Brand your products and connect to customers
by Myrna Rodriguez-Co
Thanks or no thanks to globalization and the Internet, the concept of competition has enlarged for any businessman. They no longer just compete with the shop around the corner, the next barangay or the next sitio. They have to reckon with competition posed by businesses in Laguna, Cebu, Davao, Hong Kong, China, the United States … virtually the whole world.
So, how does a small business survive in a market of increasing size and complexity? How does it hold its own against so many other shops and producers all angling tooth and nail for customer approval?
The answer may be incredibly simple: “Be true to yourself!”
This injunction implies having, knowing, and nurturing your “personal identity.”
By creating a brand and building your business around it, you develop the identity with which to connect to customers.
The brand is not simply a name – it is the bond between the seller and the customer. It delivers a message from one to the other: “Trust us. Trust our company, our leaders, our people, our products.”
In a market arena that confounds with so many product choices, a distinct brand can stand out in the crowd and facilitate the decision-making process for the buyer.
Your brand makes an implicit promise to your customers. It is a promise that your product will deliver a distinct service, value, level of satisfaction, or sense of prestige. Many features of a business can easily be copied by a competitor, but a highly-reputable brand cannot.
Of course, it is one thing making a promise and another thing being believed that you would deliver on your word.
Between making the promise and earning customer trust is a whole process that entails hard work involving all people making up the company. It is known as brand development.
William Aruda of Business Resources Center suggests three steps to build a personal brand.
- Identify your brand – What do you promise your customers in terms of value? What distinguishes you from the other manufacturers, other shops? What will compel your customers to prefer your products? This involves documenting your vision, purpose, values and passions. Be clear about the goal of your business, your target market. Understand your competitors.
- Determine how to communicate your brand – Identify communication tools you will use to reach your public and inform them of your brand. This will include packaging, promoting, advertising, public relations. Document your message and ensure that it is included in all your communications. Develop a communications plan that will keep you constantly visible to your public.
- Manage your brand environment - The brand environment refers to your office, your product outlets, your customer service organization, your website. Be sure all these communicate a consistent brand message. Build and nurture your professional network and ensure that all members understand your message. Establish partnerships to extend your brand.
You might think you have to be a Coke, a Magnolia, a Bench or Nike to be able to connect to customers in such a special way. Not necessarily!
Ng Khai
Take it from Wilson Ng whose Esprint and NgKhai brands have won large chunks of the computer software and hardware market in Visayas and Mindanao.
When he and his team were defining their brand, they determined that they wanted to sell business solutions rather than machines. They wanted to make sure customers get their money’s worth, that products translate into greater productivity for customers. Most companies, Wilson thinks, sell machines and care little how they are used. “We care,” he asserts. “We have developed our brand to communicate the message we integrate things better.”
A lot of time and effort were invested into brand building, he admits. Not only do they work hard to come up with quality and problem-responsive software, for example. They go out of their way to address issues which may not be covered by standard warranties: they provide training and extend consulting and tech support to ensure satisfaction. Their brochures, catalogues and website proudly announce their business philosophy “Translating technology into business strength.”
“Five years ago, people couldn’t spell Ng Khai. Now, not only can they spell it, they also know it is a reliable IT firm.”
U2M
A local bag-making company has its own branding story to tell.
Gigi Chua used to produce bags for the mass markets, which she sold in Divisoria, then in ShoeMart and Robinsons. The bags were branded, alright, but there was no serious attempt to build up and promote the brands. For all these minimal efforts, she enjoyed fairly good sales, lulling her into complacency.
The influx of cheap products from China burst her bubble.
Her answer to the competition: branding, preceded by product development and market niching. She engaged the services of professional designers and a marketing consultant. Targetting her market to be the A and B crowd, she began to produce better crafted and designed bags. The superior workmanship begins with material selection, Gigi says. They use polyester of A1 quality– nothing less. The rest of the materials are imported, too.
She and her marketing staff began boning up on their target buyers. Who are they? What do they do? Where do they go when they get out of the house? What are their needs? their interests? their aspirations?
All these gave birth to the U2M brand now being marketed as “lifestyle bags” for the active and the upwardly mobile.
They have planned their moves: they will create brand identification through a celebrity endorser. U2M posters are now ubiquitously and strategically posted in outlets. Next steps will be more exposure on television and print media.
Godiva and Julienne
Buyers are willing to pay more for the high quality, performance, and sense of prestige communicated by a brand, two Filipino entrepreneurs learned.
Fred Reyes of the Godiva skin care product line developed the Godiva brand to project an “imported” and “nature-based image.” Although Godiva products are proudly Philippine-made, the imported image holds, he adds, because most ingredients, especially the main one -- licorice extract – is sourced from Japan. The image has given the company the advantage of competitive pricing – prices lower than imported brands and slightly higher than local ones.
Frances Babaran of Arte Caña, a furniture company in Quezon City, had a similar experience when she introduced a new collection for the high-end market.
Julianne collection she called it, after her daughter. The collection made use of Filipino basketry, said to be unparalleled in the world. Indigenous materials (bamboo, rattan and abaca), indigenous skills, combined with structural ability that will survive generations of use -- all these, they tried to communicate through the Julianne brand. Recently, they put up a website, www.juliannecollection.com. The collection was received very well in a number of international and local tradeshows. The buyers were willing to pay a good price for Julienne furniture. It is now an Arte Cana mainstay.
(For inquiries, please e-mail info.issi@up.edu.ph.)
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