Entrepreneurs must commit to building winning organisations and enduring brands – Demola Akinbola, brand management specialist

A brand and reputation management consultant, Mr. Demola Akinbola, has stressed the need for entrepreneurs and business managers to evolve deliberate, planned, and sustained strategic initiatives that will strengthen their personal and corporate brands, as well as turn their businesses into winning organisations.

Akinbola, the Head Steward of Brand Stewards Limited (Brand, Reputation, and Strategic Planning Consultants), observed that the prevalent short-term and haphazard approach to brand development and management among Chief Executives would lead to weak and fragile institutions that cannot stand the test of time.

Akinbola spoke in Lagos on Saturday at a one-day Business Forum organised by the Men’s Fellowship of the Christ Livingspring Apostolic Ministry (CLAM), Omole, Lagos.

Speaking on “The Winning Organisation: How Companies Can Build Enduring Brands”, Akinbola, an experienced Brand management specialist, opined that the primary purpose of the enterprise is not profit maximisation, but value creation. “In the process of creating value for its customers and making an impact, a business will naturally make a profit”, he added, while stressing that the consistent delivery of quality products and services will endear a company to its customers and lead to increased patronage.

Mr Akinbola’s lecture centred around four main pillars:

• The purpose of an enterprise (The Value Dimension)
• Overview of Branding (Features and benefits)
•  Characteristics of the Winning Organisation
•  How to build enduring brands.

Speaking on the characteristics of a “Winning Organisation, Akinbola defined a ‘Winning Organisation” as one that:

1. Has a sound branding strategy in place from its inception.
2. Has a solid corporate culture
3. Deliberately recruits and trains the right staff
4. Has a robust performance management framework that promotes, motivates, and discipline staff as appropriate.
5. Has a robust internal branding strategy that covers internal communication and employee engagement.
6. Is obsessed with research and empirical data. It regularly conducts surveys such as stakeholders needs analysis, employee satisfaction survey, customer insights, product development, competitive analysis, market/environmental trends, etc
7. That takes service delivery as a holy grail and institutes a customer service guarantee or assurance scheme.
8. That has a customer-centric approach to all it does from product development to marketing.
9. That consciously builds and manages its reputation on a sustained basis
10. That creates and adds value to customers on an ongoing basis. 

Giving an overview of Branding, he defined a brand as an embodiment of value. “A brand name is the name of an individual, Organisation, product/service, or country. You can have a brand name and still don’t have a brand in the strict sense of it”, he added.

Branding is the sustained process of developing and communicating the unique and differentiating benefits/attributes of a brand name, he stated.

Akinbola, who is also the Publisher of The Podium International Magazine, noted that organisations must know when to rebrand and review their brand strategy. According to him, “rebranding is to rejuvenate, revitalize, reinvigorate, reposition, and rejig a brand name. Rebranding can take place in the form of a new package, a new identity, enhancement of product benefits, or a new market entry”, he added.

He cautioned against the misunderstanding and misapplication of the branding concept. His words: “Branding is not a one-off, knee-jerk action; branding is not a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy. It has to be customized to suit your specific situation; Branding is not about the exterior (packaging). It’s more about the internal issues that underlie your company’s existence; Branding is not a short-term approach to existential corporate ills”.

He listed the benefits of Branding to include:
a. Increased brand awareness
b. Ease of recall
c. Customer/brand loyalty
d. Repeat purchase
e. Premium pricing
f. Deep reservoir of goodwill and strong reputation

He listed some of the steps to be taken to build an enduring brand:

1. A clear vision of where you are going with the brand.
2. A clear mission of how you want to get there.
3. A strong culture of value creation and addition.
4. Customer-focused approach to product development.
5. A strong culture of honest and sincere communication with internal and external stakeholders.
6. Strategic employee engagement
7. Deliberate approach to building and managing the brand reputation.

Demola Akinbola is an author, publisher, trainer, digital marketing strategist, and a brand development specialist with nearly three decades of experience in the areas of branding, communication, corporate reputation management, business development, organizational change management, and digital marketing.

In his presentation, Barr. Adedipupo Adewetan urged Christians to make their businesses an altar for God. According to him, scriptural principles must be the bedrock of any business. He disclosed that there are enough reasons for Christians to successfully manage businesses if they put God first, embrace righteousness, and focus on good service.