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Marketing: Stop Chasing Apps & Find Where Your Clients Dey · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Today on the podcast, we're going to be looking at the best
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  marketing platform to use. Again today on the podcast, what
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  is the best marketing platform to use?
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  Is there actually one platform that outperforms all the other
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  platforms? And should we even be thinking
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  about this thing like purely online?
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  I mean, are they offline channels that could work?
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  So these are the kind of questions that we're going to be
• 0:26
  tackling today on the podcast. Now, if you like listening to
• 0:30
  these sorts of things, then this podcast is your jam.
• 0:34
  And make sure you subscribe on Spotify, Apple iTunes, any
• 0:38
  platform of your choice. And yeah, welcome to the show.
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  My name is Tabishma Ayedi. I am your host.
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  And this is what I do. I answer all these kinds of
• 0:47
  questions. All right, so let's head
• 0:49
  straight into it today. Oh, I forgot my phone number
• 0:52
  because I give my phone number at the beginning and the end of
• 0:55
  every single podcast episode. So if you'd love to connect,
• 0:58
  then call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on
• 1:01
  08064662140. So let's get straight into it.
• 1:08
  What is the best marketing platform to use?
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  Before we do that, I'd like to define marketing because it's
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  the most important thing you can do in your business and you will
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  see why. So marketing is that business
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  function that tells people who you are, how you can help, what
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  you do, and what they can do to get started.
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  So I repeat the function of the business that tells the whole
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  world that this is me, I am here, this is what I do, This is
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  why I'm the best, This is why I should work with me, and this is
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  how we can get started. So the marketing function that
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  answers all those questions, that is the marketing function.
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  Now, the reason why that is the most important business function
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  is because if you don't have any customers, you don't have a
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  business. Let me repeat, if you don't have
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  any customers, you don't have a business.
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  The reason why I'm stressing this is because a lot of people
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  that get things twisted, especially people whose
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  businesses have a technical component.
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  Some people assume that the technical component is the best.
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  So if you're an architect, you assume that the drawings, the
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  architecture, the whatever is the most important thing.
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  If you're a lawyer, you assume it is your degree and your
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  school and your whatever. That is the most important
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  thing. If you're a photographer, you
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  assume that it is the camera or is you're editing software or
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  whatever. That is the most important
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  thing. But I'm here to tell you today
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  that yes, all those things are important, but those things are
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  just entry stakes. Everybody is expected to have a
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  good camera. Everybody is expected to have
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  good editing software. Everybody is expected to have
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  passed their bar exams to become a good lawyer and everybody is
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  expected to be a talented architect.
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  What is going to set you apart from other people is the
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  marketing function. How well can you reach out to
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  people or how well can you draw people to you so that you guys
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  can start doing business together?
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  That is what is going to set you apart.
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  So if you're listening to this podcast today, you are brand
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  new, you're fresh baby lawyer, you just graduated or you just
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  finished your master's degree in architecture.
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  You know, I'm here to give you the bad news.
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  The fact that you graduated first class does not mean that
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  you are going to be the best. You're going to be the
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  brightest, you're going to be the shiniest, and the people are
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  going to be rushing to come and do business with you.
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  So please do not get heartbroken when you look back and you see
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  that day your guy or that girl who was not serious with her
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  studies and who graduated with a pass, not even third class.
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  When you see that she's getting most of the business and you're
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  not, even though you graduated first class, please do not be
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  angry. She is just good or much more
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  better than you are at the marketing function.
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  So we should always strive, well, you know, of course, we
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  should always know the the fundamentals, the basics,
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  because like Brian Tracy says, subject matter expertise is the
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  beginning. So yes, be the best lawyer, be
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  the best architect that you can be, be the best photographer
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  that you can be, be the best engineer that you can be.
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  But we should always be trying to improve on the marketing
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  functions in the business. I repeat, we should always be
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  trying to improve on the marketing function in the
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  business. That is what is going to
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  separate the wheat from the chaff.
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  Now for those of you who reach out to me and keep asking me
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  these questions, you know what is the best marketing platform
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  to use? You guys have a couple of
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  assumptions and not all of them are correct.
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  Number one, you guys happen to believe that there is a single
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  platform that is like the main thing.
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  Now, for some reason, you guys seem to assume that the
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  marketing platform that is going to be Obongi, that is going to
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  be the main thing happens to be an online platform.
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  That is also an assumption. And then you guys also seem to
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  assume that once you find that platform that is the best or
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  that is, you know the whatever, that it will solve all your
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  problems. I repeat, for those of you
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  who've been reaching out to me to ask me what's the best
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  marketing, best marketing platform to use, you guys have a
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  couple of assumptions #1 you know you're putting all your
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  faith in a single platform. Who said it cannot be a mixture
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  of two? All of you are assuming that is
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  in Gatsby online. Who said that I think cannot be
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  offline? And then you also assume that
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  the platform will solve your problems.
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  I can tell you that you can find the best platform in the world
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  for your industry, for your context, for your whatever, but
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  it still won't solve your problems.
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  Now let's take these assumptions one at a time.
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  Now all these things about single platform, look, look,
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  it's it's contextual. What is your product?
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  What is your service? The best platform for selling
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  cars might not be the same plat, the best platform for selling
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  fashion or for selling computer gadgets.
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  So it's contextual. What is your product?
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  What is your service? What is your industry?
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  What are the what are the traditions that you guys have in
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  your industry? I mean, I've spoken a lot about
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  what was this company called? John Deere, Yes, John Deere who
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  makes tractors. You know, they're an American
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  company, if I remember correctly, can't remember if
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  they're American or Australian. Well, shall the tractor company,
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  you know, so the, the traditions, you know, the, the
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  buying behavior of people in that industry, it's kind of
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  different, kind of different. So you want to buy fashion, you
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  know, fashion buyers behave a certain way.
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  People who buy tractors, tractor buyers, they kind of behave in a
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  different way. So all these things depends what
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  is your price point. There's also nothing we have to
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  consider. But ultimately, especially when
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  we're talking about whether online or offline self,
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  ultimately the biggest thing that I want us to be able to
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  imbibe is that no matter your business, we should always start
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  with the primary question. Our primary concern should be
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  where do our customers hang out? That is what will determine the
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  best place to market. So if our customers hang out
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  online, then stop stressing yourself with offline activity
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  the other way. Looking at it the other way, if
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  all your customers hang out in offline places, if they're in
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  Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Abuja
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  International Trade Fair, you know, if they hang out in those
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  sorts of places, if that's where we find them, then please stop
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  stressing yourself with all this online activity.
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  Ask yourself where do your customers hang out?
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  So it would involve some research, it'll involve some
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  experimentation, of course, you know, during whatever
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  professional associations you're supposed to join, you know, So
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  join the MBA. That's for those of you who are
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  lawyers. I don't know if there's any
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  architects association for, you know, Nigerian architects.
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  Then there are different, you know, mushroom associations
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  coming up here and there. Like, I know that, well, at
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  least back when I was in Lagos, there was a thing about Lagos
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  photographers. I don't know if there's any
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  Abuja association going on, but you know, join all these things
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  because from there you can be asking your peers, like what are
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  you doing? What are you up to?
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  You know, just from asking people all these questions that
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  we can get a sense of where our customers hang out.
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  So that's a good bit of bit of research, asking our
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  contemporaries, asking our seniors in the trade, then of
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  course, doing some experimentation by ourselves.
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  You know, you try out one or two things and you kind of figure
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  out you know where the sweet spot is.
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  But the main thing we should be thinking is where do your
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  customers hang out? Stop this thing of what is the
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  best platform? Don't wake up and start thinking
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  which is better Instagram or TikTok or which is better Google
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  or Facebook and Meta advertisements.
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  Sorry, 1 moment. OK, I thought the call was
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  coming in on my phone because I make the podcast recordings on
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  my phone. Well, in fact, I'm making
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  today's recording in church. Kids are having catechism, so
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  that's why there's noise in the background.
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  So these are the questions that we should be asking ourselves.
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  Where are our customers and wherever they are, that is where
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  we should be. It's the same thing in
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  relationships. You want to find a girlfriend.
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  The first question is where are all the babes?
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  And then you go to the place where all the babes are.
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  Same thing in business or let's not be sexist, you're looking
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  for your husband. The first question is where are
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  all the good guys? And then you go to where the
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  good guys are. So anyway, let me move on before
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  I say something, something of colour.
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  So that's the primary concern. Our customers, where can we find
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  them? I know that we have to do quite
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  a bit of research, quite a bit of experimentation.
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  Now the assumption about this whole online thing, because it
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  is online, it is easy to do online stuff, you know, just
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  create an account to get a mobile phone, get a computer.
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  Lots of people rush to online, online, online.
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  Oh, by the way, sorry about that.
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  You know, they just finished the celebration in church.
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  And so because of that, you know, some people are just
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  healing themselves, greeting themselves.
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  So that is all the noise in the background.
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  So because online is easy to do, you know, just by device, you
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  know, lots of people default to online.
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  But that is not the case, Excuse me, because there are situations
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  where offline might be more effective.
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  I mean, you never know. In fact, I'm currently doing one
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  of those experiments where I'm using radio, traditional radio
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  as a means of, of, of trying to drum up more business.
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  In fact, apart from this podcast, I have a radio show
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  that is a business booster show on Radio Marriott 91.3 FM.
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  And I'm running an experiment to see if I can use that to boost
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  my speaking and my consulting practice.
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  So you never know the example that I gave John Deere, you
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  know, so John Deere, they tried a bunch of online stuff, but
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  maybe because it's tractors, I have no idea.
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  But for some reason, it is the offline stuff that seems to work
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  well for them. Trade show, printing magazine,
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  you know, blah, blah, blah. So it depends if you keep trying
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  to hit online, online, online, but you're in an industry like
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  John Deere who sells tractors and it looks like the thing that
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  makes the market movies offline, offline, offline, then go and do
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  offline. But it all depends on what is
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  most effective for your industry.
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  Then there's also this thing that people assume that the
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  platform is going to solve the problem.
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  No, the platform is not going to solve your problem because let's
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  say like John Deere, it is face to face.
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  It is magazines and it is, you know, international trade fairs
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  and these sorts of things that grow your business.
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  The fact that you buy a booth in the international trade fair
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  does not mean that you will hammer or that you will make
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  plenty of money. Now let's assume that online is
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  the main the main thing for your own business and let's say it's
• 12:50
  a Facebook meta ads that are working for your industry.
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  The fact that you buy a ton of Facebook or Meta advertisements
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  does not mean that you're going to make a ton of money.
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  Yes, we have to be at the right platform, but the thing that
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  actually solve our problem is another skill that is called
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  conversion. I repeat, the thing that is
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  going to solve our problems is actually a skill that is called
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  conversion. Now, conversion just means when
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  you're having a conversation with someone, a potential
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  customer, a potential client, how good are you at getting them
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  to take the next step? So let's go back to this tractor
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  example. Well, by the way, I'm sticking
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  on this tractor example because someone reached out to me
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  earlier. What's the guy's name again?
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  I think it's Abdul. Abdul from Show Trucks said he
• 13:37
  discovered the podcast on on Apple.
• 13:44
  Yeah, on Apple Podcasts. So shout out to Abdul from Show
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  Trucks and those of you who are Apple listeners.
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  In fact, to be honest, I've been trying my best to attract you
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  guys on Apple because most of the growth that I've experienced
• 13:59
  on the podcast has been through Spotify.
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  So currently I have 3000, almost 3500 subscribers on Spotify and
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  that represents about 60 something percent of the growth.
• 14:11
  And Apple used to be very, very low, but now it's growing.
• 14:14
  So I think I have 90% of my listeners also be listening to
• 14:18
  the podcast. So currently those of you from
• 14:20
  Apple are almost like 19%. And I want to see that grow and
• 14:24
  grow and grow because Apple is the world's, you know, biggest
• 14:29
  podcasting platform. So of course, you know, I'd like
• 14:31
  to have a significant presence there.
• 14:33
  So Abdul from Show Trucks, thank you very much for listening.
• 14:37
  Excuse me, I hope you keep getting value from the podcast.
• 14:41
  Sorry about that. So I hope you keep getting value
• 14:44
  from the podcast and also please talk to other iPhone users as
• 14:48
  well and, you know, get them to subscribe to the podcast as
• 14:51
  well. I want more iPhone users here.
• 14:54
  You know, of course, I cracked that joke that, you know, iPhone
• 14:56
  users have more money. And you know, the guy just
• 14:58
  laughed. You know, boy, you never know.
• 15:00
  Let's try it. Let's see.
• 15:01
  Let's see if that's the case that iPhone users have more
• 15:04
  money than Spotify users. Let's see where I was like so
• 15:09
  conversions yes. So conversions are the skill is
• 15:11
  the skill that is actually going to help you to hammer to make
• 15:14
  more money. So the example, so John Deere,
• 15:19
  that's the example that I I gave now and the reason why I'm
• 15:21
  sticking with this example is because there have been people
• 15:24
  who reach out like show trucks, Abdul from show trucks who are
• 15:28
  in the business of selling tippers selling, tractors
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  selling, you know, tankers selling, you know, things like
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  that. So let's say you get your space
• 15:39
  now, Abuja International Trade Fair, you go and buy space, you
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  get there, you have to learn how to walk the floor and be talking
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  to people. Now the first conversion is when
• 15:49
  you're talking to people, you have to, you guys bring one or
• 15:52
  two people back to your stand back to your booth.
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  That is a conversion. They take one step.
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  Then when they hit your booth now and you guys are talking and
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  looking at samples, you want to get a few of them to write down
• 16:04
  their phone number. That is another conversion.
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  You have gotten them to take the next step.
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  Then for the people who have dropped their phone number, you
• 16:12
  want to be able to call them later on to say what's up now,
• 16:15
  how you doing? You know your guy Abdul, you
• 16:17
  know, we spoke at Abuja 3 weeks ago, you know, blah, blah, blah,
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  blah, blah. I'm going to be your part of the
• 16:22
  city. You know, let me come by office,
• 16:23
  let's let's have a meeting. And there's some people who say
• 16:27
  yes, some people who say no. For the people who say yes, that
• 16:30
  is another conversion. You're taking the next step.
• 16:33
  Then when you sit down in somebody else's office and you
• 16:35
  chat a bit, you figure out, you know what they're on about and
• 16:38
  you say, OK, can I send you a proposal?
• 16:40
  You know, you agreed with that, You agreed with the specs.
• 16:43
  And then, excuse me, you send them a proposal.
• 16:46
  You know, that is also another conversion.
• 16:49
  So you see how it is all one step after another step after
• 16:54
  another step after another step. So while you are also looking
• 16:58
  for the best marketing platform to use, you also should be doing
• 17:01
  some research about how to increase conversions in your
• 17:05
  industry. And now we have tools that can
• 17:09
  help you with that. So take your ChatGPT, take your
• 17:13
  Google Gemini and you can make that a prompt.
• 17:16
  I'm a Nigerian in the heavy equipment space.
• 17:21
  I sell tractors, tipper heads, dump trucks, water tankers, oil
• 17:28
  tankers, and I'm looking for conversion strategies that
• 17:33
  should work well in the Nigerian market.
• 17:35
  You know, what would you recommend the best conversion
• 17:38
  strategies are? You know, something like that?
• 17:40
  Make that as a prompt and then send now charge.
• 17:43
  EPT is going to give you a bunch of things.
• 17:44
  Some things will make sense, some things won't.
• 17:47
  For the things that make sense, you know, apply them, try them
• 17:50
  out. For the things that don't make
• 17:51
  sense, you know, just delete them, ignore them.
• 17:54
  But you can see that we can start researching some of the
• 17:57
  things that are going to help us.
• 17:59
  So it's not just marketing platform, marketing platform
• 18:03
  conversions as well. Conversions, conversions.
• 18:06
  How can I improve my conversions?
• 18:08
  What kind of skills, what kind of tactics, what kind of
• 18:10
  strategies do I need to improve my conversions when I am talking
• 18:15
  with people? So is A2 legged something?
• 18:17
  Marketing platform on one hand and then conversions on the
• 18:21
  other hand. When you marry those two
• 18:23
  together, that is where you will now see the best results.
• 18:29
  Excuse me now, frankly, here's one more thing.
• 18:34
  Your aptitude or your skill set or your interests or the things
• 18:39
  that you like to do are also important.
• 18:42
  There are some people who will say that for what I do, you
• 18:45
  know, which is consulting, that it is best for me to go online
• 18:49
  and you know, do marketing funnels and you know, blah,
• 18:52
  blah, blah, drip campaigns and all those things.
• 18:53
  Yes. So technically speaking here,
• 18:56
  yes, that is the best for now in 2025 for people who are in my
• 19:00
  own industry. But for me, I like audio and I
• 19:05
  think I do audio pretty good. So I happen to do audio whether
• 19:12
  it is the best or not, precisely because it is something that I
• 19:15
  have aptitude in, I have skills in.
• 19:18
  It's easy for me to do and I know that I can do it
• 19:20
  consistently over time because there is also the consistency
• 19:23
  element when it comes to marketing somebody who has the
• 19:26
  best platforms and who has the best conversion rate, but the
• 19:29
  person is doing on and off, you know, you market in January,
• 19:32
  February and March, you go and sleep then you market in March
• 19:36
  and then you sleep in, you know, you sleep on to August and then
• 19:39
  you come and do some small, you know, moves again in November,
• 19:43
  December and then go and sleep again.
• 19:45
  That kind of person, you know, your progress should be up and
• 19:47
  down, but the kind of person who might be average but is doing it
• 19:51
  consistently, January, February, March, April, May all the way to
• 19:54
  December, that kind of person can come on.
• 19:57
  It keeps you in progress. I'll be making more money and
• 20:00
  people will know his name, know her name more than they know
• 20:03
  yours. So because consistency is also
• 20:07
  important, the aptitude is also something you have to take into
• 20:09
  account. So for me I do audio good
• 20:13
  therefore. I do audio, I podcast, and I'm
• 20:16
  on the radio because I know I can do it consistently.
• 20:19
  So that's also another question that you need to ask yourself.
• 20:22
  So sorry, I was just checking the time.
• 20:25
  So these are some of the things that we should be considering.
• 20:33
  Don't assume it's just one platform.
• 20:35
  Don't just assume it all has to be online and make sure you get
• 20:38
  good at your conversions. Then also ask yourself what do
• 20:41
  you do quite well using all these factors you should be able
• 20:48
  to figure out what is the best thing that's for you to do in
• 20:52
  your business. But summary or the most
• 20:53
  important thing that I wanted to to cash out today is this is not
• 21:00
  as simple as some of you make it out to be.
• 21:04
  We have to look at this thing on the case by case basis.
• 21:06
  And yeah, if you reach out to me, we will try and figure it
• 21:08
  out on a case by case basis. But like many things in
• 21:13
  business, there is no silver bullet.
• 21:17
  So that's it. And that's all for today.
• 21:19
  I hope that whoever you are, regardless of where you found me
• 21:23
  from, I hope you've been able to find some useful Nuggets there
• 21:27
  to improve to help you along on your business journey.
• 21:31
  And for those of you who would like to connect with me,
• 21:33
  remember you can call, send me a text message or send me a
• 21:36
  WhatsApp message on 0806466 2140, just like Abdul from show
• 21:43
  Trucks did. So yeah, that's it.
• 21:46
  Thanks for your time and attention.
• 21:47
  I will catch you guys some other time.