On Friday, 31 May 2024, Pat On Brands joined the MarketingFridays community at the Egrek Cinema for an insightful session on with Buli Ndlovu – the marketing executive for Retail and Business Banking at Nedbank . Buli kicked off her presentation by sharing her journey as a marketer and the lessons she learned from the different roles she occupied. Be it when she was selling beers at SAB or selling airtime at MTN.
We are in an industry that believes that you are either a sales organisation or a brand organisation to be successful. Buli believes in the power of “AND” where companies that embrace both sales and brand work. Sales is more of a short-term tactic that is crucial for revenue generation whilst brand is more long term. She argues that too much focus on short-term sales can actually harm the brand in the long run. On the other hand, too much focus on brand can hinder revenue growth. The key is to have a balanced approach to ensure business growth in the long run.
According to a study by by the Australian Consumer and Retail Studies Association (ACRSA), 60% of consumers will choose a brand they recognise and trust. This highlights the significance of investing in long-term branding efforts to gain consumer loyalty and competitive advantage in the market.
She posed a challenge to the Marketers in the room on how they can think around the relationship between brand building and sales. On the question of how marketers can produce creative brand work in industries that highly regulated, she said “creativity loves constraints. The banking industry is one that is highly regulated but it forces us to think outside of the proverbial box to still produce work that will resonate with our customers.
MarketingFridays are hosted every second month on a Friday, with the purpose creating a platform where Marketers can learn and network.
For more information on MarketingFridays, you can visit https://www.marketingfridays.com or follow @marketingfridays on all social media channels.
