THE PERCEPTION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMES) MARKETING MANAGERS ON IMC STRATEGY IN ZIMBABWE: A CASE OF MASVINGO URBAN
Keywords:
perception, Small and Medium Enterprises, Integrated Marketing Communication strategyAbstract
To date, there is little empirical research in Zimbabwe on Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) despite its appeal and accounts of its benefits. The author proposes that IMC is fundamentally a process in which marketing managers instil into Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) a sense of competitiveness in the organization. IMC has been recently postulated as a key determinant for a firm’s competitiveness. Also, IMC has been found to encourage message integration and consistency, facilitating the interpretation of information for customers. The customer will not be confused by the vast amount of information from all contact points. Marketers can also combine all of their communications in order to plan and create a coherent and synergistic approach. One hundred marketing managers were interviewed at their offices in Masvingo urban and a series of regression analyses was done and standardised coefficients were used to establish their perception on IMC as a marketing strategy. Most of them expressed ignorance of the full knowledge of IMC and its employment as a marketing strategy. There is need for SMEs to embrace IMC as a new phenomenon that can catapult their businesses.
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