Cebu businessmen get branding tips from marketing guru

Cebuano businessmen should first go national before they can compete globally.

Branding guru, Dr. Ned Roberto, gave this advice to the businessmen to help them compete when the Asean economic integration will happen next year.

Roberto, who was the speaker in yesterday’s Entrepreneurship Forum at the Cebu City Marriott Hotel, emphasized the importance of branding of any homegrown company to successfully penetrate the national market.

“How do you build a national brand? First make your name easy to remember and easy to pronounce and make sure it has a positive meaning that is relevant to your positioning,” he said.

Teresa “Tess” Chan, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president, agreed with Roberto.

Chan said that’s the reason for holding this entrepreneurship seminar.

Yesterday’s seminar was part of the Cebu Business Month activities, which is organized by the CCCI.

“Building a national brand and going nationwide is what we aim to learn from this seminar. We just don’t rely on reports that the economic growth in Central Visayas is sustained despite high inflation, unemployment and the recent natural calamities that struck the region,” Chan said.

Roberto said there are three branding steps for a homegrown product to have a chance to penetrate the national market.

These are generating a brand, making the national market aware of your brand and brand awareness.

Roberto suggested making a shortlist of possible names and test these names according to their recognizability and meaningfulness.

He, however, said the easiest way for companies that are just starting is to go for recognizability as meaningfulness will take more time to develop.

He cited Quickmelt as an example on how to generate a name.

“Think of a functional name that speaks of what your product promises to deliver. Then ease of application like Quickmelt.” he said.

For making the market aware, he said merging and acquisition is one way to do that.

His example is Royco Noodles. He said it took the Royco Noodles brand five years to condition the mind of the consumers to remember the brand.

Brand awareness is sustaining the familiarity of the product to the consumers.

“The more familiar we are (of a brand), the more we like it and the more we buy it. That’s why brand awareness is important,” Roberto said.

He said there are three ways to sustain brand awareness.

These are namely through monomedia, the use of mere exposure effect, and online marketing.
Monomedia includes posting large posters on buildings, movie placements, and even direct selling.

The mere exposure effect involves posting signages in strategic areas to repeatedly expose consumers to the product.

He also encouraged businessmen to maximize online marketing for their products.
“Traditional media like TV is no longer the most efficient channel. For every hour that a person spends watching TV, they spend three hours online,” he said./  With intern Angeli Sarmiento