IMPACT OF INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS ON THE COMPANIES' SALES PERFORMANCE

Abstract

The Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) concept has been largely regarded as an important marketing management issue. This is because to survive in the competitive marketing environment of today many companies try to adopt IMC to improve the naanagement and integration of the marketing communication programmes. But the term and concept of IMC is so recent and "modern " that it is not known and accepted by all which can explain the lack ofa generally accepted definition and common understanding of the whole concept. While some marketing managers are aware that marketing communications is an important resource of their business performance, others are very ignorant of the efficacy and prospects inherent in its application for effective business performance. This study therefore examined the relationship between Integrated Marketing Communications and companies' sales and profits; examined the IMC tools commonly used by the selected companies under study in boosting their sales performance; established how Integrated Marketing Communications save time, money and stress; found out the indicators the marketing executives and managers use in nleasuring the effectiveness of overall IMC programmes. The study had a population of Eight hundred and three staff of the five selected companies, out of which a sample size of 267 top management officers was determined using Taro Yamane formula. The top management staff and middle managers were used because they have the adequate and relevant knowledge of the subject matter. The study made use of primary and secondary data. A total number of 267 copies of the questionnaire were distributed while 240 copies were collected. The descriptive research design was adopted for the study. Content validity and test-retest of reliability was done with coefficient of 0.96 indicating high degree of consistency. Four hypotheses were tested using Pearson 's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, Chi-Square (X2) and Z-test statistical tools. The result of the analysis revealed that there was significant relationship between Integrated Marketing Communications and companies ' sales and profits. The study further showed that Integrated Marketing Communications save time, money and stress. Also the result revealed that there were suitable indicators such as sales growth, market share growth, profitability, sales income, price premiums, brand awareness, channel cooperation, customers ' satisfaction, brand loyalty among others, the marketing executives and managers used in measuring the effectiveness of overall IMC programmes. It is concluded that IMC is more than the coordination of companies ' outgoing message between different media. To this end, the study recommended that firms should develop their IMC programmes in association with changes in order to cover the gaps created by changes.