Businesses need innovative marketers to survive current economic realities – Solomon Sanusi

Solomon Sanusi is the managing director of Social Media Centre Marketing. In this interview, the marketing consultant advises companies to stay focused on their target audience in a time of inflation and low purchasing power. “If your kind of business is for the masses, don’t waste your effort trying to market to the elites, just focus on what is meant for the masses”. He speaks on other issues. Excerpts

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As a marketing consultant, how did you see business activity in 2023 and what do you think will be different in 2024?

2023 was an election year and that change of power led to change of business and led to how people do business. The economic realities of businesses, SME’s and corporations became more expensive by the removal of subsidy and things became more expensive. People are beginning to adjust to the expensive lifestyle of running businesses in Nigeria and we are more proactive. A lot of people want to do their job better. A lot of businesses died in 2023 and a lot of entrepreneurs are re-strategizing to see how they can do their business better. A lot of businesses are going online, and this is where our expertise comes in for the businesses that are going to survive the economic realities of Nigeria and the world at large.

How do you think marketing can be used to reposition companies or the country?

Marketing has to do with advertising, promotion, publicity, PR. It involves the whole value chain of selling. Any business that would grow and survive the economy, would need the services of innovative marketers; I mean people who can think and people who can think with the current reality of the economy of Nigeria and the economy of the world at large. Currently, the economic reality of the world is that, things are expensive. If you talk to friends and families abroad, you would also realize that the reality that we are facing in Nigeria is also a global issue. If your business would survive in 2024, it would have to take the direction of innovative marketers, which is where my company Social Media Marketing (SMC) comes in. We are an innovative firm, we make sure you are SEEN, HEARD & RELEVANT in your industry. We do that in a very timely manner; we do everything based on time. And everything we do on your business will yield good result.

The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON is implementing guidelines to sanitise the industry, how do you see the Council moves?

The reality is, the regulatory body has to take a full stand in our industry because, if they don’t come hard, a lot of people are stealing the good of our industry and spoiling the image by messing up things. If the regulatory body does not come hard on them, then, we would not have an industry that is well maintained. The reality is we are an image maker but a lot of the time, we who make up other people’s images or businesses, we often neglect our own image. I will commend the regulatory body for its moves. The marketing and advertising industry needs to have a clean face that is worthy of emulation.

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As a marketing professional, what advice will you give your clients on how to promote their products/service especially in a time of high inflation and low purchasing power among consumers?

At this time, the purchasing power is very low, but that does not take out the fact that people will still buy basic things. Consumers will go for value. What I would advise is for companies to keep their marketing activity directed at their target audience. If your kind of business is for the masses, don’t waste your effort trying to do the business that is targeting the elites, just focus on what is meant for the masses. The elites have their place. The thing is, people say they are not getting sales but, not until they bring their advertising/marketing to people who actually need their services and products, then, they start to make good sales. In times like this, we need to work with professionals, not just professionals, but timely and innovative professionals, because, our world is driven by time and innovation. The faster you can innovate and work with things the better you are able to achieve your goal and reach your bench mark in terms of sales.