ITS Campus, ITS News — Not only academic, this time the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) opens opportunities for students to develop their businesses independently. Through the Innovative Startup Incubation (INSTAIN) which was held last Thursday (11/26), the ITS Directorate of Innovation and Science Technology Area (DIKST) shared tips on building branding for startups to create value and compete with competitors.

Carrying the theme “Branding for Startups”, the activities that have been held nine times provide an understanding of the term “branding” which is often confused with marketing (marketing) and selling (sales). Radityo Suryo Hartanto ST, one of the speakers explained that branding, marketing, and selling are three different things. Marketing itself refers to the market share, which is the percentage of total sales in an industry generated by a particular company.

The CEO of PAP Brand Partner also explained that the physical benefits of branding can be in the form of requests, offers, contact databases, and traffic. Meanwhile, selling focuses more on sales results or turnover than highlighting the image. “Branding itself emphasizes value or personality which has physical benefits in the form of closing, repeat orders, and new customers,” added Radit.

It did not stop there, the general secretary of the Branch Management Board of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (BPC HIPMI) also included a statement that apart from having emotional benefits in the form of loyalty, reputation or pride, as well as trust, branding is also an intangible asset. “Brand is a role. Branding is an attribute and a step to build a role,” said the man born in 1985.

For startup entrepreneurs, branding is very much needed as their identity and to be able to grow the difference between other entrepreneurs. “Branding helps people identify products or organizations or companies, branding makes the difference between a product and its competitors,” explained the alumnus of SMA Negeri 2 Surabaya.

In addition, the 35-year-old man also revealed that branding can also be used to position an item (positioning). From the presentation, Radit explained that positioning can help consumers choose the products that are used easily. Another function of branding is as a value and a belief.

Furthermore, Radit revealed, to build branding there is one important step that must be passed. The step is to start identifying customers. At the end of the material, he calls on participants to create an identity by starting to communicate their thoughts with customers. “Brand is not what you say about your business, but what other people (customers, ed) see and feel,” he concluded. (*)

Reporter: jev
Editor: Dzikrur Rohmani Zuhkrufur Rifqi Muwafiqul Hilmi