THE IMPACT OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION ON PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION

Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.

Precisely, the chapter will be considered in two sub-headings:

• Conceptual Framework
• Theoretical Framework
• Chapter Summary

2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Marketing

For proper understanding of marketing, one needs to properly understand what a business is. In the words of Kodjo (2004: 3): “All business organizations are created by the needs for products and profits. These two needs are directly linked to each other in the sense that profitable enterprises are those that normally receive more resources from their customers in exchange for goods and services than money, materials and other resources they give up in the process of producing these goods and services”.

This shows that businesses exist to provide goods and services with a major intent of profitability. However while the task of producing the goods and services are within the direct control of the organisation, that of making profit is greatly affected by the customer. This means the business organisation has to work extra hard to please its customers; win their trust and friendship to be able to attract their patronage. This became even more necessary as more businesses sprang up and competition became stiffer. To show the basic things that matter in business, Onah (2006: 65) wrote that: “Every business in order to succeed in achieving set objectives must plan, must have a product to offer, must determine the correct price, must determine the desired place and appropriate distribution mechanism to ensure that customers get the product and every business must back up her products with effective and efficient promotional statements to create desired awareness and acceptable social image.” Most of the requirements mentioned by Onah above are functions of marketing. Marketing is one of the newest disciplines and professions in the field of business. It originated and gained prominence from the effort of businesses to impress and win over customers as competition increased. According to Adrika etal (1997: 1) “marketing started evolving in earnest when small producers began to manufacture their goods in large quantities in anticipation of future orders.” So many scholars have offered different definitions of marketing. New definitions have been proffered as the profession gets older and new methods of practice are developed.

In the definition offered by Mbah (2001: 10) “marketing is about identifying, anticipating, conducting and managing the delivery of value in exchange process that benefits or satisfies both parties and their society”. According to Adrika et al (1997: 24) “Marketing means working with markets, which in turn means attempting to actualise potential exchange for the purpose of satisfying human needs and wants”. Varey (2002: 4) defined marketing as being “concerned with creating and sustaining mutually satisfying exchanges of value between producer/servers and their customers. It has both managerial orientation and an organizational /social function.” Kotler and Keller (2006: 6) said that marketing “is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping and growing customers through creating, delivering and communicating superior customer value”. Onah and Thomas (2004: 4) saw marketing as “the anticipation of needs and wants and providing such needs and wants at the time they are wanted. When, where they are wanted, how they are wanted and at the price they are wanted at a profit.” In these definitions, these scholars tried to establish what marketing is. Some of the outstanding features of these definitions are that marketing is concerned with the exchange of values. In other words, it revolves around the provision of goods and services by the company to the customer and the payment by the customer to the company for the goods and services. So for marketing to be complete, it must bring the buyer and seller together and also give rise to an exchange process. It is this exchange process that is known as sales. But while marketing brings about sales, it will be wrong to term it the same as sales since sales is just but one of the functions of marketing. They also show marketing as a management process, a function of management. It involves harnessing organisational resources – man, material and money – towards the realisation of organisational objectives. This means that marketing is intended to contribute to the success and growth of a company by ensuring adequate returns and customer satisfaction. Marketing is also seen as existing for the mutual benefit of the buyer and seller. It is intended to operate in such a way that will provide satisfaction for the buyer through the goods and services and satisfaction for the seller through profit. Marketing has to do with identifying and anticipating the needs of the consumer and trying to satisfy it by initiating the production of products that will meet the need. This shows that the job of marketing commences before production and not the other way round. The definitions viewed marketing as contributing to societal good. This means that in the process of achieving exchange and satisfying buyers and seller, marketing should be intended to work for societal good. As such marketers should ensure that the interest of the general society is protected and not endangered in any way while carrying out their duties. The importance of marketing comes from its ability to get the goods off the shelf. In the words of Kotler and Keller (2006: 4) “Financial success often depends on marketing ability. Finance, operations, accounting and other business functions will not really matter if there is not sufficient demand for the products and services so the company can make a profit.” Marketing achieves this by first understanding the customer needs and wants and conceiving a product or service that will meet these needs. According to Ali (2002: 6) “Marketing techniques should be used even before the product is conceived. Indeed, a marketing approach will help you to come up with the kinds of product that will satisfy your customers‟ needs and wants.” There is a great need therefore for the marketer to know who his customers are, where they are, what they want and how they want it. This is what he needs to be able to package products and services that will meet the customers‟ expectations and appeal to them. Belch and Belch (2001: 9) explained it that “the focus of market-driven companies is on developing and sustaining relationships with their customers”. Most companies that have realised the importance of their customers make sure that their policies and programmes are moulded around the satisfaction of their customers. Customers as defined by Mbah (2001: 10) are “people who purchase products and take titles. Buyers or owners of purchased goods and services such as intermediaries, final consumers, institutions, organisations and individuals who buy products”. Ali (2002: 13) explained this by saying that “to make money for your business you need to be able to sell, but effective selling requires a good insight into why your customers buy.”

Ali (2002: 9) also went further to say that “to complicate the picture, you need to know not only your customer – the person who buys your product – but also the person who uses it: they are not always the same.” Most active companies in the world today are continuously trying to find ways of meeting their customer needs. However, this is a task that has not been very easy owing to the dynamic and erratic nature of man and equally because of the increasing competitive nature of the market place. According to Belch and Belch (2001: 107) “a challenge faced by all marketers is how to influence the purchase behaviour of consumers in favour of the product or service”. Belch and Belch (2001: 107) went further to define this consumer behaviour “as the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires”. Based on these I define marketing as a company‟s effort to know and understand its customers, provide what they need at the benefit of both the company and the customer both in the present and the future. The effectiveness of marketing is therefore measured by the extent to which marketing is able to trigger off purchase behaviour in the consumers and achieve marketing goals. Starch (1966: 133-134) explained the essence of a marketing programme thus “it can make the name of a brand known, it can make this name known favourably, and it can cause buying; in short, it can cause brand awareness, brand preference and brand purchase. The first two are steps along the way. The third is the real goal.”

It is in determining whether communication affects the realization of brand awareness, brand preference and purchase that the focus of this research exists.

The Marketing Concept

The literature review of this study shows that a lot has been done mostly in the area of “Appraising the Marketing Concept in Banking” The Marketing Concept according to Philip Kotler, “is a customer and wants oriented backed by integrated marketing effort, aimed at generating customer satisfaction as the key to ‘Satisfying Organizational Goal’. He therefore went further to say that marketing concept mostly starts with the firms target towards customers, their wants and needs. The firm plans a well-coordinated set of products and programmes, to solve these needs and wants, and in the process derives its profits through creating customer satisfaction. The determination of what and what is to be produced should not be in the hands of the government or in the hands of the firms/organizations but in the hands of the consumers. The marketing concept is the company’s commitment to the time honoured, a concept in economics theory, otherwise known as consumer sovereignty. The company can only earn their profit when they maximize their consumer welfare by trying to produce what the consumer wants. Melver and Major (1980) said in their book, “Marketing Financial Services”, that “the tool of marketing, however elaborate and scientific, are in the end no more than lever, insert and even dull artifacts when not in use, but capable of producing dynamics--- when they have a point where they can be fixed, an agreed direction in which the leverages should be put forth.

Marketing Approaches

There are various marketing strategies used by SMEs to enhance their performance and to market their products and services. This study examines the customer relationship marketing strategy, innovative marketing strategies and the technology based marketing strategies.

Customer relationship marketing goal is to provide increased value to the customer and results in a lifetime value for the service provider. Customer relationship marketing is very important concept to attract and keep the customers in organizations. In modern business world, marketing focus reflect the move away from transactional marketing to relationship marketing. Establishing, maintaining and enhancing customer relationships have always been an important aspect of business (Velnampy and Sivesan, 2012). Customers Relationship Marketing is the core business strategy that integrates internal processes and functions, and external networks, to create and deliver value to targeted customers at a profit. CRM is a business strategy used to identify, cultivate, and maintain long-term profitable customer relationships. A study by Alibhai (2015) established that customer’s relationship marketing strategies influence firm performance. Further, the study established that service quality enables the firms to maintain communication with the customers. The study concluded that all the employees who are conversant with the

CRM strategies and are constantly involved in the implementation of the strategies. In addition, Velnampy and Sivesan (2012) established that customer relationship marketing impact on customer value creation in mobile service providing companies.

Innovation is an important and critical factor for the organizations in order to create value and sustainable competitive advantage in today’s complex and changing environment; and more innovative organizations will be more successful in dealing with changing environments and in creating and developing novel capabilities, which allow them to achieve a higher performance (Ghorbani and Fakhimi, 2013). The intense competition between organizations in the global market leads that the innovation is considered as a critical characteristic for organizations. Thus, sustainable innovation helps the organizations including SMEs to maintain their competitive position in the market (Ghorbani and Fakhimi, 2013). According to Manijeh et al. (2013), the changing of today’s marketplace makes businesses to adopt innovative approaches and new resources to rely on in this situation. Thus, organizations should transit from traditionally as a blueprint in business activities are gradually fading from markets and innovative methods.

Technology based marketing strategies mainly technology base tools like the internet and social media. Internet marketing is a business effort to inform, converse, promote and sell products and services over the internet (Burges and Bothma, 2007). It involves online marketing, which aims at reaching out to many existing and potential customers as possible using the internet. Past studies have established that internet marketing influence the performance of SMEs. For instance, a study by Kithinji (2014) examined internet marketing and performance of small and medium enterprises in Abuja State. The study established that internet marketing has a positive impact on the performance of SMEs since it increased profitability, SMEs market share, enhanced firm’s image and increased competitive advantage as well as more loyalty and access to new markets. According to Gordon (2010), social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. Consumers use social media to participate in social networks, which enable them to create and share content, communicate with one another, and build relationships with other consumers.

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is the term used to describe the appropriate combination in a particular set of circumstances of the variable that are at the heart of a companies marketing programmed will fast and the company will not make profit from the operation as it should. There are actually a great number of marketing mix variable. Fortunately they can be classified into a few major groups. One of their most popular classifications has been proposed by Jerome E. McCarthy (1971) and is called the four (4) PS, product, place, price and promotion. Philip Kotder sees marketing mine as a particular blend of controllable marketing variable that the firm uses to achieve its objective in the target market.

The Product

Different people have different view about product depending on how they look at it or perceive it. This therefore means that the survival or progress of any firm depend solely on the ability develop product or service that consumer is able to buy or patronize. This may be a new product entirely or an existing product with itthe modification either to color package size e.t.c. having known this the existence of a company or firm depend on the demand for its product or service it is generally proved that the consumer is one of the major source of new product idea. Garlah and Wright (1968 p 135) tested that a survey revealed that 88% of new product idea come from customers, consumers are after studied using depth and focused group interview to find opportunities for new product. Meidan (19845, P44) also state that the first step in the organizational marketing programme is identifying needs of the market. This conducted through a programme of market research.

According to Kotler (1972, P315) the product strategies suggest that consumers needs and want are logical staring point in the search for new product idea. Other activities that are carried out testify that product development requires customers consideration to ensure that physical characteristic of product are acceptable by consumers reaction to description of new product once a product strategy is well designed and accepted by the consumer a real product is developed to go with strategies.

Price

Price as out of the marketing mix variable and as a tool to product differentiation is decided based on the overall objectives and goals of the firms the product segment served competition market environment, cost product and many other variables. The impact or what you give in order to get the product or service you want represent the price of the product on the other hand, it is the value expressed in naira and kobo or monetary value used as means of exchange in other word the pricing objective influence the final decision maker always determine what the consumer can pay for a given product or services. Producers should also consider what would be the reaction of the wholesaler and retailers to the price before on product price is fixed. Most consumers tend to rely on the service.

Promotion

Promotion as a marketing mix variable is a means by which communication is spread to the target market. Therefore, it is any method or process of communication with the target indigene through well co-ordinated element of promotional mix. Promotion is use as competitive edge of information, persuading re-informing an identified or potential buyer and numbers of the good public so that attitude and behaviours of consumers toward product or services can change if there are no information regarding not likely to go for the purchase of such product. According to Michael (1980, P 50). This view stated clearly that the basic purpose of promotion is to disseminate information. Therefore, service industries like Glo Nig. Ltd should not rely on heavy patronage by ignoring this aspect. A continuous promotion, more customers and the existing customers will have confidence in patronizing the organization.

The component of promotional mix are sale promotion, advertising, personal selling and public relation etc. Each element of promotion has specific objective which are measured in term of contribution rather than direct effect on sale.

a. Sale Promotion: Consumers usually perceive mix previous knowledge before they can buy such product they seek information about them to avoid such doubt, marketing give free sample to customers. Sale promotion is therefore used as an end to stimulate purchase through the following means. Display shows exhibition and various other non-selling effort Kotler (1998) viewed “Sale Promotion to consist of a wide variety of promotion e.g. sample coupons money refund offers price-off contest and sweet state” trade promotional tools are used by most organization which includes manufacturer distributions.

b. Advertising: Advertising is communication of information of a product or service idea in any non-personal form. But in his own contribution, Baker (1979) sees advertising and promotion of ideas, good or services by identified sponsor through any of the following media. Newspapers, Magazine, Radio, Television, etc which are paid for” the primary rule of advertising is to .persuade middle men to stock the product and to develop consumer loyalty from the perspective advertising enable exchange transaction that satisfied people needs in summary it adds value to product by telling people what the product can be used for and were it is available Kotler (1980 P450) is not in the same opinion with Baker as regards to the definition and importance of advertising.

c. Publicity:- Publicity is one of the major variable of promotion tools. It involves security additional space, as divorced from paid space in all media read viewed and heard by company’s customer prospect for the specific purpose of assisting in the meeting of sales goods. According to Kotler (1998) publicity is used to promote brand places idea activities or organization and even nations. In trade association of poor image and attention by organization has been achieved through other effective utilization of publicity to attract more twist foreign investment and international support publicity according to Hygties (1979) it is the reality of free promotion. It consist primarily of new business is opening for business” publicity appears with local news papers informing the public generally on the new business venture.

d. Public Relation:- Public relation has been defined by the British institute of public relation (1978) as establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its public” public relation work is often carried out internally by specialized employed of the company sometime outside specialist may be employed and these men can come from an agency which is strictly concerned with public relation activities. Public relation officer carry net job like relations, product, publicity corporate communication, lobbying and counseling.

Place

Place (distribution) as an element of marketing mix and a tool to product strategies deals with the movement of goods and services from the producer to the consumers. The work of production is not complete until the goods and services are in hand of final consumer. Therefore in the service industry both direct and indirect channels if distribution are used. Mc Cathy (1979) emphasized that” product or service will not be much important to the consumer if it is not available and where it is needed” Also Kotler (1998) viewed distribution as” a set of task involved in planning and implementing the physical flow of materials and final goods from place of origin to point of use or consumption meet the need of consumers at profit.

Conceptualization of Product

Product according to Kotler can be defined as any thing that cannot be offered for attention appreciation used or consumption that satisfied a need. The concept includes physical object, service, places person organization and ideas. It is not the product as such that customers are interested in but what the customer buy is a set of satisfaction and that satisfactionare the product. Product are not based mainly on the engineering techniques but in term of design presentation packaging branding image and all the attribute which together give the customer the quality chocolate, an expensiveperform or fashion shirt can not be divined from packaging it presentation and atmosphere created around it by advertising and other forms of display. These entire things together make up a product, according to Williams J. Stratton product is a set of tangible and intangible attribute including packaging color, price, manufacturers prestige net prestige and manufacturer retailer service.

Classification Of Product

Marketing have traditionally classified product on the basis of characteristic, durability, tangibility and use consumer or industrial). Each product type has an appropriate marketing mix strategy. Philip Kotler (1998 p 373) Durability and tangibility product can be classified into three groups according to durability and tangibility.

a. Durable good:- Are tangible goods that normally serve many users refrigerator machine tools and clothing durable product normally require more personal product selling and service, command a high or margining and require more seller guarantees.

b. Non Durable Goods:- Are tangible goods normally consumed in one or a few users like beer and soap. Because these good are consumed quickly and purchased frequently the appropriate strategy as to make them available in many locations charge only a small mark up, and build preference.

c. Service:- Are intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable product. As a result they normally require more quality control, suppliers’ credibility and acceptability.

Examples include hair cuts, legal advice and appliance repairs.

d. Consumer Goods:- The vast array good consumers buy can be classified on the basis of shopping habits we can distinguish among convince, shopping specialty and unsought goods.

(i) The consumer usually purchases convenience good frequently immediately, and with minimum effort. Examples include Table products, soap and Newspapers. Convenience good can further divided into

(a) Staples goods:- Consumer purchase in a regular basis. A buyer might purchase Heinz Ketchup. Crest tooth plast, and crackers.

b. Impulse good are purchase without any planning or sacred effort candy bars land magazine are impulse goods.

c. Emergency goods:- are purchase when a need is urgent umbrellas during a rain stream , boots and shovel during the first winter snow storm manufacturers of impulse and emergency good will place them in those out let when consumers are likely to experience an urge or compelling need to make a purchase.

(ii) Shopping goods:- are goods that are consume in the process of selection and purchase characteristically compares on such bases as suitability, quality, price and style.Examples include furniture, Clothing, used car, and major appliance. Shopping good can be further divided into Homogenous good are similar in quality but different enough in price to justify shopping comparisons. Homogenous good differ in product feature service that may be of more important than price. The seller of homogenous shopping good carries a wide assortment to satisfy individuals’ testes and must have well trained sale people to inform and advise customers.

(iii) Specialty goods:-have unique characteristic or brand identification for which a sufficient member of buyer are willing to make a special purchasing effort.

Examples include cars, stress component photographic equipment and mans suit. A Mercedes use a specialty good because interested buyers will travel far to buy one specialty goods do not involve marketing comprise and buyer invest time only to reach dealers carrying the wanted products dealers do not need convenient locations although they must let prospective buyers know their location.

(iv) Unsought goods:-are those that consumer does not know about or does not normally think of buying like smoke detected. The classic example of known unsought good requires advertising and personal selling support.

©` Industrial good:- Industrial good can be classified in term of how they enter the production process and their relative cost illness. We hereby distinguish three groups of industrial good are material and land part capital and supplies and drossiness service.

(i) Material and part:- Are goods that enter the manufacturers product completely . they fall intuitive major class, raw materials and manufacturer materials and parts raw materials fall into two major group farm product leg wheat, cotton, invest etc and material product e.g. fish, iron ore, rubber, crude petroleum etc farm product are supplied by any producers, who turn them over to marketing intermediaries who provide as empty by grading storage, transportation and selling service their commodity character result in relatively little advertising and promotional activities with stone exceptions. At times commodity group will campaign to promote the product potatoes cheese and its self etc natural product are limited in supply. They usually have great bulk and low unit value and must be moved from producer to users because the users depend on those materials, long term supply contract are condition. The homogeneity of demand creation activities.

(ii) Suppliers and business service:- Are short term good and service that facilitate developing or managing the finish product suppliers good. They are usually purchased with minimum effort on a straight duly basis. They normally market through intermediaries because of their low unit value and the great number of geographic dispersion of customers price and service are important consideration because suppliers are standardized and brand preference is not high business advisory service legal management, consulting, advertising maintenance and repair service are usually supplied under contract by small producer or available from the manufacturers of the original equipment business advisory are usually purchase on the basis of supplier reputation and staff.

1. Capital Items:-Are long lasting good that facilitate developing or managing the finish product. They include two group installation and equipment. Installation consist of building (factories offices) and heavy equipment generators, dull presses mainframe, computer, elevators installation are major purchase. They are usually bought directly from producers with the typical sale proceeded by a long negotiation period. The producer, sale force include technical personal producers have to be willing to design to specification and to supply past sale service. Advertising is much less important than personal servicing.

Product Development and its stages

To develop new product marketers must go through the following systematic strategies:

1. Idea Generation:- New product development start on idea which may come from sale men, or servicemen non marketing employees, consumers, or industrial users, middle men, governmental agencies trade association, private research and development etc. the generation of new product idea is a continuity prices.
2. Idea Screening:- This is the stage were new product ideas that have been generated at the previous date are examined weather they are viable. The examination of the new product idea screening should be done thoroughly to avoid the too common error at these stages that is to error drop error. A drop error is considered when a viable new product idea is considered been unviable while go error is commuted when you consider unviable new product idea as been viable.
3. Business Analysis:- As the name suggest this is the stage were business infliction of the consideration through the assessment or estimation of marketpotential expected sale, expected cost and expected profit. The result of business analysis should be encouraged enough before you are to produce next stage.
4. Product Development:- This is the stage were product idea is transformed into the fiscal product for the first time it is important because is from these stage we start committing the organization resources into that particular product production. The product is produce for the first time as sample is known as pilot product.
5. Test Marketing:- Is the process of taking the sample of pilot product into sample market for the purpose of testing customers acceptance or rejection of the product in test marketing customers reaction either positive or negative about the product quality quantity should be taking into consideration. However test marketing should not be the long for competitors not to stall the product idea from the organization land be the first to produce to the market.
6. Commercialization:- Is the process of producing and distributing in large quantity of the new product into the market for the first time. However marketing are expected to make four (4) strategic dictation of the stage.
7. Were distribution:- This has to do with area of coverage or target market for theproduct. To know whether the product should be introduced into single market regional market or international market.
8. When Decision::- These has to do with the timing or time of introducing the produce to the market.
9. To whom the target customers and were guided where be consumers adoption theory
10. How decision:- It has trade with the effort in coordinating the remaining 3 ps in production (price, place and promotion).

Product Strategies

As a style of marketing where the seller produce two ore more product designed to look different from each other and competitors product. In doing this a number of strategies are available to the market for exploitation; branding packaging and labeling.

1. Branding: In developing a marketing strategy for individual products. The marketing is confronted with the issues of branding is a very important aspect of product strategy because it adds value to the produce. The marketer faces number of challenging decision if he makes up his mind to brand his products. The key decision area are:-
2. Whether brand names should be used on product.
3. Whether brand name should be those of their firms for manufacturer or those of varies distribution ( or intermediaries)
4. Whether the brand of the company should to under. One name, a few names or many individual name some definition become imperative.
5. Brand According to Kotler (1980) he define brand as a name term, sign, symbol, or design a combination of them which is intended to identify the goods and service of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from these competitors.
6. Brand names consist of words, letter or number or that part of a brand which can be vocalized for example close up, 7up etc.
7. Brand market is that part of a brand which can be recognized but is not alterable such as a symbol, design or distinctive coloring or differ for example include the red cross for and ambulance, Nigerian airways eagle, the lion for Peugeot Automobiles etc.
8. Trade name is the actual legal name of a company. It might help to identify its produce in the market but it does not refer to any specific product of the company example Peugeot Automobile (Nig) Ltd produce 607, 406, 306, 505, etc Peugeot automobile (Nig) Ltd is a trade name while 607, 406, 306, 505 and others are the brands.
9. Trade mark is a brand or part of a brand that is given illegal recognition or protection because, under the law, reclusively one seller has appropriated it. A trade mark can include both the brand name and the pretrial design. It protect the sellers exclusive right to use the brand name and for brand mark. This Peugeot Automobile has the sole (exclusive) control over the brand 607, 406, 306, etc.

Sometime a brand name becomes so well known and is so mush associated with a particular use that is becomes a generic name a term associated with the product class and not with a particular brand for example, Omo is used for all detergent and Coke for soft drinks.

Classifying brand: One major way of classifying brand is on the basis by who owns them. That is whether they are owned by producers (National brand) or by intermediaries ( Private brand).

1. Manufacturers Brand: These also called a national brand. It is owned and controlled by a firm whose primary economic activity is production. Have the manufacturer is recognized as the producer of the product for example the Nasco brand of product.

2. Private brand also referred to as middlemen brand distributors brand or clearer brand. It is the one that is owned and controlled by a firm, whose primary economic activity is distribution and not production. Here, the manufacturer sells the product in bulk to its middlemen who put on a private brand. Example, carrier air conditioners whose owners has a primary commitment to distribution.

Communication In Marketing

In an effort to satisfy customers, marketers have made extensive use of the marketing mix made up of product, price, place and promotion. They try to manipulate theses variables to suit the needs and demands of the consumer. That is why Muyiwa (2001: 44) held that “From the marketing perspective, the price is determined to achieve a marketing objective.” He equally added as follows “Where is the product sold? This is another way of communication something about your product.” Thus saying that both pricing and distribution are essential marketing tools. Belch and Belch (2001: 12) also had a similar view by saying that “consumers make inferences about a product on the basis of elements such as its design, appearance, performance, pricing, service support and where and how it is distributed” In other words, a marketer can pursue his marketing objectives by manipulating the marketing mix. It is within promotion that the communication function in marketing lies. That is why Ehikwe (2005: 236) submits that “the act of promotions can be very stimulating as it aims at wooing and convincing customers and other publics to patronise products and services of various organisations”. A marketer can develop new products and services or modify old ones, increase or reduce the prices of his products and services and bring his products and services closer to consumers all in an effort to make the consumer prefer his products and services and patronise him. But all these efforts will be useless if the consumer does not know about them or how it benefits him. Hence promotion is very important because it helps the marketer to inform and educate the consumer of these activities and how they will benefits him thereby persuading and motivating him to purchase and use the product. Kotler and Keller (2006: 24) has it that “simply giving customers what they want isn‟t enough anymore – to gain an edge companies must help customers learn what they want”. This is what we say can be achieved through the media. Starch (1966: 1) captured the importance of communication thus, “Communication among human beings is the means by which human society carries on. Primitive man made signs and sounds to reveal his inner feelings and thoughts and to tell others what to do…. Education depends on communication. Business depends on it. Government depends on it. All forms of dealing with people depend on it.” In addition, Ndolo (2006: 223) added that “With the increasing size, dynamism and complexity of business, which widens the gap between operation and its publics, it has become vital for a business to adopt methods of reaching a mutual understanding with its publics, by initiating a behaviour which conveys the business story to its publics and stimulates desired response behaviour from the public. This is communication” In a definition offered by Chappel and Read (1984: 1- 2)“Communication is any means by which a thought is transferred from one person to another.” Communication can be said to exist when there is an exchange of ideas and thoughts between two or more people in other to convey a meaning that will inform, educate, persuade or enrich the receiver. This communication is carried out using symbols that are understood by both the sender and receiver to ensure commonness of meaning. Communication activities carried out in a marketing environment to achieve marketing objectives are generally referred to as marketing communications. According to Kotler and Keller (2006: 536) “Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind customers – directly or indirectly – about the products and brands that they sell.” He sees marketing communication as a way companies communicate their marketing intentions to their customers. Equally, Muyiwa (2001: 44), a one time CEO of USP a major Marketing Communication company in Nigeria, in his definition said “Marketing communications may therefore be described as communicating consumer benefits.” In packaging marketing communication programmes, marketers try to achieve specific objectives which will help them achieve their marketing objectives and which in turn will result in achieving company objectives. Explaining some of the marketing communication goals Debelek (1994: 214) said that “Marketers have three distinct types of communication. The first type is used to find customers, the second to keep in contact with customers and keep giving customers reasons to contact you, and the third to motivate prospects to buy.”

Belch and Belch (2001: 30) also added that “communication objectives may include creating awareness or knowledge about a product and its attributes and benefits, creating an image, or developing favourable attitudes, preferences or purchase intentions.”

Marketing Communication

The exchange of ideas, information and feelings are defined as communication which is the basis of social interaction and one of the most representatives of human activities. Marketing has an outstanding development since marketing communication occurred during the last decades of the twentieth century. Marketing communication uses related media to deliver messages in order to communicate with a market. It is characterize as high dynamism and fierce competition in a global market (Mihart, 2012). Organizations tend to figure out the most efficient way to deliver the message so that customers understand the features and benefits when they purchase or consume the products or services (Clow & Baack, 2010). The key objective of marketing communication is to inform, persuade and remind. It intends to create interest and awareness from the target customers and enables them to know more or the existence of the products and the place to get it. It also have the function to persuade customers that the product or service that an organization providing is the best in term of value compare to competitors. Then, it could remind consumers to take action which means purchase the product (PIMT, 2014). Subsequently, marketing communications are necessary and essential factors for a business to be success. Marketing and communication are inseparable and it has become more important in recent decades. Today, almost every organization is using marketing communication to achieve their mission and vision (Shimp, 2003).

The Role Marketing Communication

According to American Marketing Association (AMA), marketing communication is a customer received the planning process from all brand contacts for a product or service is relevant to them and consistent all over the time. It aims to ensure the message is delivering together with the use of media (PIMT, 2014). Consumer behavior can be change as an effect of gaining new knowledge from reading, observation, discussion or actual experience whereas the use marketing communication component is to deliver information to customers so they could have a better understanding of the distribution of the product and the product knowledge (Mihart, 2012). The most important goal of marketing communication channel is to form and change consumer’s attitude with the influence of product, price and distribution but also depends on consumer attitude and direct or indirect experience with that products or services (Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell, & Kardes, 1986).

Impact of Marketing Communication

According to Holloway (2005) a research report into customer satisfaction from analysts GI Insight rates the Leisure & Entertainment industry top and Utilities as the worst at keeping UK customers satisfied. Moreover, it reveals that the organisations deemed to provide good customer satisfaction are also those that implement relevant and targeted customer communications. The impact of communication on marketing effectiveness sometimes depends on how well the communication is packaged and managed. Communication is generally carried out by modes of speech, writing, vision and imagery. They form the nature by which a communicated message is sent from one person, group or point to another. A marketing communicator needs to manage these elements adequately to achieve the desired result. That is why Auner and Wolf (1967: 3) held that “without effective writing, speaking, reading and listening – communication – even the best decision may result in the worst action” In today‟s world of marketing communication, the messages of communication are packaged and sent through internet, telephone, radio, television, billboards, newspapers, magazines, books, brochures, packaging, signs, point of sale materials, face to face discussion etc. Onah and Thomas (2004: 255) explained these medium as follows:

“Businessmen and women can promote their products and services through the use of the media, such as radio, television, billboards (or sign posts in the case of small businesses), exhibitions and trade fairs, direct mail and point-ofsale displays. They can encourage word-of-mouth and their products will be seen when displayed in competition with other products. These activities constitute marketing communication.” Each of this medium has its strengths and weaknesses. For instance radio has the advantage of being able to travel far and penetrate rural areas thereby making it useful for reaching the illiterate audience and remote locations which is why McAnany (1970: xi) said that “no village seems so remote that radio at least does not reach it.” But it has the disadvantage of not reaching highly active people, being flippant and lacking imagery. Television has the advantage of using imagery, vision and demonstration. In the words of Cutlip and Center (1978: 398) “A medium which permits the use of printed work, spoken word, pictures in motion, colour, music, animation and sound effects all blended into one message possesses unmeasured potency.” However it is flippant and costly to own. Brochures, fliers, books, newspapers and magazines are well detailed and storable which makes them useful for referencing. The messages they contain therefore have the ability to last longer and reach more people. Their disadvantage is that they are not useful for reaching illiterate audience and customers and hardly penetrate rural areas. There is often some confusion among professional as to the difference between a flier and a brochure. In a definition offered by Debelek (1994: 129) “A flier or circular is a simple one-page sales brochure that states what you do and offers something free to potential customers, such as a discount, a free estimate, or a free consultation.” He equally explained a brochure thus (1994: 218) “Typically customers move toward a buying decision in steps. During the pre-buying stage, they just take in bits and pieces of information. Once they get closer to a purchase decision, however, they will often request, and read, a product brochure.” Internet and telephone have the advantage of being interactive. They have the ability of picking out the desired customer and reaching him directly. They are equally effective for reaching highly active and mobile customers. However they are costly and do not have a wide spread. Onah and Thomas (2004: 158) defined the Internet as “a computer-based worldwide information network.” To capture the power of the internet Ali (2002: 223) explained that “Initially the internet was for anoraks. Now nearly everyone uses it – to find information, to communicate, to buy and to sell.” Face-to-face, packaging, point-of-sale, and signs have the advantage of communicating to the customer at the point of the transaction. This is important because it is the time the purchase is taking place and the customer needs to be reminded he is making the right choice. No matter the medium being used, the marketing communicator should endeavour to package the message well. Hence Muyiwa (2001: 44) held that “For any strategy to be effective, it must be creative, first and foremost. Because the consumer market is such a rapidly changing one, even when time tested solutions are being adopted, they must be done with some creativity.”

In addition to being creative, the marketing communication message ought to be clear, concise, believable, attractive, repetitive, persuasive etc. Debelek (1994: 15) supported this by saying that “once you know how to motivate your target customers, you have to communicate with them often enough to get them to take action.” According to Kotler and Keller (2006: 536) “Marketing communication consists of six major modes of communication: advertising, sales promotion, events and experiences, public relations & publicity, direct marketing and personal selling.” These are the methods employed by marketing communicators to communicate their marketing activities to the customers.

Advertising

Advertising is one of the major modes of marketing communication. It is the most widely used mode of promotion. According to Salz (1988: 2) “Simply stated, advertising is the primary means of creating awareness for your product or service and persuading consumers to buy it” Starch (1966: 2) also defined it thus: “Advertising is communication. It is paid form of mass communication designed to influence people to favour a product in order to induce them to buy it.” Advertising is a marketing communication tool that has the form of mass communication. This means it has the ability to reach a large number of people simultaneously through the mass media. Some of the media of advertising include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet, books, billboards etc.

Advertising also has the feature of being paid for. The advertiser must pay for the media for carrying the advert and also be identified in the advert message. Advertising has been a very important promotional tool. That is why Salz (1988: 4) believes that “You may have the most advanced product or service to offer the world; you may have mastered the most sophisticated management techniques; you may have an education from the best business school; but if you don‟t have outstanding advertising to accompany them you are in trouble.”

Sales Promotion

What better way to understand sales promotion than this offered by Kotler and Keller (2006: 585) that “whereas advertising offers a reason to buy, sales promotion offers an incentive to buy.” Sales promotion works by offering incentives to buyers and sellers for buying the product or service and use it as a method of stimulating demand and sales. Ali (2002: 17) added to this by saying that “Incentive can help encourage sales of your product. An incentive is an inducement which you can use to: persuade people to buy from you rather than a competitor... Get people to respond… Get people to buy more of your product.” The importance of sales promotion was also captured by Oduwale (2001: 20) who wrote that “Apart from product repackaging and new product introduction, another strategy that is commonly used by most manufacturers towards the end of the year to entice customers and consumers is sales promotion and bonanzas.” Sales promotion also uses the mass media like radio, television, newspapers, magazines, billboards, point-of-sale materials to deliver marketing communication messages to the customers.

Direct Marketing

A definition of direct marketing was offered by Belch and Belch (2001: 17) as that “in which organisations communicate directly with target customers to generate a response and /or a transaction.” They identified those modes like direct mail and mail order catalogs, data base management, direct selling, telemarketing and direct response adverts as forms of direct marketing. In an explanation offered by Ali (2002: 199): “Direct mail is advertising by post. Letters have long been used as a way of attracting business, but direct mail is a bit more sophisticated than the humble business letter. It can be used to: find new customers; sell to existing customers; provide information, for example to let people know you are holding a sale; distribute product samples; send out postal questionnaires to obtain marketing information; build up awareness of your company or product, reinforce your other marketing activity.” Some of the media employed in direct marketing include telephones, internet, brochures, SMS etc.

Personal Selling

Personal selling was defined by Onah and Thomas (2004: 259) as “the direct face-to-face contact between buyer and seller, for example oral presentation of goods and services to customers by sales representatives.” Belch and Belch (2001: 24) also defined personal selling as “a form of person to person communication in which a seller attempts to assist and/or persuade prospective buyers to purchase the company‟s products or services or to act on an idea.” It is a marketing communication tool that uses sales people to reach out to the customers. These sales people interact with the customers and make them aware of the product or service and how they can obtain it and what they can benefit from the product. Kotler and Keller (2006: 626) hold that “this approach assumes that customers have latent needs that constitute opportunities and that they will be loyal to sales reps who can analyse their needs and who have their long term interest at heart” Public Relations and Publicity

Public relations is one of the most recent modes of marketing communication. Nwosu (1990: 251) defined public relations as “that management function that is aimed at making friends for an organisation, retaining those friends and building internal and external goodwill on the reasonable assumption that these are strongly needed for an organisation to remain in whatever business it is engaged in, as well as grow and prosper in it”.

Jefkins (1991: 1) also defined public relations as consisting of “forms of planned communication, outwards and inwards, between an organisation and its publics for the purpose of achieving specific objectives concerning mutual understanding”. Public relations is two-way communication relationship between a company and its publics among which are its customers. It is executed for the common good of both the company and the publics. In this way the company builds trust and friendship with its customers. It is perceived as responsible and commands a lot of respect. The importance of public relations was captured by Belch and Belch (2001: 11) when they said that “at the corporate level, various aspects of a firm‟s business practices and philosophies, such as its mission, hiring practices, philanthropies, corporate culture and ways of responding to inquiries all have dimensions that communicate with customers and other stakeholders and affect relationships.” To portray how public relations work, Baskin and Aronoff (1988: 10) remarked that “perhaps the most basic way that public relations influences public opinion is by enhancing an organisation‟s prestige.” This prestige forms the organisation‟s image. According to Nwosu (1996: 124) the corporate image is “the overall reputation of an organization as determined by the various pictures, impressions, knowledge, information and perception that the publics of that organization have about it.”

Vary (2002: 198) added to this by saying that “the quality of a good or service if often judged not only on its cost but also with reference to the standing of the manufacturer or provider. Firms with a good reputation can charge a higher price for what is objectively an equivalent or inferior product. Reputation conveys public esteem and distinctiveness in competition for scarce resources”. Since the media is a strong opinion moulder, public relations fall back on it as a tool of influencing customer satisfaction. The satisfaction of a customer depends a lot on what he knows which is greatly affected by the media. As such it becomes easy for a company to use the media to position the mind of its customers in such a way that they will be easily satisfied with the company‟s offerings. Publicity on the other hand, according to Oduwale (2001: 24) “refers to non personal communication regarding an organization, product, service or idea that is not directly paid for nor run under identified sponsorship, usually coming in the form of news stories, editorial or announcement about an organization and /or its products and services.” On how publicity works, Kotler (1975: 211) told us that “a publicity campaign attempts to develop news around a product, service, organisation, person, place or idea.” To show the benefit of publicity, Ehikwe (2005: 262) explained that “publicity builds public confidence in an organisation, their products and services” and creates “brand preference in the minds of customers or consumers when favourable information is made about the products.”

Events and Experiences

Events and experiences are another modern way of marketing communications. It makes use of sponsorships, exhibitions and event organisation. According to Jefkins (1991: 129) “sponsorship consists of the giving of monetary or other support to a beneficiary in order to make it financially viable, sometimes for altruistic reasons, but usually to gain some advertising, public relations or marketing advantages.” Eastwood (1992: 18) tried to show how sponsorship works by saying that “some companies like to be associated with certain causes; this helps their image. For example, pet manufacturers support animal charities so they are seen as pet lovers, not just profit lovers.” To show the benefits of exhibitions, Ali (2002: 159) held that “Exhibiting is a good opportunity for two-way communication. You can tell the punters about your product, and also pick up views, opinions and feedback from them.” On the benefit of event organisation, Ali (2002: 98) also added that “your efficiency as a business may be judged partly on the basis of your ability to put on a good, enjoyable or informative, well organised event.” The uses and media of these marketing communication tools are as follows:

Impact Of Marketing Communication On Consumer Behavior

Marketing communication can be categories into offline and online marketing channels. Offline marketing channels are traditional printed media such as newspaper or magazine, industry relations, public relations, direct mail, radio, billboard and television. Online marketing channel are e-marketing advertisement or programs, from pay-per-click, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), e-commerce, email, affiliate, mobile marketing, social media, blog and Internet TV. Research has been conducted that online marketing communication has a stronger influence on consumer behavior compare to offline marketing communication. (Ford & Freeman, 2009). Consumer behavior processes can be influence by marketing communication based on results of market research and market segmentation. It delivers the message with the components of marketing mix, discovering the power of communication to communicate with marketing communication strategy and plan. There are many reasons that could affect consumer’s perception towards products, services or even to an organization. One of the reasons is the products characteristic. Results show that consumer’s perception towards a product can be change by its physical packaging or by the product characteristic. Therefore, marketing communication is connected to consumer perception which resulting from brand image and brand differentiation (Allison and Uhl, 1964). Another component of marketing communication which is price also has direct implication on the perception. Most of the time, consumer’s preferences or choice is depend on their evaluation on the quality or benefits they receive from a product and together by its price (Elliot and Cameron, 1994). Therefore, consumer’s perception of value is connected to the quality or benefits they could get in the products or services and their willingness to pay the price of the quality or benefits they perceive (Monroe, 1979). However, consumers’ subjective of price cannot be fully explained (Monroe, 1973). Distributions, another component related to consumer perception are the physical store decoration, location, product arrangement and the services from both organization and staff and the type of distributions which could be intensive, selective or exclusive (Berry, 1969). Marketing communication could globally influence motivation, especially through marketing communications component because the complex process of motivation has the force to stimulate consumer behavior (Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, 2009).

2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The theory that underpins this study is the theory of symbolic interaction

Theory of Symbolic Interactionism

Varey (2002: 48) remarked that “according to the theory of symbolic interactionism, our behaviour towards an object or event depends on the symbolic meaning ascribed by referent others in society. As consumers we behave towards goods and services according to this theory, according to the symbols attached to them by other social entities (reference groups, persons, societies)”. This theory posits that the meaning and value a customer will attach to a company or its products will depend on what other relevant groups like government, media, community etc think of that company or product. These groups are considered vital in public relations.

2.3 CHAPTER SUMMARY

In this review the researcher has sampled the opinions and views of several authors and scholars on the concept of marketing, the marketing concept, marketing mix, conceptualization of product , product development and its stages, communication in marketing, marketing communication, the role marketing communication, impact of marketing communication , and impact of marketing communication on consumer behavior etc. The works of scholars who conducted empirical studies have been reviewed also. The chapter has made clear the relevant literature.