The Influence of Marketing Communication Practices on the Performance of Insurance Companies in Kenya

Abstract

In the emerging dynamism of the business environment, no successful organization can afford to overlook marketing. It has become essential to use all the resources and practices that marketing offers to survive and succeed in the ever changing business environment in the world and Kenya in particular.This applies even to the insurance companies whose environment dynamism in the current times is posing many challenges including intense competition, globalization and technological advancement and therefore calling for marketing communication practices. To this extent, this study focused on the influence of the marketing communication practices on the performance of insurance companies in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to establish marketing communication practices used in insurance companies and determine the influence of marketing communication practices on performance.The research design used in this study was the descriptive survey design.The target population consisted of 48 registered insurance companies with headquarters in Nairobi.A census was carried out wherea questionnaire was distributed to the marketing managers in the insurance companies.Quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics by use of frequencies and percentages and averages. The qualitative data was first organized into themes corresponding to the study objectives.According to the findings, it was noted that insurance companies use all marketing communication practices widely including advertising, direct marketing, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.Findings indicated that the marketing communication tools are significant in influencing performance with advertising observed to be the most significant. Furthermore, findings indicated that marketing communication practices influence performance of insurance companies to a great extent where the major influence was noted to be caused by advertising.In conclusion, the entire marketing communication practices influence performance of insurance companies to a great extent. What should be noted is that some practices have little influence on certain aspects of performance in an organization while others exert a great influence on the same.The researcher recommends that insurance companies should strengthen their marketing research. This will enable them to understand their market segments better and identify the most appropriate marketing communication practice to use.