… as 60% of businesses expected to miss out on 2020 targets
In the changing face of business, especially retail, it would be prudent for businesses to go against the convention of cutting allocation to marketing expenditure whenever there is an economic downturn, but rather be innovative in their approach to marketing, President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing – Ghana (CIMG), Dr. Daniel Kasser Tee, has said.
Whilst acknowledging that businesses in the country could miss out on as much as 60% of projected revenues for the year as a result of the ongoing pandemic, he is of the conviction that organisations require stellar marketing performance to ensure that they are able to recover and guarantee business survival.
According to him, “this is not the time to contemplate cuts to marketing spend but rather, the time to take advantage and reassure your patrons of your business.”
This was disclosed in his opening remarks at the launch of the 31st edition of the CIMG Annual Performance Awards, where he urged businesses to thoroughly evaluate their marketing mix elements and reformulate them to attract market attention.
“Find new ways to run your business operations. Don’t rush to cut budgets, but rather work hard to pursue workable marketing strategies to stimulate demand for your goods and services. Embark on a thorough review of your product base… You may change your marketing communication and PR channels to match the changing media consumption patterns of your audience as a result of the pandemic,” he said.
Revealing the theme, ‘Marketing in a disruptive era, he charged marketers to lead business recovery by promoting consumer confidence and expressed belief that the Marketing Law recently assented to by the nation’s President will help sanitize the marketing practice.
Whilst heralding the longevity of the award scheme, he added that the Institute seeks not only to recognise the hard work of individuals and corporations but ensure a promotion of the highest level of marketing practice. This, he said, has been achieved as the awards have inspired many industry leaders to focus their organisations to becoming more marketing-oriented, as they continue to learn new things from the awards processes.
In view of the impending general elections and the political temperature of the country he encouraged political players to be guarded in their utterances as businesses thrive in peaceful and stable environments and called on them to engage the services of professional marketers as they are trained to project the benefits of the product I question “without unnecessary references to the competition.”
Vice President of CIMG and Chairperson of the awards Planning and Selection Committee, Agnes Emefa Essah, stressed on the rigorous, research-backed processes of the longest running award scheme in the country and reiterated the Institute’s commitment to keeping the scheme simple, transparent and fair. “CIMG continues to invest time and other resources in ways that ensure continuous improvement and relevance of the award scheme,” she said.
She added that this year, most of the businesses awards have been renamed to reflect the marketing-orientation nature of the awards scheme, as well as effected awards under the integrated marketing communication categories. The CIMG Annual Performance Awards is slated for November 7 in Accra.
