Experts harp on improved operational model at ADVAN Summit
By Felicia Nwosu
The need for Small, Medium Enterprises to change their business operations and rethink business strategy by leveraging technology and partnership to birth innovative ideas for sustainable growth has been emphasized.
This was the thrust at the Advertisers Association of Nigeria, ADVAN Summit themed: “Marketing as a Tool for sustainable Business Development,” held on 16, November, 2022, at Adna Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
As part of activities lined up for the 2023 ADVAN Awards, it featured ace and seasoned marketers as speakers which include: Osamede Uwubanmwen President of ADVAN, Adeyosola Ademulegun-Atere, Marketing Director, MasterCard, West Africa, and Samuel Akinrimisi, Head of Category, HPZ Limited.
Welcoming the guests, Ediri Ose-Ediale, Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director of the association, revealed that ADVAN is 30 years strong and controls about 90% of marketing spend in Nigeria which is over N200 billion per annum.
According to her, before now, ADVAN membership had really been about multinationals and large corporations like the MTN, Coke, Cadbury and many others which calls for the need to support other business to enable them grow in likewise manner.
“We also need to support SMEs to become leading brands and sustainable businesses. The insights and the knowledge that these organizations you see all over the world have is what we want to begin to share with you. How will you build a sustainable business, how do you build a brand that can go global, for ADVAN, the SME support for membership is not about money, it is just a token and it is even something that is negotiable. The ones that have come on board, they negotiate with me every day. It is not your money really. The big spenders are already with us. We need to support the Nigerian economy and all business because that is the bedrock of any economy and society and that is why we are doing this.”
ADVAN president, Osamede Uwubanmwen, kicked off his presentation with a resounding quote that,” Most SMEs do not plan to succeed but pray to succeed.” He emphasized the importance of planning before setting up a business and challenged SMEs to ensure they include tangible and handy plans that will enhance easier execution of other processes in the running of the business towards a sustainable growth.
According to the WFA VP, any business with sustainable vision must learn to leverage staff versatility and in-depth skills as well as partnership with stakeholders to enable it manage resources in the journey of growing the business. He also reaffirmed the need for SMEs to learn to adapt to change, especially in the adaptation and adoption of innovative ideas through the use of technology and data.
The president advised business owners to begin to see their businesses as an entity, separated from its owners while cautioning them against flamboyant lifestyle that can wreck the business financially.
“You can pay yourself, because you are also working but don’t start digging your hands into your business money, rather see your business as a separate entity. You also have to look at practice structure by asking yourself if you have enough money for the business. When you set up a business to succeed, you must get yourself proper book for accounting purpose, where you record all your income and expenses. There must be a bank account that showcases what you have done within a particular period say for three months. This will earn you credibility and trust from stakeholders such as banks .Look out for other SMEs and find out how you can do partnership and you also need to find out what is obtainable in the industry you operate as well as determine where you strength and weakness are and where you need help, seek from experts.” he added.
Samuel Akinrimisi, Head of Category, HPZ Limited, during his presentation took a look at building sustainable SME brands from macro to micro level in order to drive growth for the owner, the brand and the industry. Taking his cue from Peter Drucker’s popular quote: “Business has only two functions: Marketing and Innovation,” Akinrimisi challenged business owners to know who they are benchmarking because of the business ecosystem is already cluttered with diverse competitors.
He noted that any business set up is a brand and must publicly be distinguished from the clutter. The marketing expert urged SMEs to learn to create specific and personalized messages that will drive home their brand promise to enable consumers develop the right affinity and loyalty towards the brand.
“There is a story around every brand, what is the story around your brand. Your brand story should attract others to begin to act as referrals or advocate of your brand to make it a top-of-the-mind product.
He said brand owners are fighting with five forces of competition framework. These are supplier, where they have to fight for bargaining power, new entrants where they struggle with industry competitors, threat to substitutes, rivalry among existing firms as well as buyers who they have to struggle with on bargaining power also. According to him, to attain sustainable brand, four key elements must come to play and these are: constant innovation, happy customers, strong activation and winning competition.
“What are you doing to be ahead of competitors. Forces should not be there to pull you down but to make you better to become sustainable. Why does your brand exist? What solution does your brand offer? You must be a solution provider to your customers because solution is the value of what consumers are paying for.”
Yosola Atere, Marketing Director, Mastercard West Africa who also doubles as 2nd Vice President of ADVAN, featured virtually. Atere reaffirmed the rapid changes and shift in the ecosystem which she challenged every business owner to be in tune with.
The ADVAN 2nd VP said in setting up a business, ‘the why’ of establishing the business must be very strong and clear. She urged SMEs to understand the ‘why’ since it is the first element that informed the business strategy. The MasterCard marketing expert added that it is good to start with the thinking, followed by research which she averred is very important as well as in identifying product orientation.
“The research is always important because as a company, you got to be honest with yourself and identify your orientation. There are different types of orientation. There are companies that are product oriented, they focused on product that they take to market that consumer has an everyday need, so my product satisfies this need, so everything that you do in the company, is driven by that product. Everything about this product must be catered for in terms of marketing and that is product orientation. In a market orientation, consumer is the center point.”
She enumerated several types of orientation such as Sales Orientation which focuses on empowering its salesforce and building its sales strategy. This revolves around its recruitment system and how it is leveraging various channels to ensure that the products get to the market.
“There is also a marketing-oriented company, which focuses on the value which the company brings to the customer, and how do you take it to the market to ensure that it is translated to revenue.” Atere challenged brands to introduce strategies that will drive their thinking towards the direction where consumers are thinking.
“Think the big strategy and your own strategy, you must check to stay ahead of the curve. To ensure that you are proactive when consumers behaviour change, plan ahead before consumers even think of that need. As consumers are getting aware of being green, your proactiveness should spur you to think of recycling and moving from bottle to plastic bottles all geared towards enhancing sale to address consumer’s need through technology and re-orientation of your branding. ”
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