How to leverage potentials in making a global brand
People want to relate with humans and not businesses and the more human you can make your business the more you have the chance to get people to love it.
The world and the way we do things are changing, it’s left for us to either hop on this train of change or watch till we’re left out. The first potential this change brings us is — wider market or global reach. That means a Bake shop in Lagos can easily service a cake demand at Abuja without actual physical reach.
Leverage Digital
As entrepreneurs, we need to position our brand beyond the walls of our store. I’d recommend every entrepreneur apply for Google Digital Skills. It’s free and comprehensive. It’s an entire module on how you can move your offline business online. It’s free and sure would transform your business!
This article by Fundall also guides you on how to move your offline business online.
The second potential is ability to earn more revenue
How do you do this?
- Build Processes: You need to build processes that can make your business scale and can make you replicate the same Bake ship you have in Lagos in Abuja without losing your brand or quality. Do you know why McDonalds or KFC tastes the same way almost everywhere around the world? Processes — it has been built in a way that you don’t always need a key man to get things done. The business owner doesn’t need to be there to get things to be of great quality. f you can build quality processes that are well documented and “scalable” then you can be very sure you’re ready to take on the global stage and on your way to operational excellence.
- Execute better and well: The winner is not the person with the best or biggest ideas but the person that executes better.
- Grow lean, fail fast, learn quickly: Ensure that you grow very lean, especially during your early days… Don’t burn cash unnecessarily, build processes that scale and ensure that your business can move on even when you are not available.
- Ensure you always expand your Distribution channels — the best products don’t win, the one heavily distributed wins always. Look around you and you’d see the reality. Virtually all the products you love are those closer to you. Proximity is very important so you have to create access for your product, increase visibility and ensure that you reduce the friction to getting your service. For you to play on a global scale, it means your brand has to be present there. Understand where your customers are and ensure that you’re there with them.
- Aim global, play local! Ensure that they can feel your presence even as you outgrow your initial community.
- Go for positive Unit Economics and don’t sacrifice growth for profitability: Ensure that you are not losing anything by producing goods or providing services. That means getting your pricing right, ensuring you do not have leakages and you understand everything it takes for you to produce a unit of your service or product. Many of us do the mistake of sacrificing revenue at the alter of growth… It hurts especially if you want to play BIG. Businesses like Jumia, Uber etc. are still paying for this as they haven’t been able to make profit despite growing globally. Discounts, referral bonuses, Clearance Sales etc. are great marketing strategies and they might bring people but will they make “good money” for your business? Aren’t you leaving more money on the table?
- Always sell value: Sell how your business will help people and not what your product is. You can read this article on “How to survive as a small business entrepreneur”
“Price reduction isn’t a strategy in fact it is a result of an inefficient product”.
In closing, I will leave you with this article with good scenarios and success stories.
