What is the difference between brand and marketing communications?

Brand communications is focused on building a relationship with the brand’s audience while marketing communications is more focused on supporting the purchase of brand products. Business leaders and hiring managers should pay attention to the fact that marketing and brand communications competencies are very different and it is quite rare to find intending employees who have both expertise and can deliver excellently on the job. See this definition of a brand strategy.

The marketing communications professional is only concerned with products that the brand has on sale. On the other hand, a brand communications professional works to promote the brand whether there is a product for sale or not. Brand communications focuses more on establishing an identity so where the professionals in this specialization speak of products, it is usually to inform the audience on the brand’s services and not as a sales support.

For brand strategy competencies, it is important to be trained on corporate brand management, reputation management, internal communications and other core communications competencies. Influencers and lifestyle brands are good examples of how to intersect both marketing communications and brand communications. Influencers often begin with developing a brand around their personality and name then advance to launching products for sale. You can download our Internal communications strategy template here.

With the distinct nature of marketing and brand communications, a marketing communication professional hardly gets to understand best practices in brand communications without being trained and reskilled for the job. Many people who occupy virtual roles like digital marketing know little about corporate communications. Job shadowing others who occupy brand communications roles is another way of bridging the gap between both practice areas.

“In marketing communications, you need to build messaging for every stage of the funnel.”

~Sola Abulu

While it is important to build marketing messages to create demand, as a marketing communications professional, you should also create messaging to generate interest, for consideration and conversion. Marketing communications bridges the gap between marketing and sales. In marketing, the need is identified, and demand is created. It is the salesperson’s job to ensure a conversion and satisfy the need.

Both areas have a relationship that cannot be overlooked in growing a sustainable and reputable business because a good brand can attract potential leads and go further than a marketing message. So, marketing communications is void without a strong brand personality or presence. This makes brand communications necessary because it ensures there is no reputational damage and there is wide brand visibility. Both marketing and brand communications should work hand-in-hand.

Marketing communications is limited because promotional messages do not pass the boundary of the brand’s audience but brand communications speak to the essence of a brand. A brand that is properly communicated across all relevant platforms, can market itself. Unfortunately, in the African space, bigger companies understand this relationship while small and medium-sized enterprises overlook the importance of both practice areas.

Sola Abulu & Associates (SA&A) has announced that enrolment is ongoing for the 2nd virtual cohort of the SA&A CPDSO-Accredited Brand Strategy & Marketing Communications Course scheduled for August 29, 2024 from 9AM – 4PM WAT.

The Course is designed for practitioners, consultants, business owners, entrepreneurs, digital marketers and working professionals with the desire to learn, re-learn and/or upskill their knowledge of how to develop an effective brand, and communicate effectively with the market and other targeted audiences in pursuit of desired objectives. Register here.

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Sola Abulu & Associates is a strategy and communications consulting and training firm committed to enabling businesses, brands and organizations to achieve their objectives through strategic communications, organizational effectiveness and reputation risk management.

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