Written by “Marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world, it’s a very noisy world, and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is.”
Steve Jobs, 1997
Nothing in this world is more noisy than LinkedIn. A constant revolving echo chamber powered by the engagement dopamine seekers. Predictable, repetitive, exhausting.
Even when you take a break, you realise it’s a constant merry-go-round. I must get a copy of the editorial calendar!
While I would recommend putting down your phone to protect your own sanity and perspective, there are just some things which need to be called out. Especially from the LinkedIners, as they continue to build the silos where the sentiment is flawed but the engagement is high.
The latest trend in the ever-expanding marketing silo: branding. Because brand is now separate from marketing, it’s a versus match. Ridiculous. It’s not. So here we go on another rant…
Dissecting Branding vs Marketing
When it comes to the misguided intentions of our fellow ‘marketeers,’ I have tried to approach them with an open mind. Honest!
But it’s become nails on a chalkboard, especially when the algorithm revels in the delight of repeating the torture.
When you break down the Branding vs Marketing tropes, they seem to revolve around two main themes:
- Branding: Why people should care. Long-term. Macro. Creates value.
- Marketing: How. Tactics. Short term. Extracts value.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know what ‘extracts value’ actually means. If you know, please comment below!
But the whole point of marketing, especially at the strategic level, is to think ‘long term’. To figure out where the market is going, the changes this creates, and the opportunities to respond.
That’s why it’s called going-to-market.
Yet again, we continue to slice our function into further silo-esque pieces. Forever creating our own barriers, and wonder why no one, not even ourselves, understands what the hell we’re on about anymore!
But with each new adjective added to the word ‘marketing’ comes another opportunity to show the world we really can reinvent the wheel!
At this point, it’s worth providing clarity on what branding actually is.
What is branding?
A ‘brand’ is a perception, and ‘branding’ is how you shape that perception at every single touchpoint. It’s a framing device.
What I will give the Branding vs Marketing brigade credit for is the ‘creates value’ trope.
The late, great Professor Nigel Piercy, referred to this in his textbook rant (Market-led Strategic Change (my Bible)) as ‘value marketing’. Covering a multitude of different areas. We must create value in the product and/or service, our approach to market, and essentially, in the perception we create.
You could call the latter one, ‘branding’. Creating a distinction between you and someone else. This is where Jenni Romaniuk’s Building Distinctive Brand Assets comes into its own.
As Seth Godin put it:
“…you definitely, certainly, and surely don’t have enough time and money to build a brand for everyone. You can’t. Don’t try. Be specific. Be very specific.”
Because as a tool within the marketing toolbox, there is no ‘versus’. A brand is the shaper of our marketing. Our North Star.
Pitting ‘Marketing vs Branding’ against each other is the equivalent of saying ‘Culture vs. Human Resources’ or ‘Financial Planning vs. Finance’. It just doesn’t make sense.
We need a new way of explaining the relationship.
A Brand Sandbox: A new analogy for branding
As with our obsession in tying ourselves up in knots while walking around in circles, the main issue is how we explain the branding approach.
So, here’s a new suggestion: stop looking at it as a ‘versus’ match, and start looking at it as a sandbox.
The brand is the sandbox. It sets the parameters and the rules of play.
It guides how every decision is made, whether it relates to product, price, place, or promotion.
Every single output created by the marketing ‘P’ tools (yes, they’re still relevant) is shaped to fit within the brand sandbox.
Our brand should influence:
– Our decisions about product
– Our mechanisms for pricing
– Our locations for place(ment)
– Our approaches to promotion
– Our employee proposition for people
– Our internal and external processes
– Our guide for providing the physical evidence.
While the LinkedIners are right about the ‘long term’ that branding provides, it’s a guide to support decision-making with the how, what and why.
Branding is a sandbox. Not a versus match.
Brand guidelines are more than words and colours
That’s why brand guidelines should be more than just colours and the logo!
Effective brand guidelines should be there to guide your business thinking and creative lens. There’s a reason why some call decisions companies make are ‘not in keeping with the brand’. Looking at you BrewDog!
The clue is in the name, it’s a Brand GUIDELINE. As with any guidelines, they should be treated as a usable reference. You can’t account for every eventuality, but the guidelines are there to provide guidance.
And like all good books, there’s always a revised edition when new information becomes available. It’s working out what to put in the guideline.
What to include in your brand guideline
So, here’s a rough guide for the guideline.
Tip: you may need to speak to your customers as part of the guide creation…
| Business section guide | |
Brand vision | Aspirational statement of mapping where you want to go and the impact you want to make (you could call it the ‘brand purpose’… I have thoughts). |
Brand Mission | Action orientated statement finding the what and how you do and why you exist |
Brand Values | Because we all need values! These shouldn’t just be affirmations for the Gods, they should shape the core rules and beliefs that drive your daily choices and actions. |
Value proposition | You may have one target audience, you may be lucky and have two, but this is setting out the offer you can provide for each of your audience types and why they should choose you. |
Positioning statement | A guide within a guide. The statement defines your target customer, your market category, your key benefit and how you are different from competitors – your essence. The brand key model can help with this. |
| Target audience (personas) | This is not ‘Debbie, 45 from Essex, likes dogs and monster trucks’, this is usable personas aka user stories or the problem statement(s) you’re solving. |
| Market communications (marcomms) guide | |
| Brand tone (tone of voice) | Based on your target audience, a guide to the tone of your messaging – how are you talking to your audience(s)? |
| Brand messages | What are your key messages? These are not campaign tag lines, but the core messages you want your audience to know and be reassured of. They are to be repeated and evidenced through action. |
| Writing styles | Depending on how much detail you want, you may need to expand to a communications A-Z on what terms to use, but this should provide overview of how you write for your audience. |
| Accessibility considerations | Especially for digital, make sure you have considerations to support accessibility whether it’s how you link documents on a webpage, or making sure your fonts are easy to read! |
| Tag lines and hashtags | Lock in your main tag line, even your campaign messages for your campaign cycle. Don’t forget to agree your hashtags if you’re using them and use Title Case for accessibility #StyleThemLikeThis |
| Social media framework | What to comment on how to comment. The style of content and what tone you want that’s in line with your brand tone. What you share what you reshare and how. It’s not an indefinite list, more prescriptive like a guide within a guide. Keep it simple, allow creativity and fun! It’s SOCIAL media after all… |
| Optional: AI section | |
| Text AI Prompts | Anthropic may have introduced text watermarks, but whether we like it or not AI us here. So, you may as well create branded prompts to support consistent AI slop. Just kidding! It’s a useful tool, albeit, used in moderation, otherwise intelligence becomes artificial. |
| Visual brand guide | |
| Typography | Your typeface, your fonts, heading styles, body text tyles, how to make the material on brand text style wise. Remember, Comic Sans gets too much hate (it’s great for accessibility). |
| Logo | Logo, how to use it, when to use it. Different variants, spacing etc. etc. |
| Colour palette | Your HEX codes, your CYMK. The colours you want on office walls, on social media imagery and to commit death by PowerPoint. |
| Graphic (distinctive) assets | Your brand aesthetics is more than the logo, it’s the creative assets that go alongside it. This includes sounds (sonic branding), transitions, iconography, graphical elements etc. etc. |
| Accreditations and certifications | Have ISO standards or certified accreditations? Confirm how and when to use them. |
| Partnership recognition | As above, but for partnership and collaborations – making sure to respect their logo use and your own. |
| Photography and images | Style of imagery for both your authentic social media and more polished materials. |
| Putting it together | Examples of materials, templates etc. Give a visual reference for the type of thing that can be created with your assets. Templates support autonomy, Canva comes into its own. |
| Optional: AI section | |
| Visual AI Prompts | Like text but for images. Create the prompts to give the style of imagery you want. Just be mindful of the environment and Intellectual Property law! Also, transparency matters, so if you use AI, update the relevant policies and disclosures! |
In the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), where content creation is automated but strategy is premium, anchoring your marketing activity in a well-defined sandbox is more critical than ever.
Especially when it comes to the services and how you operate as a brand, the ‘behind-the-scenes’ processes, employee hiring, etc. etc.
Oh, and don’t get me started on brand purpose…
Share your thoughts
Is branding the new marketing or is marketing the new branding? What would you add to the guideline for a brand? Let me know in the comments below, contact me, or reach out on the socials, @CJPanteny.
See you next time!
References
Anthropic (2026) How Claude’s text watermark works [Online] ://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-text-watermark
Godin, S (2018) This is Marketing: You can’t be seen until you learn to see, Penguin
Edwards, H (2026) The rise and fall of BrewDog, the role of brand community, and the lessons for marketers [Online] https://www.marketingweek.com/brewdog-brand-community-marketing/
Piercy, N. (2009) Market-Led Strategic Change, Elsevier, 4th Edition
PodiumVC (2019) Steve Jobs on Marketing and Values [Video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mvHgLy_YV8&t=36s
Romaniuk, J. (2018) Building Distinctive Brand Assets, Oxford University Press
Carl Panteny 