Nexus Between Public Relations and Sales Performance: Evidence of Marketing Strategies Used by Insurance Brokers in Kenya

Abstract

Insurance brokers in Kenya are adopting public relations strategy as one of the marketing strategies to help them enhance sales in a business environment that faces tight competition and stagnation, which has hindered them from registering modest profits. The aim of the survey was to evaluate the role of public relations on the sales performance of insurance brokers in Kenya. The theoretical framework focused on social marketing theory. The researcher adopted a descriptive survey design, which entails the description of characteristics of the variables of interest. The researcher applied a census design where each one in the target population was selected to take on the exercise. The entire target population consisting of 188 staff comprised of marketing managers of insurance broking companies in Kenya who took part in the study. Cronbach`s alpha coefficient was utilised as a method of measuring reliability in the study; the data was collected using a structured questionnaire which was pilot tested among a sample of 18 respondents. The surveyor utilised a quantitative research method in this study. Data was analysed and presented using cumulative frequency tables. Multiple linear regression analysis was adopted. Sales statistics, brand mentions/publicity, lead generation, physical and digital marketing. The results concluded that public relations strategy had a highly significant influence on the sales performance of insurance brokers. Thus, affirms that public relations is the power behind enhancing business relationships, heightening business retention, and spreading good publicity which contributes positively towards the sales performance of insurance brokers.