Digital Marketing vs. Digital Branding – What’s the Difference?

Jul 28 / 2023

For most people, the concepts of digital branding and digital marketing can be confusing since the similarities between the two often overshadow the differences. But to set up a marketing strategy that is successful for your business, it is vital to know the unique aspects of both concepts and to understand the differences.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is used to indicate all the methods and processes used to market your product or service to the target audience, using digital mediums. The ultimate aim of digital marketing is to gain customers and persuade them to purchase the product/service.

What Is Digital Branding?

Digital branding focuses on building your brand’s narrative so that people can easily identify the products relating to the particular brand.

Digital branding is also ultimately a marketing technique that helps create a unique look for your brand among your competitors. It involves defining your mission, principles and more. The features that distinguish your brand like logo, tagline, motto and website also come under digital branding.

Also Read: Why would Google penalize your website?

What Are the Objectives of Digital Marketing and Digital Branding?

Knowing the objectives of the two concepts can throw some light on the differences.

Objectives of Digital Marketing

• Generates new leads for the business
• Increases the sales
• Improves the conversion rate
• Increases the traffic from quality leads
• Brand building
• Lessens the cost of customer acquisition

Objectives of Digital Branding

• Builds brand awareness
• Creates a brand voice
• Communicates what the brand stands for
• Showcases the attributes that distinguish your company from others
• Builds stronger emotional connections with the customers
• Knows more about the preference of the customers
• Helps gain credibility and trust for the brand

Making Digital Marketing and Digital Branding Work Together

We are currently in a time where everything is going digital. Hence, the wise choice would be to get the best out of both concepts and make them work in tandem.

It would help to start with digital branding since you need to first know what the brand stands for before marketing it to the masses. Digital branding will give your business a face and identity which will help create a stronghold among customers. The customers don’t want to see mindless marketing; instead, they need a purpose that digital branding will give.

Creating this connection between the brand and the customers creates an audience that will listen to what you have to say. These loyal customers who follow your brand will be at the top of your target customer list. This way, digital marketing is also made easy when preceded by branding.

Here are some examples of top companies which use both digital branding and marketing to the fullest.

Also Read: Difference between Organic and Paid Search Results

Tesla

With the level of popularity that Tesla and Elon Musk have gained in recent years, it is almost impossible for someone to guess that the company was founded only in 2003.

From the start, the company has been clear with its purpose – “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” Tying the company’s purpose with a greater cause worked wonders for the brand.

With the issue of global warming and climate change being debated almost daily, it is not very surprising for a company like Tesla to receive the spotlight.

While Tesla started with electric cars, now it has widened its purpose to clean energy and storage solutions. This is a great way to build a company – with the brand purpose as the foundation.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is just a drink but the company’s branding and marketing have made it out to be something more.

In a Coca-Cola ad published in 1971, we see people of different races standing together and singing the song “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing in perfect harmony.” In this advertisement, the ad connects a refreshment drink with world harmony.

In another advertisement, we see a bottle of Coke being accidentally poured on internet servers. It leads to converting all the hate messages on the internet into loving ones. These types of advertisements strengthen the stand of Coca-Cola as a symbol of love, sharing and friendship.

They have also maintained brand consistency that subconsciously created trust and familiarity among the customers.

LBN Tech Solutions

One similarity between digital branding and digital marketing is that creating both takes time. We at LBN Tech Solutions can help with that! We will create the best marketing strategy combining both branding and marketing while you are busy with the technical aspects of your business. Know more about us here.