What is brand marketing or branding?
Brand marketing or branding – haven’t you heard this word thrown around a lot by marketing gurus and entrepreneurs? Have you ever wondered what exactly is brand marketing?
A brand is a way a company differentiates itself from others. Brand marketing is the process of establishing a strong, long-lasting relationship between a brand and its consumers.
The goal of brand marketing is to build value – to market the brand as an entirety. It is not focussed on one product or service but rather, weaves a story around the brand as a whole.
What is product marketing?
Product marketing is the process of launching or promoting a particular product in the market. This includes –
- Product launch (in case of a new product)
- Product positioning
- Drive demand of the product
Essentially, product marketing is what connects a product to the market.
Brand Marketing vs Product Marketing: Differences
The main differences between brand marketing and product marketing are –
1. Storytelling
People love a good story behind a brand and brand marketing enables you to say it. Brand marketing is more about weaving a story around the brand and product marketing is solely focussed on a particular product, making them both very different.
2. Metrics
It is easier to track the marketing metrics for product marketing. This is because all your marketing efforts are only focused on marketing that one product. Hence, it is much easier to track. Brand marketing has multiple campaigns, hence it can be a challenge to actually track all the metrics.
3. Recognition
Your brand is more than just one product. Hence, businesses invest heavily in brand marketing as they want to build it for the long run. In case the company decides to do product marketing, the product will be received well if brand perception is positive.
For example, Nike has multiple products and chooses to do brand marketing for a bigger impact instead of focusing on marketing one product only.
4. Knowledge
Brand marketing is like creating an identity in the minds of your target audience. It needs to be long-lasting, impactful, and also relatable. It is not usually highly informative. Product marketing on the other hand is much more informative as it shares essential details of a product with its customers.
Brand Marketing vs Product Marketing: Which one is better?
When it comes to brand marketing vs. product marketing – there is no answer to which one is better. They are both different and essential to any company. The older and more well established a company is, it is more advisable to invest in brand marketing.
For newer companies and startups, product marketing is ideal as you need to spread awareness about your product to build your brand in the first place.
Again, this is very situational and differs from industry to industry. Some startups may have a lot of competition in the market and may have the need to focus on brand marketing. A few older companies might need to focus on product marketing for new, innovative products.
A combination of brand marketing and product marketing goes a long way as you are not only focusing on one. There needs to be a balance of both. Your brand’s value and the product value both need to shine through.
