Branding strategy

Aphotography production and support service, a marketing agency and training service for company employees: these three distinct lines of business emerged as Sam Sio built a career of entrepreneurship. They all grew from his first contact with HKFYG.

“Entrepreneurship wasn’t exactly a hot topic when I was a teenager but I knew I wanted to start up a photography business. The trouble was, I didn’t know where to begin.”

He started by searching for information on startup support. “There were only two possible organizations. One of them was YBHK (Youth Business Hong Kong) and that’s the one which suited me. It providing mentors to help solve problems and follow up on progress, financial assistance, skills training, legal advice for accounting issues and social network building. Everything I really needed!”

For a new brand or a new company there are three essential factors, he says. “You need exposure in the market for your company and products; an effective introduction of your product to the target customer group; and network-building in the relevant sector.”

YBHK was ideal for Sam because it offered him immediate exposure in a partnership programme that HKFYG had with TVB. It involved a show with competitive pitching sessions. That meant many potential customers found out about Sam’s business. “The show’s jury challenged our business model, tested its competitive strength and queried the ways in which we planned to expand. In effect, it helped us clarify what we do and how we do it.”

As the photography business developed, it used an innovative photo booth. This was disruptive technology: it made a photographer redundant.

p Sam Sio in the centre

Find a problem and to fix it with new technology - preferably your own. That’s how to succeed in building your own brand.

“We must have been among the first to use the technology in Hong Kong. It also involved creative destruction: we had to find novelties and dare to try and be the first one to bring them into the industry.”

You need to explore new technology and give customers a new experience if you are to succeed in today’s cut-throat market, says Sam. The covid-19 pandemic presented him with a new opportunity. “We had both online promotions and an offline photo-taking business. Turnover in the offline business dropped nearly 40% during covid-19. As a result, we had to innovate. We shifted some of our offline events online and introduced a new technology never used by any other company, as far as I know.”

Sam’s business is now recovering. “Today, we are making enough from the online programme to cover our losses. As a YBHK mentor himself now, Sam sees how quickly today’s teenagers can find new information. “A lot faster than my generation. They can get what they need from the internet in seconds. Yet it is harder for them to deepen their knowledge. Fragmentation of focus is normal for young people today in Hong Kong. It leads to lack of logical thinking and concentration.”

Sam stresses how important it is to be aware of change. “The market changes fast and you need innovation at every step if you want to stay ahead. It is also important to find a problem and to fix it with new technology ‒ preferably your own. That’s how to succeed in building your own brand.”

Being in business is never easy and the hardest step is often starting up. “You need to know your own products and the market for them in fine detail. You need to think through all your market strategy, your financial position, and your future plans. YBHK can help you do all of that.”

More details Social Innvoation and Youth Business Unit

sic.hkfyg.org.hk/en/ybhk