Marketing and selling in favourable economic conditions:

Marketing and branding tips

Prasanna Perera Marketing and Management Consultant, Chartered Marketeer, CIM UK

Prasanna Perera

In Sri Lanka’s pursuit to become the “Wonder of Asia” the role of entrepreneurs and SME’s will be crucial. In my experience, many entrepreneurs have excellent technical skills but lack commercial acumen.

Hence, my endeavour is to share some insights to help existing and budding entrepreneurs to succeed in marketing their products and services.

Bite size tips - marketing and branding

Tip No 1 - Start with the market. Understand what market opportunities exists for the business venture that you have in mind. Informal research and interviews will be adequate, if you lack budgets.

Tip No 2 - Do not market a product or service, but a brand. Invest in building a brand, that will provide an identity and help differentiate your product or service.

Tip No 3 - Once you have developed a list of proposed brand names, check the possibility of registering them. Do not market brands without registration. Further, check the suitability of the brand name, in terms of the target market and cultural and social factors.

Tip No 4 - Position your selected brand creatively, by carrying out effective, focused marketing communication.

This is very important to guarantee future sales volumes and cash flows. Examples of good brand positioning in the Sri Lankan SME sector would be Lucky yoghurt, Smak, Jinadasa and Monis to name a few.

Tip No 5 - Distribution of your product or service is very important. A key decision would be to outsource distribution or not. Initially, since the brand is unknown, you may have to carry out the distribution activities. Thereafter, outsourcing may be possible, depending on the success of the brand.

Tip No 6 - Build relationships with customers, through regular contact and visits. Once relationships are built, a conscious effort will be required to nurture and maintain them. Allocate finances for this purpose.

Tip No 7 - Invest in training and development of your staff. The staff are “internal customers” and “brand ambassadors.” Motivated and trained staff can do wonders in marketing and branding success. Keep your focus internal as well as external.

Tip No 8 - Monitor competitors and their activities regularly. Do not only focus on direct competitors but also on indirect competitors. Competitor pricing, distribution and promotional activities should be reviewed and the necessary changes in your marketing strategies should be carried out accordingly.

Tip No 9 - As a founder and entrepreneur, you must visit your customers and intermediaries regularly. By doing so, you will have a “feel” for the business and hence, the quality of decision making will improve. Staff motivation levels will also improve, if the founder leads by example.

Tip No 10 - You need to focus on new product and service development, to enhance brand value and sustain competitiveness.

Hence, a new product and service development process should be in place. Obtain the services of external experts if required, together with technical institutes and universities. All new product and service development activities should be initiated based on market place changes and not as fashionable moves!

The benefits of a sound marketing and brand strategy

Cash flows will continue to improve, enabling further investments. As volumes continue to grow, economies of scale will kick-in, resulting in lower manufacturing and operational expenses.

Staff motivational levels will increase, thereby resulting in better sales and profits. The corporate image and reputation of the organization will improve, resulting in favourable responses by stakeholdergroups. (Eg. Banks, Governments, Regulatory Bodies). All investments will be optimised, thereby providing a better ROI to shareholders. Hence, shareholders will continue toinvest in the business.

Interdepartmental co-operation and co-ordination will improve, resulting in better teamwork, so vital for business success incompetitive environments.

The Founder and Entrepreneur should be the “Brand Custodian”

This is a very important principle to follow. The brand must be fiercely guarded by the owner at all times. Take the examples of Tony Fernandes (Air Asia), Richard Branson (Virgin), Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) to name a few from the global stage. There are a few good examples in the Sri Lankan context as well.

When the founder is the “Brand Custodian” the long term direction of a brand is secured. It makes it easier to align the employees as “Brand Champions” as well.

Brand Development and building is a must for entrepreneurs. The responsibility lies with the founder and owner. There are many examples of entrepreneurship success, by focusing on marketing and branding. After all, marketing is what brings the bacon home!!

“Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose off what you make. It is the art of creating genuine customer value”.

- Kotler