From left: Ugochi Odemelam, Executive Director, Marketing and Business Development, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Olaotan Soyinka, MD/CEO, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Lady Isioma Chukwuma, President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Kola Ahmed, outgoing DG, CIIN and Tayo Borokini, incoming DG, CIIN, during the courtesy visit of the Institute to Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc.
The place of marketing communications in promoting and entrenching an unforced culture of insurance in Nigeria can never be undermined and should be given a place of priority by practitioners especially with those at the decision-making levels in winning more customers for the industry. It is very true that the industry is capable of generating figures in trillions but that can only happen when we collectively approach the business from the standpoint of each-one-tell-one in spreading the gospeland which is what marketing communications is all about. We can never go wrong in investing in marketing communications either at individual companies’ level or as an industry. The time to act is now; a stitch in time saves nine. The Managing Director/CEO of one of the forward-looking underwriting firms in the country, Olaotan Soyinka of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc shared this insight at a marketing parley with members of the sales team of the organization in Lagos.
He argued that the role of marketing communications is very crucial to the growth of the Insurance Industry in Nigeria. In addressing the sales team, he said, “the role of marketing communications cannot be undermined in the scheme of insurance business or any business at that, if the business must outlive generations upon generations. We must take advantage of every money invested in marketing communications as sales executives whenever we are on the field.”
He further said that if the insurance industry is to grow beyond what it is today in the country, “Managers of the business,especially at the helms of affairs must make conscious effort at promoting their products and services for patronage in the marketplace in finding a voice and place of recognition in the financial and economic space in Nigeria.”
Lending his voice to the position of the Managing Director/CEO of the company, the Head of Corporate Communications and Brand Management of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Segun Bankole said “until we begin to have deliberate and conscious provision for marketing communications in our annual budgets across board, we might still be far away from getting to the promise land. Heads of insurance companies should begin to see the bigger picture and drive it down the line in their individual companies in ensuring meaningful impact in promoting their brands and products. The principle of AIDA, (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action) is premised on consistent investment in marketing communications which does not happen gratuitously. There must be a commitment and the will to do.”
