Businesses Must Embrace AI, Customer Experience To Stay Competitive – Experts

Businesses must embrace artificial intelligence (AI), data-driven strategies and improved customer experience to remain competitive in an increasingly technology-driven marketplace, marketing experts have said.

The experts spoke at the 5th Annual Public Lecture of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), Ikeja Chapter, held on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, with the theme, “The New Marketing Blueprint: Driving Growth Through AI, Customer Experience, Data Ecosystems and Purpose-Driven Brands.”

The lecture brought together marketing professionals, academics and industry stakeholders to examine how evolving consumer behaviour, emerging technologies and changing market dynamics are reshaping the marketing profession.

They emphasised the need for businesses to deploy AI to anticipate consumer needs, improve decision-making and deliver value, while leveraging customer experience to eliminate service bottlenecks, fulfil brand promises and build lasting customer loyalty.

The experts also identified consumer trust, effective communication, prompt responses to customer needs and a clear brand purpose as critical factors that would determine business growth and competitiveness.

Speaking at the event, the President and Chairman of Council of NIMN, Dr Bolajoko Bayo-Ajayi, said the next generation of consumers, who would account for more than 60 per cent of the workforce and spending power by 2030, were increasingly making purchasing decisions based on the values and beliefs of brands.

According to her, brands with a clearly defined purpose beyond the functional benefits of their products and services demonstrate stronger customer loyalty, greater advocacy and increased resilience during price wars.

She stressed that businesses must go beyond selling products to establish meaningful connections with consumers by communicating values that resonate with their target markets.

Bayo-Ajayi’s position underscored the growing importance of purpose-driven branding in a competitive marketplace where consumers increasingly consider what businesses represent, alongside the quality and price of their offerings.

The keynote speaker, Lampe Omoyele, FMNIM, noted that the old formula of “Big Budget + Big TV + Big Celebrity = Growth” is no longer sufficient. He said there is a need for a refreshed blueprint for how marketing can drive sustainable growth for Nigerian businesses in the years ahead.

According to him, the marketing profession is at an inflection point, with more tools available than ever before. Therefore, the playbook has to be updated significantly.

Also speaking, a business executive and Director of Business School Netherlands, Professor Lere Baale, said marketing strategies must remain firmly rooted in consumer needs, stressing that the consumer must be the starting point and ultimate focus of every marketing activity.

He said marketers should deploy AI to anticipate consumer needs, support decision-making and create value, while customer experience strategies should focus on removing friction, delivering on brand promises and earning customer loyalty.

Baale noted that delivering an effective customer experience was not the sole responsibility of marketing departments, but required the involvement of every unit within an organisation.

He explained that businesses must ensure that their products, services and customer engagement processes consistently meet consumer expectations to remain competitive and build lasting relationships with their customers.

The speakers also highlighted the importance of consumer trust in an increasingly digital economy, where thousands of individuals and businesses conduct transactions and other commercial activities online.

They noted that consumers were not necessarily looking for brands with the largest volumes of customer data, but those they could trust to handle the information responsibly and use it to improve their experiences.

Businesses were therefore advised to prioritise transparency, responsible data management and effective communication to strengthen consumer confidence and protect their reputations.

The experts further urged organisations to pay closer attention to customers’ purchasing behaviour, including last-minute buying decisions, to identify opportunities to improve sales and customer engagement.

They stressed that prompt responses to customer enquiries, convenient service delivery and effective customer relationship management systems were essential for businesses seeking to attract and retain customers.

According to them, customers are more likely to remain loyal to brands that make them feel recognised, heard and understood, adding that businesses must demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction through concrete actions rather than mere assurances.

They cautioned that expressions such as “We care” would amount to empty promises unless organisations backed them with responsive services, convenient processes and solutions that address customers’ needs.

The lecture concluded that the future of marketing would depend not simply on how much businesses know about their customers, but on how effectively they apply that knowledge to improve service delivery, create value and build lasting relationships.

The experts maintained that marketing was not disappearing but undergoing a fundamental reinvention driven by AI, evolving consumer expectations, data ecosystems and purpose-led branding.