adminTinashe Makichi in Mutare
Marketers have a duty to assist different Government bodies in marketing the nation to attract the much needed investment into the country, Marketers Association of Zimbabwe president Ms Ruth Ncube has said.She added that marketers should learn from the success of the destination marketing initiative that was successfully implemented by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority through events such as the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism and Travel Fair.
Ms Ncube, who was speaking on the sidelines of the MAZ annual conference here, said the marketers should seek to be part of destination marketing because they have a lot to offer.
“The marketing of the brand Zimbabwe should take the input of all marketing bodies to come up with a national brand that will be conducive for business, foreign direct investment and as well as boosting tourist arrivals in the country.
“Therefore, MAZ is willing to partner other marketing bodies to foster for sustainable destination marketing strategies as the country is now heading for a new economic dispensation,” Ms Ncube said.
MAZ has the necessary and qualified manpower to execute and help in marketing the brand Zimbabwe,” she said. Some Government bodies were already active, so MAZ could be another conduit that can assist in implementing marketing initiatives that can help mould the good name of the nation considering that the nation has been receiving negative publicity from the international media for the past 15 years.
She also said the Government should set up a taskforce marketing team that will work on laying the basis for corporate marketing.
“A taskforce team highly funded by the Government should be put in place to complement the work being done by ZTA because the issue of marketing requires a collective effort to achieve the objective,” she said.
Ms Ncube urged all marketers to be innovative and ethical in the way that they conduct business.
“Ethics are basic stipulations in the trade of marketing, therefore marketers should play their games safe and come up with brands that are forces to reckon with on the market.
“We recently applied for a marketing status where we think we are going to add value in the industry in terms of fostering quality and ethical services,” she said.
She said through the initiative of marketing, MAZ wants to come up with marketers that are practical in practice rather than those that dwell on academic centred marketing.
“At the moment we have 14 marketers that we have tasked to oversee different projects in the country and through this we are trying to instil an entrepreneurial spirit among the marketers,” she added.
The conference is running under the theme “Leadership on the market Deck: Discovering endless possibilities”.
Online Reporter