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April 23, 2021

Category: Stories

BURGER KING’S SUEZ CANAL AD: PUBLICITY STUNT GONE WRONG?

Thursday, 08 April 2021 by mapemond

A couple of weeks ago, precisely on 23rd March 2021, a blockage occurred at the Suez Canal in Egypt when one of the biggest vessels in the world got stuck in the canal. This happened after the ship (Evergreen) was hit by a strong sand storm which made it run into the sidewall of the canal and became non-steerable. This became a major global challenge due to the high number of vessels that use the canal to cut down voyage time.

Seeing this, Burger King as a food brand decided to take advantage of the situation to market their burger. However, it appears the move was not welcome as many commentators found it distasteful and insensitive considering the hardship the situation was causing globally.

Most of the comments reflected the following concerns:“Your burger blocks arteries and veins”

“Burger King, the Artery clogger”

“For a blockade that caused loss of millions of dollars, this is a bad PR by Burger King”

“I get the humour but this makes me wonder what this does to my digestive system”

There were also some comments that reflected a common thought:

“Brilliant ad!”

When trying to leverage an event to promote your brand, pay attention to the nuances and emotions of people, so you can swing a really brilliant copy and advert.

We guess Burger King didn’t mean to disrespect the sensibilities of people but it is a lesson to look beyond ourselves when promoting our brands.

We are not sure if this affects the customer loyalty for the brand, and like it is widely believed that every publicity is good publicity but it is always better when the publicity wins the affection of more consumers. It improves your brand perception, loyalty, and equity.

#DoBusinessBetter

Burger KingEver GivenEvergreenPRSuez Canal
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  • Published in Branding, Marketing, Stories
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WE STARTED SOMETHING AMAZING!

Saturday, 09 January 2021 by mapemond
business support group

Drawing from the lessons of 2020, we decided to start a support community for entrepreneurs and those aspiring to be one sometime soon. It will be a full-blown business community (in the form of an Academy) for those who are seeking to go beyond mere hustle and survival to building sustainable companies and reputable brands.

Many business ideas will be shared.
Statistics and data from various sectors of the Nigerian economy will be shared.
Even foreign networks and opportunities shall be shared.
Hacks and contacts for funding and other access will be shared.

But being a part of this community will not be free. So we can have only committed people on board.

We will learn together without anyone lording it over.
The many questions of members can be answered by different persons, not just one person.
We will have breakout groups according to areas of interest and unique challenges.

There will be an exchange of experiences, resources, and support.

It will be a community for those who want to be inspired and pushed beyond their limits without feeling less of themselves.

There will be hand holding for the weak or inexperienced.
There shall be no talking down or shaming of anyone.
Both the sprinters and crawlers are all welcome on board.

Do you think it is a good idea?

All members will have access to the following:

– An overflow of business tips and insights
– Answers to business questions and challenges
– Access to our resources (ebooks and online courses) at no extra cost
– Discount on our MBA courses in the works
– Access to professionals in various areas (Legal, Accounting/Finance, and many others)

Members of the community will set goals for 2021 and be paired for discipline, focus, and accountability:

– Saving goals
– Investment goals
– Business objectives for the year (You want to attend a global conference or change office or just get the business started? Etc)
– Travel goals
– Self-development goals
– Compliance goals (Your personal tax, company taxes, contract eligibility papers, annual returns, etc)

As we mentioned, it is a full-blown business support community.

Does this interest you?
Do you have someone to sponsor?

Click on REGISTER to enroll.

We can achieve more, one day at a time, with the right community.

We can #DoBusinessBetter

2021communityGrowthsupport
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  • Published in Branding, Business, Infographics, Marketing, Research, Stories, Strategy, Structure, Team, Technology, Uncategorized, Web Design
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DON’T BE QUICK TO BACK DOWN AS A SALESPERSON.

Saturday, 26 December 2020 by mapemond
getting leads and closing sales
Being a salesperson is not merely about explaining the service or product.
You must know the product very well and be able to explain it excellently, but sales require more than that.
Here is a conversation our Captain witnessed at the airport lounge between a sales representative of a real estate company and a prospect.
Salesperson: Hello Sir, please can I sit here?
Prospect: Sure, the seat is free.
Salesperson: Thank you, but I was asking because I wanted to speak with you.
Prospect: Okay.
Salesperson: My name is Eva and I work with a real estate company.
Prospect: Oh, don’t bother yourself.
Salesperson: Erm, someone else already spoke to you?
(The wrong question!…can you guess why? Drop it as a comment.)
Prospect: No. I am also into Real Estate.
Salesperson: Oh wow. That’s nice. No problem, Sir. Thank you for your time, Sir.
And Eva takes a walk.
The prospect gave her audience and wasn’t in a hurry with the conversation.
Some prospects will tell you that they are also into real estate just to get you off their back.
When they say that, bring up the conversationalist in you, every good salesperson must know how to start and sustain a conversation.
Eva could ask the prospect about the aspect of real estate he is into – people love to talk about their business.
As he speaks, she will be making positive remarks about his business intermittently while she is scanning to see what opportunities she could explore, since he isn’t a direct client.
And if it appears that there will be no deal after she scans, she works on establishing a network with him for possible business opportunities and necessary follow-up depending on where the conversation ends.
Being a salesperson is dynamic, it isn’t as simplistic as getting customers to buy goods over the counter in a shop.
Five key things to note:
1. Know your product or service very well.
2. Know how to profile your prospects.
3. Learn to start and sustain a conversation.
4. Focus on getting something, at least a contact for further communication.
5. Engage professionals like Mapemond for training, you cannot grow your brand without a great sales strategy, team, and the needed super skills.
Did you pick any insight? Please leave a comment.
#DoBusinessBetter
business networkingclosing a saleReal Estateselling
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  • Published in Business, Marketing, Stories, Strategy
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HOW TO SELL VIA DMs ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Thursday, 24 December 2020 by mapemond
whatsapp markketing
The screenshots below are from a conversation between the Founder of a Laundry and our colleague.
We think that it is a masterclass on how to get into people’s DM or inbox instead of just dumping flyers and random broadcast for them.
We hope that you will pick insights from it.
marketing a laundry business

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marketing a laundry business

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marketing a laundry business

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marketing a laundry business

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marketing a laundry business

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marketing a laundry business

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marketing a laundry business

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marketing a laundry business

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marketing a laundry business

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Our quick lessons from the conversation are:

1. Understand your prospect
2. Start on a warm note
3. Say nice things about the prospect
4. Anticipate their concerns and prepare your answers

5. Create compelling offers they can barely resist (you have to make some sacrifice to win them over)
6. Make sure your service matches or even surpasses the promises you make
We sought her permission to share the screenshots.
What do you think?
Do leave a comment.
#DoBusinessBetter
sales strategysocial media marketingwhatsapp marketing
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  • Published in Business, Marketing, Stories, Strategy
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KNOW THE NUMBERS IN YOUR BUSINESS

Friday, 27 November 2020 by mapemond
pricing your services or pricing your products
Justina sells fried yam, potatoes, plantain, and fish in her neighbourhood in the city of Port Harcourt.
She makes average revenue of NGN38, 000 daily, which amounts to NGN228,000 weekly (excluding Sundays). Her revenue in a month is approximately 900k.
There are 11 other people selling fries within that axis of the town. Some make lesser and others make higher.
Collectively, they make an estimated annual revenue of over NGN100million. Imagine how many others are in the business across the city and how much money they make.
A single client at Mapemond makes average revenue of 18million annually selling just cocktails.
We recently worked with a juice brand in reworking their business plan by laying out the numbers plainly, the founder is dazed at what is possible with her supposed small venture if she diligently focuses on putting in the work.
The challenges are enormous with building a business, but one thing we must strive to pay attention to is the numbers.
In one year of managing a restaurant brand, we have done NGN49million in revenue with NGN19million as profit, over 600% increase from past revenues.
Everything we did from brand identity to visibility to marketing to sales to the procurement of better equipment and so on was all guided by our focus on the numbers.
Regardless of size, don’t just be busy with business, pay attention to the numbers, and keep tweaking to find what works best to improve your numbers.
Study the numbers. Learn the numbers. Know the numbers.
You may not get it right immediately but stay on the right track.
#DoBusinessBetter
Growthpricingsales
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  • Published in Business, Marketing, Stories, Strategy
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HANDLING PROBLEMATIC WORKERS FOR YOUR BRAND.

Sunday, 13 September 2020 by mapemond
marketing and branding in nigeria

When we took over the management of a restaurant brand, most of the staff were problematic and gave the outgoing manager headache, particularly the cleaners and cooks.

Over ten months after, the same workers are mostly well behaved and improving daily. What changed? Leadership style. We will use a story to explain what we mean.

A few years ago we had a conversation with a restaurant owner who was frustrated by the attitude of her workers. When we inquired to know the grooming process for her employees, she revealed that they were trained by an international expert. We got further information and discovered what the problem was, the workers were trained with the standard template, not bad, but not enough.

These workers live in ghettos and slums. They fight to use the bathroom every morning. They even quarrel to empty their bowels. Then drama with yard people, keke driver, bus conductor that abused them that morning, and the underlying challenges of life they grapple with.

You cannot rework their attitude without addressing the underlying influences of their background. What works in Milan, Madrid, or Copenhagen, will not work the same way in Nigeria. You must adapt to local realities.

So for our restaurant client, we paid close attention to the background and environmental influences on the workers and gradually established a new way of relating to them.

One thing that provided this insight to us was a song by Phil Collins titled “both sides of the story”. In one line of the song, a ghetto kid with a gun grabbed a passerby by the shoulder and asked “would you respect me if I didn’t have this gun?”

We’ve had very personal experiences with three ghettos and could relate to that question, it is the same mindset behind most low cadre employees in businesses. They want to be respected, they want to be heard, they want to know that they matter, they don’t want to be trampled upon, that desire for dignity in humans is also in them.

When next you feel frustrated by your workers, also do a self-evaluation on yourself.

Do you treat them with disdain or respect?

Do you let them talk or you always hush them?

Do you pay attention to where they are coming from or it doesn’t concern you?

Their presence WILL rub off on your brand, it is a guarantee!

This matter is a major hindrance to the transition of many businesses into fabulous brands. You are putting in the effort but workers are messing things up, it is a real struggle and you have to find a way around it if you want to grow. Some of these workers are set in their ways and I advise for such, you work towards easing them out of your system.

We hope these perspectives will enable you to handle your workers better.

#DoBusinessBetter

employee relationspeople strategy
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  • Published in Branding, Business, Stories, Strategy, Team
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HOW BRAND BELIEF CAN TRANSFORM YOUR MARKETING

Monday, 07 September 2020 by mapemond
branding and marketing firm in Africa
Recently, we had a brief meeting with a client who wants us to handle marketing communications for their group of businesses. The client said something that got us musing about what we will be sharing in a jiffy. The client said, “I don’t want mere advertising. I want marketing communications”. We are delighted whenever a client makes that vital distinction. So today’s lesson is on marketing communications using the shoe brand called Camper.
Camper is a contemporary footwear brand from the island of Mallorca, Spain. Founded in 1975, it is a family business (of about four generations now) with a rich shoemaking heritage that it uses to create unique designs. As of 2011, over 6 million feet around the world wore Camper shoes for that season. On some of those feet, the left shoe and the right shoe didn’t match, such are the originality and playfulness with which the Camper brand invites the world to share its enthusiasm for that most ordinary and honest of human endeavours: WALKING.
branding and marketing firm in Africa

 Source: camper.com

We found the statement below on their website for their shoe collection called TWINS:
“Opposite yet Complementary. In 1988, we challenged the idea that shoes must be identical by designing a pair where the right shoe was different than the left. Since then, TWINS has been revisited each season through new typologies, treatments, and materials that continue to play with the idea of mismatched design.”
branding and marketing firm in Africa

Source: Camper.com

Camper cares about SLOWNESS – it promotes the notion of the ‘WALKING SOCIETY’. It abhors the trend towards speed in modern life, as exemplified by brands like McDonald’s and Nike. Instead, it invites us to slow down and take in the wonderful world around us, assuming we haven’t lost our capacity for the appreciation of the simple joys on offer. For Camper, putting one foot in front of the other isn’t just a means of locomotion; it is one of the defining characteristics of our bipedal species, a reminder of our connection with the history behind us and the earth beneath us.
“Contact earth” is one of Camper’s much-repeated marketing themes. The brand name Camper means “Peasant” in Catalan. And for Camper, the brand name represents the Peasant Way of Life – austerity, simplicity, and discretion, which is reflected in the design rhetoric of the shoes, communicated on the website, the give-away booklets at their stores, and so on.
You may want to stop here and read from the beginning again, thinking about your own business this time.
What kind of brand do you want to build?
What is the story and heritage you are creating for the brand?
How long will you do mere hustle?
No matter the size of your business, you can start putting these perspectives into place.
In a fast-paced world, Camper is talking about slowness and has built a very successful global brand. That is what branding is about – to truly be unique in what you do. Making your business have its own life, purpose, and why it exists makes the difference in your marketing.
Don’t just tell your target audience to buy, tell them what you are about, and they will fall in love with what you are selling. When was the last time Coke told you about beverage? It is mostly about happiness and friendships.
Remember our lesson on “big idea”. Camper is another reminder of why you need one. Define what makes you unique, articulate how it relates to humanity or something of essential concern, then communicate it as much as you can. It is a game-changer.
Did you pick a lesson?
If yes, leave a comment and share it with others.We can build amazing brands in Africa, one step at a time.

#DoBusinessBetter

brand marketingBrand StoryMarketing Communications
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  • Published in Branding, Business, Marketing, Stories, Strategy
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HARNESSING THE POWER OF BRAND IDEOLOGY.

Friday, 28 August 2020 by mapemond
branding and marketing firm in Africa

In your effort to market your business, one of the things you can do to gain better visibility and attract your desired target audience is to have what is called a big idea.

A big idea is commonly used for marketing campaigns. Every professional marketing campaign you see has a big idea that drives it whether it is expressly communicated or not. However, a big idea is also used to engineer and drive your entire business or organization.

We all love Nike’s “JUST DO IT”, that is a big idea in itself derived from “Nike pushes your athletic boundaries beyond what you thought was possible, so you can win on your own terms”.

Unilever’s Omo and Persil ran a marketing campaign themed “DIRT IS GOOD” and it was derived from the ideology named “Modern Parenting” which submits that children learn more about their environment and things as they explore their curiosity and mess their clothes up. Therefore, let the children play and as they get dirty, Omo helps you make the clothes clean again.

Because our businesses are often set up for survival, we dismiss these things, but the foreign brands make billions with it from our own pockets. Even in survival mode, you will survive better if you sell better.

Lately, a lot of people are talking about Burna boy in relation to his positioning in the music industry beyond Nigeria. Burna boy is entrenching a strong ideology into his brand that has to do with the African narrative. It gives him access to a far wider audience and makes him hard to ignore even if you don’t enjoy his music or like his personality. Remember Wakanda? The ideology weaved into the narrative, though fictional, was magical.

Once you articulate a significant ideology into your brand – something that affects the story, existence, history, aspirations, desires, or challenges of a people (your target market), your brand immediately begins to stand out from the lot. There are so many bakers out there, not a problem, but WHY do YOU bake? What is it about your own cake business that makes it different from all others? It may not even be about cakes directly, but that thing that drives you internally each day. Capture it, articulate it, and communicate it.

Defining a simple ideology for your business will enable you to get better results with your small efforts.

Through your big idea, you craft strong messages that resonate with your target market and you grow a loyal tribe of customers.

Through your big idea, you attract team members who want more than just a monthly salary. They want to be a part of something remarkable.

Through your big idea, you become more purpose-driven.

Your vision and mission statements (if you have) will stop being fancy statements you display on your walls or wherever.

We can build amazing brands in Africa.
Let’s keep doing it from our small corners of the continent.
We can do better against all odds.

DoBusinessBetter

brand beliefbrand ideologybrand marketingthe big idea
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  • Published in Branding, Business, Marketing, Stories, Strategy
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WHAT WE OBSERVED AT FIFI’S FOOD HOUSE.

Monday, 24 August 2020 by mapemond
marketing and branding company in Nigeria

A few weeks ago, we spent some time with the CEO of Fifi’s Food House, Onimim Fifi Karibo, at her kitchen hub in the city of Port Harcourt where she treaded us to a three-course meal. While we sat in her office, we noticed her people were at work preparing the meal. At some point, a customer called to order a meal, Fifi was still with us all the while as her people brought the message that the meal was ready. Evidently, she had taught her people how to prepare the meals the same way she does.

About a year ago, Mapemond had multiple training jobs at the same time for various clients. We delegated different team members to each of the training and they all did a great job. One of the training had about a hundred and fifty participants and it was handled by a Staff, not our principal.

Even if you are a one-man business, for now, develop the consciousness of raising others to do what you do because you cannot keep doing it all by yourself and you cannot be everywhere at the same time. Yes, some people you train will disappear without first giving value to the system that raised them, but that is not a valid excuse to not raise others at all.

Some people you train will falter and make mistakes, especially if you have the traits of a perfectionist, but be patient with the grooming process and they will become well-primed. Instead of finding reasons and justification to do it all by yourself all the time, fight those excuses and raise your army unless you are fine with being a one-man business perpetually.

If your dream is to build an amazing brand, you cannot escape building people, against all odds.

Build your people. And trust them with the work.

#DoBusinessBetter

internal capacitysystems and processesteam building
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  • Published in Business, Stories, Strategy, Team
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INSIGHTS ON STRUCTURING YOUR BUSINESS.

Thursday, 13 August 2020 by mapemond
structuring your business

We came across a Facebook post suggesting that certain businesses perform better when they are unstructured compared to when they are structured. The person asserted that a renowned Nigerian blogger, Linda Ikeji, is struggling ever since she became structured, but that is quite a baseless assertion without specific indices or metrics to measure the performance of her business. The argument had so many holes in it, we didn’t even know which one to address or ignore, but our take away was that many people do not understand what structure means.

Here are some insights on structuring your business:

1. Structuring does not mean leaving your product-market fit. If you were doing very well by selling food to Tricycle Drivers and then you go build a gigantic edifice with air conditioners in the name of structuring, you are just burying your business alive. The drivers won’t follow you but will switch to another option.

2. Structuring does not mean leaving what is working and going to experiment with the unknown. If Linda Ikeji leaves what has been working for her to new terrain, she may struggle before getting it right again, if she does.

3. Structuring does not mean you stop innovating. If you become relaxed simply because you got structured, you will lose out. The more structured you become, the more you have to be on your toes innovating.

4. Structuring does not mean fancy offices and glam. It is not about “I have arrived”, you will be pushed over to the sideline.

5. Structuring is about becoming BETTER ORGANIZED as the business grows gradually. When a bukka woman teaches her daughter to cook the meals as well, it is structuring. When she teaches her Son how to go buy foodstuff from the market, it is structuring. When she keeps proper inventory of the foodstuff to check them against daily sales to ensure there is no theft or unrecorded debts to customers, it is structuring. When she can take a break and business is still ongoing, it is structuring. The list goes on.

6. Structuring is about creating systems and processes, no matter how basic. You cannot seek a serious business loan with your personal account, you need to open a business bank account and that requires BVN, a registered business, Tax identification, etc.

Our investor at Mapemond asked us, “what if I die, what will happen to my investment in your company?” our answer was all around systems, processes and ultimately, structuring.

You cannot desire to be another Dangote, Otedola, Elumelu, Jason Njoku, Ibukun Awosika, and all these people and not be thinking in terms of structure over time.

Davido and WizKid will direct you to their managers if you want to do business with them, even personal brands have their own approach to structuring. That is why they create DMW, Mavin Records, and the likes.

We have to break the fetters and manacles holding us spellbound to the hustle and survival mentality while thinking that we can build a big business by staying unstructured and evading FIRS and the rest perpetually.

Conglomerate this…,
Global Ventures that…
International Empire…

All the fancy desires will not happen by mere wishes, you have to build structures diligently and consistently for several years.

If your clients’ work will be on hold because you have malaria, your business is an endangered specie.

We don’t like to think about it, but what if you die? What happens to the monies you collected from people? Pending salaries? Etc?

Please share this, let’s empower more entrepreneurs with the right knowledge.

If you think otherwise, then this post is not for you.

We wish you well in your endeavors.

#DoBusinessBetter

Business Insightbusiness strategybusiness structuresmall business
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  • Published in Business, Stories, Strategy, Structure
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Anchor Hub,
Trans Amadi, Port Harcourt,
Rivers State, Nigeria.

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