BINDURA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

Name Tonderai Chamahuru b1851697

Macdonald pfende b1850583
Ebination Zambani b1646878
Oscar Mandoga b1852069
Degree Programme : Marketing
Course : Retail Management
Course code : BS223
Level : 2:2
Lecturer : Mrs Nyengerai
Assignment : 01

Question: Using any six marketing communication tools, design a

market communications plan for a Zimbabwe organization of your
choice.
Market Communication primarily aims to communicate ideas to targeted audiences. A Marketing
Communication plan is a strategy for informing the targeted customer audience about the
products or services, either directly or indirectly with the intention to persuade them to make a
purchase, Balboni B. & Gabrielli V. (2010).  Market communication tools are effective when
there is a proper plan employed. Econet as a company should manage its marketing tools to
archive a successful marketing plan. This is done through advertising, personal selling, sales
promotion, public relations, direct marketing and Sponsorships.

To commence with, advertising is the non-personal and paid form of communication. It is one of
the most effective forms of communication where it reaches a mass audience at once within a
short period of time, Keller K. L. & Kotler P. T. (2009). It not only increases sales but also
creates awareness and reminds customers about existing products. Econet need to develop an
advertising strategy to ensure that the right message should be delivered in the right manner such
as SMS messages. The various media used by Econet are billboards, television, print media such
as newspapers with price tags for broadband data. In order for Econet to manage advertising
effectively the other necessary issues are setting advertisement objectives as well as budgets.
Duncan, T. (2002).

Moreover, in marketing communications one of the commonly used tools is sales promotion
Sales promotion are the short term incentives given to consumers to accelerate the sale , Keller
K. L. & Kotler P. T. (2009). It gives them a reason to buy the product by providing attractive
offers like free 300 MB for purchasing daily whatsapp bundles, contests, premiums, samples
etc. .Sample products promote testing of new product and attract new customers for the new
product such as free airtime after purchasing a new econet sim card. Premiums are incentives to
buy the product and they can be goods offered free or low cost, Cutlip, S. M., & Center, A. H.
(2009) . Through the sales promotion, the purchasing of the product can be increased and it
encourages the product to be purchased once more time

Furthermore, According to variety of definitions public relations are the practices to protect the
image of the product or the organization and often not required payment to the media by
establishing communication with both inside and outside customers (Keller & Kotler, 2009.
Public Relations mainly focus on managing the relationship between an organization and the
public. It is a two-way communication where the public shares their feedback to the
organization. Public Relation is done to create the goodwill in the market and present the product
of the company in the positive light. Promotion can be done through press releases, public
appearances news etc. Cutlip, S. M., & Center, A. H. (2009).

Basically Personal selling is the communication which occurs during buying and selling. In
definition Personal Selling is face to face interaction with the end-users with the motive of
promoting the product and convincing the buyer to purchase the product. Duncan, T. (2002) . In
this process, seller persuades the potential buyer for purchasing goods or services (Keller &
Kotler, 2009, p. 398). It is the most effective tools in market communication as salesperson
directly communicates with the buyer, resolves their issues on spot, Improvise his pitch as per
the need of the buyer and focus on building a long-term relationship with end-users. Gurun, G.
U. & Butler, W. A. (2012).

Direct marketing is another marketing tool which is recently applied by econet. It is a form of
market communication where organizations directly communicate with end users through
emails, telephone, fax, text messages, catalogue, brochure, and promotional letter Balboni B. &
Gabrielli V. (2010). Nowadays direct marketing is one of the fastest developing marketing
industry, people buy more online. So marketers help consumers in the buying process by sending
those catalogs and other marketing material such as texts and SMS which makes the process
easier for consumers. Through direct marketing, many businesses connect directly with targeted
consumers to obtain response and to cultivate customer loyalty (Kotler et al., 2011).

Sponsorship bridges the gap between the consumers and brand equity of a company and connect
them closely. Sponsorships helps econet business increases its credibility, improve its public
image, and build prestige . According Arndt, J. (1967) sponsorship is the provision of assistance
either financial or in kind to an activity by a commercial organization for the purpose of achieving
commercial objectives, so a commercial organization could get more exposure to the audience on
the new platform of sponsored activity, for instance sports competitions such as Econet Victoria
Falls Marathon in 2019, which functions as the connection of the organization with the consumers.
Sponsoring an event, especially an exclusive sponsorship, sets you apart from your competitors
by tying you to something positive in consumers' minds.

In conclusion Market communication tools are effective when there is a proper plan is employed.
Econet employ various market communication tools as discussed above to archive a successful
marketing plan. This is done through advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public
relations, direct marketing to mention but a few.

REFERENCE PAGE

Balboni B. & Gabrielli V. (2010). SME Practice towards Integrated Marketing Communication.
Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 28(3), 275-290.

Keller K. L. & Kotler P. T. (2009). Marketing Management. 13th edition, Pearson.

Duncan, T. (2002). IMC: Using Advertising & Promotion to Build Brands. 1th edition, McGraw-
Hill.

Cutlip, S. M., & Center, A. H. (2009). Effective Public Relations. 10th edition, Pearson

Gurun, G. U. & Butler, W. A. (2012). Don’t Believe the Hype: Local Media Slant, Local
Advertising, and Firm Value. The Journal of Finance, 17(2), 561-598.
Arndt, J. (1967). 'Word-of-Mouth Advertising and Informal Communication' in Cox, D. (ed.)
Risk Taking and Information Handling in Consumer Behaviour, Boston, Harvard University.

Keller K. L. & Kotler P. T. (2009). Marketing Management. 13thedition, Pearson

Kotler P. T. & Armstrong G. (2010). Principle of Marketing. 13th edition, Pearson

Kotler P. T., Armstrong G., & Parment A. (2012). 1th, Pearson Education Ltd.