The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana has held a Professional Marketing Development programme to edify personnel on the profession on how to make effective utilization of financial statements in marketing.

Dr Ebenezer Mensah Ashley, the Dean of the School of Business and Leadership, Regent University College, said monitoring and controlling marketing operations became relatively easy when marketing managers applied financial measures to the foregoing processes.

He said marketing a strategic business function that created value by stimulating, facilitating and fulfilling customer demand, operated together with financial statements, hence the need for marketers to consider the requisites in blending them on the field.

He was speaking on the theme: “Appreciating Financial Statements for Effective Marketing”.

He urged marketers to consider building brands, nurturing innovation, developing relationships, creating good customer service and communicating benefits.

Dr Mensah Ashley noted that marketing brought positive returns on investment, satisfied shareholders and stakeholders from business and the community, and contributed to positive behavioural change for a sustainable business future.

He said marketing also compelled corporate executives to reconsider their existing business plans or models and ensured that the final product met the specification of customers as requisite advertisement was carried out, and the right market was sought for the product.

Dr Mensah Ashley tasked marketers to be disciplined in the course of planning, execution, and undertake periodic evaluation of marketing plans and strategies.

“Marketers can be more disciplined in the discharge of their marketing duties through the possession of fundamental understanding of financial implications of the decisions they make,” he said.

He explained that knowledge in financial statements made it possible for marketing managers to perform four major functions such as analysing the financial situation of their organisations, evaluating alternatives by relying on financial information, engaging in financial planning, and ensuring financial control.