INTRODUCTION
1. Background of the Study
Contemporary marketing calls for more than developing a good product or service, pricing it adequately, and making it available to the target customers or clients. Organizations should also promote their goods and services to present and potential customers.
The Elements of marketing promotions mix include the following:- Advertising, Sales Promotion, Personal Selling, Public Relations and Publicity. The combination of these marketing promotions elements is called Promotional Mix. In their various ways, these elements are involved in communicating information to customers, clients or potential users about goods and services on offer. Their fundamental aim is to prompt customers, clients or potential users to take positive action by placing orders, making enquiries, and purchasing on a continuous basis.
The consumer before he makes his purchase decision passes through the following stages: Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action or what we popularly refer to as the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action) process of making a purchase. At each step in the purchase decision, the probability that a purchase will result is enhanced through the use of efficient and effective marketing promotions, and ending ultimately in the purchase of the goods or service being promoted.
Marketing Promotion is the art of transmitting information for marketing purposes. It is the process of establishing communication relationship. Under marketing communications, an organization would be aiming at a deliberately differentiated audience for a commercial purpose, and would employ such means of communication as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and publicity.
According to Achumba (2000) a marketing promotion strategy is concerned with the role to be played by each of the promotional mix elements towards effective and efficient dissemination of information to customers, clients or potential users. As Achumba further noted, the suitability of any particular promotional mix is a function of such factors as the type of product or service (i.e. industrial or consumer), the age of the product (i.e. the time for which the product/service has been in the market and its sophistication as compared to competing products/services), and the contribution which it is felt that the other marketing variables can make to the demand-influencing process.
The underlying emphasis and consideration for management is to know the extent to which advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and publicity will help in achieving the objectives of the marketing promotions programme. Aspects to consider include the objectives of the marketing promotions programme, the budget allocation for it, and the means and tools for disseminating information to customers or clients.
1.2 Statement of Problem
Most organizations, including Cadbury Nigeria Plc has failed to realize the vital roles that marketing promotions can play towards organizational success. They failed to implement effective promotional programmes and strategies that will offer competitive advantage towards their brands and therefore enable consumers have brand preference for their products which is hard to overcome by other competitors.
In most cases, promotional programmes are. not given their right places. Promotional programmes are not usually being handled by experts. Also, in most instances, promotional programmes are not properly planned and executed. The promotional budgets are just conceived and dished out without mapping out appropriate strategies for its implementation and execution tailored towards achieving organizational success.
Advertising programmes are usually targeted at the mass audience instead of focusing on a little market segment. Advertising, sales promotional, publicity and public relations programmes’ objectives are not properly stated. In several instances, the advertising themes are not appropriately conceived. Wrong media for communicating the promotional messages are often been selected. In most cases, there is usually wrong timing of advertisement messages. The sales personnel are often not well trained to carry out their personal selling functions effectively.
The overall consequence of all these anomalies is that promotional objectives in most cases are never realized.
1.3 The Purpose of the Study
It is against this backdrop that the study set out to:
i. determine the impacts of Promotion on organizational performance,
ii. determine whether advertising improve corporate and brand images.
iii. ascertain which of the promotional strategies that Nigerian managers use in their organizations to achieve their marketing objectives,
examine ways by which promotional programmes can be made more effective,
iv. didentify various problems that confront Nigerian Managers in implementing effective promotional programme
1.4. Research Questions
The following questions were asked in this study:-
1.What are the impacts of promotion on organizational performance?
2.What are the various promotional strategies that are open to Nigerian Managers to achieve organizational success?
3.Which of the promotional strategies that are mostly used by Nigerian Managers in their organizations to achieve their marketing objectives?
4.In what way(s) can promotional programmes be made more effective?
5.What are the various problems confronting Nigerian Managers in implementing effective promotional programmes?
1.5. Research Hypotheses
1. H0: Marketing promotion decreases organizational profitability.
H1 Marketing promotion increases organizational profitability.
2. H0: Advertising does not improve corporate and brand images.
H1: Advertising improves corporate and brand images.
3. H0: Involvement of experts in promotional programmes does not enhance the achievement of promotional objectives. H1: : Involvement of experts in promotional programmes do enhance the achievement of promotional objectives. 4. H0: Personal Selling is not more precise in making sales than other promotional mix elements
H1: Personal Selling is more precise in making sales than other promotional mix elements,
1.6. Significance of Study
Corporate Promotional strategies is among the strategies adopted by organizations to improve on their revenue generation and profitability. Promotional programs when successful shall help organizations to have easy in roads into the market place and therefore be able to achieve their marketing objectives.
The significance of this study can be seen by examining the various contributions that this study shall make to the users of the information of this study which include the organization that is being used as the case study of this work. This study shall provide reference point to students, marketers and researchers who are seeking avenues to improve their marketing promotional programmes. The findings of this study shall be hosted on the internet and kept in the Library to make them accessible to other users. It is hoped that both the organization that was used as the case study of this study and the larger society shall benefit immensely from this work.
1.7. Scope of the Study
This study focused on the Impact of Promotion on Organizational Performance – A Case study of Cadbury Nig Plc. This study investigated on the impact of Promotion on Organizational Performance. 1.8 Definition of Terms
Advertising:To make known to the public, to stress the good points of a product with the aim of selling the products.
Billboards: Billboards are large structures located in public places which display advertisements to passing pedestrians and motorists
Celebrity branding This is type of advertising that focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, and money, popularity to gain recognition for their products and promote specific stores or products.
Coupons: A piece of paper which may be exchanged for goods or money
Guerrilla marketing A recent advertising innovation is "guerrilla marketing", which involve unusual approaches such as staged encounters in public places, giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with brand messages, and interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message
Informercials: An infomercial is a long-format television commercial,typically five minutes or longer. The word "infomercial" combining the words "information" & "commercial”. Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals.
Mass Media: Means of communication information to a large number of people
Niche Marketing: These advertisements are targeted to a specific group and can be viewed by anyone wishing to find out more about a particular business or practice at any time, right from their home.
Personal Selling: Personal Selling is a face-to-face oral presenta
tion of information about products and service in a conversation with one or more buyers for the purpose of making sells.
Persuasion: The act of bringing someone to do or think something by arguing with them or by advising them.
Promotion: Advertising, or an effort to publicize and increase sales of a particular brand.
Publicity: Is an unpaid form of promotion appearing in the mass media. It is a non personal form of promotion which may take the form of favourable news presentation for a product or an organization
Public Relations: Is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.
Sales Promotion: Sales promotions are those marketing activities, other than personal selling, advertising, and publicity that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness. Sales promotions include things like contests and games, sweepstakes, demonstrations, shows and expositions, product giveaways, samples coupons, loyalty programs, and discounts.
Social Network Advertising: This is online advertising with a focus on social networking sites.
Sweepstakes: A gambling system in which those who take part stake money which goes to the holder of the winning ticket
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