MARKETING

Marketing Communications in the Arabian Gulf



Marketing Communications in the Arabian Gulf

Introduction

In this assignment, I will discuss the journal paper of Tuncalp (1999), in which he discusses the various information sources in industrial marketing, in the Arabian Gulf. One of the difficult decisions for marketing managers is the selection of suitable media to introduce industrial products to their potential buyers. In order to market the product efficiently, the marketing managers need to recognise the popular media sources of the potential buyers such as T.V, newspapers, magazines, mail and other sources.

Industrial products are bought by industrial customers; who are highly professional and are adept to making decisions that will be beneficial for their company. The customers also enjoy the help of specialists in the field and the target audience they are aiming is small. Therefore, the marketing managers should design their marketing communication in such a manner that ensures strong links with the buyers.

One way of establishing strong links with the potential buyers is to determine the media sources towards which the buyers have a positive attitude. This approach is specifically helpful in developing countries, where a few top executives are responsible for purchasing decisions. In Saudi Arabia, the decision making is centralized (Badawy, 1980, p.57; Anastos et al., 1980, p.83), and a few executive managers are responsible for almost all the decision making, including purchase. The marketing managers have to gauge the media sources which are most favourable to these executives in order to make increasing sales.

Aims and Objectives

In this paper, various methods of marketing communication are surveyed, and the results are determined. Marketing communication is the use of media and other resources to promote your business to the potential customers. In this paper (Tuncalp, 1999), a total of sixty seven companies in the Arabian Gulf were analysed to determine the preference of the fourteen different methods of marketing information. The top executives of the companies were asked to rank seven impersonal and five interpersonal sources of marketing for conducting industrial purchases. The various marketing sources were then ranked based on the feedback from top executives.

This study aims to identify the attitudes of top managers towards different methods of marketing sources, which will ensure a successful business purchases. This study can help international marketing managers to enhance or modify their marketing strategy. Research Approach and Philosophy

This paper uses survey method of the descriptive research. The research was conducted by preparing a structured questionnaire in English language. The questionnaire asked the top managers to rank the different sources of information as highly effective, no-effect, and not effective. The sources of information included past experience, pamphlets, English newspapers, Gulf T.V, Arabic newspapers, billboards, colleagues, mail, family members, and neighbours (Tuncalp, 1999, p.n.d). Radio was not included as the Saudi government did not allow the radio to be used for commercial advertising (Tuncalp, 1992).

Students were assigned to hand in the questionnaires personally to the top authority of the company, responsible for making decisions regarding purchasing of the ...