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Post COVID-19: SMEs Must Re-Strategize Their Branding Approach to Survive the new normal – Ikechukwu Kalu

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Lagos, October 27, 2020  – Brand expert, Ikechukwu Kalu has advocated that businesses, specially Small and Media Scale Enterprises (SMES) must adopt new approach to market, especially concerning their brand appeal to survive in the post COVID-19 new normal.   Kalu noted that t here is the urgent need for some sort of “rebranding” or effective branding for those who had not been on a strong branding trajectory before COVID-19 era.   Ikechukwu Kalu, who   is the Lead Consultant at Customer Passion Point Limited (CPPL), a firm of Value Creation Consultants providing Marketing, SME Consulting and Training reiterated that the soul of a business is its patronage and the consumers must be at the heart of branding for it to be able to attract, connect and retain patronage.   In his words, “there is the reality of a new normal – social distancing and the changing dynamics of transactions especially for businesses that rely on physical contact and in-store customers, for instance, retail and hos
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Ethics, Protocols and Relationship Between Co-workers

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Recently, I was privileged to facilitate an interesting discussion on Ethics, Protocols and Relationship between Co-workers at a strategy session organised by one of my very esteemed clients. It was a great session, considering the positive feedback from a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey done after the session. We started the discussion with a critical review of a popular quote ‘‘Organizations must accelerate, or they will die’’. It was a good ice breaker, as this got everyone thinking. We then looked at what drives an organisation forward and it became clear that not much can be achieved in an organisation without the members understanding and living out its core values and core purpose.  The Core values, represent ‘ The Truths’ -  what the organisation stands for while the ‘Core Purpose’ is really about what the organisation was created to accomplish. The two are very critical factors that usually remain unchanged over a period of time. That is why they must form the
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Consumer Insights And Trade Marketing

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Brands are spending more to reach customers at the point of purchase or consumption, while retailers control the critical moments of purchase. By working together, brands and retailers can improve the consumer journey through to conversion. Brands must lead in the evolving consumer journey because the battle is now in the trade. Imagine having to decide which product to buy at a retail shop in the midst of competing brands. What do you think fuels impulse buying? The customer may not remember the different advertising on the products but would have to decide right there what brand to go with.  Branding and placement of product information in retail environment aids decision making in favour of your brand. Understanding the profile of your customer, the decision corridor in the channels and placing the right materials in the right quality and quantity will make the customer’s decision easier and favourable to your brand. This is what trade or channel marketing is all about. Hi
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What's On My Mind This First Working Day Of 2018?

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Value Proposition .  I know we are familiar with the term and we use it ever so often. But what does it mean? It is an innovation, service, or feature intended to make a company or product attractive to customers. Some say it is a promise of value to be delivered, communicated, and acknowledged or a belief from the customer about how value (benefit) will be delivered, experienced and acquired. Great definitions. I call it a tangible expression of who you are or what you are all about. Whichever way you want to look at it, it represents a promise that would make your audience listen to you and do what you want them to do towards you. So, what is your value proposition? What are you offering that should make anyone look your way and patronize you? There are essentially four elements to a properly crafted value proposition statement, irrespective of the type of business you do or the segment you are catering to etc. Top on the list is customer insight. Crafting a proposition sho
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As I Prepare For 2018

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When I consider my history and how God has helped me to navigate through life, I cannot deny the grace of God that is upon my life and has been manifesting in my career and journey in the market place. I appreciate and talk about it as a way of giving glory back to God. I constantly review my past so I can be properly instructed.  Yes I forget what is behind me and press on to what is in my future. However, I must have an understanding of what made or marred any aspect of what I did or did not do to get here. I ended the year on a high and am truly looking forward to an exciting and goal-driven 2018. I want it to be a year that is well spent. I want to live a ‘called life’. I want to be productive. I want to be properly guided. I want to excel in the true sense of the word. As I prepare for 2018, I am instructed by the conversation between Jacob and Esau when Jacob was returning home after his stay with Laban “And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will
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You Determine Your Success In Business & Career

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I am always excited when I have an opportunity to discuss any of our business enhancement programs. It can really be refreshing to me. But why? The reason is simply, I see the impact on the business and careers of the people who have been through our programs. They talk about their learning and the positive impact on their business and career and are grateful for the opportunity. We are now in the second half of the year 2017 and it does not matter how good the first half has been, what has been achieved or still pending. I see this second half as an opportunity to do better that we have ever done.  The results we have had so far could be either as a result of the cycle of our business or the state of preparedness with which we commenced the year 2017. There is a popular saying ‘accelerate your business or be ready to die’. I remind myself and my clients about this because it’s so easy to lose sight of it. We have to continue to hone our skills, develop new ones and learn winni
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Channel Management & Sustainable Business Growth

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How important is channel management in today’s business? I had a rare opportunity of discussing channel management and its importance with some young, vibrant, high performing Nigerians recently. It was a two day program themed ‘Business Enhancement Program for Channel Managers’.  We had great fun honing our skills, discussing issues and learning new strategies. As you would have noticed, we believe in running programs as against courses. Programs enable us understand and thrash identified challenges with a function or field of study and come up with simple and workable solutions. Some of the topics deliberated on include; ·       Value creation leadership mind-set, Managing the channels for value, ·       Channel management performance models ·       Go-to-market strategies ·       Making the best of out the relationship with channels ·       Personal Effectiveness It was important that we started the program with a session on value creation leadership mi
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