INTRODUCTION

BRANDING & MARKETING

Branding and marketing are two very important aspects of securing a successful business as they help you sell your product or service in the best way. They are related but it is important to understand the difference between branding and marketing, as they are often mistaken/confused.

Branding is who you are - marketing is what you do

This is the simplest distinction between the two. Marketing is actively promoting a product or service. It’s pushing out a message to sell your product: “Buy our product because it’s better than theirs.”

Branding comes before marketing and it underlies and steers you marketing activities.. Branding is the expression of the essential truth or value, of a business, product, or service. It is your business’ characteristics, values, and attributes that clarify what this particular brand is and is not.

Steps In The Module

This module has been divided into 4 different steps or components and the overall objective is for the participants to understand what branding and marketing is and how they can use it in their own businesses. They should outline their brand identity, their customers, and their competition and set/ develop specific marketing activities.

BRANDING & MARKETING

- What is your brand?

- How to market your product or service

Brand Customers Competition Marketing

Branding

A strong brand can give you the competitive edge you need.

Strong brands can:

• Create greater customer loyalty

• Make you less sensitive to competitive pricing

• Increase support from partners

• Give focus to your marketing activities

• Help you to attract the resources you need such as talent and capital

Keeping this in mind, it becomes easy to see that a strong brand is a powerful tool for all businesses — large or small — whether you are selling a product or service, selling to consumers or to other businesses.

8 Questions You Need To Ask

So now, you know you need a strong brand. The real question is, ”How do you build one?” Building a strong brand is about having a clear understanding of what your brand stands for, and then making sure everyone else understands it too. It is as simple — and as complicated — as that.

Building your brand starts with answering some questions about your product or business:

1. Who are my customers?

2. What customers do I want to have?

3. Who are my competitors?

4. What is my competitors’ brand?

5. What problem does my business solve?

6. What is my value proposition? Is it distinctive? Is it relevant to my customers?

7. When people think about my company or product, what are the feelings and associations I want them to have? Are they unique?

8. What kind of “personality” will my brand have?