What Do We Mean By "Brand"?
Brand vs. Branding vs. Brand Marketing: Breaking them down so you know where to invest.
Welcome to the 2nd edition of my newsletter! đď¸ Last week, I broke down brand-market fit and why itâs the must-have complement to product-market fit. If you missed it, read it here:
This is a space for us to break down the pressing topics facing operators advocating for brand-led growth in product-first, founder-led, performance-obsessed companies. But I also donât want to rush into the weeds too fast.
It makes sense to start with the fundamentalsâframeworks for thinking about brand investment, interplay with product and growth marketing tacticsâbut also core language we use that needs to be clearly defined and aligned on to avoid distracting from leadership-level investment decisions. This post is an attempt to clarify the language we use.
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Iâm on a mission to end the phrase âdoing brand.â
All the time, I hear founders (and other marketers, for that matter) say âWeâre not âdoing brandâ yetâ or âWeâre not budgeting for brand spend right now.â Or even âGood products sell themselves, we donât need brand.â
If your company is still very early, in the process of finding product-market fit, then, yeah, donât invest in marketing yet. But brand, branding and brand marketing arenât the same, and you have a brand whether you think so or not.
Letâs define (brand, branding, and brand marketing):
Everything about your business that a prospect or customer sees makes up your branding. You actively control this.
How you choose to get that âeverythingâ to the prospect or customer is your brand marketing. You actively control this.
Everything a prospect or customer thinks about you is your brand. You do not actively control this.
The moment your company or product exists, you have a brand. At day zero, the companyâs brand is the foundersâ reputation. When early employees join, their experience becomes part of the brand. When investors come in, their logos become part of the brand. When a product is released, the UX is part of the brand. Any media coverage, any customer service interaction, any error message, any Glassdoor reviewâall part of your brand.Â
You have a brand (e.g. perceptions, associations, a reputation) whether youâre building it with intention or not.
You influence perception and awareness of your brand via branding and brand marketing.
These two efforts primarily make up brand-building:
đŞ Branding: The process of creating and maintaining a unique identity, values, and perception for a company or product in the minds of consumers. Every touchpoint a customer has with your company informs their perception of your brandâwords, colors, and picturesâbut also your product UX/I and customer support scripts and checkout flow.
𪧠Brand Marketing: The strategic activities undertaken to promote and reinforce a brandâs identity, increase awareness among consumers, and drive consumer engagement (ideally purchase and retention behavior). Brand marketing is a revenue- and sales-driver, typically measured by leading metrics (e.g. awareness, traffic, or inbound demo requests) and brand health tracking.
Since your brand exists all the time, doesnât it make sense to look at every opportunity to shape it with intention?
When to invest in branding
The answer is⌠always! Because itâs virtually free to invest in branding.
Yes, it costs money to hire designers or copywriters who give substance and consistency to your visual and style identity, and it costs money to hire a brand strategist who can dedicate time to thinking about this as comprehensively as possible.
But think about your audience touchpoints: your homepage, pricing page, sales and customer support scripts, hold music, emails and email footers, error messages, your mission statement and boilerplate and press kit, careers page and job descriptions, social media (and founder profiles), review sitesâthe list goes on. All of these are opportunities to present a cohesive and consistent set of values and identity; places where being generic (or all over the place) will do nothing to earn audience trust and purchase consideration.
Branding is often associated with logos and guidelinesâvisuals, tone, and styleâbut really itâs a holistic concept that encompasses a companyâs public facing elements.
Admittedly, getting alignment on the core strategy and messages behind all these things is often more challenging than âdoing the workâŚâ but thatâs for a future post! Subscribe to get future posts and deep dives on this.
Bottom line: Look for any and all opportunities to invest in branding regardless of your ability or intention to invest in brand marketing.
When to invest in brand marketing
Letâs start with my (mildly) spicy đśď¸ take:
All brand marketing is product marketing.
Not all product marketing is brand marketing.
All brand marketing is growth marketing.
Not all growth marketing is brand marketing.
Why? Because brand marketingâs function is to ensure that the messages and images that get shipped (across any channel) address prospectsâ perceptions and needs to make a clear connection to what the company offers to address those needs (the product). Brand marketers are experts at making sure the product stands out in the competitive landscape, with growth as the end goal.
Growth marketing, in search of quick wins (i.e. hitting a quarterly goal), sometimes ends up sacrificing user experience (which can erode brand trust). So, not all growth marketing is brand marketing.
Product marketing, focused on conveying functionality, features, and benefits of individual products, sometimes ends up losing sight of the overall brand story or the emotional connection thatâs at the core of brand-market fit. So, not all product marketing is brand marketing.
So am I arguing that all marketing should be brand marketing?
No, but all marketing should consider how it reflects and contributes to the companyâs brand. Otherwise, youâre shipping your org chartâand doing your future business (which will probably be more reliant on brand awareness) a disservice.
I like to think of brand marketing as branding gone outbound, involving outward-facing campaigns that drive conversation and action so that the audience better recognizes the product and understands its identity.
If marketing (brand, product, or growth marketing) is the active process of getting prospects and customers to understand your value and why itâs relevant to them, then of course branding plays a major role in thatâitâs what your product and your marketing looks like and sounds like. Branding makes up all the spoken and unspoken signals about who you serve, how you operate, and how youâre different from everything else out there. All together, thatâs the brand.
And branding isnât something you only do with a six-figure agency (and it doesnât even have to be expensive!). Since itâs an always-on part of your brand, it shouldnât be something you delay investment in.
If you arenât investing in branding, youâre ignoring opportunities to differentiate and create consistency. Consistency is the foundation to building trust, and trust enables conversion (and loyalty). Donât leave all that on the table.đŞ
My 4-week course on Maven, Brand for Growth-Stage Leaders, dives deep into how marketers can advocate for both branding and brand marketing. The 5th cohort, starting September 2, just opened! You can use the code SUBSTACK to take $200 off your enrollment (until July 31), or join the waitlist for updates.
Have thoughts on branding vs. brand marketing? What did I miss?
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Love this! The sheer fear of the word "Brand Marketing" with leaders with a performance only mindset truly blows my mind. The misunderstanding is real! Great read :)
Defining a brandâs voice, values, customer/brand archetype is deep work but itâs alsoâŚdare I sayâŚfun? At least I think so