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Branding is the aspect that deals with perception created in peoples minds about your product or service or whatever you offer. This gives them a feeling about you that helps determine whether or not they are going to go with you or your competitor.

It starts with your brand

Whether or not you realise this everyone has a brand. The difference is the those who are intentional about their brand simply gets better results with what they do.

To break this down is super important to understand what a brand is and why it is so significant.

What sets you apart is going to be how you position your brand to the public.

This includes:

• What you say & how you say it (messaging & personality)
• What it represents or stand for (values and beliefs)
• How it is identified; brand name and visual identity (logo, colours, sounds, smells)

When you have something to offer such as a product it need to tie into the principles of your brand and then you need to create some kind of awareness so that the public can know about it.

You may have heard that people have to first know, like and trust you before taking action. The way you get your target customer to know you, like you and trust you is by intentionally creating a brand that appeals to them, and then and carrying out activities that leads them back to you.

Marketing and advertising are two types of activities that come under your brand and creates awareness around what you, your product, or service have to offer. They are just approached in different ways.

From my perspective Marketing focusses more on engaging with your target customer in a way that builds a relationship. This gives them a better understanding of who you are and what you represent.

Marketing

Marketing can be seen as either inbound or outbound.

Inbound marketing is where you attract your target audience with your content or the other activities you do. Examples of inbound marketing are blog posts, online videos, social media activities, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and hosting events.

Outbound marketing involves you actively seeking out your target audience and starting the conversation. Methods of outbound marketing include phone calls, emails, physical mailers, and attending events.

Advertising

Advertising, on the other hand, is more about sending out a message directly promotes what you offer. It is not about relationship building That gets seen or heard over and over to the point where it is embedded in the brain and you are kept top of mind.

It is said that people need to see something at least 7 times before they decide to take action on it. That’s why ads have to be constant and better at grabbing attention if they are to be more successful than the competitors’. If an ad reaches the right person at the right time you can it can then result in an action taken i.e. call now, buy now, sign up, learn more etc.

I kind of see ads as an invitation to do something that doesn’t necessarily require a big investment or a relationship with the brand beforehand.

In summary:

• You need to position your brand in order to create or influence public perception.
• Then you can use marketing and advertising to create awareness of your brand and what you offer.

If you need help with your brand positioning so that you can stand out from the crow, I offer a brand strategy workshop that will take you through the process of figuring out the right direction for your brand messaging, value proposition, and more, based on your target audience.

If you are interested in doing this with me head over to marlonmcpherson.com and book a free consultation to get started.