One stumble we see so many brands make is spending energy on their marketing before figuring out who they are as a brand.

The best way to avoid this trap is to understand the difference between branding and marketing and how they work together.

In this post, you’ll get clear about branding and marketing and why you need both—in that order—to awaken the magic of your brand!

What is branding—and, more specifically, what is visual branding?

Your brand is the way your business or nonprofit is perceived by the people who experience it. It includes your visual brand identity, brand messaging, and brand experience.

Branding is enduring.

It’s less about what you do and more about WHO you are and WHY you exist.

As a design agency, we focus on developing strategic visual brand identities for our clients and implementing that branding through a range of marketing assets. These include:

Logo

A unique, memorable logo should be infused with brand personality and signal to your audience what your business does.

Colors

Color psychology plays a big role in brand perception. It’s crucial to have a well-conceived brand palette and to always use your precise colors in your marketing assets.

Typefaces

Fonts do a lot to reinforce your brand personality. Choosing the right mix of up to three typefaces and using them consistently gives your brand polish and professionalism.

Imagery

Brand patterns and icons are excellent tools to have in your toolkit. We love illustrating one-of-a-kind, versatile elements for our clients. Imagery also includes brand photography, and while we don’t offer in-house photography, we are so grateful to have some incredible photographers in our network.

A strong visual brand identity doesn’t just look incredible—it also goes beyond style to capture the soul of your brand.

It pays to work with a designer who takes the time to understand your brand from every angle. Together with their guidance, you can develop a visual identity that:

• Captures your brand’s personality and style
• Clearly tells people what your business offers
• Communicates your positioning (aka how you’re different than others in your industry)
• Is versatile and complete with all the flexible elements you need to market effectively

What is marketing—and what are the visual assets most brands need to do it well?

If branding is how you define your business in the minds of your audience, marketing is how you reach your audience through specific channels and tactics to build awareness that leads to sales.

It’s goal-driven, short-term, and targeted, focused on communicating the HOW and WHAT of your offers.

While marketing strategy includes everything from offer or product development to pricing and strategy, designers focus on creating visual assets for promotional purposes.

There are a number of factors that determine which visual assets your brand will need at any given point, including:

Your Goals — Are you hoping to build brand awareness, generate sales, launch a new offer, retain customers?

Your Market — Are you a B2B or B2C business? Are your users on TikTok or LinkedIn? Knowing where to find your people can influence your channels.

Your Region — Are you an online business targeting customers worldwide or a local brick-and-mortar store?

Once you know your goals and audience, you can decide which channels and tactics will be most effective, from digital ad campaigns to word-of-mouth campaigns, networking, and influencer marketing.

Not every type of marketing requires visuals, but most do in one way or another! Here is an overview of the vast array of visual marketing assets we develop for our clients:

Digital Assets

• Email Graphics
• Facebook and Instagram Ads
• Google Ads
• Display Ads
• Social Media Graphics
• Video Title Cards
• Podcast Art

Print Assets

• Postcards
• Rack Cards
• Brochures
• Direct Mail
• Print Ads
• Menus

Packaging, Promo Items, and Signage

• Signage
• Vehicle Wraps
• Product Packaging
• Promotional Items
• Branded Gifts
• Banners
• Murals
• Window Art

Some clients take their Brand Guide and run with it, DIY-ing their marketing assets. Others prefer us to create their marketing materials, ensuring every aspect has a professional touch. There is no wrong answer as long as whoever is doing the design follows your brand guidelines. Using the right fonts, colors, spacing, and styles is crucial to maximizing your branding investment!

Why brand-first design makes sense.

At awen & co, we’re all about establishing well-defined, deeply rooted visual branding before diving headfirst into marketing.

Why?

First of all, you’ll make a bigger impact with everything you put into the world. Polished branding makes you look professional and builds trust. Beyond that, when you present your brand consistently, you’ll get more traction with your marketing efforts. Seeing the same visual elements and hearing the same strategic messages over and over helps your audience recognize you, remember you, and keep you top-of-mind.

Another major benefit is saving time and money. Instead of reinventing the wheel and messing around for hours and hours in Canva, you’ll know exactly which colors, fonts, and stylistic elements fit your business. You’ll also avoid the expense of having to redo physical items if you get your visual branding locked in from the start.

Long story short . . .

Branding is lasting, overarching, and all about the WHO and WHY.

Marketing is short-term, goal-oriented, and all about the WHAT and HOW.

When you take the time to get clear on your branding first, your marketing has the best chance of success. And when you do it all with the help of an expert design partner who can bring your brand to life through inspired visuals—that’s when the magic happens!

Are you a new or evolving brand in need of a design partner?

We’d love to learn about your business and share more about our approach.

Book a call today.

This is a contributed blog post written by Stephanie Audette Connor, the founder and head designer at awen&co: a brand focused graphic design collective located in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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