Role of marketing communication in enhancing brand loyalty among customers; in context research proposal sample

Research statement

Communication in marketing involves activities that are employed by the organization to reach the customers. These activities may include promotion, advertising, exhibition, public relation and use of various media. Communication is crucial for every organization because of the increased competition in the market. This research seeks to find out whether communication increases brand royalty among customers. The research will also measure the role of communication in creating brand loyalty. This will touch on various types of communication in marketing and their efficiency in enhancing brand loyalty. The research also studies the satisfaction of customers as way of creating brand loyalty.

Rationale and Research questions

Communication is an important aspect attracting customers. It is also used to introduce a product to the market. Organizations have been using various media like television advertisement, magazines, newspaper and internet to advertise their products. Communication is a crucial area in marketing. Advertising and promotion are the basis of this research. Advertising is an activity that is used to popularize a product. The advert message is produced by the advertising organization to various media. On the other hand, promotion is a short-term activity that is used to increase sales (DAHLÉN & LANGE, 2008, PG 67). Communication has become an important tool because of the increased competition by increase of players in the industry and presence of substitute.

This research is based on the following research questions

– Does communication help in enhancing brand loyalty among the customers?
– What is the relationship between brand loyalty and high market share?
– Can promotion be used to increase brand loyalty?
– What means of communication does coca cola use to enhance its blood loyalty?
The objective of this research question is to identify the impact of marketing communication on the loyalty of customers. The objective is also supported by an analysis of various communication programs that coca cola uses to enhance brand loyalty

Literature review

Marketing covers activities are used by an organization to increase customer base. The activities are also geared to identify market for the product. Communication is one of those activities. It covers advertising, publicity, promotion and public relations. According to (DAHLÉN & LANGE, 2008, PG 59) organizations operate in a competitive market. This means that there are many buyers and sellers of product. There is presence of competitors in terms of many players in the market. There is also presence of substitute, which compete in the same industry. This makes it hard for an organization to maintain the brand loyalty in a competitive market. Marketing communication helps in maintaining customers and identifying new one. Hence, an organization must effectively communicate to customers to enhance brand loyalty. Communication helps to influence the decision of customers by impressing their mind. It influences their attitude, behavior and perception about the product (HOYER & MACINNIS, 2008, PG 58). For an organization to be effective in communicating to customer, it must address their needs and wants by creating satisfying products. Communicating results to creating awareness of a brand to the customer, this may result to brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is strength for an organization. To create a brand loyalty, an organization must invest large sum of money to enhance programs that will be effective to customers. This gives an organization a competitive advantage. An enhanced loyalty acts as an obstacle to competitors, which in turn result to high sale and high market share. When a product is perceived to have a high market share, it means it commands a substantial percentage of customers in the market compared to competitors.
Customers’ satisfaction is a crucial element that is used to enhance brand loyalty. Customer loyalty is the first step in creating brand loyalty. A marketer must address the needs of customer in order to create a brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is as a result of repeated buying behavior of the same brand by the customer. This means the product must satisfy the needs of the customers. Loyal customers are less sensitive to price and are not influenced by the competitors (RAMESH KUMAR, 2009, PG 35). This requires a marketer to communicate to the market segment that is less sensitive to the prices of products. The message must also communicate on the availability of the product in the market. Such brands are of high quality and this is reflected by their prices. Advertising is the best mean for maintaining brand loyalty. Contrary to promotion that is used to increase sale tor a short period, advertising has a long time objective. Promotion has a relative result in enhancing brand royalty.
The research has also analyzed the communication campaign for coca cola. Coca cola has been effectively in creating brand loyalty among its customers. Though the soft drink industry is clogged, coca cola commands a high market share. It has created customer loyalty, who repeatedly consumes the coca cola products. Advertising has the main element that coca cola has been using. Its adverts are channeled in various media around the world. Television airtime is the main channel used. It has also used newspaper and journals to advertise its brand. It also uses the theme of uniting nation and quality. It is also consistence in manufacturing of its brand. The case study of coca cola shows that communication has a significant role in enhancing brand loyalty.
Creating brand loyalty is not dependent on marketing communication only. It is combination of principles like consistence of the brand and satisfaction of customers. It also needs market segmentation to concentrate on a category of customers. The company needs to assure the customers that the product will be available in the market at all times. This is done through developing effective market communication campaign (LEITNER, 2007, PG 45). Brand loyalty helps an organization to compete effectively in the market. In the case of coca cola, it is creating both the customer and brand royalty. This enables the brand to survive in a saturated market. The market is competitive with many entries in terms of players and presence of substitute. Effective campaigns will enhance the company to compete effectively by creating customer loyalty, which will lead to brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is characterized by high market share by the brand. This is a strategic goal for many organizations that can be effected through marketing communication.

Methodology

The research relied on both the primary and secondary sources of information. Primary source are used to generate raw data on whether communication can be used to enhance brand loyalty. A descriptive method of collecting data is used. The research focused mainly on secondary sources of data. This included textbooks, published articles, journals and magazine COOPER, & SCHINDLER, 2001, PG, 258). It also included a case study on the role of communication in enhancing brand loyalty for coca cola.
The advantage of using secondary data is that the information is readily available and accessible in the library and bookstore. The information is easy to analyze, hence easy to generate answers to the research questionnaire. It is also economical since there are no expenses of conducting intensive interviews and distributing questionnaires. Textbooks on marketing and advertising were resourceful in researching on the topic of the research. Relying on secondary data in however disadvantageous because it does not have firsthand information about the current condition in the market. This made the research to include some interviews on the field to overcome the challenges of secondary data (ZIKMUND, 2003, PG. 358). The method took a random sampling where we asked interviewees what makes them loyal to a certain brand. The questions were semi structured and the interviewee could give his own perspective on the questions asked. The advantage of using semi- structured is because the interviewee is not limited to answers indicated on the questionnaire. He or she can provide his perspective on the question. It also allows the interview to have a broader interface on the question asked. However, they take a longer time compared to structured questions asked during the interview. It is also difficult to analyze the information gathered from semi-structured questions.

Ethical issue

Marketing communication has attracted some ethical issues in the society. According to this research, some standards control the advertisement messages in the beverage industry. The guidelines are used to enhance that the producer does not give wrong information to the consumers (DAHLÉN & LANGE, 2008, PG 129). It is unethical to give wrong information to the customers. Although the message in the advert is supposed to be appealing to customers, it needs to be truthful. The branding also requires the producer to indicate the ingredient used to manufacture a product. This is to make the customer aware of what she is consuming. Some organizations have generated marketing campaigns, which does not meet the standards in the advertising industry. This ethical issue needs to be addressed.

Bibliography

COOPER, D. R., & SCHINDLER, P. S. (2001). Business research methods. Boston, Mass,
Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
DAHLÉN, M., & LANGE, F. (2008). Marketing communications. Hoboken, N. J., Wiley.
HOYER, W. D., & MACINNIS, D. J. (2008). Consumer behavior. Mason, OH, South-Western.
LEITNER, A. (2007). Marketing communication. München, GRIN Verlag GmbH. http://nbn-
resolving. de/urn: nbn: de: 101: 1-2010081414060.
RAMESH KUMAR, D. (2009). Consumer behaviour and branding: concepts, readings and
cases. New Delhi, Pearson Education.
ZIKMUND, W. G. (2003). Business research methods. Mason (OH), Thomson/South-Western.