"The role of humans in building brands was extremely important, even more important than capital. " — Photo strategy.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Branding is one of the things start-ups should plan for before launch, a conference heard in HCM City last Friday.

Building a brand comprised many steps and start-ups needed to research the market they were about to enter and know their competition to come up with unique and distinctive branding measures, Dang Hoai An, marketing director of Microsoft MDS Viet Nam, said.

Startups need to create "interesting story to tell". They need to think about how to make people believe their products better but more reasonable prices than existing products in the market, she said.

Le Trung Nam, general director of Hoa Thien Phu Pharmaceutical Joint Stock company, said in 2009 his group had started operating with a capital of just VND200 million (US$9,208) and made a nutritional product to treat anorexia in children.

At that time there had been a myriad of nutritional products for children from large companies, but thanks to his company's awareness of customers' psychology and focus on the correct segment, it had been successful.

Today it was one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in manufacturing and distributing traditional medicines and functional foods.

Branding was an unceasing and long-term process for enterprises, he said.

The role of humans in building brands was extremely important, even more important than capital, he stressed.

To be a successful start-up, "You need to have three things: a unique idea, specific and detailed action plans, and a way to approach investors actively."

Dinh Van Loc, chairman of Onnet Joint Stock Company, who began his business with an initial capital of less than VND100 million ($4,606) and specialises in internet marketing, said clever usage of internet marketing tools helped promote brands.

Organised by the Business Start-up Support Centre in collaboration with the HCM City Young Businesspeople Association, the conference attracted more than 500 university students from the city.

It is part of a series of activities related to the 2015 Start-up Wheel competition, which aims to be a forum for young people to present innovative business start-up ideas and business strategies and mobilise funds for projects. — VNS