“Secret behind successful digital campaign”
Abasiama Idaresit, is a digital marketing expert and the CEO/Founder, Wild Fusion, a leading online digital marketing company with operations in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. He read Information Systems & Management at the London School of Economics and in 2010, set up shop in Nigeria on a shoestring budget. For the first eight months, according to him, he did not make a dime. Nigerian businesses knew little about digital marketing, then.
Today, the clientele list of the digital entrepreneur who got his break when Baby M, a then little-known, baby-centric business in Ikoyi , Lagos, gave him an opportunity to market its business online, boasts of big corporations like Unilever, Vodafone and Samsung.
Since then, Wild Fusion has been on a trajectory of astronomical growth. As early as 2013 when he was just 34, Forbes named Idaresit among 10 African internet millionaires to watch with $6 million in annual revenues from offering digital marketing solutions to businesses.
In his interview with BRANDAFRIC in Lagos, Idaresit shares some insights on entrepreneurship, digital and content marketing:
When a brand is thinking of designing an online campaign what should inform their choice of channels?
The number one thing that should inform their choice of channel is the customer. Where are the customers who you are trying to reach? If they are on a particular channel, that means you need to play on that channel. If they are not on a particular channel, that means you should not play on that channel, no matter how comfortable you are with it, no matter how exciting the channel is. You have to be very pro-customer in your decision making.
There are businesses, brands and services that do not appreciate the significance of digital technology. They think it is just a phase that would pass. What would be your reaction?
It is not a fad. Digital is here to stay. The world can only become more and more digital. Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. Today, Nigeria is the 7th largest internet country in the world with over 80 million people on the internet, predominantly mobile users. The percent of mobile internet users is over 75% penetration. 10 years ago, the number of internet users is not what it is today.
The technology landscape presents a lot of opportunities. These days, the first thing most people do when they wake up in the morning is to check their mobile phones for news and updates. A study found that some people do not mind forgetting their wedding ring, they won’t drive back home to get it, but when they forget their phone, they probably go back to get it even if it means sending a despatch rider. Companies and businesses, especially when you have a consumer product, need to leverage the digital platforms. Look at what is happening with banking; digital banking, social banking, mobile apps and so on..
A brand should care where its audience is and how they are going to be reached whether they are offline or on social media. If something is trending online, that means there is a significant degree of interest around that thing offline. The online world and the offline world are one, because the same people online are the same people offline.
Must every brand be online?
My recommendation is: Follow your customer.
Older executives are reluctant to adopt digital technology. What should be the motivation for them to embrace digital technology?
Digital is not a fad. Technology is not a fad. It is here to stay. It is very important. The earlier you do, the better. My recommendation is that the older executive should start very small and when he sees and gets more wings and his confidence begins to grow, his comfort level begins to improve then that should give him the impetus to go for what he needed.
According to available statistics, about 50% of start-ups die off in the first five year. With benefit of hindsight, what success tips will you share with aspiring entrepreneurs?
What I will tell those looking to start their own business is, to start small and then scale-up slowly. The reason is because; the business environment can be quite challenging, sometimes. When you start small, you have the opportunity to learn the ropes around ensuring that your business becomes successful.
Most of the times, some companies because they start big or start with all they have, they run out of the capital to keep their businesses growing. That often leads to business mortality. It is very important to start small and as you gain confidence and when you are able to move from N1 to N2, then you begin to look for capital to scale up whatever you are doing.
Then you have to be passionate, very driven and have a strong determination that what you are doing will succeed. You need to be very dogged. At some point, you will feel like giving up but do not give up. Keep pushing at it and you will come out successful at some point.
You got your big break from running a digital campaign Baby M some years back. That is your relationship with them at the moment. Do you still do jobs for them?
I still have a very good relationship with them but there are a lot of things they are doing on their own which is a good thing. I always encourage more businesses to grow your business and you don’t need a third party
