Branding Spotlight: Branding vs Content
A comparative look at the differences with examples.
What’s the difference between branding and content? The simple answer is that Branding is consistent; Content is variable.
Consistent elements include your logo, fonts, colors, and graphic treatments like patterns and textures. There are also brand rules that govern how these things are applied. For example, you have one logo to use on a light background and the same logo recolored to work on a dark background. You may even have another logo stylized for 1-color reproduction, like on a tshirt, coffee mug, or tote bag.
Content is what you use your brand to advertise. Market articles, house flyers, just sold postcards, social media graphics, letters and notecards—all of that is content set on the stage of your branding. Content is always going to be changing, depending on the house or client or marketing campaign.
Take listing photos for a Just Sold card, for example. One house may have more sky, one may have more front lawn, one might be panoramic, and one might need a drone shot from above. That’s 4 photos with the important feature—the house—placed in a different area of the photo, possibly with different aspect ratios. Your branding can accommodate all of them, even if the layout of the card needs to change slightly.
It’s easy to see that this one agent has 4 transactions under their belt. Imagine if you were a homeowner, receiving these 4 postcards over the course of a few months. You could easily decern which houses are selling and associate all 4 with the agent. The human brain is AMAZING at pattern recognition. Just 2 cards create the start of a pattern in the homeowner’s mind, and cards 3 and 4 build upon that pattern to create a reputation of professionalism and consistency. That’s the power of branding!
Now imagine the agent tried to mail these through several different websites and used their pre-fab layouts. The result would be a miss-matched set that was easily forgettable. Some homeowners might pickup on the name and portrait being the same, but the inconsistency can convey a scattered, unorganized, and even cheap perception.
They say that “content is king” but if that’s the case, then consistency is queen. A custom brand consistently used on your marketing, client materials, and for those fun promotional giveaways can give you an advantage with potential clients and reassure current/past clients.
So what’s stopping you from taking advantage of the Summer Sale and building your custom brand?
Call us at 360-527-8904 or email solutions@thelonesgroup.com today!
Curious about how your personal style can be represented in a professional brand? Book a branding consultation today!
