CORPORATE ADVERTISING AS AN EFFECTING PROMOTIONAL TOOL IN THE MARKETING OF BANKING SERVICES (A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED COMMERCIAL BANK IN DELTA STATE)
Advertising roots can be traced to early history. Although advertising is primarily a private enterprise marketing tools, is used in all the countries of the world including socialist countries. It is a cost effective way to dissemination message. Whether it be to build brand preference for coca-cola all over the world or to motivate a development nations consumer to drink milk or practice both control advertising practice goes back to the very beginning of recorded history.
A pompell wall painting praised a politician and asked for the peoples notes other forms of advertising such as town cries were also used on the early history of advertising (Philip Kotler).
- HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF ADVERTISING IN NIGERIA
The development of modern advertising in Nigeria is synonymous with the development of Links Limited Lagos.
In the 1980’s advertising in Nigeria gathered momentum. This was due to the emergence of conventional retail out let.
Customers where able to choose and pick the goals they like. The first radio commercial was sponsored by level brothers Nigeria Plc for one detergent and product by WAI in 1960.
In the same year, television arrived on Nigeria and the first TV commercial was sponsored by Nigeria breweries make of star larger beer and coca-cola of drink at that time.
Today in Nigeria, advertising has become so phistcated both in design and presentation of commercial message.
There has also been a tremendous increase in number of advertising agencies in the country. The increase in the number of agencies in the county necessitated the formation of a regulation professional body called the Association of advertising practitioners of Nigeria (A.A.P.N). This AAPN is charged with the overall regulation and proper conduct of advertising in Nigeria.
Also Read: The Effect of Advertising on Consumer Preference Patterns for Malt Drinks
SOURCE: Paraphrased from lintas Lagos (1928-1978) publication on it fifty years of growing as in Aham Anyanowu (1993) page 95.
What is bank marketing?
The word marketing conjures up different images to different people in various fields. To the casual reader marketing would seem but a glossy term for selling and advertising to the informed mind however, marketing involves the continued monitoring of customers need with a view of providing better products services at a profit. Ogunsanya G. (1986).
Malcan Mcmam (1968) also once called market. The creation and delivery of a standard of living so more may other definitions of marketing exist and more may be evolved over time but the substance of marketing in its overall operation, a firm that is not marketing oriented will soon seem. The prophetic handwriting on the wall.
Just as marketing is vital in the manufacturing oil and other sectors it is also important that the services industries and moreso in banking. The defining marketing with special reference to bank wafer (1973) give a 5-point definition.
- Identifying the profitable market now and in the future.
- Assessing the present and future need of customers.
- Setting business development goals and making plan to met them.
- Managing the various banking services and promoting them to achieve the plan.
- Adoption to the past changing environment.
From this definition, it is clear that different banking service is changed on marketing from the step by step definition above, bank must know the direction they are headed, know their customers, very well the very dynamic environment.
All business arms at profitability and these include banks. Such profit can only be achieved if may be made at the statement of the customer but in free market condition to stay longer in business bank must continually assess their operations and see how far they are meeting the needs of their customers and society in general.
In making use of product or services, customers derive various utilities, time, place, possession and from utilities. Bank marketing seeks to provide in the from the customer wants. The right place and the right time world (levy H.B. 1984).
The marketing services in the right from place and time would involve analysis research, training and some other factors. According to Onwuzuruoha (1984). Bank marketing has to concern itself with product development, effective training of personal to seek the various (services). Research to determine the acceptability of proposed service or modification of existing ones (provision of end) maintenance of branch offices that are not enable. Bank draws their customers from broadly the same population but their publics are by no mean homogenous.
Thus, in the marketing of banking services, bank must be conscious of the fact. Bank marketing should therefore try to define the various markets the bank arms at saving, the bank should thus segment its markets.
Stanton, (1981) define marketing segmentation as the process of dividing the total of a heterogeneous market for a product into several sub-market or segments, each of tends to be homogenous in all signification aspect.
Due to recent development in the banking, industry the marketing oriented bank would endeavour to segment its market.
Ekemezie mentioned some of these development. The great increase both in the number of customers requiring banking and other financial services on the complexity of service they required. The more sophisticated use of computer, not only to handle electronically transactions which will previously handle manually (encouraging aims length impersonal banking) but to give central management much more information on and control over the details and profitability of customer transaction and commercial initiatives. It should be noted at this stage that customers generally view service as fairly homogenous. Thus as Kotler (1988) say “The careless about the provider than the price” this be the case bank would need to arrive at a solution to beat price competition.
Bank for instance can add innovation features to distinguish its offer from that of other banks. In addition to the primary service, packaging secondary feature may also be added. In marketing its services, a bank should endeavour to development complete marketing mix strategies for its services to help to achieved this. They must undertake certain step these in include;
- Conducting marketing analysis and research: The bank should be able to who is its customer. Who does the buying? Why? And so many others, though analysis and research corrects answers to this question are found and the bank is able to gain proper direction.
- Product planning: This refers to all planning activities designed to prepare an assortment of product to meet the market demand Stanton product development refer to a firm seeking increased sales by developing new or improved product for its current marketing.
- Pricing of service: This should take into account supply demand relationship in various areas of various time. Price should constantly monitored in order to accommodate such consideration as location, season and psychology of the customer.
Finally, it can be said that days of traditional banking are over. Bank should now be more alert to various avenues, techniques and strategies of insuring maximum customer satisfaction essentially bank can be do this by planning effective marketing strategies while considering a multitude of other factor both within and outside the industry. Banks must realize that with service, customers buying performance rather than a physical product since service are so abstract, the marketing presented banker must find a way to make concept come for a customer.
- THE CORPORATE ADVERTISING OBJECTIVE
The aims of advertising generally are to inform, to persuade and convince and to remind. The broadly comprise the aim of corporate advertising as well. However, like with many area of marketing corporate advertising has grown to such a stage where this broad aims have to narrowed in other to got a dipper understanding of the subject. For instance, who are we informing what are we persuading or reminding them about any why?
Before delivering any details one needs to know just what corporate advertising really is. Kotter (1988) sees its has the long term build up of an organization corporate image.
Kogen (1973) believes that corporate advertising explains the continues researcher. Engineering and management effort a company makes to improve the product or service form. These two definition one gets the impression that corporate advertising is not an adhoc after but long term continue. It is concern with research to improve its product and its corporate images enhancing banks corporate image is important.
George F. (1989) summed up the importance of goods corporate image. The part that corporate advertising plays in enhancing the corporate image vital. It may be said to be overriding arms of corporate advertising seeks to product a firms repetition. The argument for corporate advertising is based primarily on its preventive. It is perspective because you do it before it is needed. The right definition of corporate perspective advertising. Though the ultimate goal of corporate advertising is to increase sales such device objective as better labour relation goods will is areas of operation interest in the company by investors and so are not left out.
The major objective of corporate advertising however is designed to;
- Enhance or maintain the company reputation or good will among specific publics or business audience.
- Establish or maintain a level of awareness of the company’s name and nature of business.
- Establish the company’s concern for environment and social issues.
- Educate the audience on subject of importance to the company feature and e.g. profit, free enterprise economy.
- Ring about towards the company or its product.
With stereotype idea gradually fasting out corporate advertising has sized to be a second rate marketing function grudgingly delegated to the P.H. department but very important management advertising. With the mention objectives and important of corporate advertising it is no wonder that banks are beginning to sit up and take their corporate advertising seriously.
Thus as early as 1982, 7 banks spent 75 billion in foreign media for advertising mostly spent in building up the banks corporate image.
- MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CORPORATE ADVERTISING
The simple communication model show that from the sender and receiver of the message there is also room for feedback.
Nylen D.W. (1980) thus, in advertising there should be an avenue not just for feedback but more importantly or measuring or assessing how effective the corporate advertising programme of bank is Evaluating the effectiveness of advertising is not easy task for it is not always possible to take into account. The many other marketing mix factor which may have been used to achieved a successful outcome.
John Marah postulates that the impact of advertising can be assessed before it is used (pre-testing).
Pre-testing can be carried out in a number of ways:
- Showing advertising(s) to a representation sample of the target audience in order to get a reaction before the motor advertising campaign.
- Showing a profit of advertising(s) to a group of consumers to set which one(s) make the best impact using recolor memory techniques.
Often however, advertising effectives is measured the effectiveness of adverts, two schools of taught may be considered one school recognizes that the overall objectives of advertising is profitable sales and thus they rear measurement of advertising effectiveness would be found in the profit and loss account of the bank.
In bank words how much sales were we able to achieve in this period using this advertising campaigns? This the stimulus in what is actually being evaluated.
Nylen D. (1980) point out some problem that hinder this approach to assessing advertising these are:
- Advertising does not always have the sale objective in mind, in short term (long term objective and justification for advertising is profitable sales) some other objective of advertising may include enhance the bank image. Information the public about a new experience or change of address etc. measuring advertising effectiveness based on sale alone would not indicate. If these objectives have been meet or not.
- How is the measurement done? Since sale are influenced by a multitude of factors how do we then isolate the sales generated by one of those elements advertising, such factors as government politics economic conditions and so on effect.
- Media evaluation did the programme perform as planned. Area there other media approaches that could yield more effective result.
- Creative evaluation was the creative programme the was executed are there alternative programme that may be more effective.
- Total plan evaluation: The overall evaluation of the overall objective. Several other elements are also evaluated to see how effective a back advertising has bee.
These include readership measurement, media audience measurement, market tests, sales analysts attitude measurement. There is various techniques used in assessing the impact of any advertising campaign.
