The Difference Between Brand and Branding

I’m rebranding my blog, you need to have a strong brand, I love your branding. These are just a few quotes that pop up in blogging. Brand and branding are used a lot, and often interchangeably. However, they are not the same! So what is the difference between brand and branding?

Let’s start with your brand

A brand is essentially your identity, what you represent and who your blog/business is aimed at.

It’s all about the connection you make with your audience and what emotions they feel.

To find your brand identity, ask yourself questions like:

• What is my goal?
• What messages and values am I trying to get across?
• Who is my audience? 
• How can I help my audience?
• Is the way I market myself in line with my values?

Your brand focuses on the emotional connection.

I always find it misleading as we’re always seeing these self-care quotes about focusing on you and not what others think.

Your brand identity is all about other people and how they think of you.

After all, to create a successful business, you need customers and you will only see customers if you know who they are and what they want, as well as give them a fantastic experience that will impact you positively and bring you more clients.

Your website is not your brand

I’ve seen people say that they love a blog when really they are talking about a brand and vice versa.

Your website is not your brand, only a part of it.

Sure, it’s probably the main source of your brand, with all the important details.

Your brand is how you represent yourself across the whole of the internet and in person too. You can’t have an amazing website, but have a totally different appearance on Instagram for example. Your brand has to align across the internet.

But how do I attract people to my brand and gain clients?

Enter branding.

Your branding is all those things you do to make your website and social media (well, your brand really) look amazing.

Your logo, web design, colour palette, fonts, photography, Instagram theme, the list goes on. All those details which contribute to the physical look of your business.

I’m a huge believer in personality being the most important aspect, whether that’s with people or businesses.

With the pace of the internet and the speed at which we look at things on the internet, physical appearance does play an important part.

You can’t have people reading your content and wanting to work with you, without something to attract them in the first place.

Know your brand before your branding

It’s all well and good finding a beautiful, professional web theme and picking out a colour palette, but make sure you have your brand sussed out first.

You could have the best theme in the world, but if you’re going to be investing in self-hosting, web design and the like, make sure your brand identity is sorted so you’re not wasting any money.

What’s more, if your brand identity doesn’t match your branding, this could put off potential clients and create a negative view of your business.

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Feel confident with the difference between brand and branding now?

If not, drop me an email at meganelifestyle@hotmail.com and I’m always happy to help!

Megan x 

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