Brand vs. Marketing vs. Graphic Design
Imagine this…
You are plugging away at your job, and things are going smoothly until they suddenly are not. Projects are falling behind, awareness isn’t growing, stress is rising… It’s clear you need some support on the marketing or creative side, but who do you hire? What sort of support would make the biggest impact?
Have you ever taken a step back and really thought about what the difference is between certain creative fields and how they might support your organization? Now, if you’ve hired an agency or a creative in the past, you may have had to think through this a little. It seems like “Brand” is a rising term and something that is being talked about a whole lot more (ehm, me. I’m talking about it a lot more.) How do you know if you need to hire a brand expert, marketing guru, or a graphic designer? Now, we could add so many more fields to this discussion (copywriting, social media, content creator, web development, etc), but I’m focusing on these three categories: Brand, Marketing, and Graphic Design.
Let’s start with some official definitions from the Cambridge Dictionary:
“Brand” Definition:
“to make a product, organization, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc.”
“the set of qualities that people connect with a particular product or organization”
"a mark that is burned or frozen into the skin of an animal such as a cow to show who owns it”
“Marketing” Definition:
"a job that involves encouraging people to buy a product or service”
“the work of advertising and offering goods or services for sale”
“the business activity that involves finding out what customers want, using that information to design products and services, and selling them effectively”
“Graphic Design” Definition:
“the art of designing pictures and text for books, magazines, advertising, etc.”
“the skill or the work of arranging text and pictures, especially in the production of books, magazines, software, etc.:”
Now that we have the definitions out of the way, let’s look at how each supports your business:
Brand is the heart and the foundation. Brand is the thread that ties all the departments and projects in your organization together. Brand is looking at the whole organization, top down. The whole customer journey. Brand is the filter through which every company decision should pass, with this question: “Does this decision align with our brand values and support our mission?”
Marketing is the movement. It’s the action. The plan to execute the strategy. Marketing is what gets the attention, while brand is why they stay. Marketing includes the tactics for accomplishing the ongoing goals.
Graphic design is the details. The deliverables. The visual translation of the strategy and plan. It’s diving into individual pixels and kerning to ensure the best legibility and alignment.
Marketing is the How to Brand’s Why, while Graphic Design is the What.
Brand: “Why is this important to us? Why do we believe in what we are doing? Why are we in this industry? “
Marketing: “How should we accomplish our goals? How do we reach our target audience? “
Graphic Design: “What assets need to be created to support this campaign? What elements need to be created?”
What are some tasks and responsibilities for each?
Brand
Digital asset library
Your brand guidelines and managing the continued evolution of them
Ensuring every department within your organization is representing your brand successfully
Educating the organization, stakeholders, anybody using brand assets, on how to accurately bring the brand guide to life
Creating the templates that are used for social media, decks, ads, etc.
Ensuring a process is in place that all content being created continues to be checked that it aligns and supports our brand values and standards
Marketing
Social media
Activations
Advertising campaign
Blog and Content
Event promotion
Graphic Design
Supports the deliverables for all of the above
Works to create deliverables based on the templates created by Brand
So, the next time you find yourself wondering who to bring in for support, start by asking where the gap really is. Do you need someone to clarify the "why" behind your organization and build a foundation for everything to grow from? That's brand. Do you need someone to create and execute a plan to reach your audience and hit your goals? That's marketing. Do you need someone to bring those plans to life visually? That's graphic design. Each role is distinct, but they work best when they work together, with brand leading the way. Knowing the difference is not just a hiring decision, it's a strategic one.
Hello there!I’m Emily, a creative director, graphic designer, all-around visual storyteller, and owner of Sondery Studio with 15+ years of experience bringing brands to life for tourism organizations and small businesses. Think of me as the person who turns ideas into experiences: blending brand strategy, print and digital design, experiential moments, videography, photography, web design, and even the perfect piece of swag into one cohesive story.
Having worked across the full spectrum of day-to-day design to the big-picture strategy, nothing lights me up more than watching a brand click into place with clarity and consistency, giving the humans behind the brand the confidence they need to promote their destination or business. I believe brands should feel like something, and I’m here to help yours come alive through every touchpoint with purpose and a little bit of magic.
Some fun facts:
📍 Born in Wisconsin, but currently live in Saint Paul, Minnesota
🧳 Worked for Visit Saint Paul as their in-house creative for 5 years and have been working in the tourism industry ever since
🏄🏼♀️ Owns more paddleboards than she cares to admit… but uses them all!
👧🏼👦🏼🐶 Mama to 2 humans and 1 pup
🪴 Ask me about my garden or my houseplants. Please.
