CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study:
Marketing communication as a field of study is dynamic. The dynamism uses different marketing channels and tools in combination. Marketing communication channels focuses on any way a business communicates a message to its desired market or the market in general. A marketing communication tool can be anything from: advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, word-of-mouth communication, sponsorship, communication, promotion and public relation. It can also be considered as marketing mix variable, (Kotler, 2006). In addition to awareness and persuasion, new goals such as developing understanding and preference, reminding and reassuring customers became accepted as important aspects of communication effort. The goal of marketing communication is to increase understanding of marketing information and influence the acceptance of a company’s offerings (Ebitu, 2012: 14).
Marketing communications fall into various categories relating to marketing to the public, from advertising, promotions, sales, branding and online promotion. It is so spread out and iconic that it has become a favored term amongst practitioners. It is a symbolic tool that helps organizations interact with their many stakeholders in the market, by promoting their goods or services to them. Whenever members of the public interact with an organization, marketing communication Enterprise has been used. This is a significant process where businesses use to gain success and knowledge on their brand. In order to gain success in marketing both the organization and members of the public must be involved. By targeting audiences who appreciate the organizations marketing program will gain a successful branding (Daniels, 2012).
Most business oriented organization finds it very difficult to sell their goods and services without adequate information and communication to current and potential customers. The marketing communication is used to get in touch with the channel audience.
Agbonifoh, Ogwo, Nnolim and Nkamnebe, (2007) opine that marketing communication is said to be the passage or transmission of persuasive message or information from a source to an audience. Communication may be personal or mass. Personal communication is direct to one person at a time. Mass communication is direct to a group of people simultaneously. Ebitu, (2012) defined marketing communication as not just giving information; it is the giving of understandable information, receiving and understanding the message. Through the impact of marketing communications, organizations are able to determine the response of their target audience and potential buyers towards their product. Also, through the impact of marketing communication by the small scale enterprise, organizations are able to change the behavior or response of consumers and stimulate sales. Marketing communication are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade and remind consumers directly or indirectly about the products and brand which they sell. In a sense, marketing communications represent the voice of the enterprise and its brands, they are a means by which the firm can establish a dialogue and build relationships with consumers. By strengthening customer’s loyalty, marketing communications can contribute to consumer’s equity. (Kotler and Keller, 2013).
Marketing communication is one important aspect of marketing. Indeed, marketing communication is often the largest component of marketing within a company, which maybe to present company(s) value, objective, or specific products and services to investors, customers or the general public. In the 21st century, communication objective continues to lead towards more customized messages, targeting customer groups or individual to create high responses and greater brand interaction (www.merriam-webster.com).
Merriam-webster.com records that as business becomes increasingly global with greater access to internet, mobile phones and social media, new challenges exist with communication professionals to inform people, in particular, foreign markets, to facilitate business activities. Shifts in the global economy and access to new markets lead also to greater demand for product shipping and services delivered to customers in foreign markets. To be effective, marketing communication strategy must converge with marketing objectives while also account for local languages, dialects and cultural norms. The small scale enterprise uses the persuasive method which is marketing communication to convince customers or targeted market to purchase the goods and services introduced by the organization.
           Hence, two marketing mix element are identified in this research work, advertising and personal selling. Advertising is defined as any paid form of non-personal presentation or promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor (Esu, 2005). On the other hand, personal selling is the process of informing customers and persuading them to purchase products through a face-to-face interaction with recipient prospects (Ebitu, 2012).
