Have you ever wondered what’s the difference between branding vs marketing vs sales? Maybe you’ve noticed people using these terms interchangeably, but they’re actually distinct. Branding is about creating a reputation; marketing is about promoting your products; and sales is about closing deals.
Understanding how they work together is crucial for your business to succeed. In this article, I will explain each concept in simple terms, so you can focus on what matters most to growing your business.
Key Points
- Personal branding is simply who you are, what people perceive about you, and how your skills, talents, and personality define your professional identity.
- Building a personal brand increases trust with your target audience and opens doors for media features.
- Consistency, focus, and genuine engagement are key to creating a memorable and lasting personal brand.
- Sharing your story and living your brand authentically helps connect with your audience on a deeper level.
- A successful personal brand is one that leaves a lasting legacy and is continuously refined over time.
What Is Branding?
Branding is both tangible (logo, colors, and design) and intangible (values, customer experience). It’s an experience, a perception, and a reputation. Branding outlines who you are, why you’re different, and who you help. It’s the foundation for marketing and serves your clients. Your brand exists because of your clients, and their perception of you is crucial. Branding is about understanding client needs and adding value to their lives. It precedes marketing and sales. Philip Kotler’s six fundamental conceptual models define a brand. Branding shapes your company’s image, reputation, and long-term success. It encompasses visual identity, mission, and core values.
Let’s take a look at the six fundamental conceptual models that define a brand, using Infinix as an example.
- Brand Purpose: Infinix clearly defines its brand purpose, which is to deliver affordable and innovative smartphones with cutting-edge technology to Nigerians and Africans at large. It aims to make technology accessible to everyone.
- Brand positioning: Infinix strives to create an exclusive impression in customers’ minds, associating its brand with quality, durability, and affordability. The Infinix Hot series is one of the most desired phones in Nigeria, allowing Infinix to achieve its brand positioning goals.
- Brand differentiation: Infinix separates itself from others in the market by offering high-quality smartphones at affordable prices, targeting the mid-range market segment. Its devices offer impressive features at a lower price point than competitors.
- Brand Identity: Infinix has made its brand a desirable part of Nigerians’ lives, especially among the youth. Its logo is recognizable, and customers proudly show off their Infinix devices.
- Brand Trust: Infinix has built a strong relationship with its customers, who trust the company to deliver quality products that meet their needs. Infinix has consistently updated its software and provided reliable after-sales support.
- Brand Beneficence: Infinix contributes to society by making technology accessible to everyone. Its “Empower Your Mobile” campaign emphasizes the importance of mobile technology in daily life, showcasing how Infinix phones can empower Nigerians to achieve their goals.
What Is Marketing?
Marketing builds awareness of your company through various activities like website content, search ranking, ads, promotions, and social media. These tactics guide potential clients through the buyer’s journey. However, marketing can’t generate sales if your product or service doesn’t deliver on its brand promise or if customer service is poor.
Effective marketing is based on a solid brand and sales strategy. Marketing catches your ideal client’s attention and develops a relationship. It’s about creating tasks, activities, and messages to build awareness and interest.
Good marketing is both an art and a science, requiring hard work and a solid brand strategy. Quality content is key to building trust, credibility, and winning over customers. Engaging, valuable, and relevant content is essential in marketing. Let’s take a look at marketing functions and how Infinix incorporated them. They include:
- Market Research: Infinix conducts market research to identify opportunities and refine its products. It collects feedback from users to improve its devices, ensuring they meet the needs of Nigerians. Infinix also creates its own opportunities by innovating and introducing new features.
- Pricing: Infinix adopts a different pricing strategy, offering affordable smartphones without compromising on quality. Its devices cater to the mid-range market segment, providing value for money to customers.
- Distribution: Infinix has a robust distribution network in Nigeria, with its products available in various online and offline stores, such as Jumia, plazas, phone markets, Slot, and 3C Hub. This ensures that customers can easily access Infinix devices.
- Promotion: Infinix promotes its products through various channels, including social media, TV commercials, and influencer partnerships. It creates engaging campaigns to raise awareness and drive sales, such as the “Empower Your Mobile” campaign.
What Is Sales?
Turning contacts into customers: sales make a business. Sales strategy is often neglected, but without sales, branding, and marketing are pointless. Sales and marketing must work together. When they don’t, leads fall through the cracks, and sales conversations go astray. Sales are the grand finale and an integral part of the process. Know your numbers: repeat clients, retention/referral strategy, measurement, email templates, sales goals, leads needed for a sale, conversion rate, and marketing support.
A good sales process boosts revenue. Marketing supports sales. Your website should drive results, conversions, and sales, sharing value and establishing relationships. Sales is the final step, where branding and marketing are monetized. Seasoned marketers call sales the differentiator between a successful business and a good idea. Sales earn money by converting leads into customers and generating revenue and profit.
Branding vs marketing vs sales has three core functions. Now let’s look at how Infinix incorporated it.
#1. Understanding Needs
At Infinix, every customer’s unique needs are recognized and catered to with a diverse range of smartphones. When a customer visits an Infinix store or contacts customer support, the representative takes the time to understand their specific requirements, preferences, and budget.
For instance, a customer looking for a new phone might be asked about their desired features, such as camera quality, storage capacity, or battery life, and can choose between the Infinix Hot series or the Infinix Note series.
#2. Present Solutions
Once the Infinix representative understands the customer’s needs, they suggest the most suitable phone model that meets those requirements. If there are multiple options available, they explain the pros and cons of each, enabling the customer to make an informed decision.
For example, they might compare the Infinix Hot 12 and the Infinix Note 12, highlighting the differences in storage capacity and processing power.
#3. Solve problems
Infinix prioritizes solving problems over just selling products. They offer in-store demos and personalized support to ensure customers get the most out of their devices.
For instance, Infinix provides a “Pickup and Demo” service, where customers can purchase online and pick up their device at a store, receiving a detailed demo and assistance with setup and data transfer, making it easy for them to start using their new phone hassle-free.
Here is a FREE CHART that can guide you into differentiating them:
Brand vs. Marketing vs. Sales Comparison Chart.PDF
What Comes First: Marketing or Branding?
Branding is at the core of your marketing strategy, so branding must come first. Whether a small business, startup, or large company, it is essential to clearly define who you are as a brand before you begin to devise your specific marketing methods, tools, strategies, and tactics.
What Is Another Name for a Brand Manager?
Titles such as ‘Brand Director’, ‘VP of Brand’, or ‘Chief Brand Officer’ (CBO) usually offer the highest earning potential. These roles involve comprehensive oversight of brand strategy, identity, and execution across multiple channels or product lines.
Why Sales Instead of Marketing?
This one-on-one attention not only helps close the sale but also builds the brand experience on which customer loyalty and advocacy are built. For this reason, customers often view sales professionals as more trustworthy and relatable than marketing professionals.
Conclusion
In this article, I explain the concept of branding vs. marketing vs. sales. As distinct as they are, their various functions in the business can not be ignored. They go hand in hand in that there will be low sales if you practice a poor marketing strategy. You should also know that branding comes first, as it forms the basis for marketing strategies. Sales are the final step in the process, where a business earns revenue by converting marketing leads into actual customers. I also highlighted how these concepts work together using the example of Infinix, a smartphone brand.
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- Small Business Branding Ideas: 15 Creative Ideas for 2024
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