There are lots of misconceptions about what Marketing is; people often think marketing has to do with moving out on the streets looking for who to buy their products. There is more to Marketing than we know of.

Marketing involves all efforts aimed at promoting your business – products or services to clients and prospects.

Irene Aguh, the Global head of Marketing at FOSU was with Tobore and Itunu on Dreamcity Unliag FM to discuss personal and brand marketing.

Aguh said she discovered that Marketing is now being recognized as a field on its own, different from the idea she had while in school just like everyone else. Marketing has evolved from people walking down the streets into a job where you find brilliant ways to do things, you don’t have to stand from your chair or your house, you just have to keep thinking about the people you want to reach and those you will use to reach them, then tell them what to do.

She said a lot of people run from marketing as a job because they don’t have an understanding of what it entails. For marketing, you shouldn’t just be sent out to the street to make money, you need to be strategic. Marketing should definitely contribute to the money being made by the company but watch out for the trap between sales and marketing.

Though marketing support sales, it does not guarantee sales because it all depends on what you are trying to do. Ideal Marketing should go through the stages of awareness, acquisition, conversion, retention and referral.

On personal branding, Irene disagrees that youths in Nigeria are not employable but said many youths don’t have the chance. Companies need to start lowering the expectation of work experience from fresh graduates because there are people who went to school and didn’t get the courses they choose to study but ended up taking whatever the school offered them. These set of people have no idea what they have chosen so they leave school and engage in businesses without interest in what they studied. This problem should be addressed before getting to school.

Using herself as an example, Irene who is a graduate of the English Language explained that it is possible that one doesn’t get the choice of course to study at school or doesn’t get to work with the certificate obtained from the school. Aguh who once headed the branch brand management of a company, now into marketing said the only thing schooling help her in her current position is probably the English language and nothing else. So, there’s no need to wait, industries are opening up now where you can enter without having a degree.

When employers demand skills, there are specific things they are looking for and not just the general ones. Professional courses can help but beyond professional courses, you can volunteer to garner job skills. You also have to grow on your own, use the internet to learn and grow without necessarily spending money, focus on what you really need. Not having the required skills does not affect the chances of getting employed. Don’t let not having work experience deter you. Present yourself in a great way, keep talking to people, it’s another way to learn. If you can’t get a job experience, you learn from people or learn online.

Figure out your way, what you really want to do, is there an interest or not? Will there be an opportunity for an internship or volunteering? Find startups not necessarily companies because while startups will offer trainings, other companies may want you to use all your potential.

There are certain things that will make an individual outstanding as a personal brand. One is dressing which people don’t understand makes a lot of difference. You should also watch the way you talk; you have to build a presence that attracts people. Another thing is to talk consistently about what you do. It is up to every one of us to help each other, go beyond what school has taught us, share knowledge and exchange ideas. To be relevant in the corporate world today, you have to keep updating your skills because you are there to learn. You have to keep learning to stay relevant.

On Private organizations and civil service, she said the time of benefitting from civil service might have passed because the civil service though hires a lot of people, limits the chances of growth The private sector on the other hand has a lot of growth opportunities and you can also make a lot of money, so, it is left to the individual to make the choice.

Statistics available has shown that SMEs make up 48% of Nigeria’s GDP. While there has not been enabling environment for businesses, brands, startups should identify sectors that will grow faster than others. For example, everybody keeps shouting tech, that is in the big league but what about the smaller league that people will never run out of? A tech start-up that is into sales of affordable foods reaching the lower economy will sell and also have the capacity to grow.

As a brand, corporate or individual, when you encounter clients who thought they knew what they wanted but they don’t always be polite, don’t let it get to you, you can be angry in your head but don’t express it with your face and mouth. There is also the need to know that it is part of your job, you will meet people that think they know your job more than you, you need to know how to learn from them and not allow them to affect you.

The biggest motivation for youths is that it may seem terrible at the start but in the end, will be victorious. Remember that you are the only one that exists, if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will believe you. You need to show what’s inside; If you are not sure of what you have, you may sit down and list it out because you forget that you know a lot of things until you list it out. Tell yourself you are the best.