? There are a lot of questions to unpack before deciding where to allocate your budget. We want to help you make an informed decision by breaking down the difference between branding and marketing and when it’s likely time to focus on each. Is there a difference between branding and marketing? You betcha! Although branding and marketing often overlap, they are different. In their simplest forms, branding is who you are as a company. It’s how you communicate and position yourself. Marketing is the act of spreading that message for sales or promotional reasons. What services fall under branding and marketing? Oh boy, could we ever go into a rabbit hole here. Branding and marketing are both umbrella terms that go deep, really deep, in terms of all the sub-concepts they house: Branding encompasses everything that represents who you are and how you communicate as a company. This includes things like your logo, typography, colours, positioning statements, voice, language use, messaging, web design and functionality, written copy, and more. Your website is critical for a strong brand, especially in the current digital age. If you don’t have a strong brand and website, your marketing efforts won’t go very far. Marketing encompasses everything that promotes your company and its products/services with the intent of gaining customers or clients. This can be broken down even further into digital marketing + advertising and traditional marketing. Marketing includes things like strategy, products, pricing, market exploration and analysis, metric and data tracking, and SO much more (marketing is super vast). Which is more important for the success of my organization? Marketing and branding are both important when it comes to the holistic success of your organization. They are highly dependent on one another, and some may argue that branding and web design are simply the first steps in the marketing process (this can get confusing, we know). However you slice it, it’s crucial to have a brand-first approach. Where should I start? Like we said above, marketing and branding often overlap. However, our advice is to start with your brand. You can’t have successful marketing efforts without having a strong brand. That would kind of be like trying to make friends without knowing what you like/dislike, your personality traits, or even your name! People can’t connect with you if they don’t know who you are, and if they can’t connect with you they won’t invest in your products or services. Once you create a strong brand, marketing can effectively promote your organization and drive business. So, does Sonder do branding or marketing, or both? Sonder is a branding and design agency that specializes in both online and print execution. We work with our clients to create the “who” behind their organization and focus on making sure they convey the right message at every angle. While some areas of our business slide us into marketing territory, our focus is primarily branding and web design + development and doesn’t extend into other areas of the marketing sphere. However, we have some great relationships with folks who do. We have a trusted group of external service providers with whom we are happy to connect our clients to ensure a successful outcome at every stage of their branding and marketing process. A successful brand is the first step in successful marketing and producing results for your organization. If you’re ready to start building the foundation for a successful business, or if you’re ready to rebuild and rebrand, let’s talk. Share this post Back to all posts