< Previous50 CEO MIDDLE EAST NOVEMBER 2021 FINAL THOUGHTS BUILDING A BRAND WITH PASSION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS Sara Chemmaa, founder and CEO of Citron, looks at the importance of passion when building your company’s brand an you tell a salesperson from an entrepreneur? Or an original product from a fake? Or a trip from a journey? The way I see it, an entrepreneur, an original product and a journey all have a story behind them. And people are attracted to stories. It is this little detail that makes them more valuable. By knowing the story of a product, a business or a journey we understand and relate more with the emotions that were part of its inception. Not to say that everything that contains a story sells or attracts. But a good story has the power to make people believe. And when people believe, well, then you have the customer on your side. If you think about it, branding is an exercise of beliefs. Each brand communicates its truths, and the most convincing ones earn the trust and wallets of consumers. Passion is one of these truths. It makes your business, product or idea more believable. Because, when you truly believe in something, it shows. And your audience can tell. Take Apple as an example. Every time there is an event, the presenters are the very people who developed those innovations. So, you can see fi rsthand how much they believe in what they’re saying. Passion is part of Apple’s ethos. That’s why you see it everywhere, from how they present, to how they advertise, to how they talk with you at a store. My brand was born out of a challenge in my life as a mum. So, naturally, I put all my passion into developing a solution to solve that fi rst challenge. Then, I realised I had a passion for helping other mums with their problems, so I added one more passion to the build process of the brand. The good thing with passions is you can keep collecting them and use them to build an even stronger brand. Now, how can you tell passions and stories apart? You can’t. Stories are the medium through which you can educate others about your passions. I could just tell my audience that I’m passionate about helping them with their mealtime challenges. But, where’s the story? Why am I passionate about this? What happened in my life to reach this point? By integrating my passions in a story I am able to relate to different audiences. To mums, who go through some of the same challenges I experienced when my son wouldn’t eat the food I’d send with him to school. To entrepreneurs, because we all go through the journey of taking an idea to a business that helps others. And to other business owners, especially women-led, because we struggle to be seen as a serious player within the market. So, for me, passions are part of what makes an idea or business successful, and stories are the instrument we use to communicate our passions better. Good stories are born from good tellers. But if you don’t believe the teller, you could have the best story, yet no one will believe it. So, do I believe passion is behind all the success of a brand? Is passion what makes a brand succeed? I believe success is what you make of it. I have my metrics. Other businesses have theirs. Passion is an important factor to tell stories and make people believe your brand is worth investing in, but so is strategy, fi nancials, marketing, distribution, feedback, empathy with your client, and so on. Passion is what fuels all the little parts of a business, it’s what sees it through good and tough times. Without passion, the ever-changing nature of the business landscape could take a toll on the members of an organisation. The ongoing pandemic is a great example of this. Despite a tough market and changing customer priorities, Citron has seen growth, success and an even closer bonding of our community. We owe this to the passion that each of our team members brings to work every day. CCELEBRATING SUCCESS AND ACHIEVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR ConstructionWeekOnline.com/awards #CWAwards MONDAY 13 TH DECEMBER 2021 DUBAI, UAE BOOK YOR TABLE TODAY Saraswati Agarwal Commercial Director T: +971 4 444 3352 M: +971 52 895 2214 Email: saraswati.agarwal@itp.com FOR SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES: Anthony Chandran Marketing and Events Manager T: +971 4 444 3685 Email: anthony.chandran@itp.com FOR EVENT ENQUIRIES: GOLD SPONSORSILVER SPONSORGOLD SPONSORGOLD SPONSOR ASSOCIATE SPONSORLEGAL PARTNERCATEGORY SPONSORNext >