CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

Marketing problems especially in the area of advertising as an aspect of corporate

communication, often have far reaching effects on any company and if neglected can cause a

great threat to its continued existence (Giles, 1997). Advertising is any paid form of non-personal

communication about an organization or its product to a target audience through a

mass/broadcast medium by an identified sponsor. It should be observed that for any promotional

activity to be called advertisement it must be paid for. In the real sense, it is the method used by

companies for creating awareness of their products, as well as making new products known to

the new and potential consumers. Advertising is a promotional tool tends to remind, reassure and

influence the decisions of the consumers because an advertisement itself enlightens, educates,

and persuades consumers on their acceptability of the product offering. Advertising is a tool of

marketing for communicating ideas and information about goods and services to an identified

group, which employs paid space or time in the media or uses another communication vehicle to

carry its message. It openly identifies the advertiser and his relationship to the sales effort

(Wanoff, 1997). There are various forms of advertising like informative advertising, persuasive

advertising, comparison advertising, and reminder advertising. Informative advertising is used to

inform consumers about a new product, service or future or build primary demand. It describes

available products and services, corrects false impressions and builds the image of the company,

(Kotler, 2003). Advertising can be done through print media which includes newspapers,

magazines, brochures, audio media (for example radio), and visual media which includes

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billboards, and television (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). Advertisements can also be seen on the

seats of grocery carts, on the wall of airport walkways, on the sides of buses, airplane and train.

Advertisements are usually placed anywhere an audience can frequently access visual or video.

(Busari 2002). Advertising is a message paid for by an identified sponsor and delivered through

some medium of mass communication. It is not neutral, it is not unbiased; it says: I am going to

sell you a product or an idea (Rusell, Rusell and Lane 2006). Going by the various definitions

considered above, advertising is an indicator of the growth, betterment and perfection of the

business environment. Not only does advertising mirror the business environment, it also affects

and gets affected by our style of life. It is not at all surprising that advertising is one of the most

closely scrutinized of all business institutions. In today’s environment, advertisers are closely

examined by the target audience for whom the advertisement is meant for in the society. (Kazmi,

2005). Modern advertising is largely a product of the twentieth century, however,

communication has been a part of the selling process ever since the exchange of goods between

people started. (Kazmi, 2005).

When there is adequate awareness through advertising, high patronage will be achieved which

will result to an increase in sales volume, productivity and profit level of organizations

(Sajuyigbe, Amusat and Oloyede, 2013). Sales volume is the core interest of every organization

and is based on sales and profit. When volume goes up profits rises and management in

organizations is made easier. However, poor product communication to the final consumers

could give competitors an edge in terms of loyalty to brands, sales volume and high market share

(Sujuyigbe et al. 2013). According to Akanbi and Adeyeye (2011), advertising campaign cannot

be solely responsible for recorded increase in its sales after campaign. However, Morden (1991)

insists that advertising gives the knowledge about the product and creates the idea in minds of

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prospective consumers about it. Advertising influences consumer buying behaviour and has a

significant effect on sales turn over (Akanbi and Adeyeye, 2011; Adekoya, 2011).

1.2 Statement of the problem

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are generally thought to play a crucial role in driving

economic growth in both developing and developed countries (Beck, Kunt and Ross,

2003).Historically, maximizing performance has largely been an exercise in uncertain intuition

and gut feel’ for marketers, especially when they are under mounting pressure to account for

their actions and spending. While advertising may have several objectives, ultimately marketing

and business executors want to know, “how advertising has contributed to sales and ultimately to

the company’s bottom line?”understanding and quantifying the benefits of advertising is a

problem as old as advertising itself. The problem stems from the many purposes advertising

serves; building awareness of products, creating brand equity and generating sales. Each of these

objectives are not easily measured or related to the advertising that may have affected it. There

has been an explosion in media alternatives from the traditional standbys of television, radio and

prints into a broader spectrum of both offline and online options, with the internet clearly being

the most visible example of this change. The choices within each medium have also expanded in

an attempt to reach more targeted audience. Television, for example, has burgeoned from three

primary networks to literally dozens of mainstream cable channels, all capable of reaching large

audiences with brand massages or product promotions. Hundreds of new magazines now serve

many special interest groups; whole web advertising presses the edge of one-to-one marketing.

In addition, more and more companies are using integrated multi-media strategies to reach their

desired audience, layering broadcast advertising over dried response campaigns or combining

online with offline campaigns. All of this is making it harder to separate out the individual

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influences of each advertising effort. Consequently, most companies are no longer satisfied

relying solely on traditional methods of measuring advertising effectiveness, namely awareness

surveys and tracking studies. Hence they want more precise and concrete evidence to prove that

their marketing investment is paying off. It is one thing to know how memorable an advert might

be or how potential customers feel about a company or its products, but it is quite another to

quantify the sales and profitability impact that advertising might produce. The defiantly means

that measuring these effects may involve training advertising’s stimulus through a behavioral

chain of events that may eventually culminate in a sales long after the advertising has been

delivered. Furthermore, companies today are in a more competitive and faster-paced

environment than were before, accelerating the need to understand the consequences of their

marketing efforts. Marketers simply do not have the luxury any more to rest on their laurels or to

assess how a set of campaigns performed months after they have been concluded. The

marketplace is evolving so rapidly in many cases that knowing what’s working and what’s not

almost as fast as it is happening has great value. For these reasons, marketers have begun to seek

new and effective measurement tools to help them estimate the impacts of their advertising

mostly on sales volume.

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1.3 Objectives of the study

The broad objectives of this study is to analyze the impact of advertising on sales volume of

Sweet Co Ltd and specific objectives are:

i. to examine the appropriateness of the media of advertising used

ii. examine the suitability of the messages used in its advertisements and

iii. to determine the relationship between advertising and sales volume of Sweet Co Ltd

1.4 Research Questions

Research questions are reasonable questions relating to the statement which seek to provide

answers to research problems through the answer a researcher is able to provide for them.

The questions that may arise in the course of this study are as follows:

i. are the messages used by Sweet co ltd for it advertisements effective and appropriate?

ii. are the media of advertising used by Sweet co ltd suitable?

iii. What is the relationship of advertising of sales volume of Sweet Co ltd?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The hypothesis of this study is stated below:

Hypothesis One

H0: The media of advertising used by Sweet Co Limited are not suitable

H1: The media of advertising used by Sweet Co Limited are suitable.

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Hypothesis Two

H0: The messages used by Sweet Co Limited for advertising are not effective and appropriate.

H1: The messages used by Sweet Co Limited for advertising are effective and appropriate.

Hypothesis Three

H0: There is no significant relationship between advertising and sales volume of Sweet Co

Limited.

H1: There is significant relationship between advertising and sales volume of Sweet Co Limited.

1.6 Scope of the study

The study bothering on the impact of Advertisements on Sales Volume of Small and meduim

Scale enterprises focused on independent variables Advertisements. Dependent variable of the

study was Sales Volume. This is considered as an appropriate proxy for sales volume as it

measures marketing influence of Advertisement. The study captured Sweet Co ltd as its case

study.

1.7 Significance of the Study

The study shall appraise the nature, forms, strategy and operations of Advertisement which shall

serve as a vital source of information to businesses and organizations.

1.8 Limitation of the Study

The basic limitation of this study is that it only considers the impact of Advertisement on sales

volume within the area of this study. Secondly, the study is limited to the area due to time and

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financial constraints of the researcher. Lastly most available data of previous research conducted

may not be applicable to our case study

1.9 Definition of terms

Advertisements: a notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, service, or

event or publicizing a job vacancy.

Advertising: is a marketing communication that employs an openly sponsored, non-personal

message to promote or sell a product, service or idea.

Sales: are activities related to selling or the number of goods or services sold in a given time

period.

Sales volume: is the number of units sold within a reporting period. This figure determine if the

business is expanding or contracting.

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

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This chapter is divided into three sub-sections which include Conceptual Framework, Theoretical

Framework and Empirical Review.

2.1 Conceptual Framework

Advertisement has a direct relationship with the sales performance. Every organization

complains of their budget for advertising, on the bases of the quality of the advertisement, the

variation of the sales (Alvarez, 2005). Advertisement is an important tool that reduces the risk

related to new products (Neslin, 1998). Advertisement according to the ICC (The international

Chamber of Commerce): “Marketing tools which used to attract attention of the customer by

conveying the benefits relating to the product or service”

2.1.1 Advertisement

It is no surprise that any entrepreneur starting up their own enterprise will most certain focus

their time and talents on meeting the needs of customers. Strangely, however, they neglect the

function of winning new customers in the first place. Others on the other hand, naively assume

that if they simply provide excellent products or services, their reputation will precede them. On

the one hand, winning new customers and establishing a new brand in an already developed

market is no easy endeavor. This is especially difficult because most of these enterprises have

cash flow challenges. Advertising is considered expensive and thus, SMEs can’t afford it.

Though, amicably, the lack of promoting the enterprise leads to its eventual decline and fall. All

these leads to the question, does advertising really work? And if yes, when, why, and how does it

work? Unequivocally, the answers to all these questions are critically relevant because

advertising in general, plays an important role both socially and economically.

Nonetheless, the scope and limitation of this study restrains us from thoroughly into the rich and

diverse literature behind advertising; letting us describe and discuss only its effects on SMEs.

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Phillip Kotler (1999) describes advertising as any paid form of non-personal presentation and

promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. The average person is exposed to

more than 600 advertisements per day (Clow and Baack, 2002), making advertising in general an

intricate and indissoluble part of everybody’s life. The ads greatly impinge on consumers’

awareness and have the potential of affecting their thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and decisions. It

is thus distinctively fair to attest that in a modern market, advertising is a vital tool that if

managed and developed effectively can increase sales or market share and, ultimately, the

profitability of the enterprise. To appreciate the importance of evaluating advertising

effectiveness, this chapter first explains the development of an advertising program: focusing on

the relevant decisions that need be taken plus their objectives. The chapter then reviews literature

on the presupposed relationship between advertising and sales plus the challenges SMEs face

when entering a new market. To understand how advertising works, the chapter next describes

the various types of advertising and its alternatives.

2.1.2 Historical background of advertisement

The practice of advertising is as old as man. According to Keller (2005), the urge to advertise

seems to be a part of human nature evidenced since ancient times. One of the earliest means of

advertising was the use of signs. Early craftsmen used signs to advertise their wares and some

traders like the Phoenicians planted commercial messages on prominent rocks. They were among

the forerunners of modern day advertising. However, excavations at Pompey reveal that each

little shop had an inscription on the wall next to the entrance to tell the passerby whether the

shop was the place to buy bread, drinks or other goods. A significant event in the development

of advertising was the invention of a system of casting moveable type by the German, Johannes

Guterberg in 1938. The event revolutionized communication methods for the whole world.

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(Keller 2005) William Catton, an early printer made advertising history in 1478 when he printed

a handbill, regarded as the first printed English advert. In the handbill there was the

advertisement of his book called “SALISBURY PYE”, handbook of ruler for the guideline of the

clergy at Easter. (McHugh, 2000)

The Evolution of advertisement in Nigeria can be set back to Nigeria’s first newspaper,

called “IWE IROYIN” was first published in 1859. The paper set the landmark for the

development of modern advertising in Nigeria. In a sense, one can say that advertising just like

other disciplines came via our colonial master. However, this is not to conclude that we did not

have some form of traditional advertisements before the arrival of the colonialist, there were e.g.

town criers used by the king in the delivery messages, in the past. For a message to go across to

the members of the public a town crier was sent out to do so. (Arowomole, 2002).

2.1.3 Developing advertisement program

While advertising is often seen as a necessity for economic growth, it may also be a source of

social costs if not well managed. In retrospect, major decisions need be considered while

developing efficient and adequate advertising programmes in efforts to prevent irrelevant social

costs amongst others. Decisions are often based from the identification of the target market and

its motives before advancement to the five major decisions considered in any advertising

program;

Mission: What are the advertising objectives?

Money: How much can be spent?

Message: What message should be sent?

Media: What media should be used?

Measurement: How should the results be evaluated?

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Decision process:-

The decision process is divided into: developing, executing, and evaluating the advertising

program (Berkowitz, 1994).

i. Development

Identify the target audience, Specify the Objectives, Set the budget, Write the copy, Select the

right media, Schedule the advert

ii. Execution

Executing the advertising program, Pretest the advertising, Carry out the advertising

iii. Evaluation

Evaluating the advertising program, Post test the advert, Make needed changes

2.1.4 Target audience identifying

A notable adage in marketing communication states: ‘start where the audience is’. On the

contrary, this is not entirely true while considering the ‘general public’ as the immediate

audience when identifying your buyers. Certainly, markets consist of buyers, and buyers differ in

one or more ways hence companies today recognize that they cannot appeal to all buyers in the

market place or at least not to all buyers in the same way due to variations in their wants,

resources, locations, buying attitudes, and buying practices. In other words, the ‘general public’

is too vast and the company may have to spend way beyond their budget limits to target the

public. Berkewitz (1994) suggests that the target audience is the group of prospective buyers

towards which an advertising program is directed. To put it simply, the target audience for the

advertising program is the target market for the firm's product, which is identified from the

Marketing research and market segmentation. The more a firm knows about the target audience

including their lifestyle, attitudes and values, the easier it is to develop an advertising program,

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 For example, if a firm wanted to reach you with its ads, it would for instance want to know what

television shows you watch and what time the shows premier to what magazines you read and so

on. Understanding where they stand on specific issues, what motivates and drives them may pose

additional factors while refining your target audience.

Advertising is always aimed at a particular segment of the population. When you see an

advert that does not appeal to you, sometimes it is because the ad is aimed at a particular

segment of people that perhaps you don’t belong to for example, a television commercial for a

new laundry detergent offers little relevance to a teenager. Most non-profit organizations have at

least two target audiences with the organization’s base, client or constituents forming the first

and the organization’s donors, funders and supporters forming the second. A third target

audience might be a variety of individuals based on the

specifics of the campaign and issue. On the converse, the target audience to profit orientated

organizations can be classified into two: consumers and businesses.

i. Consumer advertising: - Most of the ads we see in the mass media; television, radio, newspaper

and magazines are consumer advertisement. They are sponsored by the manufacturer of the

product or the dealer who sells the product. They are usually directed to people who will buy

the product for their own personal use or at those people who will buy the product for

someone’s use. For example, a magazine advertisement for coca cola may be aimed at both

the purchaser and the user, who may or may not be the same person.

ii. Business advertising: - People who buy or specify products for use in business makeup the

target audience for business advertising. Business advertising is often said to be invisible

because unless you are actively involved in some business, you are not likely to see it. It tends

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 to be concentrated in specialized business publications or professional journals, in direct mail

pieces mailed to business establishments or in trade shows held for specific areas of business.

Business advertising is sub-divided into four ways:

Industrial advertising: aimed at individuals in business that buy or influence the purchase of

industrial goods.

Trade advertising: is the advertising of goods and services to middlemen to stimulate

wholesalers and retailers to buy goods for resale to their customer. The major objective of trade

advertising, though, is to obtain greater distribution of the product being sold. That may be

accomplished by developing more sales outlets or by selling more products to existing sales

outlets.

Professional advertising: is aimed at individuals who are normally licensed and operate under a

code of ethics or professional set of standards in other terms professionals. These may range

from, teachers, accountants, doctors, dentists, architects, engineers, and lawyers. Often the

publications used for professional advertising are the official organs of professional societies for

instance, the Archives of Ophthalmology, published by the American Medical Association or the

Music Educator Journal, published by the Music Educator National Conference. Professional

advertising has three objectives; to convince the people to buy items or equipment and suppliers

by brand name for use in their work place, to encourage professionals to recommend or prescribe

a specific product/ service to their clients and to persuade the person to use the product

personally.

Agricultural/Farm Advertising: involves farmers who are both consumers as well as business

audiences. Farm advertising is aimed at; establishing awareness of particular brands of

agricultural goods, building dealer acceptance of advertised products and creating preference for

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products by showing the farmer how the products will increase efficiency, reduce risks and

widen profit margins. Publications such as California farmer and American Vegetable Grower

serve these groups.

2.1.5 Advertising objectives

Consumers can be said to respond in terms of hierarchy of effects which is the sequence of

stages a prospective buyer goes through from initial awareness of a product to the eventual

action (either trial or adoption of a product). Awareness, which is the consumer’s ability to

recognize and remember the product or brand name, Interest which is an increase in the

consumers’ desire to learn about some of the features of the product, Evaluation which is the

consumers’ appraisal of the product on important attributes, Trial (action) which is the

consumers’ actual first purchase and the use of the product, Adoption of the product through a

favorable experience on the first trial, the consumers’ repeated purchase and use of the product,

(Berkowitz 1994). No matter the specific objective might be, from building awareness to

increasing repeat purchase, advertising should poses three important qualities; be designed for a

well-defined target audience, be measurable, and should cover a specific time period.

Phillip Kotler (1999) defines an advertising objective as a specific communication task

that

needs to be accomplished with a specific target audience during a specific period of time. Often

the objectives flow from prior decisions on target market, market positioning and marketing mix

wherein the latter define the job that advertising must do in the total marketing program.

2.1.6 Advertising Budget

A key aspect of the advertising process is the determination of appropriate levels of expenditure

as this substantially impacts the achievement of the defined strategy. This is particularly the case

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if the budget allocated is too small for the goals determined. According to Simon Broadbent

(Advertising budget, 1989), ‘when money gets tight, everything gets tight’. A limited budget

may constrain the advertising into media which are inappropriate to the task. Undoubtedly, the

amount of money spent on advertising differs widely amongst companies, even within the same

industry. Inevitably, various methods of budget allocation have been suggested but as Broadbent

argues on, ‘the amount of money to spend on advertising is determined by a process, not a

formula’. Thus, market factors considered before establishing an advert budget include:

advertising frequency, competition and clutter, market share, product differentiation, and stage in

the product life cycle.

Advertising frequency refers to the number of times an advertisement is repeated during a given

time period to promote a products’ name, message and other important information. A larger

advertising budget is required in order to achieve a high advertising frequency and the vice holds

truth. Amicably, to maintain a competitive edge in the market while retaining a desired market

share are also factors that deem expensive. Companies such as Coca cola and General Motors

spend millions of dollars in order to be key players in their respective industries. Inevitably,

increased market share reflects a huge advert budget as the competitors respond with their own

expensive counter adverts. Product differentiation on the other hand, is how the customers

perceive products and is often necessary in competitive markets where customers have had a

hard time differentiating between products. For example, product differentiation might be

necessary when a new laundry detergent is advertised: Since so many brands of detergent already

exist, an aggressive advertising campaign would be required. Without this aggressive

advertising, customers would not be aware of the product’s availability and how it differs from

other products on the market. The advertising budget is higher in order to pay for the additional

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advertising. Lastly, the stage in the product life cycle ensures that new product offerings require

considerably more advertising to make customers aware of their existence. As a product moves

through the product life cycle, fewer and fewer advertising resources are needed because the

product has become known and has developed an established buyer base. Advertising budgets

are typically highest for a particular product during the introduction stage and gradually decline

as the product matures.

Organizations allocate money for advertising in many different ways including the following:

Affordable (or arbitrary) method-research has shown that this tends to be the most popular

method;

i. The same as the previous year with an increase (or decrease) depending on, for

example,

inflation, economic or company activity;

ii. Matching the level of competition;

iii. As a percentage of past, present, or expected sales and/or profit levels and

iv. By task and objective.

2.1.7 Advert message

Bovee and Arens, (1989) argues that the central element of an advertising program is the

advertising copy, the message that the target audience is intended to see or hear. This usually

involves identifying the key benefits of the product that are deemed important to a prospective

buyer in the making trial and adoption process. The message content is made up of both

informational and persuasion elements. These elements, in fact, are so intertwined that

sometimes it is difficult to tell them apart. For example, basic information contained in many

advertisements such as the product name, benefits, features and price are presented in a way that

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tries to attract attention and encourage purchase. On the other hand, even the most persuasive

advertisement has to contain at least some information to be successful. Information and

persuasive content can be combined in the form of an appeal to provide a basic reason for the

consumer to act. These appeals can be fear appeal that suggests to the consumer that he/she can

avoid some negative experience through the purchase or use of a product or through a change in

behavior. The advertiser must be sure that the appeal is strong enough to get the audience

attention and concern, but not so strong that it will lead them to "tone out" the message.

Humorous appeals imply either directly or more subtly that the product is more fun or exiting

than the competitor’s offerings. In order to create the actual message, the "creative people" in an

advertising agency have the responsibility to turn appeals and features such as quality, style,

dependability, economy and service into attention getting, believable advertising copy. They

often rely creative of sex, humor, sound or visual effects. Translating the copywriter’s ideas into

an actual advertisement is a complex process and performing quality artwork, layout and

production for the advertisements is costly and time consuming.

2.1.8 Evaluating adverts’ effectiveness

On the one hand, overall effectiveness can only be evaluated if and only the objectives of the

advert were achieved. So, if the initial objectives were to build a brand image, or remind the

consumers of your products/services, or persuade the consumers to act, then the measure of

effectiveness can be evaluated once these are achieved. Contrarily, evaluating the effectiveness

of advertising is very difficult. The difficulty occurs because advertising’s working is highly

complex and may invariably imply choosing a perspective to consider this. These perspectives

are rather intricate and intrinsically depend on human response to communication. Scholars (e.g.

Poiesz, 1989) summarize these theories into:

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The naïve approach assumes that advertising must be effective due its pervasiveness and the

vast expenditures that go with it. For instance, by end last year, the total expenditure of

advertising was $32.5 billion in the US and an overwhelming $127.1 billion in Western Europe,

(Zenith Optimedia, 2011). It is also relevant to point out that a 30 seconds advert at the super

bowl averaged at $2.5 million to $2.8 million, (CBS, 2011).

The economic approach tries to address the effects by correlating advertising expenditures with

aggregated changes in sales volume. In other words, the more you promote your product/service,

the more customers you get. This in return leads to an increase in profits for the enterprise. This

is particularly evident in large scale enterprises for instance, Proctor & Gamble which in 2011

spent $719.8 million on advertising bringing the company’s sales volume by 7.2% compared to

2010, (Adage, 2011).

The media approach conceptualizes an advertising effectiveness in terms of the number of

individuals or the target audience that is exposed to the advert message. A distinctive,

meaningful and most importantly, a believable message directly impact the target customer

audience as it prompts them to act, in this case purchase the product/service. However, this

approach does not necessarily clarify the impact of exposure the advert created: in other words, it

is unclear what happens once the target audience is exposed to the message. The creative

approach on the other hand equates effectiveness of advertising with creativity. It goes on to

clarify the ineffectiveness of the media approach by assuming that for the fore to succeed in

determining an adverts’ effectiveness, the message needs to be creative. ‘Creative’ in this context

refers to the composite of the content and artistic component of it. The creative message needs to

be able to grab the audience’s attention, persuade them and finally prompt them to act.

2.1.9 Nature of Advertising

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Advertising is much more complex than could be really imagined. Placing cause and effect is

much more difficult in advertising than in the physical science. This is because it is not easy to

control the various factors that could be regarded as contributory in an advertising environment.

For instance, a company cannot categorically claim that a particular advertising campaign was

solely responsible for recorded increase in its sales at the end of the campaign. Other

unrecognizable factors like higher income for potential customers, reduction problems of

competitors, improved customer relation of distributors and retailers and other unnoticeable

factors apart from the campaign may be responsible for the company’s improved sales. It is also

difficult to classify advertising as either an art or a science. Neither practitioner nor academicians

have ever agreed on an answer. This is because advertising has a bit of both. In general, creative

people regard advertising as an art and themselves and artistes who through their creative ability

device effective ways of communicating advertising ideas that will persuade potential customers

to use a product, service or an idea. However, people who work in the area of advertising as part

of marketing mix often emphasize the science of advertising. This is because they see advertising

as part of a mixture of elements combined in a marketing plan to achieve an effect. This, of

course looks quite scientific. Whether we emphasized the art or science of advertising, we must

concede the fact that like many other fields of social Endeavour, advertising is becoming more

and more measurable and scientific source. But because it deals with people and its main

products are artistic expressions of human creativity, it will never be an exact science but a social

science. (Frank , 2005)

2.1.10 The Role Of Advertising

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The main role of advertising is to make known the availability of a product or science to sell. In

addition to this however, advertising performs some other useful and important roles in every

society. (Sandage and Rotzoll 2001) stated that advertising plays the following roles:

Provision of Employment Opportunities

The advertising business is such a lucrative one that very many people are employed in the sector

as specialists and non-specialists.

Creation of Standards through Competition

Advertising message often extol the good qualities of products or service. For consumers to

continue to buy these product or service, manufactures or organization are compelled to adhere

to the advertised qualities, for if they allow the qualities to drop, consumers will buy less of their

products or services and patronize their competitors instead. This thus ensures that manufactures

and organization do not allow the quality of their products or service to fall below a standard

that is acceptable to consumers.

Improvement of Living Standard

Many things that make life easier and more pleasant like radio, television, fan, video, computer,

and motor cars and so on are not necessities but comforts. The comparative inexpensiveness of

these products are made feasible through mass demand, a “by- product” of mass awareness

created by advertising. This evidently shows the link between advertising and standard of living

in a society.

Provision of Entertainment and Relaxation

Many advertising companies especially broadcast media advertisement present their messages

with humor and thus provide entertainment and relaxation for the audience. The presence of

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some characters in advertorial prints is geared towards providing entertainment and relaxation

for the audience without the message being lost or submerged.

Aesthetic Role

The billboards on our roads and neon sign advertising displays on high-rise building play an

aesthetic role and without them in our stadia and such other public areas, they will look bare and

unattractive. This is why it could be rightly said that advertising plays an aesthetic role in the

society.

2.1.11 Importance of advertising

The public/consumers benefits greatly from advertising expenditures. First, advertisements are

informative. The newspaper ads are full of information about products, prices, features and more.

Businesses spend more on direct mail than radio or magazine advertising. Direct mail (e.g

catalogs and letters sent by mail to people’s homes and offices) is an informative shopping aid

for consumers. Most times consumers receive mini catalogs in their newspaper, that tells them

what’s on sales, where at what price, for how long and more. Advertising not only informs us

about products, it also provides us with free television and radio programmes because money

advertisers spend for commercial time pays for production costs. Advertising also covers the

major costs of producing newspapers and magazines. Newspapers, magazines and radio are

especially attractive to local advertisers. However, television offers many advantages to a

national advertiser but it’s expensive. But few media besides television allow advertisers to reach

so many people with such impact. Marketers must choose which media and which programs can

be used to reach the audience and what they desire. Different kinds of advertising are used by

various organizations to reach different market targets. (Philip Kotler,2005) Young (2005) stated

that in an effort to improve managing and gain audience attention, advertisers create branding

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moment that will resonate with target markets, and motivate audiences to purchase the advertised

product or service, advertisers copy test their advertisement before releasing them to the public.

2.1.12 Major Categories of advertisement

Retail advertising: Advertising to consumers by various retail stores such as supermarkets and

small stores.

Trade advertising: Advertising to wholesalers and retailers by manufacturers to encourage them

to carry their products.

Industrial advertising: Advertising from manufacturer to other manufacturers knows as

“business-to-business” advertising.

Institutional advertising: Advertising designed to create an attractive image for an organization,

rather for a product.

Product advertising: Advertising for a good or service to create interest among consumers,

commercial and industrial buyers.

Advocacy advertising: Advertising that supports a particular view on an issue (e.g. an ad in

support of fake food and drug control). Such advertising is also known as cause advertising.

Comparison advertising: Advertising that comprises competitive products.

Interactive advertising: Customer- oriented communication that enables customers to choose

the information they receive, such as interactive video catalogs that allows customers select

items to view.

Online advertising: Advertising messages that are available by computer when customers want

to receive them.

Advertising using infomercials: One fast growing form of advertising is the infomercial. An

infomercial is a television program devoted exclusively to promoting goods and services.

22
Infomercials have been successful because they show the product in great detail. A great product

can sell itself if there’s some means to show the public how it works. Infomercial provides that

opportunity.

Using technology in advertising: The technology revolution is having a major impact on

advertising. For example, promoters are using interactive television to carry on a dialogue with

consumers instead of merely sending them messages and they are using CD-ROM technology to

provide more product information than ever before.

Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent phenomenon. Price of web-based advertising

space is dependent on the relevance of the surrounding web content and the traffic that the

website receives. Others are adverts through E-mail (unsolicited bulk e-mail advertising is

known as “spam”), unpaid advertising i.e. word of mouth, SMS text messages, etc. (Philip

Kotler, 2005)

2.1.13 Purpose of advertising

Advertising plays a vital role in marketing consumers’ purchasing decision and promotion to

particular. Most consumers have the erroneous impression that promotion is synonymous with

advertising and vice-versa.

The partnership between producers and consumers through advertisement is solely aimed at

achieving certain mutually beneficial objectives. There are;

To introduce new product: One of the roles of advertising is to inform consumers about the

existence of a new product in the market i.e. creation of awareness.

Persuade customers to buy: Advertising helps in arousing the customer’s interest and by so

doing persuades them to buy the product.

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Creation of demand: Advertising stimulates demand by constantly reminding potential

consumers about the availability of the product in the market.

To change consumer belief: Advertisement is a very good instrument that can be used to

change consumer mindset about a product or service. Hence, help to tap into their buying power

and influence their thoughts.

To create brand loyalty: The demand of the consumers can be maintained by constantly

arousing their interest on a particular product and this will ultimately create brand loyalty.

Develop large market: Advertising create large market segment which leads to the development

of larger market.

To promote the image of the firm: Advertising builds a corporate image for a company.

It helps to familiarize consumers with the new style of product in the market.

Alert and sensitizes member of marketing channel.

Helps to reduce consumer dissonance.

2.1.14 Advertising media

Newspaper: There are divisions of print media owned by either the government or individual

organizations. There are major media published daily, weekly, or even monthly on a national,

state, or region basis. They are bought and read largely for their news value and appropriate for

announcing new products or new developments on existing products. This medium is used

because they are widely read; carry a lot of information and the cost of information is

comparatively low.

Magazines: These are another division of the print media. These are another division of the print

media. There are various types of magazines such as health magazines, beauty, gossip,

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entertainment, sports, etc. Information about new and existing products is placed there to attract

a particular section of the society.

Radio: In Nigeria today, radio station are seriously increasing in number and brands, hence

giving room for a wider coverage. This is another easy way of passing message across to the

general public.

Television: This has made significant impact in the field of advertisement. Advert through the

television is an effect way of reaching consumers who have access to TV sets. Commercials on

television are shown on different stations and also on cable or pay television. Adverts in a special

programmes are done for certain products, it attract a class of viewers or a particular age group.

As such advertisers should study programmes that appeal to the people. The television adverts

are effective for producers whose products are distributed and used nationwide. Firm uses this

medium to communicate to new and loyal consumers because; the presence of various sound and

movement all combined offer a great deal of creativity, It makes advertising to appear interesting

and entertaining thereby capturing the attention of consumers, etc. However, with all its

effective and wider read television has one major disadvantage, it is costly: The picture and

impression on television ads is to make lasting impression on viewers. Adeyanju (1997) rightly

put, it that, “radio is a simple medium in language, simple in production and transaction in

nature. It’s cheaper then TV, we have local, state, nation and even private radio stations in

Nigeria”. Due to this fact, consumers of a product always hear more adverts. The producer uses

this medium as its present in virtually all state to directly communicate. The television and print

media are not always left out in the race to capture the widest market, though it’s very expensive

to run an advert on a regular basic, this producer will have no option than to expand its

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advertising strategies in order to carry along all the consumers because of the competitive nature

of the industry.

Bill board: A billboard (also called a "hoarding" in the UK and many other parts of the world) is

a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high traffic areas such

as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and

drivers. Typically showing large, ostensibly witty slogans, and distinctive visuals, billboards are

highly visible in the top designated market areas.

Online advert: the invention of internet and social media as been largely utilized in aspect of

advertisement through various social media network, website and blogs. Social media such as

Facebook, Instagram and twitter are majorly focus on passing information about product in the

21st century. Digital marketing are regard as the developing and effective medium of

communication in terms of advertisement in recent times.

2.1.15 Factors that determine the choice of media

The selection of advertisement media is a primary concern to an advertising agency. This is due

to its paramount importance towards successful, effective and meaningful response from its

advertisement messages. It is not enough to say the right thing about the right thing but to the

right people using the right choice of media.

The factors that must be considered before arriving at the logical and possible decision in the

choice of media are;

Cost of medium: The cost of medium varies, while some are very costly, some are relatively

cheap. This must be weighted with the financial resources made available for the advertisement

to ensure compatibility.

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Product features: The nature of the product is very significant. Some products are very

complex, while others are simple. The unique features of a complex product must be explained

while simple products are more or less of a mass market.

Audience characteristics: This greatly influences the choice of not only the message but also

equally the mean of advertisement.

Objectives of advertisement: The reason of advertising a product or service must be uppermost

when choosing a medium. This is because each of the media has its own objective, therefore, for

a round peg to be in a round hole, there must be coincidence of objectives.

Message characteristics: The message that each medium can contain equally varies. Therefore,

for a better communication, the advertisement message must be in line with what the

advertisement medium or media can obtain.

Location, Demography, Religion, etc: All these will determine the kind of advertisement

message can be distributed. However, advertising research is key to determining the success of

an ad in any country or region. The ability to identify which demerits and /or moments of an ad

that contributes to its success is how economies of scale are maximized.

Once one knows what works in an ad, that idea or ideas can be imported by any other market.

Market research measures, such as flow of attention, flow of emotion and branding moments

provide insight into what is working in an advert in any country or region because the measures

are based on the visuals not verbal elements of an advertisement. (Young Charles, 2005).

2.1.16 Advertising Strategy

The term 'advertising strategy' consists of two separate concepts 'advertising' and 'strategy'. For

better clarification, it is ideal to first delve into these two concepts separately before

conceptualizing the main term. To most people, the term “advertising” simply means or refers to

27
a function peculiar to all business firms whether small or large. It is always seen or indistinctly

interpreted to mean – the task of finding and stimulating buyers for a firms output (Gana, 2008).

Achumba (2000) sees advertising as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion

of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor, hence the role of advertising as a marketing

promotion activity, therefore, is to implement product/service flow through the appropriate

channels, to act as a catalyst in acquainting the customer/client with the means by which wants

may be satisfied, and ultimately to induce customer or client action which will benefit the source

of the communication process. Thus identification of markets and buyer motives should be the

salient consideration in developing any advertising programme. However, advertising generally

involves product development, pricing, distribution, and communication; and in the more

progressive firms, continuous attention to the changing needs of customers and the development

of new products, with product modifications and services to meet the needs (Kinghan, 2007).

While advertising may be viewed from the old sense of “pushing” products to buyers, it may as

well be viewed from the new sense of “satisfying customers”. Additionally, Anyaogu and Uduji

(2012) see promotion as the means of making known what you want to buy or sell and this

means of making known, is called the promotional mix or promo-tools; with the chief among

them being advertising because it is all about communication and promotion.

2.1.17 Classification of Advertising Strategy

A successful advertising cum marketing strategy usually depends on a firms understanding of its

customers, what they need and how it persuades them to buy from it. Marketing strategy can be

classified into general and specific marketing strategies (Ogundele, Akingbade, Saka, Elegunde

and Aliu, 2013). The general marketing strategy include innovation strategy, target marketing,

marketing plan, marketing research, market segmentation and several others. The objectives

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being to analyze the present and future marketing environment of an organization so as to

formulate marketing policies and programmes to achieve the objectives.

On the other hand, the specific strategy include: product strategy [which ranges from new

product development, product extension, branding, packaging and several others], promotional

strategy [in terms of general promotional programmes advertising, publicity, direct selling, etc.

and sales promotion], Distribution and Relationship marketing strategies which include fostering

good and lasting relationships with end user customers, channel members, suppliers, competitors

alliances and internal team. The relationship marketing practice is common in the bakery

industry because bakers nationwide have very strong union enforcing cooperation on members to

enhance quality of service delivery (Ogundele et al., 2013).

Furthermore, Cravens et al (1987) argued that often it “is not enough” to provide the

products that people want through an efficient distribution network and at prices that people can

afford, because people have to learn about the product and what the product can do for them

before becoming customers. Therefore, since the mission of advertising will largely determine

the level of resources that must be budgeted, a strategic mission for advertising must be

established before an advertising campaign can be designed. Kotler (2003) has opined that

developing an advertising program involves a five – step process as follows: (a) Advertising

objectives, (b) Advertising budget, (c) Advertising message, (d) Advertising media, and (e)

Advertising evaluation. But Uduji (2012) highlights a seven-step process in developing an

advertising campaign which include: identify and analyse the advertising target, defining

objectives, determining the advertising appropriation, creating an advertising message,

developing a media plan, executing the campaign, and evaluating the effectiveness of the

campaign. Moreover, Guiltinan and Gordon (1996) caution that marketing/advertising strategies

29
are neither mutually exclusive nor exhaustive; but can be used in combination, and goes on to

separate primary demand strategies and selective demand strategies as well as product-line

strategies, including strategies for substitutes (line extension strategies and flanker strategies) and

strategies for complements (leader strategies, bundling strategies, and systems strategies). The

primary demand strategies include user strategies (increasing the number of users) and rate of

use strategies (increasing the purchase quantities). User strategies are, in turn, divided into

willingness strategies (emphasis on willingness to buy) and ability strategies (emphasis on ability

to buy). The rate of use strategies are divided into usage strategies (increasing the rate of usage –

such as brushing your teeth after each meal) and replacement strategies (increasing the rate of

use by replacement – such as replacing your toothbrush every month). The selective demand

strategies include retention strategies (retaining the organization‟s existing customers) and

acquisition strategies (acquiring customers from the competition). Retention strategies are

divided into satisfaction strategies, meeting competition strategies, and relationship marketing

strategies; while on the other hand, acquisition strategies are divided into: head-to-head

strategies, differentiated strategies, and niche marketing strategies. On the other hand, Onah and

Thomas (2004) bring to the fore advertising medium (which is the vehicle or channel through

which the message (advertisement) is relayed to the receivers) and highlight the major

advertising media used as follows: the press (newspapers and magazines), radio, television,

cinema, posters, handbills, and pack/direct mail. Nnabuko (1998) argues that the ultimate

purpose of all advertising is increased awareness and recognises only three main advertising

media which include: (a) broadcast media (radio, television, cinema, etc), (b) print media

(newspapers, magazines, journals, catalogues, coupons) and (c) outdoor media (bill boards,

signs, posters, etc). Achumba (2000) has posited that sales force strategies must be derived from

30
company sales objectives and four types of selling can be distinguished as follows: trade,

missionary, technical and new business settings. While advertising offers a reason to buy, sales

promotion offers an incentive to buy. Effective communication is often a pre-requisite for

successful marketing and what can offer a significant advantage that may distinguish the product

or service from that of competition is the promotional mix used to influence the target market to

purchase a firms product. Promotional mix strategies can be either push strategy or pull strategy

(Kotler, 2003).

2.1.18 Functions and roles of advertising

Research conducted by Frank Jefkins (1982), answers in a simple yet convincing way the

question as to, why do we advertise? He explains: either, we have something we want to sell or

someone else has something we want to buy. Alternatively, we may want to give something

away, seek an exchange or invite donors or gifts. Therefore, we advertise to make known our

offer or need. Admittedly, Jefkins’ answer focuses on new or novel offers or needs, but why do

already established companies such as Coca-Cola advertise? Conclusively, it is best to note that

the roles that advertising plays are many and varied but may in one way or the other be

categorized into three broad areas; to inform, to persuade and to sell.

Informational function: Generally, advertising seeks to provide the public with specific pieces

of information.

This may fall under a campaign by companies to: Announce a new product or service whereas

prospective buyers are presented with details of a new product and this usually means a costly

and dramatic launch. Announcements for a new brand of Nokia phone involving the use of full

pages in full color in the national press, plus giant posters and billboards are just but some typical

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examples. Extend the appeal of an existing product whereas the manufacturers may attempt to

use

advertising to suggest new uses for a product or maybe announce a modification, say a ‘facelift’

with an additive, a refinement, a new finish or casing or perhaps even a new pack or container.

The attempt may be made to revive the sale of a product whose lifecycle is waning too quickly or

because of competition. Announce deficiency in products. This is apparent in the case of product

recalls, where the manufacturer uses advertising to communicate the particular problem to the

widest possible audience in order to ensure a speedy dissemination of information and an equally

rapid response on the part of the owners of such products. A probable example would be the

recent recall (2009-2010) by Toyota Motor Corporation for over 5.2 million of their vehicles

(Toyota Camry and Corolla) due to cases of pedal entrapment/floor mat problem, and an

additional 2.3 million due to cases of ‘sticking accelerator pedals’. Announce a price change.

This may be in cases where there are reductions in prices or upcoming sale promotions or to

encourage greater levels of trials.

The persuasive function: Paul Santilli (1983), argues, ‘for an advert to be morally persuasive, it

must be able to address itself to a real need as that is the only probable way it may arouse the

desire which will help fulfill the need’. Relevantly, questions follow; what are these needs that

may prompt manufacturers to change the customers’ perception of their products, and why?

Either because of changes to the product formulation or because of a previous

miscommunication are all suitable answers. Political parties on the other hand use this form of

advertising, especially during the run up to an election, to persuade the audience that their

policies are the most appropriate thus, motivating them in endeavor to gain more votes.

Similarly, government departments use this form of advertising to bring about change in attitudes

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towards issues of general concern. For example, a large banner on a steep hillside embedding the

phrase: ‘speeding will kill’, or ‘Don’t drink and drive’ are all influential attitude changing

messages directed to that speeding or drunk driver on a road.

The selling function: Most advertising seeks to promote the sale of particular goods or services.

This function may be evident in cases such as ‘sale’ advertising. Potential customers are notified

of the sale dates and reminded that they can only obtain the particular ‘bargains’ at that time.

Similarly, retailers will make ‘time-limited’ offers which impose restrictions as to when

customers can take advantage of the offer price. For instance, Pizza shops offer discounted prices

on pizza during the lunch-peak hours in an endeavor to persuade the audience from eating from

the local restaurants.

2.1.19 Relationship between advertising, sales and profit

With companies investing millions of naira or dollars in marketing communication including

advertising, it is but natural to examine its impact on the bottom line of the firm. With markets

becoming powerful, practitioners and researchers have turned their attention towards examining

the impact of communication activities like advertising on firm valuations. Moreover, interest is

rising in quantifying the impact of marketing activities on firm’s profitability and value

providing the framework for linkages between marketing, finance and strategy. This study

focuses on studying these relationships by seeking to measure the impact of advertisement

spending by a firm on the firm’s sales and profitability. In today’s competitive era one is

constantly bombarded with advertisements. Empirical studies show that advertisements have an

influence on the purchase behavior of consumers. Consumers purchase decision is also

influenced by the “value” they feel they would derive from purchasing that particular product or

service. Consumers expect a return on investment (price Vis a Vis value). In other words,

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consumers expect value for each kobo they spend. At the other end of the spectrum the marketers

expect a return on the investment they make on advertising. This is natural given the fact that

promotion activities do cost the firms a lot. The return may be in the form of increased

profitability and an increase in firm’s turnover. Every year companies invest millions of naira or

dollars in marketing communication. A bulk of this obviously goes into advertising expenditure.

Naturally, marketers expect a return on investment (ROI) on this. Their expectation stems from

the likely impact, marketing investments have on the market performance and thus the

profitability of the firm. Raymond (1970) argues that the effectiveness of advertising conveys

different meanings to different meanings to different groups. To a manager, it would obviously

mean the impact the advertising strategy has on the firm’s profitability. With marketing

communication used for creating awareness and building a long lasting relationship, many

studies have focused on copy and media effects and awareness building about the product. A

metrics have been developed to assess and measure consumer awareness and loyalty. Besides

many studies use the AIDA or its adaptations that has been around from the early 20th century

(Strong 1925).

2.1.20 About SMEs

The term SME originated in the world of Economists; denoting firms characterized on the basis

of a set of criteria including employment size and the value of their assets. Similarly, the best

description of these key characteristics of a small firm remains those used by the Bolton

Committee in its 1971 Report on small firms. This stated that a small firm is an independent

business, managed by its owner or part-owners and having a small market share. The report also

adopted a number of different statistical definitions. It recognized that size is relevant to a sector

– and that it may be appropriate to define size by the number of employees in some sectors but

34
more appropriate to use turnover in others. The size classification varies within regions and

across countries relative to the size of the economy and its endowments. For instance, the EU

member states traditionally had their own definition of what constitutes SMEs for example;

Nigeria had a limit of 100 employees, Germany had a limit of 500 employees whereas in

Belgium it was 100 employees. However, the EU has of recent standardized the concept and its

current definition categorizes enterprises with employees fewer than 50 employees as small and

those fewer than 250 as medium. SMEs are a vibrant and growing sector in most economies

around the world. However, research has shown that they face a ‘liability of smallness’ because

of their size and resource limitation - they are unable to develop new technologies or to make

vital changes in existing ones. Still, they remain a vital link between various levels of economy

and a source of employment for the poor in developing nations. Interestingly, the benefits of

SMES are not confined to the developing world only but are predominantly visible in the

developed world as well. Small and Medium Industries and small business community are the

backbone of Europe's economy. There are more than 23 million SMEs in the European Union,

which represents 99% of European undertakings and are responsible for 60% of Europe's GDP.

They are also Europe's main job creators as they employ over 100 million people (EUROSTAT

2011).

SMEs in Nigeria

The Central Bank of Nigeria defines small and medium enterprises in Nigeria according to asset

base and number of staff employed. The criteria are an asset base that is between N5 million to

N500 million, and a staff strength that is between 11 and 100 employees.

Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs), are now strategic and essential for accelerating

economic growth in Nigeria. SMEs constitute about 90 per cent of all the businesses in Nigeria,

35
creating more than 80 per cent of employment in the region. The contributions of SMEs to the

Nigerian economy cannot be overstated. The scale of this transformation should not be

undermined. Supporting SMEs in Nigeria to flourish is crucial because it creates a growing

middle class with disposable income, in relation to market opportunities for new investors. SMEs

have been playing a vital role by investing in community projects and financial support to charity

organisations, enabling further development beyond their own ventures. One thing is clear:

whether it’s a small barber shop or a dry cleaning shop down the street, small and medium-sized

businesses drive the national economies. Given the potential of SMEs to unlock Nigeria’s

economic growth, one of the challenges, however, is access to credit. Addressing the challenge

has been a priority for the government as well as private organisations for several years.

Organisations such as Jumia are making efforts to promote the growth of SMEs in Nigeria. The

eCommerce giant has over 1.2 billion consumers and 15 million SMEs to serve across Africa,

including Nigeria. To accelerate the growth of the SMEs, Jumia has opened up its platform for

them to reach more customers than they would have if they were not registered. These SMEs

have not only created jobs for themselves but have employed more hands because of the

increased orders they receive through Jumia. Furthermore, to address the credit challenges some

of these SMEs encounter, Jumia introduced Jumia Lending. This enables SMEs to get flexible,

non-collateral and low-interest credit. This has in no small measures helped these SMEs

overcome their liquidity problems and stay afloat. This reveals that private sector assistance has

played a crucial role in promoting the growth of SMEs in Nigeria. Nigeria, in particular, has

made great strides towards helping SMEs. The country has supported SMEs through financial

assistance and skill training and these could transform the economic activities in the country,

spearheading economic growth across the continent.

36
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amp/)

2.1.21 Advertising And Sales Relationship

The relationship between advertising and sales has been the topic of lots research and discussions

designed to determine the shape of the response curve. Almost all advertisers subscribe to one of

two models of the advertising/sales response function.

The Concave Downward Function

After reviewing more than 100 studies of the effects of advertising on sales, Julian Simon and

Johan Arndt concluded that the effects of advertising budgets follow the microeconomic law of

diminishing returns. That is, as the amount of advertising increases, its incremental value

decreases. The logic is that those with the greatest potential to buy will likely act on the first (or

earliest) exposures, while those less likely to buy are not likely to change as a result of the

advertising. For those who may be potential buyers, each additional advert will supply little or no

new information that will affect their decision. Thus, according to the concave-downward

function model, the effect of advertising quickly begins to diminish. Budgeting under this model

suggests that fewer advertising naira may be needed to create the optimal influence on sales.

Concave-Downward Response Curve.

Incremental
sales

Advertising expenditures Depicted from George E. Belch (2003)

The S-Shaped Response Function

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Many advertising managers assume the s-shaped response curve (as shown below), which

projects an s shaped response function to the budget outlay (again measured in sales). Initial

outlays of the advertising budget have little impact (as indicated by the essentially flat sales

curve in range A). After a certain budget level has been reached (the beginning of range B),

advertising and promotional efforts begin to have an effect, as additional increments of

expenditures result in increased sales. This incremental gain continues only to a point, however

because at the beginning of range C additional expenditures begin to return little or nothing in

the way of sales. This model suggests a small advertising budget is likely to have no impact

beyond the sales that may have been generated through other means (for example, word of

mouth). At the other extreme, more does not necessarily mean better: Additional naira’s spent

beyond range B have no additional impact on sales and for the most part can be considered

wasted. As with marginal analysis, one would attempt to operate at that point on the curve in

area B where the maximum return for the money is attained.

The S-Shaped Response Function

Incremental
Sales

Range A Range B Range C

Advertising expenditure
Depicted from George E. Belch (2003)

2.2 Theoretical framework

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The starting point in the assessment of the effects of advertising belongs, apparently, to St. Elmo

Lewis, who developed in 1898 the famous AIDA model (attention - interest - desire - action).

Since then, however, the literature has shown many other opinions in this regard. Among the

most popular theories on consumer reaction to information of a promotional nature are

(Vakratsas and Amble, 1999): market response theory, cognitive response theory, affective

response theory, persuasive hierarchy theory, theory of minimal involvement and integrative

theory.

2.2.1 Market response theory is based on the assumption of a direct relationship between

advertising and buying behavior, measured by sales, market share and brand choice. This

excludes the presence of intermediate effects that may occur at the consumer level, for example

expressing brand loyalty by number of repeated acquisitions and not through a psychological

predisposition of the individual. The theory has two dimensions: aggregate and individual.

Aggregate dimension of the theory is based on the relationship between market data regarding

advertising spending or the audience, on the one hand, and brand sales or market share, on the

other hand. Individual dimension points toward the choice of individually brand or number of

exposures necessary to generate individual or household purchasing behavior.

2.2.2 Cognitive response theory assumes that advertising has the ability to influence the

relative importance that individuals attach to various attributes of the product, purchase decision

being purely rational (Thorson and Moore, 1996). The primary role of advertising is to provide

utilities related to information or search costs. The model considers that on the market there are

two major categories of goods: those involving consumer experience and those related to the

search process. The goods in the first category are characterized by the fact that they involve the

need for repeated use so that the consumer can assess their quality. The second category can be

39
easily evaluated on the basis of objective criteria such as price, prior use not being necessary.

This classification, however, is problematic because numerous goods involve both consumer

experience and search.

Cognitive response theory is the basis of the link between advertising and price elasticity of

demand. On the one hand, high quality and product differentiation entail, in accordance with the

theory of strength of the market, a decrease in price elasticity of demand, especially visible in the

case of products involving the experience and, on the other hand, according to the information

theory, actively seeking information by consumers generates an increase in sensitivity to price

(Bagwell, 2005). Studies in this direction have led to results that seem to confirm both theories

(Vakratsas and Amble, 1999; Reed and Ewing, 2004). An obvious consequence of the theory of

cognitive response is that by which the sponsors attempts to create an effective advertising, using

initially unique selling proposition, and then the product positioning in the market.

2.2.3 Affective response theory is a different approach from that previously shown by the fact

that it focuses on the emotional response that advertisement can generate (Holbrook and

O`Shaughnessy, 1984). According to this theory, consumers form their preferences based on

pleasure, feelings or emotions arising from exposure to the message, the objective characteristics

of the product playing a less important role in this direction (Gardner, 1985). It is also required

repeated exposure to the advertisement to determine the desired effects, but this repeated

exposure can lose effectiveness when the frequency exceeds a certain level (wear in - wear out

effect). This affective response takes into account, on the one hand, the promoted brand and, on

the other hand, the advertisement itself. The creative concept may be largely based on melody,

whose emotional effects are recognized. The problem with this theory is the impossibility of

40
separating the affective effect from the cognitive ones. Although it is undeniable that advertising

induces affective effects, they cannot however be detached by the cognitive ones.

2.2.4 Persuasive hierarchy theory assumed that in order to influence sales advertising should

generate a number of effects on the consumer. Such effects are generated in a particular order,

the first being considered as preconditions and at the same time, being the most important. It is

believed that these effects are: cognitive effects, emotional effects and behavioral effects. Also

occur, a number of factors with mediating role: the degree of involvement and attitude toward

message. Involvement has been an object of intense study addressed in the literature. It can be

defined as the personal degree of importance given to a product or situation, including the

perceived risk in the purchase (Reed and Ewing, 2004). The degree of involvement usually

varies from high to low, without considering, however, that it can be addressed simply by this

dichotomy. In fact, the degree of variation is constant from one end to the other. According to

this theory, there were a number of models. Elaboration Likehood Model was proposed by

Richard E. Petty and John T. Cacioppo, they considering that consumer response is cognitive one

that can take two directions, one related to the evaluation of product attributes and the other

referring to the execution of the message (Lee and Schumann, 2004). Both directions follow the

cognitive-affective response. Another model aimed at intermediate effects that advertising

generate, is that proposed by Deborah MacInnis and Bernard J. Jaworski C. (Smith and Yang,

2004). According to them, at the consumer level occurs six levels of mental processing, which

are the following: 1. analysis of the characteristics which have the effect of affective mood 2.

primary classification with affective transfer effects 3. analysis of meanings, whose effect is an

heuristic analyze 4. integration of information, with primary persuasive effects 5. assuming the

roles with persuasive effects of empathic nature 6. processes of construction with effects of self-

41
persuasion. The presented theories and models refer to the importance of involving as the

moderator element in the advertising communication.

2.2.5 Minimal involvement theory is an alternative response to the model promoted by

hierarchy theory persuasive. According to this theory, the consumer response to advertising

involves the following stages: cognitive response, behavioral response and affective response.

The experience is one that has the greatest importance in the formation of preferences and the

role of advertising is to reinforce consumer habits and experience. Andrew SC Ehrenberg is the

one who proposed in 1974 awareness-test-reinforce model based on the theory of minimal

involvement (Barry, 1987). This model implies that the consumer buying behavior has a high

degree of regularity and predictability, the habits having a significant impact on the choice of the

brand more than advertising and other forms of communication.

2.2.6 Integrative theory supports the presence of the cognitive, affective and behavioral

effects, but the order in which these effects occur is dependent on a number of factors such as:

the product, the level of involvement and the context of the acquisition. Based on this theory

have been developed a number of models. The FCB grid proposed by Richard Vaughn considers

two dimensions required in the categorization of products: level of involvement, which can be

high and low, and type of motivation of the individual, being either cognitive or affective

(Vaughn, 1980). Level of involvement related to this model refers therefore to product category,

not to a brand or a particular situation. The implications of this operating pattern are related to

the type of used advertising.

All these theories claim the presence of different effects of the advertising effort (Weilbacher,

2001). However, they are different in that the stresses to a greater or lesser extent a given type of

effect, whether cognitive or emotional. The similarity, on the other hand, is related to emphasize

42
given to the concept of experience. Latest opinions on the issue suggests that the three effects are

unbreakable and should be addressed not as a hierarchy, but rather as dimensions of a complex

reality that characterizes the consumer and his reaction to the phenomenon of advertising

(Vakratsas and Amble, 1999).

2.3 Empirical review

The nature of advertising (being a very important part of the promotional tools) as well as the

relationship between advertising and sales has increasingly been a subject of research in recent

times. Akanbi and Adeyeye (2011) did a study titled the association between advertising and

sales volume: a case study of Nigerian bottling company plc. The statistical analytical techniques

used for this study include student‟s‟ test and ordinary least square regression method. The

secondary data were collected from the company‟s annual financial records and account for

eleven years covering 1999 - 2009. The major result showed that there is a significant

relationship between advertising and the sales of the company. The study also showed that there

is a significant improvement in the sales of the company as a result of advertising.

Gitau (2012), carried out a research on effects of advertising on the small medium enterprises in

kenya: a case study on East African packaging industries with the purpose of examining the

overall nature of advertising and the effects it has on the growth and development of SMEs and

in particular its sales volume. The research design that was used in the study was cross-sectional

design and the sampling techniques were both cluster and simple random sampling. Data were

analyzed and presented in form of discussion tables. Overall, the findings of the research were

that advertising is an expensive venture for any SME and the repetitive nature of it makes it more

and more inconsistent to adopt.

43
Ashkan (2016) carried out a research titled the role of advertisement in sales increase and

promotion: a case study of Hamadan province insurance companies. Using descriptive statistics

research method, collected data were analyzed using computer software programs (SPSS

software) and the data significance was also clarified through the T- test and regression. The

findings showed that advertising has an impact on sales increase.

44
 CHAPTER THREE

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter present the different methods that were adopted in collecting and interpreting data

related to the study by discussing choices related to: area of study, sources of data, Research

Design, study population, sampling strategies, data collection methods, instruments, data quality

control, data analysis and procedure.

3.1 Research Design

This study adopted a cross section survey. Cross section survey involves observation of an entire

population or a representative sample at one specific point in time. This is done to ensure that

the findings of the study are not interfered with by time change. This method advocated

for by Kothari (2004). In addition most reviewed works have employed cross sectional studies as

opposed to longitudinal studies.

3.2 Study Area

The study will be conducted within Sweetco Food ltd Ibadan, Oyo state.

3.3 Population

A population is made up of all conceivable elements, subjects or observations relating to a

particular phenomenon of interest to the researcher. This is the set of people or entities to which

findings are to be generalized. However, the study, because of the large number of customers in

Ibadan will conduct its research among 20 staffs of sales/marketing department available during

the course of carrying out the research work.

45
3.4 Sample Size

Sample size is the proportion of the subset of a population the researcher has considered as

representative of the population. It is the conceivable and estimable part of the population.

(Nwobodo, 2012). To this end, the study therefore decided to employ Sweetco food ltd

customers in Ibadan as a case of study.

3.5 Sampling Techniques

This study will require a Probability Sampling technique because it gives equal chance of being

represented/included in the sample to all members of the universe. In spite of this, convenience

sampling techniques will be used because the researcher chose only the customers available

mainly because of limited time available for the execution of this study.

3.6 Research Instrument

3.6.1 Primary Data

The questionnaire is the instrument that will be used for the study. Personal interview to 20 staff

member through the use of questionnaires will be conducted to identify variables on

advertisement. This is a pilot survey to complement the variable already in the literature. The

questionnaires will be divided into two sections; section “1” will be a closed and opened-ended

question containing biographic information of respondents. The second part of the questionnaire

will comprise of items, that requested respondents to indicate by ticking Yes or No to the items.

3.6.2 Secondary Data

Secondary data will be collected from journals, newspapers and textbooks.

46
3.7 Validity and Reliability of Research Instrument

To ensure that the instrument (questionnaire) constructed was relevant to the study, the

researcher will have discussions with his colleagues, which afterward will be send to the project

supervisor who will go through it to ascertain the content validity and relevance of questions as

they relate to the research exercise.

3.8 Method of Data Collection

The research instruments that will be used in collection of data for this study will include the

questionnaire that will contain structured questions, personal interviews, personal observation.

The questionnaire constitutes the main instrument for obtaining primary data. It is used to elicit

data from the respondents they are administered on: Equally secondary information or data will

be collected from textbooks, journal and magazine.

3.9 Method of Data Analysis

The research will use both descriptive and inferential statistics for the analysis of data gathered

using simple percentage, chi-square and pearson correlation analysis and compute with

Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS).

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS

47
4.1 Preamble

This chapter is concerned with the statistical presentation and analysis of data collected from the

respondents, analysis and the interpretation of the results and making deduction from the data

collected, here information gathered is discussed, explained and recommendations are drawn. In

the course of administering questionnaire of this study, a total number of twenty (20)

questionnaires were administered in Sweetco Food Ltd Ibadan, Oyo state. Out of the 20

questionnaires that was administered, 20 duly completed copies were returned giving a 100

percent rate of return, which is considered adequate for reaching valid conclusion. The findings

are hereby presented in the tables below according to the research questions and hypothesis

stated in the study. The analysis is done with the aid of simple frequency count and percentage.

Information obtained is presented in tabulated format. A summary of the major findings of this

study is presented in line with the stated objectives.

4.2 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents

This section provides the summary of the data on the socio-demographic/personal information of

the respondents such as their sex, Marital Status, Religion, educational Qualification, Length of

years in Service, category of the staffs, as well as presents them in suitable form so as to it can

aid better understanding. Though not central to the study, the socio-demographic/personal data of

the respondents could help contextualize the findings and formulation of appropriate

recommendations for the study.

Table 4.1 Frequency distribution of respondents by Gender

Gender Frequency Percentage

(%)

48
Male 12 60.0

Female 8 40.0

Total 20 100.0

Source: Researcher’s Fieldwork (2019)

Table 4.1 shows the distribution of the respondents by gender. Male had higher frequency with

12 (60%) and female had lower frequency with 8 (40%). By implication, this means that

majority of the respondents, the staffs, are male.

Table 4.2: Frequency Distribution of Respondents by Age range

Age Frequency Percentage

20 – 30 years
2 10.0
31 – 40 years
10 50.0
41-50 years
3 15.0
51 – 60 years
3 15.0
61 years and above 2 10.0

Total 20 100%

Source: Researcher’s field work, (2019)

Table 4.2 shows the distribution of the respondents by age. Respondents in the age range

20-30 were 2 (20%), 31-40 were 10 (50%), 41-50 were 3 (15%), 51-60 are 3 (15%) and age 61

years and above were 2 (10%). This distribution implies that majority of these workers were of

age bracket 31 to 40 years in the setting.

Table 4.3: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ Marital Status

49
Marital Status Frequency Percentage
Single 7 35.0
Married 8 40.0

Divorced/Separated 3 15.0

Widowed 2 10.0
Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.3 indicates the frequency distribution of the respondents on their marital Status. 7 (35%)

of the respondents were single, married of them were 8 (40%), 3 (15%) of the respondents are

Divorced/Separated, while 2 (10%) of the respondents were Widowed. Thus, most of the

respondents are Married.

Table 4.4: Frequency Distribution of Respondents by Academic Qualification

Academic Qualification Frequency Percentage
OND/NCE 2 10
SSCE 1
HND 8 40
First Degree 5 25
Post graduate 4 20
Total 20 100
Source: Researcher’s field work, (2019)

Table 4.4 shows the distribution of the respondentsby academic qualification.

Respondents that have their educational certificate up to B.Sc. level were 5 (25%), 4 (20%) of

the respondents have their educational attainment up to Post graduate. level, HND holder are 8

(40%), 2 (10%) were OND/NCE holders, and only just 1 (5%) were SSCE holder. Thus, implies

that most of the respondents have tertiary educational qualification with most of them as HND

holders followed by B.Sc. holders

Table 4.5: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ Length of years in Service

50
Length of years in Frequency Percentage
Service (%)

Less than two years 6 30%

2-5 years 10 50%

6-10 years 4 20%

Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.5 depict frequency distribution of the respondents’ base on their year in service.

Respondents that have used up to 2-5 years and 6-10 years in service 10 (50%) and 4 (20%)

respectively and those with less than two years in service are 6 (30%). This implies that majority

of the respondents have used up to 5years in the service.

4.4 Assessment of advertising and sales volume of the Organization

This section which is the section B of the questionnaire deals with the measurable

variables on the assessment advertising and sales volume of the Organization.

Table 4.6: Frequency distribution of respondents’ response on whether they do advertise

their products
Responses Frequency Percentage
Yes 15 75%
No 5 25%
Total 20 100%
Source: Researcher’s field work, (2019)
Table 4.6 shows that 15 (75%) of the respondents responded that they do advertise their

products, while 5 (25%) responded that they do not advertise their products.

51
Table 4.7: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response on which advertising activities
they prefer
Educational Qualification Frequency Percentage
(%)

Billboard product display 2 10

Online advertisement 2 10

Radio advertising 1 5

Television promotion 1 5

Newspapers/magazines 1 5

Point of sale displays 1 5

Branded Promotional Gifts 2 10

Total 20 100.0

Table 4.7 indicates the frequency distribution of the respondents on which advertising

activities they prefer. Of the 20 sampled employees, 2 (10%) of the respondents went for

Billboard product display, 2 (10%) went for Online advertisement and Branded Promotional

Giftseach, while 1 (5%) as well went for Television promotion, Newspapers/magazines and

Point of sale displays respectively.

Table 4.8: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response on how often the company
engages in advertising activities
Educational Qualification Frequency Percentage
(%)

Very often 9 45

Sometimes 7 35

Rarely 4 20
Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019

52
 Table 4.8 indicates the frequency distribution of the respondents’ response on how often

the company engages in advertising activities. Of the 20 sampled employees, 9 (45%) of them

responded that the company engages in advertising activities very often, 7 (35%) responded it is

sometimes, 4 (20%) of them responded they rarely engages in advertising activities. This

however implies that majority of the respondents responded that the company engages in

advertising activities very often.

Table 4.9: Frequency distribution of respondents showing to how successful has the
advertising strategy yielded to the growth of the company
Responses Frequency Percentage

Very successful 3 15%

Somewhat successful 12 60%
Not really successful 5 25%
Total 20 100%
Source: Researcher’s field work, (2019)
Table 4.9shows that 5 (25%) of the respondents responded that the advertising has been very

successfully strategy yielded to the growth of the bakery, 12 (60%) responded that the

advertising has been somewhat successful while only 3 (15%) agree that it is not really

successful. By implication, this observation implies that advertising strategy has been somewhat

successful to the growth of the bakery.

Table 4.10: Frequency distribution of respondents’ response on how well the company has
performed in terms of sales
Responses Frequency Percentage
Very Adequately 6 30%
Adequately 9 45%
Not Adequately 5 25%
Total 20 100%
Source: Researcher’s field work, (2019)

53
Table 4.10 shows that 6 (30%) of the respondents agree to that the company has very adequate

performed in terms of sales, 9 (45%) agree that it is adequate while only 5 (25%) agree it is not

adequate. By implication, this observation implies that most responded that the company has

performed adequately in terms of sales.

Table 4.11: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response on likely challenges

hindering the achievement of the target sales
Response Frequency Percentage
(%)

Finance 9 45.0
Inadequate sales personnel 2 10.0
Lack of government support 4 20.0
Inadequate demand for product 5 25.0
Total 225 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.11 revealed the frequency distribution of the respondents’ response on likely challenges

hindering the achievement of the target sales. 9 (20%) of them responded that it is finance,

2(45%) of them responded it is Inadequate sales personnel, 4 (15%) of them responded it is lack

of government support, 5 (12%) of them responded it isInadequate demand for product. By this,

majority of them agreed that there is training policy and programs for the staffs in the bank.

54
Table 4.12: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response whether advertising activities
bring about improved sales performance
Response Frequency Percentage
(%)

Strongly Agree 5 25.0

Agree 11 55.0
Undecided 3 15.0
Disagree 1 5.0
Strongly Disagreed 0 0
Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.12 revealed the frequency distribution of the respondents’ response on whether

advertising activities bring about improved sales performance. 5 (25%) of them Strongly agreed,

9 (55%) of them agreed 3 (15%) of them were inconclusive while only 1 (12%) of them

disagreed. By this, majority of them agreed that advertising activities bring about improved sales

performance.

Table 4.13: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response whether advertising activities

ensure that the company meets its goal
Response Frequency Percentage
(%)

Strongly Agree 3 15.0

Agree 7 35.0
Undecided 3 15.0
Disagree 2 10.0
Strongly Disagreed 5 25.0
Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.13 depicts the frequency distribution of the respondents’ response on whether

advertising activities ensure that the company meets its goal. 3 (15%) of them Strongly agreed, 7

55
(35%) of them agreed 3 (15%) of them were inconclusive, 2 (10%) of them disagreed while 5

(25%) disagreed strongly. This implies that majority of them agree that advertising activities

ensure that the company meets its goal.

Table 4.14: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response whether the type of

advertising activity adopted by the company influences the market share
Response Frequency Percentage
(%)
Strongly Agree 6 30.0
Agree 7 35.0
Undecided 4 20.0
Disagree 2 10.0
Strongly Disagreed 1 5.0
Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.14 revealed the frequency distribution of the respondents’ response on whether the type

of advertising activity adopted by the company influences the market share. 6 (30%) of them

Strongly agreed, 7 (35%) of them agreed 4 (20%) of them were inconclusive, 2 (10%) of them

disagreed while 1 (5%) of them disagreed strongly the type of advertising activity adopted by the

company influences the market share. By this, majority of them agreed that the type of

advertising activity adopted by the company influences the market share.

56
Table 4.15: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response on whether the company
advertising reaches their target audience
Response Frequency Percentage
(%)

Strongly Agree 4 20.0

Agree 8 40.0
Undecided 6 30.0
Disagree 1 5.0
Strongly Disagreed 1 5.0
Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.15 indicates the frequency distribution of the respondents’ response on whether the

company advertising reaches their target audience. 4 (20%) of them Strongly agreed, 8 (40%) of

them agreed 6 (30%) of them were inconclusive, 1 (5%) of them disagreed while 1 (5%) of them

disagreed strongly that the training programmes are adequate/effective. With this, a large number

of them agreed that the company advertising reaches their target audience.

Table 4.16: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response whether the company

advertising messages are informative and persuasive
Response Frequency Percentage
(%)

Strongly Agree 4 20.0

Agree 9 45.0
Undecided 2 10.0
Disagree 3 15.0
Strongly Disagreed 2 10.0
Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.16 indicates the frequency distribution of the respondents’ response on whether the

company advertising messages are informative and persuasive. 4 (20%) of them Strongly agreed,

57
9 (45%) of them agreed, 2 (10%) were inconclusive, 3 (15%) of them disagreed while 2 (10%) of

them Strongly Disagreed that the company advertising messages are informative and persuasive.

With this, a large number of them agreed that the company advertising messages are informative

and persuasive.

Table 4.17: Frequency Distribution on respondents’ response whether the advertising

methods are appropriate for their product
Response Frequency Percentage
(%)

Strongly Agree 4 20
Agree 3 15
Undecided 8 40
Disagree 2 10
Strongly Disagreed 3 15
Total 20 100.0
Source: Researcher’s fieldwork, 2019
Table 4.17 reveals the frequency distribution of the respondents’ response on whether the

advertising methods are appropriate for their product. 4 (20%) of them Strongly agreed, 3 (15%)

of them agreed, 8 (40%) of them were inconclusive, 2 (10%) of them disagreed while 3 (15%)

strongly agreed that the advertising methods are appropriate for their product. By observation,

majority of respondents were undecided on that the advertising methods are appropriate for their

product.

4.4 Testing of Hypotheses

This section aims at testing the hypotheses formulated for this research work. The

significance of this test is to possibly validate the hypotheses that is found true and therefore

accept them. On the other hand, the hypotheses that is untrue shall be rejected and hence are

unacceptable. In testing the hypotheses for this study and because from each hypothesis an

58
independent variable will test against one dependent variable as well, Correlation analysis will be

used and the major focus is to ascertain the effect of the independent variables on the dependent

variable. Thus, in general form, the hypothesis to be tested in this research work include the

following:

H01: There is no significant relationship between advertising and sales volume of Sweet Co
Limited.

Hi1: There is significant relationship between advertising and sales volume of Sweet Co Limited.

4.4 There is no significant relationship between advertisement and sales volume of

Sweet Co Limited.

In this section, the hypothesis to be tested would consider one independent variable and one

dependent variable and would be analyzed with statistical tool of Correlation. The independent

variable to be considered in this respect is advertisement (of the respondents) and the dependent

variable is sales volume of Sweet Co Limited.

Table 4.17 presents the statistical result of the hypotheses tested.

59
Table 4.18: Summary of Correlation Test of significant relationship between advertisement
and sales volume of Sweet Co Limited.
Do you Advertising
advertise your activities bring
products about
improved sales
performance

Do you advertise your Pearson Correlation 1 .594**

products
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 20 20
Advertising activities bring Pearson Correlation .594** 1
about improved sales
performance Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 20 20
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

From the Table 4.18 above, it reveals a Pearson’s product-moment correlation run to assess the

significant relationship between advertisement and sales volume of Sweet Co Limited. The

correlation value of rho = 0.594 indicate a positive and strong correlation between advertisement

and sales volume of Sweet Co Limited. Also, since the p-value of 0.000 is less than 0.05

(significant level), the null hypothesis which state that there is no significant relationship

between advertising and sales volume of Sweet Co Limited is rejected while the alternate

hypothesis is accepted. This implies that there is significant relationship between advertising and

sales volume of Sweet Co Limited.

4.6 Discussion of findings

The study uncovered some findings. The study was able to brought to the fore the preferred

choice of advertisements of the organsiation which is deduced to be Billiboard product display,

online advertisements and branded promotional gifts as there were 10% of the respondents

agreed to the stated above choices. it is also shown that the company often engage in

advertisements as 9 (45%) of the respondents agreed to be engaged in advertisements very often,

60
7 (35%) agreed that it is sometimes while 4 (20%) agreed it is rarely. It was also established that

advertising strategy has yielded to the growth of the company as 12 (60%) of the respondent

agreed it is somewhat successful and further 9 (45%) agreed that adequately the company had

performed well in term of sales. it was also revealed that the major challenges hindering the

achievement of targeted sales is finance as 9 (45%) of them suggested financial problem. The

data study revealed that advertising activities has brought about improved in the sales

performance of the company as 11 (55.0%) of the respondents agreed and also the advertising

activity adopted by the company have influenced their market share as 7 (35.0%) of the

respondents agreed. It is also revealed that the advertising method used by the company is

informative and persuasive and reached their target audience as 9 (45.0%) agreed and 8 (40.0%)

agreed respectively.

61
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the overall summary of the study, conclusion and recommendation of the

study. It is important to also mention that the recommendations provided emanated from the

findings of the study

5.2 SUMMARY

The study aimed at understanding the impact of advertisements on sales volume of small and

medium scale enterprise using Sweetco food limited, Ibadan Oyo state as it case study. Random

sampling was adopted to select 20 staffs of marketing/sales department in the study area. The

study examined the various theories as well as specific empirical studies to form the background

of the study. Among other things, the literature review captured the definitions, concept,

historical perspectives, elements, purpose, importance, categories and challenges of advertising

also concept in relation to sales volume and SMEs were discussed to mention but a few.

Questionnaire was used as the principal tool for the data collection. The data was analyzed using

basic statistical tools such as frequencies, percentages, tables and correlation test. Most of the

questions were framed in a closed ended manner. There were however, few of the questions

which were open ended. The SPSS windows software was used in analyzing the data.

5.3 Conclusions

Advertising cum Marketing of course, implies the art of determining the nature, strength,

direction, and interaction between the marketing mix elements and the environmental factors in a

particular situation, therefore becomes very relevant especially in any food production firm’s

62
effort to establish, build, defend and maintain its market share as well as competitive advantage

in the industry.

With respect to the findings of the study,

i. It is concluded that advertising strategy adopted influences the performance of Sweetco

food limited in terms of sales volume. However, the level of influence is dependent on

the type, intensity and reach of the advertising strategy that is deployed in the business.

ii. SweetCo Food ltd advertising strategy has yielded to the growth of the company.

iii. The company marketing/sales department is faced with financial problem as the company

see advertising as a means to increase their cost.

iv. The advertising strategy employed by the company can be considered suitable as it is

informative and persuasive and have helped the company in reaching of her targeted

audience.

5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of this study the following recommendations are made;

i. The management of Sweetco Food Limited, Ibadan should improve the existing

advertising strategy and adopt other strategies that are accompanied with product

qualities that might influence existing and potential customers to patronize their

products.

ii. The management of Sweetco Food Limited should continue to improve on their

budget for advertising in order to maintain a steady increase in sales volume.

iii. The management of Sweetco Food Limited should carryout periodic review of the

media of advertising and its advertising messages to ensure that are appropriate

63
64
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