Branding vs. Marketing: Why Understanding the Difference Matters
March 10, 2026 | 59 min | Webinar 47
Join a unique place where you can easily connect with other members, speakers, and registrants! Here, interesting ideas flow freely as questions are asked and topics discussed - all while gaining valuable insights. Plus, it's the perfect spot for networking opportunities that may lead to something greater in your future. So hop on board now; join us today!
Most businesses invest heavily in marketing while overlooking the quiet force doing the real work behind the scenes: their brand. In this presentation, Risa Hoag, President of GMG Public Relations, will show you how to understand the difference between the two and how to use each to support the other.
You’ll learn the difference between marketing as doing and branding as being, and why visibility alone doesn’t convert without meaning behind it. We’ll explore how strong brands move beyond attention to choice, beyond customers to advocates, and beyond short-term wins to long-term growth.
This session will help you understand how your brand is currently showing up, how to tell if it’s helping or hurting your sales, and how to strengthen it so marketing becomes more effective, sales feel less forced, and trust does more of the heavy lifting.
If you want your brand to do more than get you seen, if you want it to get you chosen, this conversation is for you.
Sponsor
HVDMA
We’re incredibly excited to kick off our programming this year with a topic that we believe is both important and a little different from what you may have seen from us in the past.
While our name is the Hudson Valley Direct Marketing Association, many of you know that since the pandemic we’ve worked hard to expand beyond both of those boundaries. Through our virtual programming, our community now includes marketing professionals not just from the Hudson Valley, but from across the country.
And just as marketing itself has evolved, so have we.
Marketing today is far more than direct marketing. It’s an omnichannel experience that includes branding, public relations, data, digital strategy, and many other disciplines working together to build successful organizations.
Because of that, we’re excited to begin bringing more diverse marketing topics to our programming — including areas like public relations, branding strategy, and broader marketing conversations, just like today’s webinar.
Speaker
President of GMG Public Relations, Inc.
Risa B. Hoag is President of GMG Public Relations, which she founded in 1991 after serving as Director of PR for Ernst & Young in White Plains.
For more than three decades, she has led strategic and uniquely creative marketing campaigns for clients across healthcare, higher education, hospitality, retail, nonprofits, financial services, and government.
A longtime community leader and small-business advocate, Risa has served on numerous boards over the years, including the National Small Business Association Leadership Council. She has received several honors for her work and community service, including the New York State Empire Award, the Lillian Vernon Award for Community Service, and the Distinguished Service Award from the County of Rockland. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, a frequent seminar leader, and a recognized media contributor.