Executive Director for the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG), Mr. Kwabena Agyekum, has called on Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) to develop marketing strategies that create, deliver and capture value for their shareholders.
Agyekum in an interview with Goldstreet Business at the Africa CMO Summit in Accra said marketing, like many areas within business, is under a constant state of transformation partly due to some major technological advances of time.
‘’It makes sense for marketing professionals to be thinking about these advances and how they are shaping the value for their shareholders,’’ Agyekum said.
He however indicated there could be issues of mistrust between Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and CMOs which needs to be addressed, adding, many organizations in Ghana do not acknowledge the strategic roles of CMOs in their operations. This is because often CMOs fail to make meaningful impacts on activities across enterprises.
Research findings
A 2016 survey conducted by the Fournaise Marketing Group, a global marketing and performance management group, based in the United Kingdom revealed that 80 percent of CEOs don’t trust or are unimpressed with their CMOs.
The group, through its Global Marketing Effectiveness program interviewed more than 1,200 large corporation CEOs in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
However, just 10 percent of the same CEOs feel the same way about their Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Chief Information Officers (CIOs).
‘’For many organizations, push marketing is no longer sufficient. Instead, organizations are seeking ways to engage customers with messages that better speaks to their needs and values, establishing an ongoing relationship rather than a transactional one,’’ Agyekum warned.
The Executive Director advised marketing professionals to begin their careers at the agency level and scale-up into larger brands.
‘’When you start from the agency level you would’ve managed a lot of brands and that enables you to be efficient by picking feedbacks, doing research, building brand processes to equip their career,’’ he added.
The Africa CMO Summit
The two-day summit held in Accra is expected to bring together Chief Marketing Officers, Marketing Directors, Brand Managers, Communications experts and leaders in the marketing eco-system to discuss trends and issues affecting the ability of marketers to deliver business results.
Co-Founder of the summit and Communications Professional, Eric Frempong Amponsah, told Goldstreet Business that the summit is expected to deliver great content and thought leadership from speakers and participants.
By Mawuli Y. Ahorlumegah
