IMC expert urges FG to support SME’s growth through advertising
An Integrated Marketing Communications Industry expert, Kingsley Omo Abumene, MD/CEO, Beam Media Company Limited, has advised the Federal Government on the need to show support to the growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises by creating enabling environment for them to effectively advertise their products.
According to him, there is a major disconnect between the government and businesses fundamentally, adding that while the government is emphasising on growing commerce, it has taken no serious steps to support SME’s to advertise.
He noted that while it appears that only major multinationals engage in marketing and advertising activities was because they have the capacity to afford the cost, adding that the bane of the growth of the SME’s sector was that they are unable to engage in effective marketing and advertising.
“The truth is that there is a major disconnect. For instance, you have a government talking about IGR, how to raise revenue and all of that at the expense of businesses. I’ll use outdoor advertising as a case in point; uppermost in the mind of government is to encourage and boost commerce and all of that, but SMEs are unable to advertise.
“Ideally the first concern of government is supposed to be how to support such businesses to scale up because as they prosper, the economy prospers. But when SMEs are unable to advertise, you can only but have a Lagos that only multinationals are able to advertise why because the same government charges so much on billboards. It even charges on vacant boards,” he said.
He added: “So, what do you do as a practitioner? Of course, you will transfer all these costs to the advertisers. As I speak with you, outdoor is very expensive and rightfully so because when you compare it to radio, television, internet and other social media channels, outdoor is way too expensive and these are the factors that contribute to the exorbitant rates,” he explained.
Commenting on the issue of the continued influx of foreign firms into Nigeria’s advertising space, the outdoor industry expert noted that the trend was thriving because government was in the habit of giving them unfair privileges over and above the local practitioners.
He added that nothing was wrong in foreign firms coming to do business in Nigeria, but government must give equal privileges to both the foreign and local practitioners to survive in the business.
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