What’s the difference between marketing, brand and CX?

While these three areas often work closely together – and sometimes overlap so much that the lines get fuzzy – each one plays a distinct role in shaping how a company connects with its customers. Think of it this way: marketing, brand and CX are all aiming at the same goal (profit and growth), but they attack it from different directions.

Whether you're starting out in your career, or thinking about a cheeky midlife pivot, understanding the difference between marketing, brand and customer experience can help you figure out where your interests lie. And which skills you actually need to develop. Here’s a jargon-free breakdown of what each role does, how they contribute to business success, and how you can get started in the field.

Let’s start with the one you’re probably most familiar with. At its core, marketing is simply about attracting customers to a product or service. Getting them interested, then holding their attention. French novelist Milan Kundera put it this way: “Business has only two functions – marketing and innovation." In other words, selling stuff and making stuff. 

Marketing includes everything from advertising and social media to product launches, market research and EDM campaigns. Marketing teams are responsible for figuring out who a company’s customers are, what they care about, what their pain points are, and how best to reach them.

To do this, good marketers use both creativity and data. They might craft a story for a product one day and dig into performance metrics the next. Either way, the goal remains the same: to generate interest, drive sales and grow the business.

• Copywriting and content creation

• Digital advertising (e.g. Google Ads, social media)

• Search engine optimisation (SEO)

• Data analysis and campaign reporting 

• Marketing automation tools like HubSpot or Mailchimp

Short courses in marketing, like those from RMIT Online, can help you build hands-on, job-ready marketing skills, without the hassle of jumping into a three-year Bachelor’s degree. 

Brand is often confused with marketing, but they’re technically two different things. While marketing is about promoting products and services, brand is about shaping how people feel about a business. It’s the perception people have when they hear a company’s name. And that perception gets built over time, through visuals, tone of voice, values and behaviour.

Think of ‘brand’ as the personality of a company. It’s not just a logo or a slogan – it’s how a company shows up in the world. A strong brand helps customers recognise and trust a business, which in turn makes marketing efforts more effective. It’s easy to illustrate this, too. What’s the first word that pops into your head when we say ‘Nike’, or ‘Volkswagen’, or ‘Coca Cola’? That word, that feeling, that’s the tangible power of brand. 

Brand specialists (occasionally known internally as Brand Police) work on things like brand strategy, visual identity, messaging and brand guidelines. They make sure everything a business puts out – from its website to its customer service emails –feels consistent and aligned with the brand’s values. 

• Visual design and brand identity

• Storytelling and messaging development

• Strategic thinking

• Market positioning 

• Tone of voice and content alignment

If you’d like to dip your toe into branding, but don’t know where to start, check out our Brand Experience Future Skills shortcourse. 

Customer experience, or CX, is the sum total of how a customer feels about their interactions with a company – from their first click on the website all the way to post-purchase support. Unlike marketing or branding, CX isn’t just about what a company says – it’s about what it does. From end to end. Every touchpoint. 

If you’ve ever heard the phrase ‘customer journey’, that’s the world in which CX tends to play. They make sure your ‘journey’ with the brand is a positive one (so that you want to do it again, and again…). As author Kate Zabriskie famously said, when it comes to brands, “the customer’s perception is your reality”. 

Good CX is about delivering on promises. It’s the difference between a customer who buys once and one who becomes a loyal brand advocate. And those advocates equal big business: studies show a referred customer is 18% more loyal than a customer acquired by other means. CX professionals tend to think holistically, too. They look at the customer journey across all touchpoints to identify where things are going well – and where they’re falling short. What do customers like? What do they hate? What are the pain points? How can we make the purchase process more fun, more frictionless, more engaging?

CX sometimes gets confused with customer service, but it’s way broader than that. Customer service is one small cog in the giant CX machine. Customer Experience Design includes everything from how easy it is to navigate a website, to how quickly a refund gets processed, to the automated email journey of a new subscriber. 

• Customer journey mapping

• User experience (UX) design principles 

• Service design

• Feedback collection and analysis 

• Tools like NPS (Net Promoter Score) and customer satisfaction surveys

If you’re curious about how businesses can create seamless, human-centred experiences, check out our Customer Experience Strategy & Design shortcourse.  

Marketing, brand, and CX might sit on different teams, but they share a common goal: to build relationships with customers. Think about it this way. Marketing gets people through the door, branding sets the tone, and CX makes sure the overall experience is positive and memorable. 

The best brands know how to synch these three teams to maximum effect, creating eye-catching, consistent messaging, combined with a slick experience, that turns customers into loyal advocates. 

Let’s look at an example. Imagine you see an ad (marketing) for a new sustainable skincare company. The ad features warm, calming colours and a message about ethical sourcing (that’s your brand). You buy the product, and the unboxing is fantastic, with helpful instructions and a follow-up email to check in (that’s CX). When all three areas are aligned, the result is a powerful, positive, trust-building experience. One that you want to repeat – and tell people about.

The good news? If you’re looking for a career in this field, you don’t have to commit to one stream right away. Many professionals start in marketing and move to CX, or give branding a try, until they figure out what clicks for them.  

Short online courses are a great way to test the waters, build relevant skills and find your niche, whether you're a creative thinker, a data nerd, a systems designer, or something in between. Check out RMIT Online’s Future Skills shortcourses for more information.