Dr. Doyin Salami, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council and other renowned marketing experts have disclosed that many companies generate data but fail to turn it into insight and also fail to achieve success in their marketing endeavour.
The experts made it known at the first edition of “Winning the channels series: Power of Consumer Data” organised by Redwood Consulting Ltd, insight-led marketing advisory service company, held at Civic Centre, Lagos.
Salami stated that the ability to understand and use data is what differentiate companies abroad from the indigenous companies. He thereafter urged companies to understand their consumers, understand how they are evolving and the implication of their evolution on their choice, purchasing pattern and decision making.
“There are very few companies that have the capacity to use the data meaningfully, because it is not really about the data, it is about the transformation of data into information, information into insight, and insight into decision making tools.
“Indeed, one of the reasons why many a consultant fails is that, you have collected data, you have done the analysis, you hand it over to your customer (clients) and you go, forgetting that the consumer has no capacity to use the data. So many a consultant I have advised should change their models, where you hand put the client to be able to use the data effectively. Guess what, the client didn’t hire you for data, the client hired you to solve a problem and for as long as that problem remains unsolved, it does not matter how many data you have or analysis you have done, you have not done anything.”
He added that companies are competing for a share of consumer wallet, and it is important for marketing professionals to understand what is the purchasing power of consumers and where do they earn their income from? He explained further that very few organizations know the sectors that their consumers work, revealing that 62% of Nigerians earn their income every day.
Mrs Hannah Oyebanjo, MD, Redwood Consulting and host of the event, said the need for data and insight is forever a requirement, adding that the imperative of consumer data is not only for multinationals but small businesses can take advantage of it.
Adewale Arikawe, CDSM Director, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc said data is now the new oil, pointing that a lot of organisations are unwilling to move with trend and also work with acquire data.
Ifeoma Dozie, Director Marketing and Communications SSA, Mastercard said for companies to excel they need to identify the decision makers between the shoppers and consumers, adding that consumer data is vital and urged companies to treat it ethnically in line with global best practices.
Adekanmbi Olubayo, Chief Transformation Officer, MTN Nigeria on his own part gave example of how weather forecast has helped his company in decision making.
“My ability to understand weather forecast for example base on the fact that they are API that will tell me it is going to rain tomorrow. So, I know it is going to rain and where it will rain tomorrow, it is going to rain in Uyo and Warri for example between this hour and hour. So, because it is going to rain it will be difficult for people to go out and buy physical recharge cards. How do I make sure I can engage this people and if they don’t have the money I can ask them to buy one of our services called extra data or extra time. I am not doing it reactively, am doing it proactively such that am planning for tomorrow and after that intervention I can immediately measure how many people brought recharge cards as a result of that intervention,” he explained.
Similarly, Folake Ani-Mumuney, Global Head Marketing and Corporate Communications, FBN Holdings represented by Olayinka Ijabiyi, Head, Brand & Stakeholder Management, stated that his company makes decisions based on consumer data and it has helped them send personalised messages to customers, urging companies to take consumer data and insight seriously.
Chandana Fernando, Commercial Manager, Nestle Nigeria said companies generate a lot of data but when they are not turned into insights, they become useless. He explained that for any brand to understand their consumers they need adequate data and added that it is important that brands understand better what motivate shoppers to buy their products in order to proactively engagement them.