How Likely Are You to Buy from Yourself – Thinking Like The Customer

Marketing your business has evolved over time. Apart from the traditional methods of marketing, one way to get a proper marketing strategy is by getting into the mind of the consumer. Let us do a little exercise to help do this.

Everyone is familiar with role-playing games. Let’s do a little role play now: You are the customer and you want to purchase an item or service from your franchise. Be completely honest, will you be willing to sanction the purchase? There are a few parameters you can use to evaluate this. Ask yourself the following questions:

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  • How easily did I find the product?
  • How does the product compare with other competitors in the market?
  • Is there any benefit from further patronage?
  • How good is the customer service?
  • Does the product keep up with recent technological trends?

 

The idea of this exercise is to make you understand exactly what the thought process of the consumers is. This will give you a basis to work with a  better strategy.

Reverse-Engineer Your Findings To Your Benefit

After going through the process of getting into the consumer’s mindset, you most likely would find areas where improvements or adjustments can be made. You would find that you would be able to understand your customers better. This will help you to be able to tailor your correspondence to them in the future.

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If you can see yourself on the same level as your customers you can better drive customer loyalty and develop the trust that is so important these days and it humanizes your company and enhances your marketing capability. In the end, you will be able to anticipate your customer’s needs because you are thinking just like them. It will put you in the best spot to market with confidence. How likely are you to buy from yourself?

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Navigating The Path to Business Growth: Innovate or Die

Innovation is a key component of a business. For a business to grow appropriately, the key decision markers and business managers have to think innovatively and creatively. The benefits of innovation on business are already well-documented, so there isn’t really any need to go over it again. In any case, you can read about them here.

How exactly can you think innovatively? Here are a few tips:

  • Clear your head: This should be the first thing you do. Make sure you are relaxed and do not feel pressured. The best ideas are formed in a relaxed and calm atmosphere. If you find it hard to stay calm or keep a clear head, you can complete some relaxing activities like taking a walk while listening to calming music, preferably classical. It works for me and should work for you too.
  • Ask questions: ‘Curiosity kills the cat’ a common phrase. But this does not work when it comes to business. Prime your mind to observe, inquires, question and understand concepts around. Remove any constraints that might inhibit your inquisitive nature. Challenge old ways of doing things and try to imagine new ways that they can be done.

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  • Increase your exposure: Make sure to put yourself in a position where you will be able to observe a wide variety of things. Never assume that any knowledge is useless. Note that ideas are usually birthed from other ideas. Henry Ford got his idea of the assembly line technique of mass production from observing a meatpacking plant. The more exposure you have, the more likely you’re going to pick up ideas for your ideas.
  • Be imaginative: You should be creative. Don’t squash that random idea that comes to you prematurely. Allow your imagination run wild. Think of ways things can be done differently. You can follow some tips to boost your creativity.
  • Exceed boundaries: Don’t feel caged or forced to follow the status quo. Be ready to think outside the box. Learn to deal with and learn from past failures; be ready to take risks to find out what works and what does not.
  • Welcome feedback: Ask for people’s opinions and ideas and gather these to come up with a better idea for your venture. Also, feedback is important to know if a current idea you implemented would be a hit. Never disregard this.
  • Run brainstorming sessions: This can be done individually or in a group, although it is usually more effective when done in a group. This would involve coming up with a large number of new product ideas. Make sure to have people from diverse backgrounds if you plan to have a group brainstorming session. You will be better served if you include a provocative outsider, like a consumer or supplier.

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  • Adapt old solutions for new problems: You could do this by applying an existing product to a new need available. You could look for new uses of your product. For instance, De Beers produced industrial diamonds but found a new use for diamonds when they introduced the concept of engagement rings. It opened up a large new market for them.
  • Watch your competition: This does not mean to blindly follow whatever innovation they come up with. Instead, observe them intelligently. See if there are any of their ideas you can refine and adapt and even possibly license as your own. You can also acquire smaller profitable businesses if possible!
  • Look outside: You can outsource your new project development to external companies to work on this. Company like Edumark Consult can help us engage actively within the education community.  If that seems like a risk for you, you can ask individuals to come up with novel ideas for innovation. Countless big companies have been known to do this successfully.
  • Go back in time: Look back at older business models and products. Try to ascertain which of these models can work for the present market. Be sure to refine it, however, to fit into the current market trends.

The tips above are in no way exhaustive of all the tips that can be used to improve innovative thinking. Also, not all of them might apply to your business model. Whatever the case, use the tips as a guide to building your business even further through innovation.

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How Mouka has been impacting the Nigerian education sector

With studies revealing that longer sleep duration, better sleep quality and greater sleep consistency improves academic performance, sleep products have become a necessity for students after their daily activities.

Mouka Limited, a beacon in the sleep products industry have been taking giant strides to ensure that parents and students all across Nigeria are getting all as much educational support as possible.

Another research also shows that students who sleep well are more ‘likely to develop innovative ways of solving complex issues mathematically than those with sleep deprivation’.

Based on these research works and many more, which have made the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy encourage students to prioritize quality sleep, Mouka has continued to manufacture products to aid this cause.

Furthermore, as part of the company’s 5th CSR pillar called “Skills For Life”, Mouka birthed the Award for excellence initiative in 2020 to recognise and promote academic excellence while advocating the role of quality sleep in the equation.

To this end, Mouka recognised and rewarded the best graduating students from all faculties of the Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, with cash grants at the school’s convocation ceremony held recently.

Earlier this year also, Mouka rewarded its Business Partners with over N111,000,000 worth of scholarships, high-end laptops and educational materials for their children. In addition, 15 junior staff of Mouka went home with scholarships to the tune of N5,000,000 as an act of goodwill from the company.

Mouka has not relented in its bid to promote academic excellence while advocating the role of quality sleep, as they have now partnered with the organizers of the Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) which is Africa’s biggest education show to continue to support the education community in Nigeria.

Mouka Limited is one organization whose impact has been felt even outside its own industry, into the education sector.

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TOSSE to operate at maximum capacity as FG lifts Covid-19 restrictions

In March of 2021, we called for a meeting to debate if TOSSE 2021 event should hold or not. There was a mixed feeling across the roundtable, some people expressed their fears of the federal government restrictions on numbers, while some others were optimistic and put in their vote to go on.

We had the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSC) with its Safety Marshals in charge of permit and monitoring attendees’ control to contend with, we worried about the COVID-19 scare and we also had limited time to convince stakeholders that we had put in place adequate measure to keep everyone safe and secured.

TOSSE 2021 was not just a successful event, it was an edition that reaffirmed our belief that anything is possible with the right team and the right plan.

On the 6th of April 2022, the Federal government of Nigeria lifted the restrictions on the limited numbers of persons at gatherings and the nation-wide midnight curfew imposed in 2019.

The removal of restrictions was decided in view of the declining number of cases; the reduced risk of importation of new variants, as well as the availability of vaccines. Other parts of the world are also beginning to open up to businesses, international travellers, events and tourists.

TOSSE 2022 is now open to welcome attendees from the 36 states of the federation and visitors from around the world to partake in the 20+ seminars for school owners, administrators, teachers and stakeholders in the education sector.

There will be an impressive display of innovative products/services that can positively change the way schools businesses are managed and how knowledge is delivered.

TOSSE also presents an opportunity to international and local producers/suppliers of Educational resources or solutions to meet key stakeholders in the sector for a profitable business transaction.

TOSSE offers a 5% early bird discount for exhibitors that come in before the end of April.

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