 This is business. It is the only on Y244 channel. My name is Maryam Massava. And today we are going to discuss matters branding. How do you brand your business? So you started your business, but it also needs to be marketed. We need to market this business. And the first step to marketing is branding. How do you brand your business and how do you go about it? Do you need a professional or not? Yes, you can interact with us. How you did and how you branded your business on a social media platform that is Y254 channel. It cuts across. So our handle is Y254 channel. Yes, or you can tweet me directly at Miriam underscore Massava. The hashtag to use is Y254 updates. And to bring this into perspective for us to understand how to go about it is Cherustin Mengo, a personal branding specialist. Did I get it right? Cherustin, right? Yes, thank you for getting it right the first time. Not many people do. Sure, come on, you hear Cherustin, you're like, okay, that is a company or that is a name? It's a language name, but I try to avoid using it. I like to use Mengo. It's simpler, easier. Cherustin is more like a tongue twister. People are not sure whether they are shrubbing it, whether they are saying it right. It's very true, very true. You are not sure whether you are shrubbing it or just pronouncing it correctly. Yes, yes. Otherwise, Karibusana, thank you for making time. So like I said, here I have started this business of maybe selling something and I've gone through the process of naming the business, registering the business. And now I'm thinking of the process of marketing. And you know the first step I'm thinking is branding this business. So people who are just watching us for the very first time that they don't know what branding is. So can you explain to them what branding is? To start with, I would say a brand is not a logo. A brand is not what people call merchandise. A brand is a promise. A brand is reputation and a brand is identity. A brand is a differentiator. So now when you're taking your business out there, you want to come out with a difference. You don't want to be like all the others. So before you take your business out, before you market what you have, you ought to ask yourself, what is my differentiator? What makes me different from other businesses that do similar things as myself or other businesses that produce products similar like mine? So a brand is a promise. What is the promise you're making to your client when you're starting your business? There are those who promise that I will give you quality products. So that is your brand. So anytime you sell the message that remains with your client, better be. Your products are quality products. So it's about making a promise and not only making a promise but keeping that promise. That is what a brand is. It's also for a startup, for a beginner. So he is selling something in a certain location. Does the name really matter of the business? If I'm selling rice, should I call it rice in Y-254? Well you can call yourself rice king. Rice king in Y-254? You're the king of rice but the name you have at best describe what some people use the name to give the promise as I said before. When you say rice king you're giving a perception that you have all the rice in this world. Any kind of rice I want I will find it with you. So it's best that your name describes what you do or at least the promise you want to make to your client. So from branding what I'm getting is your identity, the commodity, the naming. So how do you connect those things to ensure that your message is past or is the message is similar to what you're selling? I'll put it this way. You will start with the name first of all. Some people like to name their businesses after themselves like me. I am that gotistic. I like my business to come with my name. Why would I do that? I would do that because I want to be held responsible for anything that happens in my company. Therefore I am holding myself to the highest levels of trust and reputation. Therefore I have to ensure that everything that goes out is quality and it's value. There are those people who want to name their businesses after their initials and everything but the backbone is the promise. Talk of your tagline. What does your tagline say? There are people who choose for their tagline to say what they do and who they do it for. There are those who choose the tagline to give the promise of their products or the promise of their service or the promise of what they are going to provide. So these are some of the steps you will take. Then there is your brand colors. It means something different and most graphic designers that professional ones you talk to them they will tell you what each color means. Like you go to many hotels you will see orange. Orange gets you hungry for some reason. Corporate colors you want miss a blue. Blue is stability. So all these colors have their meanings. What does your logo communicate? There are people who use their names just the brand name as the logo. There are those who use initials, there are those who use pictorials but when you talk to a professional graphic designer they will be able to help you go through all these steps. Yes. Okay, you've talked about the promise, the person giving the promise of products or services. One thing that is actually coming out is the market research. Does one need to do market research before even starting a business so that you can be able to do a good branding of your business? Market research is indispensable for any business unless you want to launch something that nobody wants. So you look at, let me use the example of big corporations. They spend a lot of money in market research. That is why you see them launch a product and it picks up like this because they have spent time and money on market research. They have found out what exactly the market needs, what exactly the market wants to consume and sometimes what the market is looking forward to maybe they are bored with what is in the market already. So it will help you to be futuristic also to understand what the market really wants. There could be what it is in the market but maybe the market doesn't like it or is looking forward to an even better product or service. So market research will save you a lot of money market research will save you a lot of time and effort. So it's indispensable. So you've done your market research you've identified what exactly is needed in the market you've identified your target audience now you want to start a business. Where do you start from? Is it graphic design, communication expert where do you start from in market branding? Yes, all these are elements that you need when you talk of graphic design when you talk of your target market something we had not discussed your target market will determine so much of your branding because your branding will create a certain perception before your market. Your market will respond to the kind of branding you will do because there are people who use branding even segment their market to keep away some people and attract some people. So your audience will determine a lot about your branding the people you want to target and the people you want to attract. Now I don't know how I would give that sequence but I think it begins with you the entrepreneur when you're starting. Why exactly are you doing this? You need to put all these things down. Why am I doing this? Who am I doing it for? You describe your client in detail so that you know what their needs are what are their edges, where do they live what do they do in what quantities do they even consume your product or service then once you've done this introspect you have questioned your business now go out and find the professionals to help you bring out this image or let me say put out this business professionals including graphic designers people get professional business coaches get a mentor that is something that I wouldn't forget to say that we young people need mentor someone who has succeeded in your area or in another area but can hold your hand and show you the things that you have not yet experienced. So let me just bring in the matters of mentorship and you know there's this perception that branding is actually expensive it's really quite expensive How do you convince a startup to get a branding? Let me say sometimes you don't have to spend a fortune to get this kind of services there are different professionals at different levels if you do your research well there are different levels of professionals there are those who are at the level you can be able to afford if they aren't then sometimes you can teach yourself these skills it's YouTube, we are going to the Olympics from YouTube so I think you can learn these things and do them for yourself but if you can afford a professional please involve a professional but if you can't teach yourself these skills and make use of them Yes, and for someone who wants to start the process of branding how can they find genuine professionals and avoid frauds there are so many frauds out there do you have branding companies or individuals like yourself? Yes, there are many and today in the online world everyone is an expert even someone who has worked with only one person is an expert but I would say investing your time in research and then ask these people what they have done before it will help you to understand if they know what they are doing or they are just phonies so take your time to research take your time to find out who they are and at least let them show you who they have worked with before or what they have done before then you can be able to gauge their skills and whether they are able to help you Yes, and you can tell us more about your organization Yes, my company is called Mengo Concepts I deal specifically with personal brands because I believe in people I believe in people more because you are the owner of the vision you are the driver of your mission so I help you to understand yourself why you are doing what you are doing and help you to put yourself out to the market so that the market can trust you because they know who is caught they can hold in case anything goes wrong so personal branding helps you to inspire trust Yes Maybe you can mention some of the common mistakes that startups make up when looking for branding and they can avoid actually One of the mistakes I would say is going straight to a graphic designer you don't do that Do serious introspect sit down with yourself if you have a team sit down with your team understand why you are doing what you are doing who you are doing it for find out exactly who your ideal client is if I ask you today who is your ideal client if you want to meet that client that you would say yes this is the one what are their characteristics list them down all of them talk about your market, your geographics get all these details before you go to a graphic designer you make his work easier and you will help him do a better job for you so first of all I would say is introspect seek mentorship even in terms of branding look at some of the best brands in your industry understand what they have done and why they have done this and learn from the best and your business has grown it has grown like for 2, 3 years do you need to do rebranding again after a few years rebranding is a somewhat difficult decision the way I see it because now it is like you are starting a new you see so think of it in a way that you know it is a risk you are taking your market could totally misunderstand what you are doing you could lose customers but I say that there is always a new customer out there but ask yourself why are you rebranding in the first place why do you need to read some people rebrand because they feel like they are not attracting the right kind of clients or they are not making the right gains market share but really question it and if you feel like it is the best decision for your company to take then go ahead and do it but at least understand why exactly you are doing it thank you so much Mengo any final comments before we end the show I will repeat the same thing for young people especially seek mentorship thank you so much Mr Mengo for making time to join us here one thing that I can say is branding is not a logo and seek mentorship before you start a business well that was Mr Mengo a branding specialist well thank you so much for tuning in and for staying with us here on Y254 today being business Tuesday my name is Miriam Masawa and also I want to thank Flo and Elvis who are behind the camera and Hilary your director and the rest of the team thank you so much for making this production and well thank you for always staying tuned in and sending in your feedback using our social media platform that is Y254 channel and my handle is MiriamMasawa well good night until next time God bless you don't go anywhere because the buzz is coming up next