Effective branding seen as key determinant in product, personal marketability

Experts have identified effective branding as a key determinant in enhancing the marketability of firms/products and individuals. Businesses and individuals should also endeavour to emulate branding techniques of global brands such as Coca-Cola, Apple, IBM, among others, they said, during a recent seminar organised by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Eko in Lagos.

In his lecture entitled “The Brand You,’’ Bayo Adekanmbi, a key staff member of MTN’s marketing department, said “branding involves more of what others think a person/organisation is than what they actually are,” pointing out that brands were value givers rather than value takers.

Personal branding can change the face of an organisation, while individuals and organisations must bridge the gap between how they see themselves (self-impression) and how others see them (perception), Adekanmbi said.

He further advised individuals to always do their SWOT analysis, to determine their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, stressing that people must be conscious of the emotions their brands touch, expectations they create as well as experiences they provide.

“One of the things that can kill is what you drop in the media networks,’’ he said.

On why people must care for branding, he said 61 percent of employers reported recently that they used web searches and social networking sites to screen potential employees.

Chinwe Bode-Akinwande, a brand quality expert, emphasised that individuals and organisations must adopt financial discipline, adding that people must know what they were worth as a basis of negotiation. Financial discipline must be a priority as debt is key not only in determining brands but also in ascertaining the level of financial discipline, she said, further enumerating issues to be taken seriously to include cost of living and amount of savings, plan of retirement from the first working day in a paid employment, management/change of spending habits as well as investment growth and balances.

“Your e-mail address is a brand. Personal identity is critical because it is the unique identity of persons through time,’’ she said.

ODINAKA ANUDU