Marketing Impact on Consumer Attitude to the Brand and Purchase Intention in Saudi Arabia Thesis

Introduction

Studies have proved that organizations or brands with higher marketing-to-promotion ratios tend to dominate the markets with sales volume almost double of their competitors. It has also been proved that heavy-up marketing not only enhances the sales of an organization or brand immediately but continues to work for years even after the advertisement has stopped running (Kopalle 2000). This mainly happens with television advertisements. Even newspapers and magazines are effective in enhancing the sales of a company. Marketing through printed media and radio helps to increase brand familiarity among the common people. More exposure guarantees development of more purchasing interest among the customers. So, it is to be seen whether marketing has positive effects on consumer attitudes in Saudi Arabia in terms of Brand and Purchase Intention. Thus, Sponsorship and Sales Promotion in Saudi Arabia should also be evaluated.

Aim

To evaluate the impact of marketing on consumer attitude to the brand and purchase intention in Saudi Arabia with a comparison with sponsorship and sales promotion.

Research Question

1. What is the overall impact of marketing on consumer attitude to the brand and purchase intention in Saudi Arabia?
2. How is sponsorship and sales promotion effective in changing consumer attitude in Saudi Arabia?

Hypothesis

It is assumed that the overall impact of marketing on consumer attitude to the brand and purchase intention in Saudi Arabia is substantial enough with help of proper sponsorship and sales promotion.

Literature review

Through the various changes that have taken place in our recent studies and measurement of marketing techniques, it has been found that marketing definitely works better than not marketing. It is certainly more beneficial than promotions and it works on almost any type of media, like print, radio, internet or television. It pays to advertise not only for consumer oriented products but also for industrial ones (Kopalle 2000). Marketing helps to launch new products and also to boost the sales of established ones. In fact, marketing is also beneficial in recessions as it enhances the state of the companies. Studies have indicated that those organizations or brands which have a higher marketing-to-sales ratio then their competitors have a greater profitability that can be calculated by their return-on-interest (ROI) and better market share through share-of-market (SOM) (Nair 2004).

Marketing only works when we follow the general pattern of a continuous cycle. The first step is to test the marketing media (Kim 1992). Apart from the traditional sources of media, nowadays there are many other sources, like cold calling and cost-per-click campaigns (Petrison 2006). These mediums need to be tested to determine which one works best (Nair 2004). Then we should properly evaluate the results to see which strategy returns a high ROI and rank the marketing methods accordingly (Hansen 2009). After we have evaluated the marketing medium which works best for us, we should invest into it and eliminate the other marketing mediums. We need to repeat this cycle constantly so that the present campaign is better then the previous ones so as to find an optimized method (Nair 2004).

Marketing that creates a positive attitude and persuades the consumers by creating liking and arousing desires and feelings in them for a particular product or brand is more effective and impacts the sales volumes more than others do. But most of the time marketing requires patience, time and above all repetition. The products must be worthwhile and consistent for good marketing to work and deliver what it promises to the customers (Hoek 2008). A good marketing strategy, brand perception, knowledge of its benefits and enhancement of its values are the key elements to successful marketing. Thus, it is evident that the more the consumer sees a brand or product in a newspaper or website or TV, the more they will tend to like it (Meenaghan 2003). Effective marketing can change markets by improving profit margins. Marketing has both long term and short term powers. Through the former it conveys new information, builds awareness and enhances credibility and through the latter it can convey brand image and develop a positive reputation of a brand or organization. The great power marketing possesses can seldom be recognized and achieved in reality and those organizations that can consistently develop effective marketing campaigns will have a prosperous future since good marketing is like an invincible cloak (Meenaghan 2003).

Methodology

For the study, qualitative method would be used. The basic advantages of qualitative measures are multiword. Firstly, it presents a completely realistic approach that the statistical analysis and numerical data used in research based on quantitative research cannot provide. Another advantage of qualitative measures is that it is more flexible in nature in terms of collected information interpretation, subsequent analysis and data collection. It also presents a holistic point of view of the investigation. Furthermore, this approach of research allows the subjects to be comfortable thus be more accurate as research is carried on in accordance to the subject’s own terms. The best statistical method would be to interview long well formulated day-to-day working procedure at a specific and well selected location and in this case, it would be the three selected events mentioned. Throughout the procedure, it should be noticed whether there are specific variables within the testable population or not. These variables would be extremely important while evaluating the basic data in the final stages where the adjustments would be made to the formulated data in accordance to the observations. However, it is important to take into account the aspects of fundamental variables of an individual such as ethnicity, religious belief or positive support from the sales structure of the management and individual.

Conclusion

We have seen that marketing works during times of recessions too. This is because through marketing it is possible to gain long term brand building and exposure which most businesses tend to sacrifice due to the pressures on the bottom line which shows the profit or loss. During recessions consumers spend less and when the organizations reduce marketing, it has a negative affect on the consumers as this further reduces their spending motivation deepening recession (Hansen 2009). Good business policies, on the other hand, suggest that when the competitors are reducing their advertisements, an organization that increases or at least maintains its marketing enjoys an increase in its sales volume. Recessionary marketing impacts the consumers even after the recession period. But for marketing to work it must be good and effective since it is not necessary that all types of marketing must work equally well (Hansen 2009). Under such conditions it is assumed that impact of marketing on consumer attitude to the brand and purchase intention in Saudi Arabia with a comparison with sponsorship and sales promotion would work quite well.

Timetable

The total dissertation procedure would take 11 weeks. Literature Review would take three weeks, it would be followed by Conduct Interviews/Collect data, and it would take two weeks. Transcribe of Interviews would take another two weeks followed by Analyze Data would take one week. The Draft Final Report would be in one week and Feedback in another one week followed by Submitting Final Report. There would be an additional week to counter any unforeseen circumstances that may suspend the work.

References

Hansen, J. (2009) Exploring memory for product names advertised with humour. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 8(2-3), pp. 135-148.

Hoek, J. (2008) Ethical and practical implications of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer marketing. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 13(1), pp. 73-87.

Kim, P. (1992) Does Marketing work? A Review of Evidence, The Journal of Consumer Marketing, 9(4), pp- 5-21.

Kopalle, P.K. (2000) When (not) to indulge: the role of consumer expectations and brand goodwill in determining advertised and actual product quality. Managerial and Decision Economics, 21(6), pp. 223-241.

Meenaghan, T. (2003) Sponsorship and marketing: A comparison of consumer perceptions. Psychology and Marketing, 18(2), pp. 191-215.

Nair, B. (2004) Marketing Communication, Intl Specialized Book Service Inc. Sydney.

Petrison, L.A. (2006) Database marketing: Past, present, and future, Journal of Direct Marketing, 11(4), pp. 109-125.