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You've likely heard branding and marketing used interchangeably but they are two completely different things.

In this blog post, I will outline the differences between them and how you can leverage both to grow your accounting firm!

Discover your Brand

I like to think of a brand like a person. Your brand has a spirit, a personality, and a story.

The spirit of your brand is what your brand stands for, its values and it's why. It's the intangibles and no one can really see them but is what makes your brand and business tick.

Your Brand's personality is similar to your own, it’s what people see. It's the beginning of the exterior of a brand. It's how the business is perceived and how it interacts with its customers and its competitors for that matter.

Then finally, the story of the brand. It is just that - it's the constant consistent communication of your brand spirit and personality all shared in a long-term strategy to build perceived value and a perceived essence of your company.

Ultimately branding is the long-term strategy. It is a desired reputation that your brand and your business has worked over years to develop.

What is Branding?

But what is branding?

Branding is a reputation. It’s using visual and audio cues in some senses. Actually, you know, sense as in smelling something.

If you think of walking into a Hollister, or an Abercrombie, they're pumping in fragrances in order to make you feel something. All those things are meant to make you feel something and think of something - that's what branding is. It's the long-term strategy, trying to build that connection with the customer and there are a few things that you can do in order to build that desired reputation.

First, use consistent imagery, consistent logos, consistent colors, and consistent fonts. These are easy things to do and the reason why we need to do that is because our brains are always trying to conserve calories. What I mean by that is when somebody is looking at two images or looking at two logos or even honestly looking at two colors, our hope is that we're able to identify which one belongs to who.

Let’s think of burger joints for a second. I you think of yellow and red what do you think of? What if you think of brown and orange? The first one you're probably thinking of McDonald's, the second one you're probably thinking of is A&W, and you would be right! That has been instilled in you over years and years of brand campaigns and driving by signage. That is branding!

It takes a longer time to establish and really see the power of a branding campaign or a brand strategy. But ultimately it is just as important to ensure consistency every single day when you're working with your clients. The reputation that you build by working with your clients and them sharing the experience that they've had with you, that all goes into building what your brand is.

Ultimately what I would say is this, the number one rule in branding is consistency. Have a consistent offer, have a consistent experience, have consistent visuals (colors, logos, typefaces). All of that will help build your desired reputation.

I would suggest making a brand strategy. We go into this with our accounting clients, we start with what do you want to be known for? What do you want your superpower to be? When you work with your clients, what is the one thing you want them to take away from their relationship working with you?

Establish what that is and then start to build out imagery, logos, colors, videos, and communications. Your brand story should help support that. Then implement it consistently.

Ultimately that's what branding is.

What is Marketing?

Marketing is more of your short-term strategy. It’s the process of promoting a specific product or service.

Over the short term you're going to use techniques such as advertising, discounts, and events to generate interest around your services.

If we go back to our example of the burger joints, McDonald's will sponsor sporting events and just have their logo everywhere, or music festivals, or anything like that - that's branding. That's just going “look at that logo and going I want McDonald's now”. That's what they're hoping for because they've invested so much into brand marketing and brand campaigns that when you see those golden arches immediately, they want you to think of burger and fries.

However, when they send you a flyer in the mail with coupons and offers for specific products and meals that's marketing. So that's a bit of the difference.

A marketing campaign can consist of social media, it can contain an ad campaign, direct to mail, all these things - as long as they're promoting a direct service or a product. That's truly the difference between branding and marketing.

Branding really supports the marketing and vice versa.

Wrap Up

All of your marketing campaigns should consist of your logo, consistent messaging, colors, typefaces or fonts. They each tie together all the time. I just want to clarify that because I hear them used interchangeably all the time and they're truly not the same thing. Now, I know this is super high level, but I just wanted to clarify. I always find that it is a question that is never asked but should be.

Now, in our blog series, whenever we're talking about branding and marketing, you'll know the difference. Branding is the long term. It's the emotional long-term, consistently implemented strategy, to make your clients feel something when they hear about your brand (or see your logo or see any of your communications) because you want them to feel a certain way.

Marketing is the short-term strategy of promoting specific products or services. It is trying to get more people to engage with those products or services or book a meeting. It has a clear outcome, and it has a clear message of promoting a product or service.

Thanks for reading!

Need some additional help? Book a FREE Discovery Meeting today, here, to chat about how I can help!

I'll see you next time.

About the Author

Bryton Udy is the Founder and CMO of atHeart Creative, and host of the Accountant Marketing Mentor YouTube Channel. Dedicated to helping accountants simplify their marketing and communications so they can grow their accounting, bookkeeping, and financial planning businesses, he is passionate about harnessing creative marketing to support the independent accountant.

Is your brand and marketing supporting your overall goal?