COACHING
Building African Brands
By Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia
Every marketer prides themselves as a mini expert on brands . After all , that is the marketer ’ s pride and joy . To build , grow and maintain a brand - whether a product , service or a corporate brand .
Why is there is so much confusion around branding ? Is it the same as marketing ? Is there one that comes before the other ? Is branding a part of marketing or is marketing relevant to branding ? Is branding and brand building different ?
Hope you aren ’ t feeling dizzy after all those questions .
In previous articles , I have shared how the terms marketing and advertising are used interchangeably . Marketers know there is a clear difference between these terms . How we speak is slightly different from how the terms are understood . term , design , symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller ’ s good or service from those of other sellers .”
According to Kotler and Keller , a product “ is anything that is offered to a market to satisfy a want or a need .”
Putting these two definitions together it means that a product can be available in the market but in order to make it easily identifiable or distinguishing it from competition , it needs to be a brand .
Kotler and Keller go ahead to explain branding as “ endowing products and services with the power of a brand .” Therefore , branding is the process of creating a brand , ensuring that there is a strategy in place that helps a customer identify , recall and become loyal to that brand by making a conscious choice to choose that brand . identify your audience ’ s needs and wants , or what we also call pain points then how can you come up with a product or service in the first place ? Which is what you will then eventually brand .
The Pan African business publication African Business , in its June 2022 edition ran a report on Africa ’ s top brands . The report showed the most popular African brands to be MTN , Dangote , DSTV and Ethiopian Airlines . No Kenyan brand was listed in the top 10 . In the finance sector Equity Bank was ranked third most popular finance institution brand . Overall , the top five most admired brands in Africa were Nike , Adidas , Samsung , Coke and Apple .
What does this say about consumer tastes and preferences ? Foreign brands seem to have made their mark on the African continent .
A brand that is relatively unknown : do some marketing . Which doesn ’ t sound as fancy as get some promotion going . Hence confusion on marketing and promotion .
What is a brand ? A very common definition from the American Marketing Association is that “ a brand is a name , a
Lots of theory and definitions . Boring you will probably say .
So where do you the marketer start ? Building the brand ? Start with marketing ?
The marketing process starts with research to understand your customer . If you do not
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The marketing process starts with research to understand your customer . If you do not identify your audience ’ s needs and wants , or what we also call pain points then how can you come up with a product or service in the first place ? Which is what you will then eventually brand .
Brand Africa 100 is a consumer led survey across 28 countries which cover 85 % of the population on the continent . This research is done by the partner agencies of GeoPoll , Kantar and Brand Leadership .
It is time for African brands to assert themselves on the continent .
Back to the brand discussion . We know for a brand to be successful it must evoke an emotion in the customer . It must speak to a promise and the values it represents must come out clearly to a customer .
Think back to your favorite brand . Why is it dear to you ? It has the features and benefits that you are looking for . Why do you choose an iPhone or a Samsung phone ? Why do you choose the Chrome browser and not the Brave browser ? Why do you choose to consume content from Marketing
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