Typically, when people think about branding, the first thing that comes to mind is a logo. And when it comes to marketing, it is advertising and communications. This has always been the case and sadly, there is little if any change in this thinking. Firstly, let’s not talk about branding and marketing in separate breaths. They are two sides of the same coin. A brand is not just about its logo, and marketing is not just about its advertising and communication campaigns. Brand development and Marketing are two separate disciplines, but they need to work together towards a common goal, which is achieving business objectives. When developing a brand, along with its inherent strengths, the target customer and the competition are studied before arriving at a strategy that defines what the brand stands for, what should people perceive it as, and how it is different from the competition so that customers see value in this difference. But it doesn’t end there, and all of this is carved into the messaging strategy of the brand which forms the foundation for marketing to take off from.
The vehicle used to translate all the aspects of the brand to the customer and enable achievement of business objectives is Marketing. The Marketing discipline studies all the above aspects, from the point of identifying the market opportunity, and funneling it down to the right customer segment. Finally, the channels to be used to reach out to this customer segment are identified. This strategy along with the brand and messaging strategy form the basis for marketing campaigns.
Therefore, logo design and advertising and communication campaigns are just tips of icebergs of these two disciplines.
We see that brand development and marketing in India, operate as silos. This is because there are different specialists offering brand strategy and marketing services. And they usually do not collaborate. Brand strategies end up as pretty PowerPoint presentations sitting in computers, and Marketing strategies are developed in isolation and only address tactical business situations. These are blind, stop-gap responses to changing consumer needs and new product / service introductions by competition. This results in the brand being diluted over time as well as losing relevance to its target customer.
In the Indian context, a mind shift is required that insists that Brand development and Marketing work together always, so that brands are developed keeping the business objectives in mind, and marketing enables to not just meet these business objectives but also strengthen and grow the brand over time.