Companies cut marketing budget as downturn bites- Mogbolu
Elizabeth Olagunju
Moses Mogbolu, Product Group Manager, Vitafoam Nigeria PLC has said that most organisations have had to shrink their marketing budget in response to the current economic challenges in the country. Fielding questions from MARKETING EDGE’S reporter, Mogbolu said that organizations have not only been required to shrink their marketing budget but also leverage the opportunities that the digital technology has brought into the system to communicate to the consumers.
According to him, to maintain their customers and retain market share, brands have had to leverage more on technology, strike strategic partnerships with consumers, and employ the use of data and brand storytelling. He stressed the importance of working with data and technology to know what the consumers want and what products appeal to them, as this will help in consumer retention, gaining new consumers, and also ensure that money is spent in the right place.
“If you look at the inflation rate now, for instance, we are looking at 16.8% based on the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, so if you decide to work on your own without the data surely it will affect the bottom line. So, as a marketing professional what we have done so far is set all the customers that have been buying, we will look at our current bulk research based on data from E Research Technology (ERT) to know where they are buying, why they are buying and when they are buying. Then, we also look at the products that appeal to them, for instance in my current organization, we have had to come up with a product for every Nigerian. What I mean by that is that, whether you are in the premium category or any category, there is a product for you. So, that means by implication, when I reach out to the audience, it is not a one-off communication.
“The second thing that we have done is to focus more on customer education because research has shown that brand storytelling is not about telling them to come and buy, but when you educate a customer, that one customer is ready to educate 12 other customers and in doing that, it helps you to create your marketing budget and at the same time build your customer to become your marketer. As the saying goes, until your customer becomes your marketer your marketing has not really made an impact. Then, the next thing that we are doing is focusing more on strategic partnership because the 21st century has made everybody become an affiliate marketer and if you are an affiliate marketer then you have the opportunity to make up to 10% in whatever product that you are selling to an institution. Those areas of strategic partnership are not just about marketing, it is about bringing people to create value because being in marketing is about solving people’s needs and the truth is, if you leverage people to market, it will reduce your cost of marketing and also help you to solve problems.
Sharing his view on the importance of technology, the marketing expert said, “Apart from those three strategies, the next thing is technology, brands have leveraged more on technology it is far cheaper to reach out to our customers, monitor what is yielding results only, to changing marketing, email marketing, system optimisation, we leverage it to ensure that customers know exactly what we are doing and that has brought a lot of what we call brand love because when you love the brand, you get associated more with the brand and I also believe that marketing is not just about come to buy but constantly connecting with your target audience to ensure that you understand their problem and you solve their problem”
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