Brand Strategy Versus Advertising (Smart Monday/Process)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Smart Monday and we are looking at the difference between developing brand strategy and advertising.

In a recent blog, Mark Ritson stated that brand strategy is no job for an advertising agency.  We tend to agree.

At Once a Day Marketing we spend most of our time developing brand strategy for our clients.  Because we know that a brand is simply everything, it's imperative for our team to have a thorough understanding of virtually every aspect of our client's company including operations, manufacturing, marketing, sales, etc. This knowledge enables us to properly position the brand.

We are also required to understand the client's brand architecture (how brands within the company's portfolio relate to each other), how the customer perceives brand benefits and also how that brand relates to competitors.  We assess positioning, brand promise, functional and emotional benefits, etc.  This work is then used to create compelling messaging that will be relevant and resonate with target customers.

Advertising is the process of sharing this messaging through the marketing ecosystem of traditional and social media channels.  With the myriad of ways consumers are now exposed to marketing messaging it's a full time job for an advertising agency to understand these channels and perfect their flow of communications to cost-effectively reach their targets.

Back to Riston's point, it's very difficult for a brand strategy company to have a great grasp on all aspects of advertising if they are spending all their time in the branding trenches.  The same is true of advertising agencies.  How can they really know branding if their goal is to be the best at delivering client messaging through advertising channels?

This distinction is something to consider as you hire consultants or agencies to develop your brand strategy and advertising in the future.

Once a Day Marketing™ positions brands to become #1 in the minds of target customers.  Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com.  Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com.  Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at noon (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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