Marketing consultant and business leader, Collins Oforgu, is not new to the world of brand campaigns. But what he sees now, more than ever, is a shift that many Nigerian agencies are not prepared for.
“Clients have changed,” he says. “They are no longer looking for people to just design graphics or run Instagram ads. They want results they can track.”
Oforgu, who leads Evaluate Media, a marketing and PR company based in Lagos, has worked with over 200 businesses across real estate, finance, consulting, FMCG and tech. Over the years, he says he’s seen how the marketing industry in Nigeria is struggling to keep up with the changes happening globally.
“Many agencies are still doing things the old way. They don’t measure the right things. They don’t know how to show clients the impact of the work,” he tells PM News. “And because of that, they’re losing good clients.”
The problem, he explains, is that the market has matured, but many agencies haven’t. Most clients now want more than visibility — they want clear business results. “You can’t just send screenshots of likes and impressions anymore. You have to show how the work helped the client grow.”
In one recent campaign, Evaluate Media worked with a real estate company based in Lekki that had been running paid ads for over a year but struggled to convert interest into actual sales.
According to Collins, they had impressive visibility online — lots of ad clicks, some inquiries — but no consistent structure behind the scenes. “They didn’t have a defined follow-up process, no landing page for lead capture, and no real idea who they were targeting,” he said.
The agency stepped in to rebuild the entire flow — from defining the ideal customer profile, to creating a high-converting lead page, setting up follow-up automation, and training the internal sales team. Within three months, not only did the campaign generate over 100 verified leads, but the client also closed 11 property sales — their best quarter since launch.
“It wasn’t a complex solution,” Collins says. “We didn’t increase their ad budget. We simply aligned the campaign with the business goal — to sell land — and built the system to make that possible.”
He believes this is where most agencies are getting it wrong. “Too many people are focused on being seen. But in 2024, visibility is not enough. Your campaign must lead to action.”
According to a 2023 report by Nielsen, over 70% of marketing managers now say return on investment (ROI) is their most important metric. Yet many Nigerian agencies are still focused on brand awareness alone, without thinking about how to turn attention into sales or long-term value.
What’s the solution? For Oforgu, it starts with changing the way agencies see themselves. “We’re not just service providers anymore. We have to be partners. We have to help clients think about the big picture — how to grow their business, not just their followers.”
He also believes agencies need to hire differently. “If everyone on your team is just a graphic designer or content writer, you’re not ready. You need people who understand data, who can look at numbers and explain what they mean. You need strategists, not just creatives.”
The agencies that will survive, he says, are the ones that can balance creativity with performance. That means understanding how platforms work, knowing how to track results, and being honest with clients about what’s working — and what isn’t.
He also points out that tools alone are not enough. “Buying software is not the same as building systems. I’ve seen agencies that pay for the best tools but still can’t report results properly,” he says. “The real value is in knowing what to do with the data.”
Oforgu advises young agency founders to focus less on “doing everything” and more on doing the right things well. “You don’t need to be on every platform. You just need to know who your client is talking to and how best to reach them.”
For him, the real danger is in pretending that nothing has changed. “If your agency is still offering the same services it did five years ago, and your clients are asking new questions — you have a problem,” he says.
His message is simple: the market is moving forward. Agencies that don’t grow with it will be left behind.
