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Firstly, our readers would like to know who Barbra is. Could you introduce yourself? I am a business executive, whose experience spans the financial services sector, fast-moving consumer goods and academia. My areas of expertise include marketing strategy, communications strategy, product development, brand management, research, public relations, and corporate governance. Currently, I am the Head of Marketing and Communications for the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), I also serve as a board member of the dfcu group and CEO apprenticeship board. I am passionate about creating value; this entails adding value to the people I work with, which is then translated into value for customers and ultimately for the organizations that I have had an opportunity to serve. As a Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, talk to us about your key role at the NSSF
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Everything I do fits into our department’s mandate, which is to build the Fund’s brand and support the delivery of the business growth objectives of the Fund. This entails developing and supporting implementation of product development and research, public relations, corporate social responsibility and digital, and marketing and brand strategies, in collaboration with my colleagues in the department. What is branding and how is it important to a business? Many businesses aspire to stand out from the crowd. They have a desire to look and communicate distinctively from whoever else is doing the same or a different business. So, branding can be defined as an act of establishing an identity or image for an organization. Branding is one of the drivers of the contemporary blue ocean strategy. It provides a robust branding strategy that positions a business to offering unique market propositions that usually derive competition within itself instead of
competing against external players. One of the most obvious reasons why businesses need branding, is to help them get recognized more often and gain trust from their customers. If you have a strong brand for your business, the market will naturally take note of it much more than they would a business without it. A business that doesn’t really have any cohesive brand identity for its products and services isn’t going to stay in someone’s mind for long. Like Tom Goodwin says, “Brands are essentially patterns of familiarity, meaning, fondness, and reassurance that exist in the minds of people.” What does it take to build a strong brand? Consistency is key in building a strong brand. Once you have established your identity, and culture, then you must ensure your communication is consistent to create top of mind awareness of your target group You also need to get buy-in from the board and
