, 

The other day while going out, I saw a LASTMA (traffic) officer controlling the traffic. 

And for a moment I admired how smart she looked in her uniform. 

But then I got to thinking… 

“Why does she have to wear the uniform to work everyday?”

As someone who can be a bit of a rebel sometimes, just like when I still worked as a school teacher a few years back, 

I don't like the idea of having to follow rigid or strict rules of dressing all the time. 

So I was wondering if it was possible that the LASTMA officer could come to work without necessarily putting on her uniform. 

That was when it struck me… 

If she doesn't wear her uniform, no one would recognize her as a LASTMA officer, not unless she went about waving her ID card to everyone. 

But then, that in itself sounds impractical.

And quite frankly, the bus drivers and “agberos” of Lagos would pay her no mind. 

They'd probably think she was an overzealous citizen who was trying to tell them what to do. 

I mean, picture it. 

A man or woman in casual unofficial dress tell you, the driver of a car, to park to the side of the road… 

What would your reaction be? 

Uhn? 

Exactly. 

Immediately, I understood the importance of proper identification. 

Or in other words, the importance of branding. 

It is super important for your brand to be visible. 

But more importantly, it is super important for your target audience to be able to recognize you when they see you. 

Because if your brand is hidden, or worse if your TA cannot recognize you, then pretty soon, you will go out of business. 

Because they will take all their business to your competitors who are more visible, or recognizable. 

This is why packaging and branding of products is important. 

Imagine a toilet wash being packaged in a “Chivita Active” kind of container. 

What do you think will happen? 

Now imagine Capri Sun in a Coca-Cola bottle. 

Does that sound sensible? 

Now you get the gist. 

So in the process of working on your business, make sure you put in extra effort into your marketing and branding. 

Because those efforts will shape the perception that your Target Audience will have of your brand, and also determine how visible you are and whether or not they will recognize you easily.

And this will in turn directly impact how much sales and revenue you make as a business. 

Does that make sense to you? 

Good. 

I hope you got a nugget or two from this mail. 

See you in the next one. 

— KD™