We recently met with a potential client and had an interesting conversation about how marketing and branding work and differ from one another. He was a very smart guy who had a good handle on what he was trying to do with his website and overall brand, but as is nearly always the case, he was too close to it to be able to articulate it clearly, and uniquely, and needed a little help with how to make it look and sound the best it could.
But the interesting question that came up was about how to prioritize branding and marketing in relation to one another. Few of us have the luxury of being able to do everything we want, the way we want to, or even the way we know we should. Circumstances all too often dictate making choices with our resources — and boy, could we relate. We all have limited resources to some extent.
Sliding Scale vs. On/Off Switch
So just how should you prioritize your investment in branding vs. marketing? It helps to know how the two are different. Marketing works like a sliding scale — the more marketing you do, the more leads you get, the more sales you can close. It’s a volume game. Mistakes can be made if you spend your marketing dollars reaching audiences that are not aligned well with what you offer or that don’t have a compelling need for what you do. But as long as you’re speaking to the right audience, marketing will deliver in proportion to how much you do.
But branding — the language and look of your site (and other sales materials) that explains what you do and how you do it to your audience — is more like an on/off switch. It either addresses your audience’s concerns effectively or it doesn’t. Action (as in sales) will only occur if you’ve effectively and fully addressed all of the concerns that they have that might keep them from being inspired to act. Sometimes that action is to buy now, sometimes that action is to engage them to signup for future information so they can buy when they are next ready to.
Investments in branding have to be made first. Branding has to be done carefully and strategically. No matter what resources you have to spend on marketing, your return on it is dependent on whether or not your branding is as good as it needs to be.
Can you get away with “80% is good enough” on your branding? Maybe. But if it’s mediocre and doesn’t inspire connection and action effectively, no matter how many marketing dollars you throw at it, you won’t see the return you hope for. And the problem is, you won’t know why not either. Since marketing is a sliding scale and success is determined by how much you do, you’ll think you just need to do more marketing.
If you’re not sure where you are, we recommend getting an evaluation. They’re low in cost, always give you lots to think about, and help you see things from an outsider’s perspective that is nearly impossible to see from inside one’s own company. We’ve seen it too many times to count; your investment in your brand image, if done well, will pay dividend after dividend down the road.
— Chris Quinn, principal and brand strategist
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