UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
UNIT: MARKETING STRATEGY AND PLANS
UNIT CODE: DMA 413
MARTHA JUMA-D33/135007/2019
VINCENT MUSAU-D33/138488/2019
HAYTAM ISSE-D33/47357/2017
SUMEIYA FARJALLAH - D33/138626/2019
ZAHRA ABDU- D33/138413/2019
MUSYOKA YVONNE SYOVINYA - D33/46911/2017
ALIYA MOHAMED HUSEIN - D33/139454/2020
OCHIENG BRIAN - D33/34257/2014
MARTHA TAI - D33/138671/2019

ASSIGNMENT: DISCUSS PROMOTIONAL APPROACHES USED BY COMMERCIAL BANK IN

KENYA

Promotional strategy is a method used by companies to advertise, promote & sell their products and
services as it will help increasing product awareness and thereby increasing their sales revenue as a result
of reaching a wider range of customers. Therefore, different marketing approaches must be developed to
optimize promotional efforts to reach a broader audience and target group to consume the banking sector
products.
Importance of promotional Strategy

❖ Improves the effectiveness of promotional campaigns; promotion is a crucial part of any

business, so companies develop a promotion mix, putting all efforts to make promotions at the
right place, at the right time, and to the right audience. It helps one get the most out of their
marketing resources by optimizing their budget and saving time.
❖ Helps segment the audience, to develop a compelling promotion mix, a company needs to
identify its target audience. Potential subscribers may include various groups of people who have
something in common, for example, age, gender, preferences, and they

1
 all require an individual approach therefore delivering a relevant promotion message via the most
suitable channel for each segment.
❖ Improves communication with clients; companies develop a promotion mix trying to speak their
consumers’ language. It helps in building trust between the brand and its customers. It helps in
nurturing and customer retention. For example, automated email campaigns_helps in achieving
these goals by responding to people’s actions instantly.
❖ Informs Customers; It’s a communication tool to inform both the new and existing customers
about the new products and educate them on the benefits of their products.
1. Advertisement;

Advertising is a major promotion tool. It offers planned and controlled message as it can contact and
influence numerous people simultaneously, quickly and at a low cost per prospect. As a mass
means of communication. Mass production and mass distribution totally depend on all forms of
advertising and publicity. Advertising media are newspaper, magazines, radio, TV, cinema film,
outdoor hoardings and posters, direct mail. The banks have adopted advertisement as a tool
whereby they use for example TV stations in Kenya Moreso those stations with highest number
of viewers to reach larger number of potential customers at the same time and this helps in brand
position therefore increasing revenue for the banks. They use TV and radio stations to reach out
to new and existing customers on product and services to inform customers on the possible
benefits they will get by consuming their products and services for example loan products, timely
processing of loans, types of accounts which earning interests through savings and how they will
help you create wealth among others. Secondly banks have adopted outdoor advertisements
whereby they use billboard to inform, communicate their products to the public which these
billboards are always strategically placed especially are normally placed in streets or highways
which experiences high traffic of people as well as use of print media of using newspapers and
magazines to market their products as well as use of liquid crystal display through text, images
and animations to promote their brand.

Objectives of Advertising

❖
Promotion of new-product.
❖
Support to personal selling.
2
 ❖ Brand Patronage; advertising programs can aim at consumer awareness and attitude. Buyers
may be induced to purchase and repurchases.
❖ Immediate buying action.
❖ Dealer support.

Advertising is a powerful promotion tool to establish and retain brand loyalty and even store patronage

provided the product itself does not suffer from quality-deficiencies.

Banks always consider the following essential for a good advertising;

❖ A good advertisement must have the right message communicated through a right media.
It must reach the right people and prospects and that too at the right time and at the right cost. Right
timing is very necessary.
❖ Advertisement must be properly understood by people and it should ignite their desire to
purchase.
❖ Advertising requires efficient planning, organizing and effective control.
❖ The message must capture the attention, arouse interest and ignite the desire to purchase.
❖ A good advertising theme stresses, clearly the differential advantage of the product or service.
The presentation of the message involves, the choice of words, pictures, symbols, colours, slogan,
testimonial and action.
❖ Media are chosen to reach the desirable segment of the population. Media selection is based on
the communication requirement, emphasis on the prospect, an eye on the competition and the
budget.
❖ Advertising campaign can lead the prospect through the various stages of consumer decision
process, such as awareness, comprehension, conviction, purchase and repurchase.
❖ Sales are influenced not merely by advertising but by all tools of promotion simultaneously.

2. Personal selling; represents a strategy that sales people use to persuade customers to buy their
products by providing them with all information relating to a product, and eliminating consumer
fears about such a good characterized by showing great personal strength, and confidence, and
the ability to persuade and negotiate, are instrumental to winning

3
 consumers, influencing buying, guiding decision about replacement of items, and even trying to
help customers get unavailable commodities they are seeking to buy. Differences in performance
between top and bottom sales performers in the banking industry relate to the use of varied
selling techniques that seek to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty by offering value-added
customer service, and sales support activities. Loyal customers frequently become a company’s
best unpaid salespeople by referring other prospects and spreading positive ‘word-of-mouth’
promotion. These efforts may lead to increased bank market share.

3. Sales promotion comprises impetuses to energize, buy or offer an item or administration It

includes freebies, contests, discounts, free services, passes, tickets. This tool has a shortterm
influence on sales; hence, it is mainly offered for a short-term. Numerous banks presently offer
sales promotions to intermediaries as well as to ultimate consumers in terms of coupons, rebates,
samples and sweepstakes for meeting deals destinations. Give away or branded gifts such as
pens, calendars and diaries are mostly offered to corporate customers and individual customers.
Informed, persuaded, attracted, and satisfied customers enhance bank performance through
increased market share.

4. Public relations; are deliberate, planned, and sustained efforts to establish and maintain mutual
understanding between a company and the public. Public relations cover the creation and
maintenance of corporate identity and image. The commercial banks in Kenya have adopted
charitable involvement for example equity bank has been involved in donations towards food
crisis in Kenya in the recent past, offers sponsorship to less privileged students by paying their
school fees through ‘wings to fly ‘and other community initiatives by donations of water tanks in
partnership with Ken tank through Corporate Social responsibility. The Public relations has been
explored largely by these commercial banks in Kenya by as far sponsoring the football clubs for
the youths for talent promotion.
5. Direct marketing; strategies therefore, plays a crucial role in helping commercial banks to
design and deliver new products and services with unique features and redirecting and
redesigning their business processes to meet current changes. Digital marketing strategies
improved the performance of commercial banks as it enhanced uptake of bank products by the
consumer, lower costs, lower working capital, increased revenue, increased customer

4
 base of the bank, increased market share, increased web traffic, lower fixed capital, accelerate
cash flows, reduce revenue volatility and reduce risk.

References
1. Adefulu, A. D. (2015). Promotional Strategy Impacts on Organizational Market Share and
Profitability. Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, 11(6), 20-33.
2. Agbeja, O., Adelakun, O. J., & Akinyemi, D. (2015). Analysis of the Effect of Advertising on
Sales and Profitability of Company. International Journal of Novel Research in Marketing
Management and Economics, 2(3), 81-90.
3. Andrews, J. C., & Shimp, T. A. (2017). Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of integrated
marketing communications. Nelson Education.
4. Chernev, A. (2018). Strategic marketing management. Cerebellum Press.
5. Kerin, R., & Hartley, S. (2015). Marketing: The core. McGraw-Hill