The Branding Gavel » Brand management

Brands:How to/profiting from an engaged community

yinkaolaito — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:43:24 +0000

It is no longer news that the success of any brand rests solidly on the depth of relationship it has with all its stakeholders. No brand can be successful running a solo raise now. Every brand needs committed community members who are not only interested in working hard with the brand but who can work hard on the brand’s interest on their own freewill. As we now there is no community that thrives well on individualistic spirit and self serving leaders.

Today I just want to share a brief of what i took away from a personal research on the topic. Some of these thoughts are taken from Juliet Powell’s book and I do recommend it to anyone who is interested in building a strong community that is highly beneficial.

Find where they are: there is no strong community without proper understanding of the culture and environment they live. I expect my friend to know where I live. That shows the individual cares. So the first step in building engaged tribe is to know where they live. You may need also to study the community they live and find out what is important to the community members.

Understand the audience strength: a brand needs to understand the community audience strength. The mistakes most brand make is to focus energy only on the influential. But like Ducan watts says ‘most social change is driven not by influential, but by easily influenced individuals influencing others easily influenced individuals’. The point is everyone is important even though we may have priority.

Understand their habits and motivation: To influence anyone, you must first care about the person. So be sure you study what motivates them and what their concerns are.

Cater for their natural Interest: now that you know what motivates them, care like no other persons for their interest. Share links, give them referrals. Continuously give helping hands. Answer their question. Help them to understand your brand too.

Reward social influencers: in helping out, it is natural law that some of the community member will begin to think they owe you and they will be willing to help spread the buzz about you. Along the line you will noticed some dedicated community members who will go extra miles in making sure your brand excels.

In conclusion, we must note that having engaged community or tribe is work but the ROI is unquantifiable. An engaged community is extremely powerful tool that can provide self-perpetuating support and guidance system for you and your business.

Brand and knowledge management

yinkaolaito — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:02:33 +0000

Every wise brand today takes step toward building its knowledge base. This stored up knowledge will ensure its relevance tomorrow whether it is prospering today or otherwise. The impact of knowledge has been emphasized by The Bible when it says’ a wise man store up knowledge while a foolish man care less. An African adage also says ‘because things work out today is not a guarantee that one will always has it so compels a soothsayer to consult his oracle after five days. Whenever we sort for more knowledge in any niche, our perspectives change for better.

The western world places emphasis on knowledge acquisition, sharing and management and this is reflecting in the success they are getting. An Average fortune 500 company has a position for knowledge management Director or if at worst a manager. How many of our brands here have knowledge management Director who helps manage, share knowledge, discoveries about the brand. We only place emphasis on corporate communication, brand management staff. I know DDB and other great companies have knowledge directors whose major function is constantly to disseminate knowledge around the world.

In the process of acquiring knowledge, one will have the opportunity to network with other people of like mind, exchange ideas and become better. In the light of the above, I like to bring to our notice a knowledge sharing networking event happening here in Lagos Nigeria on March 24. The event is packaged by Nigerianbrand. Individuals, brands may get further details from the event planners page.

Social media cloud: are you connected?

yinkaolaito — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:26:57 +0000

Yesterday, I was speaking at an annual conference of a youth advocacy group I had the privilege of pioneering about a decade and half years ago. I actually led the group for three years before I committed the assignment to some other individuals who could steer its wheel of progress. This group today (which was predominantly undergraduates then) now has doctorate degree holder, computer scientists among other professionals. I was billed to speak to this group on the topic: Developing marketable skill. The time spent was a great one. When I got to a part of the presentation that requires I ask them the question “how many of them are on social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as well as how to develop right skill in appropriating online social networking sites to their own advantage”, I was shocked to note that many of them say there is no time and it could be a distraction to life.

Not being in the social media cloud today (especially the three that hold the preeminence among them) is tantamount to going the way of losing brand’s relevance, visibility as well as recognition. It does not also make personal/corporate brand memorable. Neither can any brand gains top of the mind status anymore without involvement. It is that bad. With heavy money, the brand may feature in local environment but not any more in the global realm. Out of sight is becoming out of mind gradually.

Not being in the cloud makes your brand to miss out in the 24/7 conversation. This may harm or make your brand. I read a statistics that really blew up my mind in this regard. I was informed that social media clouds now are the most popular after the porn sites. Another major point that dawned on me from my researches is that any brand that is not in the cloud now will not be found as people search out for brands( personal, corporate) that they want to engage everyday. When you are not there, you are gone. You can download /view the presentation slide here

Danger of stand- alone brand

yinkaolaito — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:03:08 +0000

Relationship is important to brand survival. Brand needs to build affinity with others to become truly successful. Humans are not created in isolation. This is a signal that shows that we all need others to move ahead. A person is four people away from a desired contact still holds true.

In my research, I have discovered that what is applicable to humans are also true for brands. Brands are living entity. Brand does not exist for itself. Brand needs strong relationship with external communities to excel. The day of brand monologue is gone for good. Dialogue is the new, hard currency that brand must trade with. It is important for brands to maintain their differentiation, internal innovation and to constantly oil their funnels of communication, the future of any brand is not guaranteed in isolation.

Community engagement will help much. Brands must become active member of the societies they operate in. Giving back, taking interest in the well being of the society they operate in is vital today than ever before. For any brand to stand aloof is tantamount to self destruct. The depression is making many brands to roam the societies (online an offline) without ever becoming a true, active member of such societies.

Many have forgotten that symbiotic relationship system is important. They have ignored the clients concern to their own peril. Many brands continue to ‘speak to their clients’ without listening. Any brand that stands alone today without giving helping hands will soon realize its mistake when the society repels its offering. While it is important for brand to minimize cost, save time and other vital resources through ‘father Christmas’ gesture, showing concern, encouragement, providing answers to environmental questions through different fora. Some of these do not require financial commitment but creating time.

At offline level, release your staff to participate in local non-profit initiative, allow your members of staff to mentor local high school students, plant flowers or maintain a local, Community Park. On online platform, let your brand takes active parts in consumer forum or other platforms where your target hibernate; give free content and give helping hands by answering questions of the clients. Remember, we live in an ‘archived’ society. By that I mean that Google keeps record. So when crisis arise, people help those who have been there for them. Stand alone brands spend huge money on crisis management because they have to manage the situations by themselves without a supporting hands.

They hardly have a soft landing. They crash heavily on the rock. My questions today are: is your brand part of any relevant community? Is your brand well known for helping out or leaving positive impression (offline, online)? Do brand assessments today, make necessary changes if you feel yours have been a stand alone? There is danger ahead if necessary changes are not made now

Brand anniversary: Time to say thank you

yinkaolaito — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:50:34 +0000

Time flies so many people often say. But if time is properly invested, time does not fly but it is programmed to deliver dividend in the future. The Branding Gavel, this online forum clicks one year last week. In the past one year we have had a nice time meeting with great mind, exchanged views with people around the world. Our community has kept us going. The feedback has been phenomenon. Even though we have not reached the target set ,there is a cause for appreciation. The major goal for the first year was to create brand awareness and visibility. This has really helped our measurement yardsticks with a lot of inputs from great minds like Anu Oluwadare, my Web consultant, over three hundred and forty subscribers (which we recently lost to reorganization). I therefore use this post to appreciate my community members who daily throng the site. About sixty five to seventy percent is from USA. I appreciate those who have taken the time to drop over three hundred and fifty comments to the present two hundred and twenty seven posts. I also appreciate my other online fora members that I am part of especially Mohammed Al Taee who gave me an online interview as well as those who followed my Tweet on twitter. I also appreciate those who have contacted me through E-mails, Direct Messages and others who have contributed in no small way to the success of this community. We look forward to a closer bonding in the years to come. Our goal in the next one year is to be the number one online voice of Africa in area of Branding, Social Media by becoming so relevant to more people, gets coverage from Forbes. Times Magazines, CNN, Reuters, Voice Of America and other international media. This is achievable as we continue to put in greater effort with support from our community. Lastly for our community members as well as potential, please take time to read the promo below and act accordingly. Promo : Join this global Community

The Branding Gavel is an online community with a focus on Branding, Marketing, Public Relations, Social media etc. In a recent reorganization, we lost the emails of our esteemed community members (subscribers). This mail now serves as an invitation to all to re log in their details for updates

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Brand and online Dna effects

yinkaolaito — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:21:49 +0000

Many things have been said about DNA. Wilipedia defines DNA as ‘Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code. It contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cell’. Science has showed that human Dna gives a clue to the physical representation of any human. The DNa when properly conducted shows clearly the components, origin of an individual. A Dna will give away an individual who claims he is not a specie of a particular tribe if he is really is. As a brand, online Dna is very important. A brand can not deny a photo of employee in a compromising position posted online years after except when such is deleted from the page. Brand must ensure that its online DNA aid brand communication and emotional connection, brand has to have a programme and planned policy that guide what is posted online. Each brand ‘online cell’ will one day culminate in a pool of results that identify whatever is deposited online about the brand. There is no amount of cover up that can be done now that does not stand the chance of being exposed in the nearest future. The reason being the fact that printed words stay as long as humanity exist except an alteration is done. Brand’s online Dna can either affect negatively or add value to the brand. Let us examine some of the brand’s DNA cells, components that will expose the brand if not properly fed, managed.

1. Wikis: Find out what is in your brand wikis today. Never wait till tomorrow. Anything posted there is a brand cell that can malfunction if not properly fed.

2. Websites: whatever that is posted on your brand’s website also constitute some of the Brand’s DNA cell that can either grow to boost brand image or destroy it. The website design is also a factor.

3. Blogs: Every brand needs a blog to build conversation, engagement and awareness. When properly managed, this brand Dna cell helps a lot in early detection of any online sickness or health

4. Forum: Transparency, truth and practical involvement helps this brand’ dna cell to flourish.

5. Chat room: there are several chat rooms online and a brand can do well by having a chat room on its website if it is possible. This will build interaction and communication

6 Emails: never send emails when you are angry or feel cheated. You may say more than what is required. Immediately you click on ‘send’ that is it. It can be used one day. I had learnt a great deal from this.

7. Articles: This is another brand’s online dna cell. Use this to promote and not to destroy your online Dna.

Beware of what your brand online molecules are saying because they can stand as a long-term storage of information that can aid or destroy your brand. It will be difficult to deny this as google never forgets.

Will your brand still be relevant after now?

yinkaolaito — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:49:42 +0000

There is no denying the fact that the recession effect is still on. The marketing communication industry is actually feeling the effect as budgets are now low to go round. Expenditure on frivolity is now reduced to zero. The market indicators are clear to every one and it will take long term strategy to remain relevant without engaging in a short time maneuvers that will permanently hurt the brand. It is now clear that the conclusion we can draw is that brand must embrace definitive and integrate all workable strategies to remain afloat, visible to the necessary audience despite low budget. Consistently manage relationship with audience whether they are buying from you or not today will go a long way in keeping your brand in their hearts. It is also good to occasionally supply necessary information that can help them out. Today let me help out with what I think can help your brand to remain relevant during and after the recession and if you like you may say factors that can help recession-proof your brand.

1. Hone your differentiation: it is becoming a hard job to actually own a place now as others are jumping around to survive and are by the way polluting every differentiation stream. You need to work as hard as you can to let the target see what you are good at in terms of your expertise and how you offer your services differently.

2. Do a ‘collabo’ or partnership: if it is possible, think of partnership that can enhance your visibility and strengthen position in the market. You may need to carefully assess the route before you enter into it as some may mar your brand. The damage may take years to erase. So watch closely the other brand’s value whether it will tally with yours before any partnership

3. Be a resource brand: Every brand that is at the top of the industry has relevant, current information about the industry that is not just confined to local news but seasoned with international flavor.

4. Share the knowledge: help your clients out with valuable knowledge that can help them out of their present challenges without charges.

5. Forget totalitarianism: we are now in the age of brand democratization. If your brand will still continue to be a despot, dictator to its audience, it will not be around for long. We are now in the age of dialogue and conversation and there is now way your brand will have all the answers, ideas that will work. Remember that everyone, brand that remains relevant since last century is always looking around for what works and not what used to work. Take initiative, be willing to change, embrace innovation

How to quietly destroy your personal brand

yinkaolaito — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:29:11 +0000

Today is the beginning of the last weekend in September 09. So I just thought of sending out a warning signal to those who have labored so hard to work on their personal brands till now.Building a skyscraper takes months of laboring, hard work, designing as well as inputs from many professionals. Interestingly when it is time to pull that down, it will not take a lot of energy it requires to build it. We have maintained that those who start out early in building their personal brands live to enjoy greater benefits than those who start late. Though it is better to start late than never at all. We know that building personal brand is a life long process. It requires hard work, expertise, building emotional connection. We also know that results come in bit and sizes as one continues in the personal brand journey. For those who have labored and have continued to labor on their personal branding, here are few landsmine to avoid so you do not quietly destroy your efforts.

1. Inconsistency: If you want to keep at it, never forget what brought you up to where you are. You have remained consistent in doing something. You are known for that, following the inconsistent road will gradually erode your brand from the mind of your target audience.

2. Fake it: Realize that people can see behind the camouflage even if they keep silent. If you push it beyond limit, the audience may disconnect with you and that is where the trouble begins.

3 shamelessly self promote: Self promotion is a highly effective tool in personal branding. But like success, it is like a roaring load, if one does not know how to tame it. it can tear the owner into pieces. So beware, be careful how you use this tool so that it does not destroy the brand you have labored for.

4. Build negative interaction: Watch your interaction and always get feedbacks. This help. Anything opposite is self destruct.

5. Tell audience they are not important: Never take your audience for granted. They make you what you are. Without them you have no brand.

6. Never bother about what you put online: We have people of dual citizens now. They live offline and online. You must beware of what you are doing at both end of the divide. Watch the videos, photos, comments you post online, they may be hampering your personal brand.

7. Continuously hang out with wrong crowd: The crowd you constantly hang out with may hurt your brand so watch your association.

Social enterprise reports and awards recap

yinkaolaito — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:32:42 +0000

This is a special report on the recently held 2009 Social Entreprise Reports and Awards.The Brand Gavel celebrates the achievement of a visionary organization. Happy reading.

This year Social Enterprise Reports and Awards-SERA- has come and gone. But its effects are still there for brands to learn from. This year edition was tagged: ‘Making the Connexions: How Business Will Affect Lives in the Next Decade. The purpose of the 2009 SERA is to explore the impact of business on lives of real people in a very challenging era. Some of the major brands that were initially nominated were removed due to lack of certain disclosures that the judges felt were necessary.

The event was flagged off with a glamorous red carpet welcome, anchored by Clara Okoro of Brand World and Gimba Umar of TV Continental, which saw the guests, including the MDs and CEOs of Nigeria’s mega corporations, strutting and posing for pictures with the backdrop of the SERA banner. The cocktail followed with light entertainment by Crown Troupe.Comedian, Kofi Idowu started the main event with laugher and fun preparing ground for SERA host, renowned actor Kanayo O. Kanayo, who took over from Kofi for the rest of the evening. Executive Governor of Cross River State , Senator Liyel Imoke, received the SERA recognition award for contributions to achievement of Millennium Development Goals 1, 4 and 5 (poverty reduction and health) through health delivery and infrastructural development of both rural and urban areas of Cross River State . The governor was ably represented by his deputy, Effiok Cobham and four commissioners from the State.Poju Oyemade, Senior Pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre (CCC) was also recognised for his visionary and dynamic leadership exemplified by two CCC projects that have made immense impact on the lives of thousands of young people in Nigeria and with the potential to change destinies of individuals and engender development of the nation. The projects are Edu-Aid, the organization’s response to the falling standards in the quality of education and learning in Nigerian public primary schools and the Platform – an entrepreneurship and leadership development programme that exposes young Nigerians to local and global leaders who provide cutting-edge knowledge in entrepreneurship and business development.Awards were presented in three major categories – to companies whose CSR initiatives support the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to the most responsible companies in the sectors of banking, telecommunications, foods and beverages and manufacturing. The final set of awards went to the best companies in Employee Development, Welfare and Safety; Sustainability Reporting; Most Improved CSR; and Arts and Culture promotion.

Sonflower Development Initiative (SDI), a youth and women empowerment-focused non-governmental organisation, donated the laptop computer prize presented to the winner of the Tunmise Adekunle Award for CSR reporting, Mr. Yusuf Ibrahim of The Nation. The keen contest for the SERA statuette saw MTN emerge as winner in four categories in addition to being the overall best – Poverty Reduction (MDG1); gender Equality (MDG3); the most responsible company in the telecommunications sector; and the best company in Partnerships for development (MDG 8). Bank PHB took home the statuette for the best education sector CSR programme (MDG2). GTBank bagged the statuettes for two categories – Child Health (MDG 4), and the most responsible company in the banking sector; in addition to the prize as overall runner up.Lulu-Briggs bagged the prize for CSR focused on promotion of Maternal Health (MDG5) for the second time in a row. The organisation emerged winner in this category in the 2008 SERAs. Ninutra Consulting walked away with the prize – Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and others. Guinness Nigeria PLC emerged the best company in Environmental Sustainability as well as Employee Development Welfare and Safety second year running, Fidelity Bank PLC won the Arts and Culture prize while the most Improved CSR prize went to Access Bank PLC. The culmination of voting by stakeholders via SMS and on the SERA website, a voting process anchored SMS Nigeria, saw Dangote emerge as the Most Voted Company with 1,050 votes. This was closely followed by Dufil Prima Foods (Indomie) with 740 votes and Coca-Cola with 709 votes. For the first time at the annual Nigeria Social Enterprise Report and Awards ( the SERAs), Nigeria’s tax authority, the Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS) issued certificates of commendation to the overall best winner and the first runner up during the 2009 SERA which took place at the Shell Hall MUSON Centre on September 17.

MTN emerged the overall winner of the 2009 SERAs, as in the previous two editions; with GTBank as runner up. This was a closely contended race to take home the prized SERAs statuettes for the most responsible company in Nigeria 2009. FIRS’ communications boss, Mr. E.E. Bassey presented the certificates of commendation to the overall winner and runner up.The Honourable Minister for Steel Development, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke gave the keynote address. Speaking on behalf the SERA Jury 2009, Mrs, Nkechi Alli-Balogun, The CEO, Necci and immediate past president of the Lagos chapter of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) explained the reasons behind the decisions they took. She noted that while the judges were impressed with the improved quality of some entries it was disappointing that many companies still fell short because of their resistance to disclosures. “This year, overall best nominees were subjected to further scrutiny by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). A number of potentially strong nominees were dropped at this point ”, Alli-Balogun said.

FIRS issued the certificates on the premise that in every country of the world, corporate tax payments are the largest and the most visible contribution of companies to stakeholders who are not necessarily shareholders and employees. According to FIRS’ Head of Channels Management and SERA judge, Mrs. Olajumoke Simplice, “tax payment is the first social responsibility of corporations”. Speaking at the Judge’s meeting, Head of Corporate Communications of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Bola Fashina, indicated that during the 2010 SERAs, SON, being the representative of ISO in Nigeria , will issue certificates to the overall best as well as the first and second runner-up companies. “This is to further promote and raise standards of CSR in Nigeria”, Fashina said.

N.B Additional review, information was supplied by SERA organizer.

Photo:L-R,Dr Ken Egbas, MD Trucontact- the organizer, Deputy Governor cross Rivers state Barr. Effiok cohbiams, Prof.Ike nwosu, NIPR president.

How to promote contribution, connection in brand’s online community Part 2

yinkaolaito — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:04:48 +0000

This is the second and concluding part of the earlier post on this topic. Enjoy it.

1. Absence of too much technicalities: Most active communities do not make it mandatory for members to learn new software before they can participate in discussion, before expressing their opinions. I have come across few communities which I really liked but which require that I sign unnecessary forms, I normally move away.

2. Make sharing an easy process: in today’s 24/7 online word, sharing is power as opposed to knowledge is power. So any community that does not make sharing easy may be chasing community members away without knowing. Ensure the community has features like RSS, Digg. Facebook compatibility.

3. Speak the tribe’s language: Is the online community speaking the tribe’s language? No matter how good a public speaker is if he/she does not speak the language his/her audience understands, the efforts put in are exercise in futility. Community member needs to be at home with proverbs, jargons that the tribe speaks. An exception though is that the use of general language that everyone understands is necessary in some cases. So find what works for your community.

4. Send customized messages; sending direct, personalized messages is also helpful in building connection among community members. This gives a sense of belonging and appreciation especially when the group is large. It shows that the owner is not looking at every member as part of the crowd but as a significant individual who make up the community.

5. Response time: active community that will enjoy members’ participations is not an easy task. Though the dividends outweigh the inputs at long last; such communities carry huge responsibilities. That is why such always have dedicated hands or whereby it is a personal site, the owners always encourage contributions from known members of the community or accredited hands that he/she can trust. So when community members require clarifications and further information it does not take unnecessary long delay to reply.

Aside from the above, disposition of community owner, builder to negative comments may also affect active participation as some may view the community as intolerant to opposing views.

6. Investment in Brand credibility: To also promote brand’s contribution, the owner may need to consider investment in the online community credulity. Promote, the community, seek relevant accreditation of respect authorities around. There is also the need to create greater report with mainstream media so that the community can be covered whenever issues that relate to the brand’s niche is being discussion. Everyone loves to be associated with success. Strong mainstream endorsement for the community by reputable mainstream media can also promote connection and contributions.

In all, active community is not a product of overnight success; they are products of unwavering, relentless commitment to a passionate cause it believes in. Do you need to build an online community that will aid your brand visibility, loyalty, word of mouth and you do not know how, ask for help, we may offer you that service. You can download, print a colorful PDF version of the two parts here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19530704/How-to-Promote-Contribution-Connection-PDF