What’s the Difference Between Your Brand and Your Business?

7 Feb

Brand vs Business.

If you’ve heard these two words being thrown around interchangeably, you’re probably asking yourself at least one of the following questions…

Is there a difference? What is the difference? Do I need both? What are the benefits of a brand and how can I build my own?

Well, let me give you a quick TLDR:

Yes, there is a difference.
The difference is quite simple once you know about it.
Having both is beneficial, yes.
The benefits are huge.
And well, you’re just going to have to keep reading to find out how!

Ready to get into it? Let’s get started.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BRAND & A BUSINESS?

Brand = your image, identity and reputation.

Business = your products or services you offer.

Your brand is made up of multiple components, but it’s essentially how your audience perceives you, and what connection they have with your business. So, your brand is…

Your fonts, imagery and colours
Your logo
Your website
Your mission, values and vision
Your message
What makes you unique and stand out in your space
Why your customers buy from you.

Done right, your brand also has a tone of voice and a personality. Remember, people buy based on emotion, and so your audience need to feel that emotional connection to your business - through your brand - to encourage them to buy from you.

Your business, on the other hand, is made up of the products and services you offer, and the exchange of those products and services with your customers for money (usually).

It’s also your business model and strategy, and the infrastructure you use and build to make that exchange with your customers happen. They key goal for most businesses is that it makes enough money for you to continue being able to run it.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A STRONG BRAND?

There are many benefits of having a strong brand for both you and your business.

Firstly, it builds a community, and community is so powerful when it comes to business as it enables you to make a bigger impact. This is why it’s also important to ensure that you’re super clear on your business’s mission and values, as you’re then able to weave those into your brand-building content on social media or through your blog or podcast, to attract potential customers who share those values.

Customers who share the same values as you, and care about the same thing you’ve set about achieving through your mission, are going to be much more likely to then buy from you.

Secondly, your brand is what sets you apart from everyone else in the same industry and space as you. If you’re looking for some tough love, here it is; it’s 2024. There are very few new ideas, and so the chances are that there will be other people doing exactly what you do, and that’s okay! Because no-one else is you, and no-one else is able to bring your magic to their business.

But, what also helps, is a strong brand. If your brand and connection to your audience is strong enough, it means you don’t have to focus on competing on price with other businesses. With a strong brand, you can have higher prices and still have customers choose you over other option.

Your brand can also help you diversify and pivot your product and service offering. Just look at Apple, they launched solely as a company manufacturing personal computers. Then, in the early 2000’s, they launched iTunes and the iPod and diversified into music players.

At the time, computers and music players were very different products made by very different businesses. It was only because of Apple’s strong brand that consumers trusted them to make a good music player, and to choose the iPod over competing - and much more established - MP3 Players from companies such as Sony.

For examples of smaller businesses, think of some people you might follow on Instagram. I have a very talented friend who is a nail technician, and who’s business started off purely offering nail and manicure services.

Now, she’s diversified into not only offering further beauty treatments such as as brows and lashes, but she also now offers nail courses and trains other nail technicians! She couldn’t have done any of these things if she hadn’t already built a strong brand and community with her audience.

And finally, a strong brand can mean that you can both unapologetically sell, and well… you might not have to sell much at all.

Through building your brand (detail below), you’re giving so much value to your audience, that when it comes to asking them for something in return, you’ll be amazed at how quickly your audience will be ready to buy from you. You don’t have to feel “guilty”, as so many of us do, for selling to your audience, as they won’t see it that way at all.

Additionally, because you’ve built a community (see above), you might find that you don’t have to sell at all. I’ve seen this in action through an incredible woman I follow (and am also lucky enough to call a friend), who has built such an engaged community and strong brand, that she only has to mention she’s pulling a new course together on her Instagram story, and it will pretty much sell out before she’s put the page live on her website!

If you’re thinking, Soph - this all sounds great - but HOW do I go about building a brand? Here you go..

HOW DO I START BUILDING A BRAND?

⚡️ Know your why

Why have you set up your business? | What’s your mission? | What are your values? | Why and how do you want to help people? | What do you want them to get out of you and your business?

Knowing the answers to all of these questions before you start building a brand is critically important, as the answers to these questions will lay the basis and foundations for which to build your brand on.

The answers to these questions will also help keep you going when things get a little tricky or slow, which brings me on to my next point.

⚡️ Be consistent & tell stories

Show up online consistently to build a community. Engage with people in your space and reply to people who engage with you. Tell stories that are both relatable and add value to your audience, such as a lesson you learned, a challenge you faced that you’ve been able to overcome, or why you decided to set up your business.

But, consistency is super important if you want to build both your brand and that trust factor with your audience.

⚡️ Know your USP

Again, this is why all the preparation before, and having strong business foundations is important before you start building a brand.

You need to know your USP (unique selling point) and what sets you apart from others first, before you can then leverage this to flourish your brand.

For me, when I started out with web design, I knew I needed to find my USP as there are so many talented website designers out there, that I needed something to give as a reason as to why clients should choose me.

It took me a while but I realised that my USP was my business strategy experience, enabling me to not just design websites, but to do so for my clients in a real strategic way that considers how to design a website that’s going to look great, but also attract customers and convert them into paying ones, too.

⚡️ Be you.

Finally, be you.

Bring your whole and authentic self to your brand. If you have a silly sense of humour, show your silly sense of humour. If you’re an introvert, talk about being an introvert in business. If you have a wild and wonderful hobby, share this with your audience.

As a small business owner, you are the face of your brand and you’re the one making connections with your audience.

Let your personality shine through and you’ll be amazed at how many people are drawn to you.