…insights from entrepreneurs in the food industry in Nigeria

Ep. 71 Branding, to story telling , to PR to love of food – Edache Obe touches it all

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Our guest today is Mr. Edache Obe. He currently runs a PR & branding agency, the Lagos foodie association and also into digital marketing for brands online.

“All the people trying to build a brand out there, it takes a lot of work but it is achievable and one day at a time. Show up, take your online platform like your work place. Be intentional and be able to connect with people”

Mr. Edache hails from Benue state the Idoma tribe in Nigeria. He studied Economics at the University of Jos. He loves food and has a couple of businesses he works with. Currently, he is running a PR & branding agency into digital marketing and also the Lagos foodie association, which is a community of food lovers for people to meet, engage themselves and find out good places.
He had his first experience in the banking sector, where he worked for about 8 years and left in 2016 to start up his own business. Aside from advertising and digital marketing, he enjoys the idea of having to connect with people based on creating a long term relationship that would help people and brands grow.

The whole idea of branding and digital marketing started while he was working at the bank. He has always had a passion for social media and digital marketing even though it wasn’t so prominent at that time. It all started with the passion to enjoy the whole online attention and it became real when people started reaching out and more referrals were made so he decided to make a difference out of it.

His message to brands is that they should focus more on creating value as a lot of people like it when they get value for whatever product or service they are getting. Many  brands need to focus on providing that value that would get them loyal customers and sustain them. While building a brand, one needs to put into consideration how people can easily buy into what they are putting out there because in the long run, it would help businesses stand the test of time.
From his perspective, value is one’s overall quality of product, customer service and delivery. Customer service seems to be an area a lot of brands tend to get it wrong. They neglect the need of what the customer really wants and prioritize solely on making gain. How one pushes and put out one’s product goes a long way to tell a story. That way, a lot of people can relate with how the brand is been built, understand why they are in business and tell their story. For him, building a brand shouldn’t be a fast race but a continuous process built on consistency.

Business owners need to understand that they can’t serve everyone, everyone is not their customer and not everyone would be willing to buy at the price they are putting out. Whatever product people have, has a market for it and needs to attract the right market to buy it. When these businesses or brands get people to buy their product, they need to convert them into loyal customers and build their customer base. That way, the referrals that would come from there and will transcend into growth and story telling.

For instance, his love for turkey and burger from BBQ & cravings has made him constantly ordering from them on a regular basis. He also goes ahead to ask his friends to try out their delicious turkey and burger. That way, he is already helping to build a loyal customer base for the business. Base on the fact that BBQ & Cravings have been able to satisfy people’s cravings for top notch burger, barbecue and turkey the would gain a lot of loyal customers.

For new businesses who don’t know what their stories are and have products they want to push out to the market, should leverage on the platform that they have. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, twitter and WhatsApp story have high engagement and good for brands to leverage on. At the end of the day, one has what someone needs but needs to connect with people who need one’s product for the business to upscale. When people begin to desire what one is pushing out, demand would increase and also,  based on the feedback one gets one can improve the product and be better.
For Businesses that want to remain relevant, they need to continually improve on their product and services. Continuous market research and innovation would also help them to keep giving their customers exceptional product and services and make them stay relevant in their market sector.

According to him, at such a time as this that many food business owners don’t know when the COVID 19 pandemic would be put to an end, many food business need to be prominent online and do more of home delivery. They need to adopt new norms where people can place their order and have it delivered as seamless as possible. Trend noticed in many food businesses is more engagement in the online space, constant pushing of advertorials and use of different social media platforms.

He advised that people already into food business should run proper sponsored ads by targeting people within a region or geographical area they intend to push their product to. On each product sold a certain percentage should be set aside as marketing budget. At least about 15,000 naira – 20,000 naira should be set aside for marketing on a weekly basis. This would enable one cut across to more audience.

Guest Details

Instagram : @dacheo_media. @dacheo

Facebook :  Dacheo , Email : info@dacheomedia.com

Take away points :

  • Leveraging on social media helps your brand gain for attraction online
  • Be part of a community with people in same industry or space with you.
  • Have a certain amount set aside for marketing.
  • Value is your overall quality of product, customer service and delivery
  • Understand that not everyone is your customer
  • Building a brand is a continuous process built on consistency.
  • Innovation makes your business stay relevant.

Time Stamps

——————————————————————————————————————

[00:01:49] Guest Intro and background

[00:03:25] How the idea of PR & branding / digital marketing started.

[00:05:00] Important things food businesses need when putting out a brand and passing a message.

[00:06:20] The idea of value in a layman’s term.

[00:09:46] Getting people to know your brand story and key into it.

[00:21:58] How new restaurants should tell their story and identify their market.

[00:29:07] Best platforms to market a food business.

[00:31:48] What food businesses should focus on after the COVID pandemic.

[00:40:00] Common trend noticed in successful food businesses.

[00:41:20] Advice to people in the food business space.

[00:43:43] Manual or automatic selection in pushing ads on social media.

[00:46:41] Amount recommended to spend on Instagram ads in a week.

[00:48:21] Contact information

[00:52:00] Outro

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