Fola Daniel Adelesi: Is Packaging About Deceit?

For so many people, when they hear packaging, the next thing they think about is deceit; so they say they don’t want to be  a part of it. They start talking about those who borrow what they don’t have to please those who are not looking at them. Some of them think it is the concept of faking it till you make it. I think you are missing the point.

What then is be the real concept of the packaging we are talking about? I will give you an idea. Many people accept that products from the apple company are very expensive. Despite the price, Apple is still raking in a lot of money. They have a good product but more importantly, they have the right packaging.

I don’t necessarily think that they make the best gadgets, but what whatever it is that they do always get the attention of a lot of people. Someone else out there might be making a better computer or a better phone with more functions and at a better rate to the end user. And trust me, our Chinese brothers are doing a great work at that. But people follow the person with a better package. Even those who cannot afford the cost of the better package still want it.

I was on a radio show recently and without the intention to achieve any rhyme, I said ‘if you no package you no go see anything pack go house.‘ It was a show where I was required to do pidgin in motivation so what that means is: if you don’t package you will have nothing to pack home.

Packaging gets you into the hearts of many people even before they admit that they like you or they don’t like you. If your job requires being acceptable to people then you will admit that packaging is very important so that you can move forward.

Take a good look at those who speak to you all the time. Maybe some motivational speakers or pastors will be very good examples for us to consider. There may be a speaker who has all the content in the world but is crude and does not look good. You dont get to invite that kind of speaker because you dont event listen to him or her. The other speaker on the other side may not have so much content but as Nigerians will say, he is mouthed  he knows how to sweet talk everyone into something or knows the perfect way to say the little he has to say even if it means nothing. So this guys who is mouthed keeps getting all the great speaking deals and the guy who knows what to say is struggling with peanuts and is mostly speaking for free.

Isn’t packaging what they teach you when they prepare you for job interviews? They tell you how to dress and what colours would be appropriate for a job interview. They tell the ladies how to sit and what gestures may be inappropriate and the makeup that may be too much. In fact, some interviewers ask you to sell yourself in sixty seconds. That means we are give you the chance to package yourself and deliver to us. If we like the package then we can buy.

I will never emphasize package over content. In all of my writings and speaking engagements in different places and levels, I have always talked about the need for the right content and matched with the right package.

Don’t ever forget that people will see the package before they see the content. Going by the purchasing habit of people and if you understand marketing, you will see that most people even buy the package and not the content.

I guess you have been doing so well at what you do but others seem to be doing better. Maybe packaging is one thing that is left out in your business. If that is what you need to fix, please don’t hesitate to fix it.

Again I say that packaging is not about deceit. Packaging is just presenting good things in a great way. If you refuse to present good things in a great way, someone else will sell bad stuff as a great stuff. Never lie about what you are but you will do yourself some good to sell yourself nicely.