Why SMEs must embrace branding —Experts

The need for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) to stand out of the pack, through the instrument of branding, was again brought to the fore, in Lagos, at the recently-concluded one-day SME Conference and Expo, organised by Agile Communications in collaboration with Purple pearl Consulting.

Different speakers and resource persons, made  up of experts in the nation’s integrated marketing communications space and other business sectors,  argued that one of the strangleholds and barriers to the growth of small businesses in this part of the globe, has been the inability of such businesses to  consciously create distinct identities for themselves.

Declaring the event open, one of the conveners and Chief Executive

Officer of Purple Pearl, Mrs BolajokoBayo-Ajayi, argued that since the SME sector remains critical to the growth and sustainability of the nation’s economy, it has therefore become imperative for such businesses  to be run with a different type of mindset.

While identifying paucity of funds, as a major challenge, that  has continued to limit the ability of business owners in the sector to give requisite attention to every aspect of the business, she however stated that brand-building has become very important to the long term viability and sustainability of every business.

“With today’s consumers being more discerning and demanding, it places the burden on SME businesses to have a strong consumer proposition that will meet the needs and motivations of their consumers,” she stated.

The Purple Pearl Consulting boss explained that the decision, therefore,  to organise the conference was aimed at creating a clarity of thought on the benefits of building a brand and also highlight such benefits for business owners.

Speaking during the event, MD/CEO, Mr. Jide Ipaye noted that Small businesses must strive to create a unique identity for themselves for them to stand out from competition.

One of the ways, he believes, this could be achieved, is for such

businesses to always seek professional advice, to prevent them from making grievous mistakes that could kill their business dreams.

“I think one of the ways to go for businesses in this sector is to stand on the shoulders of giants. When we started, at Keexs, what we did was to always seek professional advice. This made us to stand out from the pack, and really paid off at the end of the day,” argued the

Keexs’ boss, whose shoe-making business  has earned him acclaims across the globe.

While Ipaye, believes funds could be a challenge to SMEs in Nigeria, he however counsels on the need for small businesses to always look for leeways, that are less costly, but very efficient, in reaching  their target markets.

One of such, he counseled, is the social media, which he argued, are very efficient, but less expensive, in comparison to the traditional media.

“Besides, as small business owners, we should be ready to think out of the box, especially while sourcing for capital. When we wanted to raise money for this venture,  what we did was to explore the avenue of an online crowd-funding campaign, and through that medium, we were able to raise money to bring this project to life,” he stated.

Chief Executive Officer, Agile Communications, a co-convener of the event, Mr. RufaiLadipo, explained that the Conference  was borne out of the need to catalyse small businesses in the country.

“They are the backbone of any nation’s economy; since they are the greatest employers of labour. That is why we need to encourage this sector. We believe for potential to be fully harnessed in this sector, businesses here must be ready to differentiate themselves from the pack, through branding,” he added.