Telecom industry to focus on branding tactics in 2008

With several players competing in the telecommunication industry, several businessmen and industry players foresee branding as an emerging trend which will be utilized to stay buoyant in Cebu’s robust economic environment.

Such is entrepreneur Christian Paro-an, the CEO of RC Goldline Saleshop as he said in a recent interview that, “this year, telecommunication retail will be service oriented and will be more on branding. Our company will focus on aggressively making certain that the company is known to our clients as a friend in whom they can rely on in terms of their sales, service, technical and management requirements.”

Paro-an further added that, “it will be pretty much harder for a new player to penetrate the market than established ones so branding will be very essential to stay as a major player in the market.” 

Paro-an also sees the need to expand to cater and capture more markets as this move is aimed to generate an active market positioning that will continuously increase their consumer awareness. So with this juncture, Paro-an has started establishing presence of his RC Goldline shops in the Northern and Southern part of the province as part of their company’s branding strategies.

 “There is a need to reach out to the consumers nowadays because this year they will be looking out for those service-providers who are more sensitive about their needs. So wherever the market is, there we will be offering our personalized services,” stressed Paro-an.

Even network provider Sun Cellular also revealed that they will be intensifying their branding strategies this year.

“Brand building will be the “in” thing this year as pushed by the increase in consumer spending,” said Alfredo A. Callet, Region Head for Dealer Sales in the Visayas of Sun Cellular.

He explained that as consumer spending increases, consumer’s value for money demand will also increase as a result.

“The consumers nowadays are more concerned about innovation and service so there is a need to intensify our branding strategies to be continuously at par with our competitors,” said Callet.

But he stressed that as part of their branding strategy, Sun Cellular will continuously maintain a close stance with other service providers so that even if they are not considered as the market leader, they will still be preferred by subscribers as a secondary option especially those with dual sim phones or those using multiple cellular phone units. In this way, Sun Cellular eyes an increase their market share as they will be able to capture both the markets of their major competitors.

“Consumers will be looking for new and better options and also the best value for their money, if a company will not innovate and strengthen its brand positioning, they will be driven out of the market cycle as the telecommunication business is an activity-driven kind of enterprise,” Callet further stressed.