The Differences Between Product Marketing and Brand Marketing (And Why They Belong Together)

There is your product, and then there is your brand – and, while each certainly leans on the other for support, there are distinct differences between product marketing and brand marketing.

At the same time, they don’t have to be confined to sad, sad silos – they can work happily together and bring about incredible benefits for your business.

Here is a look at each type of marketing, as well as strategies to help align your efforts across channels.

What are the differences between product marketing and brand marketing?

Product marketing focuses on strategic positioning and sales enablement for the product by operating between product management and marketing communications. Brand marketing focuses on building relationships between your brand and your customers; leveraging insights from product marketing to determine how to connect with and reach customers.

Why does this matter? Because your goals for each type of marketing are going to be different, so you need to determine how to achieve those goals through various marketing channels.

How can product marketing and brand marketing work together?

Product marketing helps you educate and inform customers about your product, so you likely will focus on:

  • Go-to-market (GTM) strategies

  • Target segments

  • Competitor activities

  • Value propositions

  • Messaging strategies

With this knowledge in hand, you can develop tools like product videos, how-to demonstrations, and comparisons with competitor products to play and win in the market.

From there, you can leverage insights from the interactions with those tools to develop, manage, and refine your brand marketing, including:

  • Brand identity and recognition

  • Brand awareness

  • Brand equity

  • Brand perceptions

You can adapt content that remains consistent across your website, social media, webinars, email campaigns, and paid advertising – and even with events and storefronts.

Again, think of product marketing as figuring out what your product can do for your customer and how to communicate it. And then think of brand marketing as what you do to execute it, by creating connections with customers through emotion, experiences, and storytelling in places where they spend their time – online and in physical spaces.

Learn more about connecting with your customers

It can be exhausting to develop a digital marketing strategy for your customers when your plate is full. We can help. Check out the digital marketing services where our team has deep experience, passion, and positive outcomes for our clients.

Reach out with any questions you might have regarding how RSO can help you with your digital marketing.

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