Marketing and Branding Your Business

Too often smaller businesses ignore formal marketing because they consider it either too expensive or ineffective for their business. The fact is that all businesses should have a marketing plan with-in their business plan. This is also a way of saying you should have a business plan, but we will get to that in another post. It is a way of getting your message to your customer and increasing business. Contrary to what we have seen on TV it is not a tool to persuade someone into your place of business under false pretenses and then try to get him to buy something they do not want or need. It is a way of telling the customer who you are what you do and why he should do business with you.

Branding on the other hand is the core of your marketing, but is not marketing. Branding is reviling who you are and what makes you different. Why would a customer shop with you if everything your offered was exactly like your competitor and for the same price? You need to know your brand then own your brand.  Understanding your brand is key to targeting your market. An example would be Walmart™ whose brand has always been getting more for your money. When they decided to increase market share to customers who did not normally shop there they maintained the brand but upped the market. They changed the logo to make Wal*Mart one word and the slogan from “Always low prices” to “Save money. Live better.” There were of course a number of other changes inside the stores, but they held on to the brand to keep the core business and adjusted the marketing to attract a new demographic.

So to restate, branding and marketing are linked but not the same. Once your brand is set and your target market identified your marketing can begin. A good marketing plan may not let you grow to the size of a big box store, buts it a start.

Paul Davis MBA is President of JANUS Think, a consulting business in Northern Virginia, janusthink.com, https://www.facebook.com/janusthink