5 branding tips we can learn from Jack Ma

Featured Article by Robert Cordray, Independant Technology Author

As a high school student, Jack Ma failed the national college entrance exam twice due to his poor math skills. 30 years later in 1999, Ma founded and created the e-commerce giant Alibaba and raised $21.8 billion through its’ IPO. Alibaba, regarded as one of the largest IPO’s in business history, is worth at least $168 billion, and its’ value continue to grow. With a track record of success such as that, there are five important branding tips small business owners can learn from Jack Ma.

1. Stay On The Look-Out For Unexpected Opportunities

Ma was on his way to becoming one of the most prominent professors at the Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Engineering when he began to accept side jobs providing Chinese-English translation services. It was during this exploration that Ma took his voyage to the United States in 1995, and from there the course of his ambitions changed drastically.

After receiving an sudden and unexpected invitation, Ma visited Seattle and resided with Bill Aho, an American English teacher at the engineering institute, which is when he met Stuart Trusty. Trusty was operating America’s first internet service provider, VBN. It was during that meeting Ma discovered the lack of connectivity and access to services, and discovered an open sector of untapped business. By utilizing the strength of manufacturing in China and combining it with the connectivity abilities of the internet, Ma pioneered a newly created business industry back in 1999, and increased his branding power in the process.

2. Be True to The Person You Are

Many consider Ma to be an eccentric person, having worn blonde wigs and lipstick at Alibaba rallies. While that may appear overly-expressive for a small business owner, it is the charisma and passion that Ma displays that inspires Alibabas’ employees and the multitude of vendors who earn a substantial amount of their income through Mas’ marketplace portals.

Naturally being yourself is not about letting your hair down, it is about unleashing your vision. Allow your natural being to determine your direction and fuel your focus. By allowing your personality to become embedded in the threads of your business, not only will your brand flourish, your brand will becomes widely recognizable.

3. Do Not Let Failure Influence Your Journey

While Alibaba is Ma’s success story, ChinaPages is his internet start up failure. Not only did that endeavor fail, Jack Ma experienced several other failed endeavors in subtitling companies when he ventured into the search engine sector. His success did not come until he created Alibaba, but imagine if he had given up on his dreams after just a few sequential failures. Ma understood that in order to discover what works, he had to discover what does not work first.

Almost all prominent business owners battle failure in business, some experiencing multiple failures before they ever find success. It is natural part of the learning process. In fact, failures help to prepare you for success, as you uncover valuable lessons that helps you avoid the mistake in the future. Embrace failures as learning tools as you work towards branding your business.

4. Prepare For The Winter While You Are Still Enjoying The Summer

In 2000, Jack Ma starting raising funds for Alibaba, even though at the time the business was financially sound. When the internet bubble burst just a few months later, funding became very difficult to acquire. Yet and still, because Alibaba managed to secure its’ funding ahead of time, it avoided eminent failure and survived the burst.

When branding a company, it is just as important to consider the potential pitfalls of the future as well as the present. Forward thinking can allow businesses and their owners to seize futuristic opportunities, and gain advantages over the unseen. The progress made ahead of time can prove to enhance branding efforts, compounding your effectiveness when the time comes to utilize the advantages previously established.

5. Convert Your Competitors’ Strength Into Their Weakness

During the time of battle between Alibaba and eBay, Alibaba could not compete with eBay’s marketing budget dollar-for-dollar. Alibaba successfully generated free marketing by engaging eBay in a war of words. Every time eBay used their marketing dollars to issue a statement, Alibaba’s brand recognition increased.

Learn how to use your adversaries as footstools to get ahead in your branding efforts. By turning your competition’s strengths into your strengths, you level the playing field and eliminated the major obstacles. Not only will you dominate the exchanges, you will gain access to your competitor’s customer base.

All in all, Jack Ma is one of the most influential entrepreneurs who can offer effective branding tips to other business owners. By looking out for opportunities, remaining true to yourself, ignoring failure, preparing for seasons ahead of time and converting the competition’s strengths into weaknesses, business owners can level the playing field and establish their business brand.