REFUELING THE ENGINE OF YOUR BUSINESS: ROLES ADVERTISING CAN PLAY

Jimoh Hameed

In the era of global economic melt-down and the period of dwindling oil price in the world oil market, the time when government of different oil producing countries and states are urging their citizenry to consider using austerity measures in whatever plans they have, telling the teeming population to overhaul the economy of their nation through full participation in business and entrepreneurship, almost all individuals has heeded to the government and economic analysts’ call to reposition economy by engaging in full-time trading or rendering part-time consultancy services to increase their monthly income and the nation’s Gross domestic product, these which will at the end reduce the suffering in the land as there will be less reliance on the government that would obviously find it difficult to meet the democratic demand of their citizens and the democratic privileges of social amenities and welfare of its people. This, which makes this era sacrosanct to national development, but if we are doing business, how do we control the throttle of our business and make it move forward and beat the competing contenders in the market?

While growing up as a child, my mum would say advertisement is the oar of business and i have heard people from the outside of our home saying a good business advertises itself, this queries me and makes me ask my instinct which is right and which is wrong between these statements. If serious attention and comprehension is paid to the first statement by my mum, one may want to look at the market and see what role advertisement is playing, this which after a peep into some companies, Unilever plc as a case study shows some of the numerous things adverts can achieve, in Unilever plc, through advert, Unilever dove’s campaign for real beauty challenges the market status quo and stereotypes about beauty, also, its comfort one rinse’s campaign explains to consumers that they only need one bucket of water for rinsing their clothes rather than three, this helping them save water. The above points gathered from Unilever shows the world who they are at Unilever, what the world can get from them as services and this advertises their products. The second assertion that states that a good business advertises itself may be valid too but only if the business has a set of good public relations executives and policies, this which, are synonymous to advertising.

A good businessperson will not joke with advertisement because he knows what good it can render his establishment, according to the head of United State bureau of foreign and domestic commerce in 1929, Julius Klein stated that “Advertising is the key to world prosperity”, if his assertion is closely looked into, one will realize that as advertizing causes upsurge in businesses around the world, it also leads to world prosperity.
Advertisement spreads the wing of business to nooks and crannies of the world, if goods produced in Oklahoma, United States of America, could be known of through advertisement in a mud house of rural area in Ajaawa in Iseyin local government of Oyo State, Nigeria, your business can get to anywhere if you can use good policy. Another of the numerous roles advertisement can play is boosting your business’ immunity against competitors, taking into cognizance correct advertisement policy; your business will not only boom but also rise above the prediction level of other business with vicious campaign in the market.

As you proceed in your business venture, never forget to;
• Create a niche: live distinguishingly in the market, be the player that will not cause confusion in the market
• Live to your nick: your nick is your first advertising tool, let your nick be synonymous to your brand, be what you preach
• Keep working: there is a similar person that wants to be a game changer in the market too, don’t sleep, keep working to beat him
• Be straight to point: in your advert campaign programme, always stay away from passing information that is not important to customers, be strict with the use of word, what you pass to them is what they would imagine, so it is easy to confuse it.

Hammed has for some time written for Ibarapa Update, a community Newspaper covering the Ibarapa region of Oyo State, he writes for Topnotch Writers Organization, The major journalism outfit in Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, www.poetrysoup.com, an online poetry platform for poets across the world, and Articlesbase.com, he blogs at www.mroctomed.blogspot.com. www.facebook.com/jimoh.ho