Marking a new era of media and marketing accountability for marketers, there’s a rising demand for CMOs with backgrounds in performance marketing—a shift from the past, as both consumers and businesses grapple with the impact of currency fluctuations and overarching inflation.
With Nigerian businesses actively seeking ways to navigate the decline in household spending, modern CMOs and executives are increasingly seeking clarity on the impact of each Naira spent, what value it unlocks, and how to measure it as they continue to inquire about the platforms driving optimal performance, strategies to enhance customer proximity, and real-time adjustments based on campaign feedback, signaling a heightened emphasis on transparency and effectiveness in marketing strategies.
Nneka Keshi, Head of Omnichanel, Meta, SSA who addressed the global nature of these challenges which have led businesses to turn to performance marketing for growth at the recently concluded ADMARP Day organized by the Association of Digital Marketing Professionals of Nigeria, reflected that today’s changing economic environment has prompted a shift from traditional to digital marketing with a focus on media and marketing accountability, and measurement.
“The current challenge at hand revolves around the difficulty of habit change, compounded by economic pressures. With growing inflation and declining household incomes across various markets, including Nigeria, adapting to the evolving ecosystem becomes crucial. Changes in policies, perspectives, and platforms are also heavily influencing our ecosystem’s dynamics, and occasionally affecting optimization and business growth strategies,” she stated.
While speaking on the event’s theme “Leveraging digital marketing in a challenging economy”,
Keshi further revealed that there’s also a heightened emphasis on understanding the genuine value delivered by marketing and its budgets.
“It’s now under scrutiny,” she said, adding that despite the common belief that marketing is the first to face cutbacks in corporate teams, numerous studies suggest that in challenging times, increasing investment in marketing is crucial.
“Going silent over time can have lasting effects on your brand, and the opportunity cost of not investing during turbulent times might lead to losing market share to competitors who are strategically doubling down on marketing efforts. The pivotal medium that truly addresses these challenges is digital, right? So it’s our responsibility to stay well-versed in the broader digital landscape, guiding and advising clients and brand owners on leveraging digital effectively,” she advised.
Traditionally, traditional marketing claimed the largest portion of marketing budgets, but now, understanding the returns on investments has been deemed critical.
And as the importance of comprehending these outcomes and measurements get heavily emphasized, marketers are urged to align with the global trend of transitioning from traditional to digital amid recession concerns in various regions,
