Analysis of marketing communication tools and sales performance in business organizations in Kenya. A case of public service bus companies in Mombasa.

Abstract

Marketing communication tools are a fundamental part of a company’s marketing efforts and they include all the messages and media used to communicate with the target market with the intention of increasing product sales. This research project focussed on the analysis of marketing communication tools and sales performance in business organizations. It focussed on the case of public service bus companies operating in Mombasa with a fleet of ten (10) or more buses. It was conducted between March 2014 and June 2014. The study aimed to determine the effects of Advertising, to evaluate the effects of sales promotions, to examine the effects of personal selling and to analyse the effects of Public Relations on the Sales performance of Public service bus companies in Mombasa. It relied on primary and secondary sources of data to provide insights that helped to answer the research questions. The study was based on the Diffusion of innovations theory and The Hierarchy of effects model as its theoretical frameworks. The Descriptive research design was used and Data was collected through personally administered questionnaires. The target population was twenty one (21) bus companies operating in Mombasa and respondents were their Marketing and operational managers. A census of the target population was done and data analysis of the data collected by questionnaires was done using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis was used to describe the findings after which presentation was done using tables and pie charts. Findings showed there is a positive relationship between Advertising budgets and ticket sales because an increase in Advertising budgets led to an increase in ticket sales. The respondents strongly agreed that Advertising and Sales promotions affect the sales performance of the bus companies in Mombasa to a very great extent, Personal selling moderately affects the sales performance while Public Relations was found to have the lowest effect on the sales performance. The study concluded that Advertising and Sales Promotion affect sales performance of the bus companies the most, Personal selling affects sales to a moderate extent while Public Relations has a very low impact on the sales performance of bus companies in Mombasa. The study recommended that the bus companies should develop creative Adverts that emphasise the benefits or unique selling points of the companies’ offers as well as widening the scope of the media used while Sales Promotions should only be used when there is a decline in demand. For personal selling, company employees who deal with customers should be trained in aspects of customer service to affect customer interactions and sales positively. The bus companies should also participate more in Public Relations activities such as Exhibitions and open days to enhance public awareness of the companies and their services or offers.