Businesses must build viable marketing strategies

President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG), Kojo Mattah, has reiterated the need for businesses to build sound sales and marketing strategies to get cushioned from the current tough business environment.

Speaking at the 26th Presidential Ball of the institute in Accra, he said businesses stand to lose money and viable profit-making opportunities should they fail to adopt a more pragmatic approach to marketing.

Mr. Mattah indicated that businesses can only succeed on the back of sustainable and practical marketing which has become even more critical due to globalisation and deregulations in the current business environment.

He said in his remarks: “Marketing practice is the beginning and the end of business success; investing in the right marketing foundation pays dividends in the form of increased sales and revenue for sustained growth.

“A solid sales and marketing foundation backed by prudent marketing strategies will therefore help companies to survive the tough business environment.”

Mr. Mattah indicated that marketers have changed from being implementers of traditional marketing functions to become strategic coordinators of organisation-wide initiatives aimed at profitably delivering value to customers.

He said marketers must imbibe what he described as “The Three Vs”—Value Customers, Value Propositions and Value Networks—in addition to the “Four Ps” to ensure the growth of the business.

The CIMG Presidential Ball is an annual event that brings together marketing practitioners executives and entrepreneurs as well as policymakers to discuss solutions to the myriad of challenges facing businesses from the marketers’ perspective.

This year’s edition was on the theme “Marketing: The foundation, the strategy and the drive for business success”.

Country Chief Executive Officer of Jobberman Ghana, Babajide Otoki, advised businesses to be more customer-centric in the designing and communicating of their goods and services to be able to meet the changing needs of customers.

“Customers are now more powerful than ever; they are actually in the driving seat due to the digital age.

“The business environment is tough with some companies cutting corners to survive, but this is the time for marketers to be able to address the changing needs of clients as it is the founding principle of marketing.

The night saw the induction of new corporate and individuals members of the institute and the conferment of fellowship on nine astute marketing practitioners.