Integrated Marketing Communication and Sales Performance of Quoted Pharmaceutical Companies in Nigeria
Keywords:
Marketing communication, sales performance, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing.Abstract
The study assessed the relationship between integrated marketing communication strategies and the sales performance of quoted pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria. The study adopted an ex post facto design. The population of the study was 4566 marketers of seven quoted pharmaceutical firms in Nigeria, and a sample size of 368 was determined. A structured questionnaire was employed to gather primary data from the respondents, while secondary data was collected from annual financial records of the firms for the period covered. The Cronbach's alpha was used to validate the questionnaire and assess its reliability. The Person's Product Moment Coefficient statistic tool and regression analyses were used for inferential statistical testing of the hypotheses at the 0.05 confidence level. The results showed that there is a significant correlation between integrated marketing communication strategies and sales performance. The study found that advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, and direct selling are significant predictors of sales performance. The study concluded that the adoption of integrated marketing communication strategies increases customer patronage and sales performance. The study recommended, amongst others, that pharmaceutical companies should prioritise public relations marketing over other integrated marketing communication techniques and tactics to increase sales. For optimum selling, more focus should be placed on direct-to-customer and personal selling.
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