CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The company’s communication responsibility goes beyond disseminating information to target customers. Rather effective communication with other parties in social, economic, cultural and environmental situation both future and current. No company can eschew from the responsibilities and role of a communicator and promoter. Companies have responded by hiring sales force to carry persuasive message advertising agencies to develop attention, sales promotion experts to develop sales campaigns and public relations to enhance the company’s image.
Ogbechi (2006), a lot sum of money is spent on promotion and for most companies, the question is not whether to promote but how to spend and in what ways. This means that company must know how to market itself to various groups in order to gain their confidence and goodwill. Once a company decides on a target position, all the marketing mix tools should reinforce this position. The narrow sense of it, marketing communication mix consist of the subset of marketing tools that are primarily communicational in nature.
Promotion is one of the 4Ps in marketing. It is the one that is most visible to consumers. It is any technique that persuasively communicates favorably information about a sellers product to potential buyers either directly or through others who can influence purchase decision such as broken and middlemen etc promotion often called marketing communication are all those means by which marketers communicate to their target market.
Realistically, consumers do not make purchase transactions simply because a company believes that it has designed and manufactured a valuable product. Potential buyers have to be informed that the product exists, exists given the reason or reasons why it is better than competing products and persuaded that they should buy as soon as possible. This is the role marketing communications plays in the marketing strategy and designing the proper promotional mix is a complicated process involving among other things a knowledge of what promotion can add, cannot do and knowledge of each promotional tool (Kotler, 1999).
Many benefits can flow from an effective promotional effort when product advantages are communicated to the potential consumers. It establishes awareness and favourable attitude towards new products, helps to create brand preferences among consumers and to secure distribution in outlets, help to obtain greater effort from the sales force and help to build a favourable corporate image.
The concept of promotion of a particular product by a firm is to create awareness for the product in order to promote the sales of the product. Business activities is all over the world either those engaged in the production of products or those that render services; all have an objective to strike, that is how their products get known to the customers and how it gets to consumers. This in a nutshell is promotion of products.
In most places where there is abundance economy, business enterprises try to stimulate demand for their product they are not satisfied merely to produce and trust them to chance that consumers will get to know about their products through the impersonal interplay of market forces.
Promotion is any communication activity whose purpose is to move forwards a product, service or idea in a channel of distribution. It is an effort by a seller to persuade buyers to accept, re-sell, recommend or use the product, service or idea promoted. In other words, it tries to affect the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of recipient and to persuade them to accept concepts, services or things through promotion, a firm attempts to influence the sales of its product by increasing the quantity sold, its price, quality, combination of both and enhance it’s public image.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
a) There is need to educate the general public on the advantages and benefits of using marketing communications in bringing the favourable attention of their product to the market.
b) Finding out whether the industries use sales promotion as a marketing communication tool to stimulate the public towards buying their products.
c) To evaluate the extent personal selling as a marketing communication tool is used to induce the public in buying their products.
d) There is need to educate/create the good image of the organisation. This is imperative to change people negative past attitudes and beliefs towards the industry which has been assumed fraudulent in term of fake items or products.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
a) The need to educate the general public on the advantages and benefits of using marketing communications in bringing the favourable attention of their product to the market.
b) To finding out whether the industries persuade the general public/organisations towards using sales promotion as a marketing communication tool to stimulate the public towards buying their products.
c) The exist to which personal selling as a marketing communication tool is used to induce the public in buying their products.
d) To educate and create the good image of the organisation thereby changing the negative past attitudes and beliefs towards the industry which has been assumed fraudulent in term of fake items or products.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION
a) What are the advantages and benefit of using market communication tools in brining favourable attention of the products to the consumers?
b) Does sales promotion as a marketing communication tool stimulate the general public in buying the organization’s products?
c) To what extent is personal selling being used as a marketing communication tool towards inducing the general public in buying the product?
d) How can the negative attitude and beliefs held towards the organisation be changed to a positive one?
e) What are the likely marketing communication problems in the industries?
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
ü Ho: Marketing communication play virtual role in bringing a favourable attention of the industry’s products.
Hi: Marketing communication do not play virtual role in bringing a favourable attention of the industry’s products.
ü Ho: Industries use sales promotion as a marketing communication tool to stimulate the public towards buying their product.
Hi: Industries do not use sales promotion as a marketing communication tool to stimulate the public towards buying their product.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study is directed to cover the impact of marketing communication in the industries particularly in Live Flourmills of Nigeria Plc. Emphasis shall be on the policies and mode of marketing communication adopted by the organisation in the provision of such services. As creating awareness and bringing the favourable attention of its products to the final consumers.
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Promotion shapes perception, creates awareness, arouse interest leading buying down the path towards purchase. The first job of promotion is to inform the potential buyers about the availability and nature of a product. Once buyers have been informed, they need to be informed that purchase of the product will lead to satisfaction.
Since products are basically product oriented, they call for effective communization to make the prospective consumer have change of attitude and to instill confidence in the mind of existing staff and their strategies to win more account and retain existing ones. Also, it is expect to make theoretical and practical contributions the organisations other organisation and society at large.
1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This research is subjected to limitation usually faced with research study these include;
Financial and materials limitation to meet up this study requires financial as it involved cost in every single level of the process and materials required for a vivid and complete study are unavailable as demand like journals, textbooks etc.
Inadequate time as a student, the school calendar and services of lectures, assignment and test, there is no enough time to do extensive interview for the project work.
1.9 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS
The following terms are defined to suit the purpose of this study.
Communication: This is the process by which information is passed between individuals or organisations by means of previously agreed symbols.
Product: Anything that can be offered to a marker for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.
Marketing mix: This is the blend of controllable marketing. Variables that the firm uses to achieve its objective its objective in the market.
Advertising: This is any paid form of non-presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.
Personal selling: Personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the purpose making sales and building customer relationship.
Sales promotion: This refers to short term incentive to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or services.
Marketing communication: This can be defined as the conveyance of information concerning the goods, price, promotion, distribution and services.
Public education: This is a kind of public enlightenment to convince the general public on the need to take insurance.
Policies: This is necessary because insurance business by nature involves the marketing of invisible, intangible products.
Promotion task: This indicates what is to be done to achieve the companies goal and selection of promotional mix and instrument to be used.