Digital branding and digital marketing are often used as synonymous terms. They refer to related yet distinct disciplines. In a nutshell, digital marketing focuses on acquisition and client customer growth, while digital branding focuses on expanding the digital footprint. Which one does your business need? According to the digital marketing and branding agency Clarity Digital, both disciplines can work harmoniously to help you build your customer base and enhance your sales. Find out more by checking out the latest Clarity Digital blog post.
Digital Marketing vs. Digital Brand: What’s the Difference?
The battle for consumer attention spans has never been more intense. For today’s businesses, it’s critical to employ a robust strategy to boost awareness and earn the trust and affection of a target audience.
Accomplishing this calls for a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, but more than that, it requires the careful cultivation of a digital brand. Though sometimes used interchangeably, these terms denote two very different facets of building a business. In a nutshell, digital marketing focuses on acquisition and client customer growth, while digital branding focuses on expanding the digital footprint.
In this post, we’ll consider further distinctions between these two disciplines. And we’ll provide some insight into what your company needs.
What is Digital Branding?
We’ll assume that the concept of digital marketing is familiar, but the concept of a digital brand might be a bit more elusive.
Digital branding can be defined as using digital assets to create an online brand identity, which can be expressed on pretty much any digital channel or platform (including websites, social media, content marketing, video, and even PPC ads).
When implemented thoughtfully and strategically, digital branding can create superior digital marketing campaigns while also allowing you to expand your presence in digital spaces.
Digital Branding and Digital Marketing: How Do They Differ?
There are some crucial similarities between digital branding and digital marketing, enough so that it may be challenging to tell the two apart.
As we indicated above, the best way to approach this distinction is to consider the goals of each discipline. Your digital marketing efforts are intended to draw leads, optimize conversions, and ultimately sell a product or service. In other words, digital marketing tends to be very transactional in its focus.
By contrast, digital branding is more concerned with relationships. It’s about forging a connection with customers and driving engagement. In both cases, the end goal is to grow your customer base to enhance sales, yet digital branding takes a different approach than digital marketing. While marketing may focus on the benefits of a particular product or service, digital branding has a holistic focus, highlighting the positive impact of the brand as a whole. As such, it may speak less to product specifications and more to culture, values, and mission. In doing so, it creates an implicit link between the product that’s being sold and the business or brand that’s behind it.
Can Digital Branding and Digital Marketing Work Together?
It’s important to note that while we’ve been considering digital branding and digital marketing in separate categories, they are meant to work together in harmony.
Think of it this way: Once you build a digital brand, you use digital marketing tools to help maintain it. Your commitment to digital marketing allows you to share your digital brand via videos, blogs, ads, and other online content.
Conversely, digital branding makes your digital marketing focused and cohesive. It gives you a clear identity and a “face” to share with the world through your digital marketing channels. Starting with a strong, clear digital brand makes your digital marketing efforts more effective.
What’s Included in a Digital Brand?
Several components make up your digital brand. Here are some of the essentials.
- Your logo. The logo is likely the first image people associate with your brand, which will be employed throughout your digital marketing collateral. Getting the logo right is vital.
- Your website. A good website is critical to your digital branding efforts. The website is like your digital storefront; it goes a long way toward supplying customers with information and determining their first impressions.
- Brand messaging. Effective brand messaging answers three core questions: What do you stand for? What do you do? And why do you matter?
- SEO. Search engine optimization is an important piece of the digital branding puzzle, as it determines the extent to which your business can be found online and under which search terms it’s most likely to come up.
- Social media profiles. Like your website, your social media profiles are essential vessels of information about who you are, what you do, and what you value as a business.
Additional elements that fall under the digital branding umbrella include email marketing, paid ads, blogging, and video assets.
Does Your Business Need Digital Marketing, Digital Branding, or Both?
So which of these disciplines is most salient to your business objectives?
Well, that depends on several factors, including your industry, the short-term and long-term goals of a business, your financial situation, and the general reputation of your company. With all that said, we recommend having both disciplines on your radar and considering ways to employ them holistically, integratively.
Talk with Our Digital Branding Agency Today
To better understand these concepts and to ascertain which one you should prioritize or focus on, we recommend speaking to someone from our digital branding and digital marketing agency. Reach out to Clarity Digital at your convenience.
