As you expand your business, you will want to differentiate between your brand marketing strategy and your retail marketing objectives. Before you do that, however, it’s important to understand the key difference between the two terms.
Brand marketing is about telling the world who you are and what your brand stands for. It’s about getting across the values and principles your brand represents. It is also defined by answers to questions such as – what inspired you to start your business, what stands you out as unique, and what image you want to build in the mind of someone who hears your name. It’s therefore the identity behind your product, and its back story.
Retail marketing on the other hand is about selling and creating awareness about your product. Its core objective is to snare customers and to make them choose your product over its competitors. Retail marketing uses several tools, the most common being the usual suspects – search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, online/print/experiential advertising campaigns, mobile marketing, television and radio advertising etc.
Therefore, if you haven’t already guessed, one of the crucial differences between the two concepts is that while you work hard to build and maintain brand identity, retail marketing supports the former and constantly needs to adapt to changing market dynamics. These dynamics can be in the form of current events, customer sentiment, new pricing strategies etc.
Which is more important?
That’s a bit of a misleading question. The answer is, both are equally important. However, even before you start selling your product or service, it’s critical to establish the perception behind them. This means that your customer must also buy the back story behind the product/service, and believe in its founding principles and ideals.
Therefore, it’s important to first establish your brand, and then develop a comprehensive retail marketing ecosystem around it. The objective should be to first ingrain your product or service into the target customer’s mind and make him or her relate to it and want to buy it. Then you should follow it up with a well researched and well targeted retail marketing campaign to reap maximum rewards.
Brand marketing is about telling the world who you are and what your brand stands for. It’s about getting across the values and principles your brand represents. It is also defined by answers to questions such as – what inspired you to start your business, what stands you out as unique, and what image you want to build in the mind of someone who hears your name. It’s therefore the identity behind your product, and its back story.
Retail marketing on the other hand is about selling and creating awareness about your product. Its core objective is to snare customers and to make them choose your product over its competitors. Retail marketing uses several tools, the most common being the usual suspects – search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, online/print/experiential advertising campaigns, mobile marketing, television and radio advertising etc.
Therefore, if you haven’t already guessed, one of the crucial differences between the two concepts is that while you work hard to build and maintain brand identity, retail marketing supports the former and constantly needs to adapt to changing market dynamics. These dynamics can be in the form of current events, customer sentiment, new pricing strategies etc.
Which is more important?
That’s a bit of a misleading question. The answer is, both are equally important. However, even before you start selling your product or service, it’s critical to establish the perception behind them. This means that your customer must also buy the back story behind the product/service, and believe in its founding principles and ideals.
Therefore, it’s important to first establish your brand, and then develop a comprehensive retail marketing ecosystem around it. The objective should be to first ingrain your product or service into the target customer’s mind and make him or her relate to it and want to buy it. Then you should follow it up with a well researched and well targeted retail marketing campaign to reap maximum rewards.