The 2023 “Vodafone Business Runway” for SMEs with the theme “Good To Great with Vodafone Innovate, Comply & Expand” exquisitely organized by CARAT Ghana at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, Accra kicked off with brilliant presentations from seasoned speakers in the Ghanaian business community:
Patricia Obo-Nai, CEO of Vodafone Ghana, Ama Bawuah, Board Chair, Access Bank Ghana, Charlotte Amaquah, Regional Head, Commercial Banking, Anglophone West Africa, Ecobank, Andrew Ackah, CEO of Dentsu Ghana, and Dr Ali Nakyea, Managing Partner, Ali-Nakyea & Associates were the key speakers for the business runway.
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Branding and Advertising
If one has an interest in Brands, Marketing and Advertising, the presentation by Mr. Andrew Ackah, CEO of Dentsu will be captivating.
Having practised brands, marketing and advertising for over 15 years, the expert commenced his presentation with a profound statement that would reverberate in the minds of his listeners for decades.
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He said, “Anything and everything can be branded”. The profound statement made by such an expert demystified branding and all its perceived intricacies, while stressing the need for SMEs to build strong brands beyond the present circumstances.
His presentation further shed light on the purpose of the vision of any organization. He quizzed the audience: “What is your vision…, what is your strategy? How do you want your customers to see your brand? How do you want consumers to react when they see your brand, hear your brand and experience your brand”?
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These are thought-provoking questions that show how a well-established brand forms an integral part of a business and such cannot be overemphasized.
These are unequivocally deep treasures in branding strategies for the audience.
One puzzling scenario that has bothered businesses, especially SMEs is how to strategically take advantage of the internet and social media to increase market share.
In line with this, Benard Avle, the host quizzed the brand expert further on whether it was important for an SME to keep a website, engage bloggers and or maintain social media accounts.
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Mr. Ackah gave a compelling answer that should be a gem for every business. He said, “What you would write for a website would definitely be different from what you would write for social media…, you know…, for social media, the content may be short, precise and lead to a website…, so you as a business need to help us to help you…, you have to tell us what you do and what you want, so we can help your business. It would not make sense to do an advertisement on Traditional media like TV that is nationwide when your clients are small and are all centred only in Accra…., so you have to be strategic, and that is the trick”.
In other words, do not waste finances on less fruitful ventures.
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Separating A Personal Brand from A Product
“Can you elaborate a bit on building a brand as a business and reducing the emphasis on the person? Can the business still be strong with the CEO as the one driving the brand’’? Benard asked.
Mr Ackah affirmed, “You can do both…personal branding and product branding can co-exist…both may have their own success in different ways, but it is how you go about it… There are those who don’t want to build a brand with their personality, and that is because at that time, the brand was stronger, so there may not be a need to wrap their brand around the product…’’
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Making intelligible the benefits or the strategies behind personal branding and product branding, the brand expert asked rhetorically. “How do you want consumers to react when they see your brand, hear your brand and experience your brand”?
This obviously is a an effective way of communicating what your brand stands for to your consumers.
He however gave this caution concerning personal branding and product branding. “But there are brands that, the personality will have to leave…, to the point that the personality would have to segregate itself…you need to be very clinical on when you stop…because when something happens to your personality, it affects the brand”.
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It can be deduced from his caution that when it comes to personal branding and product branding, there is little or no room for error.
If any in attendance had never taken a branding or advertising course, this was obviously it. On the other hand, if one had already taken such in the past, this was unquestionably a refresher course on strategic product branding, personal branding and advertising.
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One could conclude from his presentation that brands are very important in a business, hence building a strong brand for any entity and being successful are inextricably interwoven.
Source :KASADE.COM
