EFFECTS OF MARKETING STRATEGIES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF EQUITY BANK

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of marketing strategies on the performance of Equity Bank.

Methodology: The study adapted a descriptive research design which was exploratory in nature to obtain qualitative information. The target population was customers of two branches of Equity Bank Westlands, Nairobi County. For the study, a questionnaire was the preferred instrument for data collection and before the study was conducted, the questionnaire was pre-tested to gauge its validity and reliability.

Results: The findings revealed that marketing strategies considered in this study namely customer relationship management, customer satisfaction, communication and customer loyalty have a positive relationship with performance. Additionally, the relationship was significant at 95% confidence since p<0.05 for all the four marketing strategies implying that they are important factors affecting performance of Equity bank. When the relationship between each marketing strategy and performance was considered individually, customer relationship management had a strong positive correlation with performance followed by customer satisfaction then customer loyalty. Communication had a weak but positive correlation with performance since the respondents felt that staff need to be more supportive than they are currently and open communication at the bank with customers' needs to improve although the bank has various communication channels.

Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study therefore recommends that the bank should bear in mind factors related to customer relationship management and customer satisfaction in order to attract more customers and increase retention levels. Perhaps, the bank should explore market driven strategies which seeks to address customer needs and use segmentation, targeting and positioning as opposed to mass marketing.