A Professor of Marketing at the University of Ilorin, Mukaila Ayanda Aremu, has admonished organisations across Nigeria to take marketing more seriously or risk severe business consequences in an increasingly competitive and customer-driven environment.

Aremu, who gave the admonition while delivering the 299th Inaugural Lecture of the University, titled “Marketing: Small Word, Big Consequences”, stressed that modern consumers are no longer passive but highly informed, selective and demanding. “Today’s customers are changing.

They are becoming more demanding, more informed, and more skeptical. They want to be treated as individuals, not just as numbers,” he cautioned.

The marketing expert warned that organisations that fail to adapt to these realities are liable to suffer declining relevance or even collapse, noting that marketing should no longer be treated as a minor function within businesses.

According to him, “organisations must consider marketing as a small word with big implications for handling changing customer needs in order to prevent negative and far-reaching consequences.”