Due to their similar goals, many categorize digital branding and marketing together. This makes sense on paper since both are mostly concerned with growing your business but it’s not a fair action. While both components are important for a business to grow, the two are nonetheless very different.

Let’s take some time to look at branding, marketing, and the effectiveness of bringing them together below:

How Important is Branding

Branding has always been a critical element of a business. As the digital age has entered the scene, this importance has risen exponentially.

Digital branding establishes the entire identity of a brand online. Companies accomplish this through the use of various digital assets. Main examples include websites, social media profiles, content marketing, and ads. 

The correct utilization of all these enables a company to establish a strong presence online. Companies use digital branding to communicate their value effectively to their customers. 

Important elements of your business can be directly conveyed to prospects. That makes digital branding one of the most critical components of a successful business. 

The Importance of Marketing 

Marketing has always held great importance for businesses. If branding represents a company fostering communication with their community, marketing is the search outward for more to join.

Traditional marketing tactics include yellow pages, billboards, mailers, magazines, newspapers, and more. Today, marketing is everywhere we look–our phones, televisions, and computer screens.

Digital marketing enables brands to reach audiences never before possible thanks to the internet. There has never been a traditional medium for marketing that is able to reach larger, more targeted audiences than digital marketing.

Today, businesses can establish campaigns in seconds that reach thousands or even millions of people. Digital marketing has also enabled businesses to convert more customers since they can include links and other calls to action.

The culmination of this is marketing being more important than ever. As tools grow in their availability, the businesses that ignore them are going to find themselves behind.

Conversely, digital marketing generates leads and closes sales for businesses. It does this by bringing in new audiences. While both branding and marketing aim to increase conversions and sales, the two are still very different. 

For the best results, companies need a faithful utilization of both.

Branding and Marketing in the Digital Age

Today, a business that is not utilizing both of these tools is not going to reach its full potential. As the world transitions increasingly towards digital platforms, a presence online is imperative. When it comes to that presence, nothing is able to accomplish the same results as a combination of branding and marketing.

Though the two practices are different, there is a point where they can interact and overlap. That’s because digital marketing is a great way to grow and maintain the brand you are developing. 

By sharing your core values and image through digital marketing, the act is much more fruitful. As such, it’s important to establish a digital brand before moving on to digital marketing. Doing so makes the communication of your message far easier.

Additionally, clients who come across your campaign will not see it as a simple ad if they believe it’s coming from a business they have a relationship with. It’s more likely that they will stop and listen to what you say when your brand voice is already established. 

Many of the most famous brands in the world lead with their brand vision ahead of their marketing. Take a brand like Adidas, for example, which has always had a wide audience to enjoy. 

As the digital age took off, they did a great job of changing with it and have maintained the same amount of brand recognition or even grown over the years.

Many businesses have an issue with finding comfort with their current processes and audiences. As the times change, businesses must change with them. Otherwise, they risk falling behind their peers.  

We don’t have to go far back to see this fact. It was only in 2008 that Jim Keyes, the CEO of Blockbuster, said:

“Neither RedBox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition.” 

Two years later, Blockbuster was filing for bankruptcy. Today, this quote is all over the internet as a warning sign to those who don’t take interest in the changing trends of the market.

Staying Ahead of the Curve with Anata

Knowing the importance of properly utilizing these tools is only half the battle. Figuring out how to wield them takes a bit more doing. Luckily, you don’t have to go at it alone.

At Anata, we specialize in helping businesses drive and convert traffic more efficiently. If you don’t believe us, we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is and offer performance-based pricing.

That means that, if you don’t get paid, we don’t get paid. Contact us today or comment below to get the conversation started!

If you could make sure the whole world knew one thing about your brand, what would it be?