Branding & Marketing - Create new names for them?

Hi Christian: I must be old fashioned as I like those words. What else is there? I'm curious.

Well, both branding and marketing are words that are so "big", so layered, and can mean so many things to so many people that they are always going to be a bit loaded.

Of course, we're probably more used to this happening with words like: "feminism", "religious", "yoga", etc. There are all sorts of words that hold deep, personal meanings -- but totally different ones -- for different people, and to some extent these words can sometimes lose their usefulness as communication tools.

But I think it absolutely happens in the business world too. When I started my business I had only negative associations with branding (um, burning cows with a hot iron, right? Yuck! Why would I want to do that to my business?).

If I examine my personal definitions for "branding" and "marketing" back then, they both contained things like "sleazy" and "manipulative" and "soulless". Later, I learned to "translate" them.

I learned to understand that marketing isn't about convincing someone or selling myself, but about shining a light so that the people who need me can find me and receive help. I realized that branding is a way to focus that light so that I can connect with just the right people for the work I do.

But there is still an element of translation that goes on. A split second of delayed reaction. I'd still much rather use other words, if it were up to me.

Definitely an issue worth discussing! I'm curious as to what people have to say.

Yes- it's an excellent topic- well worth discussing.

I use a very different word than 'branding'- I use 'worldview.' When a client enters your business, even just through your marketing, they are entering your world. By having a coherent worldview, you can help the client feel at home, etc, etc.

We teach a five-day retreat based partially on this insight, and have an entire approach to creating it, that takes in a lot of 'typical' branding stuff, plus some deeper spiritual content.

'Marketing' I don't have as big a problem with- simply because it means, for me, showing up in the market place- literally 'going to market.' I think of the outdoor bazaars, where people show up, meet, have tea, and in general are in community with one another.

'Meet you down at the market' is what 'marketing' means to me- so I'm happy to keep using it.

For my own point of view, I see branding and marketing having lost definition. I would say 9 out of 10 consumers actually have no idea what the difference is between the two. On many instances public relations can be thrown into that watery grave too.

Ultimately the words are meaningless. Businesses (and people) are either "hot or not". It doesn't make a lick of difference to most of them if PR, Marketing, Advertising, Branding, or random drug testing leads clients to them. They are simply seeking a result, not the words describing how a result is reached.

Any direct decision maker will tell you what they want is the result. Of course as promotional professionals we are tasked with the challenge of leading them through planning, asset coordination, strategy, execution, and reaching the final goal.

When talking with most professionals I use the terms promotion and reputation a lot. Every wants to be promoted, everyone wants to have a reputation (hopefully a good one!)

Does everyone want a brand? What is a brand? If I have a brand for my business, is my brand me or is it something else?

As I look at the sales to solution cycle of reaching a new client, educating them on a word or thought as abstract as marketing and brand is rather pointless. They know what it is under various other descriptive terms and they just need to relate to the desire of having it.

Christian

This is a great topic. I think the words are both understood by people so I wouldn't mess with it. I think that it is all about knowing your potential client and being able to talk to them about how "branding" will help their business specifically and what that means so people see the benefits.

Marketing is a huge umbrella word that means different things to different industries. Again- it is about you showing the specific area of marketing that you help people with. It is all about differentiating yourself and how you present your business to your market.

branding and marketing... yes they both do, indeed have some baggage.

YEs! come up with new words!

I think I start to snore and/or get nervous and tired when I hear both of those words.

They have a history of being something that:

*other people know how to do better

*is totally complex to do so you might as well give up trying to do either yourself

*has all sorts of public interface aspects (witch is totally scary for lots of folks - I mean - if we get all blown up in public... how long till some dirt is uncovered?)

Effective tools; marketing and Branding.

Seems to me like one is putting on the package

the other: making said package "the thing you should never ever live without"

so right there you have this whole resistance to being told what to think.

and man I don't want to tell people what to think.

yes

come up

with new words

that describe the process of

1. looking behind the scenes...

2.assessing the truth of the business/products/services etc,

3.creating the simple honest and intelligently perfect presentation for it

1. finding the best fit as far as the target audience

2. and then the implementation of "let her rip" marketing ideas that work deeply and effectively for all parties involved in the business venture in question. (best to have ideas that create the most return for the least amount of effort - I would figure)

Anyway - i should probably edit this comment to make it run smoother but that's my general opinion of your presented question. :)

I think the words branding and marketing are great and I haven't noticed the terms having a negative connotation.

Are you looking to "2.0" them? ;]

If all fails we can say branding and marketing in French or Spanish -- they'll probably sound sexy which is a plus.

When they get old again... we can come up with a word like colonel. [Does anyone see an "R" in this word??? Oh, yeah... "In modern English, the word colonel is pronounced similarly to kernel (of grain) as a result of entering the language from Middle French in two competing forms, dissimilated coronel and colonel. The more conservative spelling colonel was favored in written use and eventually became the standard spelling even as it lost out in pronunciation to coronel."] The word sounds good but is spelled 100% differently...

I think I got it... We'll leave spell branding and marketing the same but we'll pronounce branding as birthing-your-business and marketing as make-you-more-money!

Watch the money come in. ;]

Good luck Christian with this little dilemma,

-Andrey

to just add more thought - I don't know about your branding and identity tactics and strategies but I tend to think of those things as rather intimate work.

You have your work cut out for you. It's almost like soul-searching to come up with a brand and identity that really speaks the truth in a way that resonates with the audience.

it took years to get it out of me and, of course, one must leave room for growth, change and evolution of identity.

Christian, I'd be interested in broadening this discussion of business-related words and the emotional "stuff" they sometimes trigger for some of us (or for some of our potential clients).

For example, "prospect" is a word that I can't stand. Mark Silver (Heart of Business) has a nice twist on that, calling those people "prospectors" who are coming to you to look for gold in your business.

And Seth Godin has a great post (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/02/citizens-1.html) where he argues for calling them "citizens", as a way to remember that you're dealing with real, live human beings and not flies you're trying to lure into your spider parlor.

[And yes, btw, I don't understand the "formatting help" instructions on how to do links. Even asked my designer and he didn't get it either. Are we both incompetent idiots or are other people having trouble with this too?]

I love this conversation...I do research for a living and have worked with lots of advertising, marketing, communications, pr, etc...firms. I am meeting with an advertising agency person next week and her title is Brand Architect....sorry but I laughed out loud!

Christian -

I think the major thing that came out of our lunch conversation for me was that so many people - professionals providing services and their clients - just toss around terms like "branding" and "marketing" without any understanding of what they actually mean or a true expectation of what can be provided for a business under those terms. "Brand" has become such an industry "buzz word" that even the smallest business owner throws it out to a designer - and suddenly you realize that in the simplest terms they are just asking for a logo without having a clue in regards to the broader requirements of an actual brand.

The over-used terminology of the times often gets in the way of a business or organization understanding or getting what they really need for growth and success.

In writing my first book back in 2003 I expressed my annoyance with the terminology "synergy," "out of the box" and "on the same page." I still cringe whenever I hear any of those used by a professional in talking with a client.

I always enjoy responding to "out of the box" with "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean - I've never allowed myself to be put in a box." That stops people cold.

Moving beyond the worn-out buzz words often requires simply communicating exactly what one means, needs or requires in plain ol' language that anyone/everyone can comprehend.

A client I have in Alaska the Anchorage Museum wants to do a big Branding campaign and we are the first step ....conducting research.....well after the first round of focus groups I realized they didn't have an identity worth keeping and nobody really knows much about who or what they are...to top it all off they are building a new mega Museum! So I started explaining to them that they needed a "buzz" for the community to even start to care about what they are all about. So I guess what I am saying is trying to help create a buzz starts defining a group or organization......branding seems like a developed and working reputation.

Jean -

Museum projects are exciting and challenging. Creating the "buzz" is certainly an important element of the branding process - and does fill in a lot of the necessary "blanks" as you learn how a facility is perceived in the market. My sister and I did the same for an existing small museum in the Bay Area a couple years ago.

Great topic, Christian. From listening to everyone, I can see that these words do indeed mean different things to different people. Perhaps instead of using the actual words, "branding" and marketing," it's easier to understand, to "be on the same page," (sorry, Jeff, couldn't resist!), if we describe the results.

So, to me, branding, or whatever you want to call it, is focusing down to your unique core, what you do better than anyone else, which is part of the process that leads you to your niche and your ideal customers.

A big part of marketing, to me, is getting the message out so, as Havi said, "the people who need me can find me."

There's a lot more to it than that, of course, but to me these are the distinctions. And branding and marketing go together. Just my two cents.

I agree with you, Jeff. While the word "marketing" does have some baggage, it's got less than some others... for example, say "advertising" or "sales". This because it has been misnomered so many times - for example, "telemarketing" isn't really marketing, it's sales prospecting or cold-calling.

I vote we fully define our terms, then leave the terminology alone. Today's trite buzzwords are last season's "newly coined definitions"; terms everyone parrots but few truly understand. For me, even "Branding" is a buzzword that buzzes a little too buzzily. I firmly believe that all real truth is basically simple: Marketing is the action of creating or discovering markets. Markets are places where people buy and sell stuff - places either literally or figuratively, but places. Branding is part of that process; simply creating an identity that de-commoditizes your product (in both your public's and your own eyes) and differentiates it from other products your potential buyer may find or become aware of. Changing the terminology of a concept is a lot like painting a house - A) It's useful to protect and sometimes to beautify your home (or idea), but it's still fundamentally the same house (or idea), and B) the more radically different you paint the house, the less likely people will be to recognize it, and some may get lost.

To further beat this analogy to death, the more coats you layer on, the more every part of it looks like every other part, the less detail you can see and you eventually have to strip it all off and start over. I think that's where marketing and branding come full circle - in fact, the 'back to basics' PR campaigns are all the fashion just now, while 'branding' complexity as such is so-five-minutes-ago already.

My two cents too.

Christian - First of all, I hope your dad's surgery went well. I was sending good thoughts your way while you were out town. Missed you at the Portland biznik event.

In regards to your comment "already too many are tired of Web 2.0:" As far as design, especially identity design I'm now referring to it as "Web 2.Oh-Oh"