There are many overlapping elements between branding and marketing, which often causes people to get confused between these two. That’s why, from our experience of working as a branding agency, we will explain some of the major differences between branding and marketing, and which one is more important for your business, whether you’re a newcomer or have been in the game for a while. So let’s dive in.

In simple words, branding is the look and feel of the brand. It’s a personality, a voice or the makeup of an entity, product or service. For example, take a look at how we orchestrated the look and feel of SiGMA 21/22 when we did branding for the iGaming event. On the contrary, marketing refers to taking that entity, product or service to the consumer level, and getting people to buy it from you.

Although branding and marketing are completely two different things, they need to go hand in hand to bring you the desired results. If the brand doesn’t have a personality that’s appealing, loved or welcomed by the consumers, chances are that your marketing is going to fall short.

Strong branding equals effective marketing

The success of marketing is based on the return on investment. The weaker your branding is, the harder it’ll become for you to get traction and return on investment from your marketing efforts. Many startups face a problem where they don’t get the desired consumer outreach from their marketing efforts even when their products and services are truly up to par. 

If your business is facing such a problem, there’s a big probability that your branding has some sort of shortcomings. In such cases, we would strongly advise you to identify your branding flaws so that you can build an effective plan to fix or repair these flaws and polish up your brand image to make it marketplace-ready.

Don’t be just acceptable, be lovable

When you reach your customer base, you need to give them a reason to love and relate to your brand. Try to build some positive awareness among your target audience as a first step. By communicating care and empathy you can quickly gain the trust of your consumers. Conversely, If you go straight to marketing without building a healthy brand image first, chances are that you’ll end up doing more harm than good.

Remember the golden rule for not just branding but for everything in life – If you give love you will receive love.

Feel free to check out how IPOINT INT did the branding for one of the biggest iGaming events, SiGMA 19. Keeping in mind their aim of spreading across multiple continents, we furnished the SiGMA branding with cross-cultural characters and landmarks that would build a connection with the local demographics.

What does good branding look like?

Brands that prosper in areas that matter will eventually receive good press from the media, which will in return attract a large number of customers to the products or services. Here are some characteristics of good branding:

  • A great logo and attractive graphical representation. Check out the Cannabiz logo designed by IPOINT INT as an example. 
  • Well designed brochures and business cards and other branding materials. 
  • Using branding visuals on billboards, vehicles, and other relevant spaces. SiGMA Plane Livery is one such example you can take a look at. 
  • Office branding – Decorating the workspace to reflect the brand.
  • Following the brand culture internally and externally together with employees, customers and so on.
  • Well designed product labels, packaging etc.
  • Software and websites tailored around the needs of the brand and its customers. Check out our article on website personality to better understand how to create custom websites tailored to your brand. 
  • Attending events and expos to build awareness, establish connections with prospects and make new business deals. To better understand event branding, check out Vertibus and Bambora expo stands by IPOINT INT.

Without these branding elements, your public perception will be either negative or non-existent. In such cases, when you ask your customers to buy your product, they will be unsure of what they are getting, or worse, they will feel that they are getting bombarded by unwanted advertisements. In both cases, two things may happen – either the customers won’t buy your product or they’ll want to buy it at huge discounted prices, both of which will not be beneficial to your business.

So in a nutshell, you should always prioritize proper branding before beginning the marketing phase. If you would like to receive some personal advice on how to get your brand marketplace ready, feel free to leave us a message.