Dr Mrs Shola Safo-Duoduo, the National President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIMG), Ghana on Friday said success in marketing was no longer random anymore.

She said companies and marketers have to ensure that they approach the marketing of their products and services in a systematic and effective manner.

She said this at the media launch of the 26th CIMG Annual National Marketing Performance Awards on the theme: “The Future of Marketing:
Evolve or Die” in Accra.

The 2014 CIMG Annual Awards is scheduled for August 15, at the Banquet Hall of the State House.

She said companies must have their strategies and tactics based on customer-centric research and tailored to suit specific needs.

Dr Safo-Duoduo said innovation was an important aspect of marketing and this requirement becomes very demanding in the face of the economic challenges within the society.

The National President said innovation has emerged as a key ingredient in ensuring that marketing strategies and the '3D' concept of define, develop and deliver were extensively used to deliver new products and services and brand positioning.

She said the country at this time needed to seriously consider how to effectively innovate in order to come out of this complex economic, social and political quagmire the people find themselves.

She said companies and the nation must continue to innovate in order to work their way out of the current problems and thereafter.

Dr Safo-Duodo said the CIMG would continue to promote excellence in marketing and within corporate Ghana through the awards scheme.

She said the Association has reviewed the awards scheme, the criteria, areas of awards and the selection processes in order to inject freshness and appeal into the scheme.

Mr Kojo Mattah, the Vice-President of CIMG, said the awards have over the years developed into a very significant benchmark by which individuals and corporate organizations rate their performance.

He said if companies were not evolving and becoming consistently and continuously relevant to their stakeholders, they stood the risk of becoming extinct.

He said the awards cover six major areas including, Hall of fame, personalities, business organizations, product and non-profit organizations.

The Vice-President said as part of the awards, e-commerce Company of the year and emerging media (Digital) company of the year have been added.

He said CIMG shall specifically recognize a number of indigenous Ghanaian companies that were producing made-in-Ghana products using a certain percentage of local content and raw materials.

“We shall continue to raise the standard of the awards in terms of content, relevance, organisation and delivery,” he added.