Brand vs Product Marketing

Brand marketing is the art of persuading people to put their trust in the name, as they say. Companies such as General Mills and Hoover Cleaning Supplies market themselves as "names you can trust", reliable workhorses who have produced quality products for generations.

Product marketing, on the other hand, focuses on the supposedly superior qualitites of the products themselves, regardless of who makes them.

In a publishing context, brand advertising is found mostly with companies that specialize in a certain kind of book; if I want to buy a dictionary, I'll go with NTC, while I'll likely look to Penguin Classics for a copy of Moby Dick. I will be more influenced by product advertising if I am looking for a specific book; in this case, I am concerned only with the book itself and will buy it from whoever sells it at a price I am willing to pay.

Most firms use one approach or the other depending on the type of book they are selling; a textbook company will trade on its name and reputation for quality textbooks, leaving the actual quality of the book almost irrelevant, while a less niche-based publisher will tout the book itself in hopes that its quality will help cement a name and reputation they don't necessarily have yet. While both approaches are equally effective if done well, brand advertising is quicker and easier, as it sinks into the consumer's mind and, for the most part, stays there.