---
title: "Live Streaming Determines How Much You Sell, Brand Determines How Much You Earn"
description: "Live streaming is undeniably the hottest marketing method in 2020, with many advertisers shifting brand marketing budgets to it. While it can quickly boost sales and clarify ROI, the question arises: is branding still necessary? After the boom, rationality returns, and reflections on live streaming are increasing, with the biggest concern being that brands lose their way in it. The article argues that live streaming is just a marketing tactic and most live streams do not enhance brand equity, emphasizing the distinction between marketing and branding."
author: "寻空2009"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2020-07-02"
language: "en"
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# Live Streaming Determines How Much You Sell, Brand Determines How Much You Earn

> Live streaming is undeniably the hottest marketing method in 2020, with many advertisers shifting brand marketing budgets to it. While it can quickly boost sales and clarify ROI, the question arises: is branding still necessary? After the boom, rationality returns, and reflections on live streaming are increasing, with the biggest concern being that brands lose their way in it. The article argues that live streaming is just a marketing tactic and most live streams do not enhance brand equity, emphasizing the distinction between marketing and branding.

It is undeniable that live streaming is the hottest marketing method in 2020. This year, many advertisers have taken budgets originally earmarked for brand marketing and used them for live streaming. Live streaming can quickly boost sales and make the input-output ratio clearer. So, when live streaming appears so effective, is branding still necessary?

After the boom, rationality returns. Recently, there have been more and more reflections on live streaming. Besides the various fake data and false prosperity, the biggest reflection is that brands have lost their way in live streaming.

Diao Ye said, "Abandon the delusion of live streaming; honing content is the way to survive next year." Shen Shuaibo said, "Don't lose your brand assets." I also mentioned in a previous article that more important than live streaming with goods is live streaming with brand.

My view is that **live streaming is just a marketing method, and most live streaming cannot enhance brand power**.

In this article, I will use the topic of live streaming to discuss the difference between marketing and brand. You might have noticed the title is clickbait.

**-01-**
**What is the difference between brand and marketing?**

Earlier, I received a question from a marketing practitioner on my public account: "What is the difference between the marketing department and the brand department?"

Most companies of a certain size have both marketing and brand departments, but many people cannot clearly explain the difference. This practitioner is the marketing head of a mid-sized brand, a relatively experienced professional, and his question indicates that many people share this confusion.

When it comes to brand and marketing, many people mention content creativity, event marketing, cross-border collaborations, TVCs, H5s, and of course, the hottest forms like short videos and live streaming. You can call these marketing or brand activities; they seem to have no essential difference, which is why many smaller companies only have one marketing department.

So, is there a difference between marketing and brand? Of course, there is. Before continuing, let me clarify: **brand and marketing are often interdependent and cannot be 100% separated**. My discussion below is based on my personal experience.

**-02-**
**Brand is image building, marketing is selling point output**

What is a brand? Textbooks have relatively clear definitions, but here I will only share my understanding. I believe a brand is the sum of a company's (or organization's or individual's) products, services, and concepts, and it is the user's perception of the company's (or organization's or individual's) image.

Brand master Kevin Keller proposed the concept of "customer-based brand equity," meaning that brand is consumer perception.

Since brand is an image perception, the positioning and continuous building of the brand image are the most important tasks.

**First, positioning**: Is your brand high-end or high cost-performance? Fashionable or practical? Innovative or conservative? Different brand positioning leads to different consumer groups and different consumer perceptions.

**Second, long-term building and enriching the brand image around the positioning** is a key task for the brand owner. If your brand is positioned as fashionable, you must continuously strengthen consumers' perception of your brand's fashion label through product development and long-term brand marketing output.

Whether it's Apple's fashion and innovation, Coca-Cola's happiness delivery, or Google's "Don't be evil," these are all concrete manifestations of brand image building.

Nike's brand category is sports, and its brand image is positioned as competition and struggle. The slogan "Just do it" fully displays its brand tone.

Nike builds its brand image through years of high-frequency brand marketing activities, including endorsements from athletes who represent the spirit of struggle, such as Jordan, James, and Yi Jianlian, sponsoring sports events like tennis opens, shooting TVCs, and organizing offline basketball challenges.

Marketing, generally called marketing, refers to all marketing behaviors of a company (or organization or individual) targeting the target market, with the goal of promoting sales. The English term is "Marketing," which is a present participle, indicating that marketing is a continuous behavior.

Generally, a marketing campaign needs to clearly communicate "Who am I?", "What is my selling point?", and "What can I bring to consumers?" It also requires channels or media to amplify this information, reach consumers, and prompt them to make purchases.

For example, KFC launched a new product in 2019—Double Pepper Fried Chicken—with Lu Han as the spokesperson and large-scale online and offline promotion. This is a typical marketing behavior.

**-03-**
**Brand is influence, marketing is promotion**

The ultimate goal of a brand is, of course, sales, but that is not its most direct purpose. The brand's purpose is more about establishing influence over consumers through long-term contact and connection.

Here's a question: Why does Coca-Cola continuously invest heavily in advertising?

Psychologist Zajonc's experiments show that the more frequently people are exposed to something, the more positively they perceive it and the happier they feel. Think about why the unattractive person you first saw at school or work seems "not so bad" after long-term contact. This theory is called the mere exposure effect.

Through years of advertising coverage, Coca-Cola makes consumers perceive it as positive and trustworthy. If Coca-Cola did no advertising for 5-10 years, consumer familiarity would drop significantly, and a portion of consumers born after Coca-Cola stopped advertising would have no concept or contact with the brand, which would likely have a major impact on sales.

If Pepsi then intensifies its advertising blitz, consumers would become more familiar with Pepsi and less familiar with Coca-Cola. After a few years, Coca-Cola's advantage might disappear.

The following Apple iPod ad is one of Apple's most classic brand ads. People who see it feel that the iPod is fashionable, popular, and stylish. Apple built influence among young people through this ad, leading them to spend on it.

Apple's AirPods have appeared on the ears of various celebrities in recent years, which may influence your mind: celebrities in fashion and sports wear two AirPods on their ears. This is also a form of influence.

Unlike branding, marketing's larger purpose is to directly promote sales. It can be TV ads, elevator ads, online and offline promotions, full-reduction activities, or the most obvious live streaming, etc.

Many e-commerce merchants participate in events like JD.com's 618 and Tmall's Double 11. Such large-scale marketing activities are the most important marketing events for many e-commerce merchants each year. During the event period, their sales can reach the year's peak, which is a typical marketing promotion activity.

Of course, marketing is not just large-scale promotions; many daily tactics fall under the scope of marketing.

For example, when ordering takeout, you might see options like "Spend 10 more yuan to save 15" and then after spending 10 more, "Spend 15 more yuan to save 20." Often, faced with such temptations, you end up buying more than you initially planned. Think about it: do you really need to eat that much in one meal? A small full-reduction design makes you spend more, using consumer psychology in marketing.

In the internet era, a new role called operations emerged. Generally, products use operations to acquire users and revenue. From an effect perspective, operations also belong to market behavior, but they use new online technical means to develop users.

Marketing evaluation is often relatively clear. If a brand conducts marketing for half a year to a year and its product sales have not achieved significant growth, then the marketing can be considered a failure.

**-03-**
**Brand is long-term conversion, marketing is short-term conversion**

Many times, some promotional and communication activities are both brand promotion and marketing. Kevin Keller, in "Strategic Brand Management," proposed four steps of brand management: identifying and establishing brand positioning and value, planning and executing brand marketing, evaluating and interpreting brand performance, and sustaining and enhancing brand equity.

The first step is the positioning and building of the brand image mentioned above. The second step is planning and executing brand marketing. Sometimes, it is not clear whether this step belongs to brand or marketing; a marketing campaign may include both brand and marketing. For example, many Nike TVCs serve both brand exposure and marketing purposes.

In such cases, how to distinguish the two? I think it mainly depends on the evaluation cycle and effect.

Brand marketing generally has models like AIDMA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Memory, Action) and AISAS (Attention, Interest, Search, Action, Share).

Here, I will convert them into four steps: exposure, interest, leads, and transaction. The following diagram shows the difference between brand and market.

Brand-oriented communication from brand exposure to leads and transactions is an indirect conversion relationship with a longer cycle, while market-oriented communication from brand exposure to leads and transactions is a direct conversion relationship with a shorter cycle. Generally, after a marketing campaign ends, obvious effects should be seen within a period.

**-05-**
**Brand is value assets, market is risk assets**

In the investment world, there is the concept of value investing, which roughly means holding valuable stocks for the long term to obtain long-term returns. This is similar to brand behavior.

Brand is essentially a long-term investment behavior, accumulating brand assets through investment. Interbrand publishes a brand value ranking every year, with top spots often occupied by companies that invest in their brands year-round, such as Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's.

Compared to brand, I think market is risk investment. It has a shorter payback cycle, and market investment carries greater risk. You cannot guarantee that a marketing campaign will definitely bring sales, just like the classic saying: "I know half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don't know which half."

But is value investment necessarily higher than market investment? Not necessarily. Many times, companies need to take risks to succeed. The correct investment concept should not put all eggs in one basket; value investment and risk investment should be allocated in a scientific proportion.

But it is certain that having only marketing without brand building is not enough.

For example, domestic brands like Meters/bonwe and Erke once conquered cities below the third tier. Their market investment was visible, and revenue rose accordingly, but these did not add value to brand power building and enhancement. With the shift in consumer culture (China's consumption upgrade), these brands eventually declined.

**-06-**
**Brand is trust, loyalty, and influence; market is exposure, buzz, and sales**

Finally, to summarize: **Brand is about image building and upgrading, aiming to establish trust, loyalty, and influence with consumers. Market, in general, is about product promotion, aiming to increase exposure, buzz, and sales among consumers.**

Let me give a few examples to make the difference more intuitive.

Brand: Bilibili's "Back Wave," Kuaishou's "In Kuaishou, See Every Life," Douban's "My Spiritual Corner," Apple's "Daughter," official Weibo creative content...

Market: BOSS Zhipin elevator ads, Bojue Wedding Photography elevator ads, personalized information feed ads, influencer live streaming with goods...

Both brand and market: Luckin Coffee's ads with Zhang Zhen and Tang Wei, Wanglaoji sponsoring The Voice of China...

**-07-**
**Before planning a project: clarify whether you are doing brand or marketing**

I often meet friends in the industry who struggle with doing brand communication without market results, or who suffer from evaluating every communication activity by effect. Essentially, they do not understand the difference between brand and market, mixing the two, and ending up with a mess.

So, before starting to plan a project, it is necessary to clarify whether it is brand-oriented or market-oriented, and whether it is for the long term or short term. Only by clarifying this goal can communication be clearer.

Finally, back to the live streaming mentioned at the beginning. Currently, most live streaming focuses on bringing goods, which is actually a promotional behavior in marketing. Because of limited-time price reductions, it can indeed bring a short-term sales increase, but this increase is only temporary.

However, the goal of a company is to make a profit. To obtain profits stably in the long run, it still relies on brand building, and this cannot be lazy.

**So, live streaming determines how much you sell, and brand determines how much you earn.**

Source: Xunkong's Marketing Revelation (ID: xunkong2005)


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