Assessing the Contribution of Advertising on Sales Volume of Product in Tanzania: A case of Multichoice company (DStv), Mbeya

Assessing the Contribution of Advertising on Sales Volume of Product in Tanzania: A case of Multichoice company (DStv), Mbeya

Mr. Alen. J. Mbuza^*, Dr. Silverius C. Komba & Dr. Crispin Mbogo

Faculty of Business and Economics, St. Augustine University of Tanzania

^*Corresponding Author

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.8090315

Received: 09 September 2024; Accepted: 15 September 2024; Published: 14 October 2024

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of advertisement on the Sales Volume of Products in Tanzania, Specifically; the study assessed the role of advertising strategy in shaping the public perception towards DStv products and the sales volume. The study employed a case study research design, with a 45 sample size, and used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to efficiently collect analyse, and present data.  The methods of data collection involved both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were collected by using questionnaires and interviews, whereas documentary review was used in the secondary method. MS Excel and simple calculations by calculator were used to analyse the data where simple frequencies and percentages were created. The findings revealed that 42% of respondents said that DStv uses radio in advertising its products, 31% by using workshops and promotion, 18 use TV, and 9% company applied social media like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and TikTok. Also, the study found that 69% of respondents agreed that they are aware of the DStv products since they hear advertisements on radio and television. Furthermore, 55% said advertising plays a major role in shaping public perception towards the company’s products and services and affects sales volume at DStv Company. The researcher therefore recommended that the administration of DStv Company pay attention to advertising strategies for the sake of embracing market share, goodwill, profitability as well as sales of the company.

Keywords: Advertising, Sales Performance, Product

INTRODUCTION

Advertising is any paid form of non-personal promotion of ideas, goods, or services by any identified sponsor, it must be noted that for any promotional activity to be called an advertisement, it must be paid for (Kotler and Armstrong, 2019).

In the real sense, it is the method used by companies to create awareness of their products and making new products known to their potential customers. The purpose of advertisement may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that the company is viable or successful. Advertising messages are usually paid for by the sponsors and viewed via various media including mass media like newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor advertising, or new media such as blogs, websites, or text messages.  Advisement only grows and survives if it focuses on being effective (Doyle and Saunders, 2019).

There are various forms of advertising informative advertising, persuasive advertising, comparison advertising, and reminder advertising.  Informative advertising is used to inform consumers about a new product. It describes available products and services, corrects false impressions, and builds the image of the company (Kotler 2019). Advertisements can be done through print media which includes newspapers, magazines, and brochures, audio media like radio and also visual media including televisions and billboards.  (Kotler and Armstrong, 2019).

In today’s advertising market in Tanzania, there is a great contribution of developments in the medium of advertisement increasing the use of mobile phones to reach customers, privately owned media, and the growing popularity of online advertisement which become very important media for advertisers (Ulric Charters, 2021). Audience scope development research in 2019 reported that currently there are 47 FM radio stations, 537 registered newspapers, and dozens of television stations in Tanzania.  Audience scopes researched the most listened-to radio in the country and the results were as follows radio Free Africa (54%), Tanzania Broadcasting Cooperation (35%) Radio One (25%), Radio Maria (11%), Cloud FM (11%).

Advertisements come in a wide range of types, from print advertisements to television commercials, web page banners, and more. These usually are targeted to a specific audience. Advertising is a ‘paid for’ communication and it is used to develop attitudes, create awareness, and transmit information to gain a response from the target market. There are many advertising ‘media’ such as newspapers (local, national, free, trade), magazines and journals, television (local, national, terrestrial, satellite) cinema, outdoor advertising (such as posters, bus sides), (Karina, 2016).

According to Thomas (2020) ‘advertising for new products is more effective than advertising for established products. It’s easier to create effective advertising for new products, than established ones. The inherent “news value” of new products is the principal reason for their effectiveness. The new products are the most common marketing success to take advantage of this inherent advantage (i.e., to underspend on introductory advertising for new products). Perhaps up to half of all advertising for established products is not effective, or is only minimally effective, based on Decision Analyst’s research.

Advertising is primarily a strategic weapon. Its total effects must be evaluated in the context of years, not weeks or months. Companies with a longer-term perspective, however, will win the marketing wars through the effective use of advertising in the major media. This is not to say that other media (tradeshows, sports marketing, Internet, fax networks, and telemarketing) cannot play an important supporting or supplemental role, for they certainly can. This indicates that the quality of advertising tends to be more important than the quantity of advertising (Philip Cateora, 2016).

In addition, the primary goal of advertising is to inform customers about the benefits and values that a product or service offers. It can be used either alone or in combination with other marketing/ promotional tools such as sales promotion, publicity, or public relations. Advertising has raised several changes nowadays, such as global television and internet growth. According to, ‘Warren (2022), the world advertising expenditures exceeded $300 billion in 2018 and this amount is expected to approach $350 billion by 2018(Philip Cateora, 2016). Also, according to Seth Gidin, a former CEO of Yoyo Dyne Inc., as the company offers more products, they have to increase their promotional spending to get attention; but this leads to more advertising clutter, less reach, and lower profits. Also the web: www.adageglobal.com states that ‘The search for a global advertising campaign can be the cornerstone of the search for a coherent global strategy. Such a search should bring together everyone involved with the product to share information and leverage their experiences.

Concerning Tanzania, companies do advertise their products through different methods to ensure that their turnover is always increasing for the high profitability of the firms. Some of these companies that depend on their continuity of advertisement are TBL, TCC, Twiga Cement, Royal Furniture, Samsung, Nokia, Drop of Zanzibar, ZECO, TiGo, Zantel telecommunication company as well as Azam company with different products. Their advertisements are done with; radio, newspapers, magazines, telephones, direct mail, websites, public announcements, or wall painting.

According to Busari (2022), Advertisements can also be seen on the seats of grocery carts, on the wall of airport walkways, and the sides of buses, airplanes, and trains. Advertisements are usually placed anywhere an audience can easily and/or frequently access visuals and/or video.

It is a fact that advertising plays a very significant role in creating product or service awareness in the marketplace. David and James (2017) argued that advertising is one easy way to educate existing and prospective consumers about a product or service hence improving the organization’s performance in general. Business companies in Tanzania, particularly DSTv Company consider advertisement as an inevitable tool for survival in a highly competitive market and improved performance of the organization.

The study by Akanbi and Adeyeye (2021) sought to establish the effect of advertising on the sales volume of Vodacom Tanzania Company Limited utilizing composite data from the annual accounts and reports of the Company from 2016-2022. Most companies in Tanzania use advertisements as a tool for creating brand awareness to customers and popularity but do not consider how positivity is brought by advertisements in boosting sales volume in the industry. The companies must know that the advertisement should reflect the sales volume.

Empirical evidence has proven that just like any other business company, DSTv Company has competitors. Even though advertising theoretically is linked with improved company performance, little research attention has been paid to the influence of such advertising in DSTv Company. This paper seeks to find out how advertisement contributes to the sales volume of the company. Specifically, the study aims to assess the role of advertising strategy in shaping the public perception towards DStv products and the consequence of advertising on sales volume.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Definition of Key Terms

Advertising; this is any paid form of the non-personal presentation of the idea, or goods or services by an identified sponsor (Kotler, 2019).

Aim of advertising

In many business organizations, the need for implementing advertising is increasingly as important as a factor in protecting the profit margin. The basic objective underlying all advertising is an increase in sales volume. The aim is to set in terms of time and a strategy devised at achieving either short or long-term gains includes:-

• To widen the distribution of the product or service.
• To gain customer loyalty and convert them to regular users for new or improved products/services.
• To inform customers about new products in the market and also price charges.
• To persuade customer that the brand promoted is the best persuade them to try the brand.
• To remind customers and market about the product, where it can be available, and its best quality.
• Advertising can reach geographically dispersed buyers efficiently (Kotler, 2022). It is to develop all concepts and write copy for ongoing image advertising successful in increasing awareness, as reported by the sales team (Kursmark, 2016).

All these aims of advertising depend on where and when the supplier decides to do advertising, however, the general purpose of advertising is to boost up sales volume of the given entity, since most of the informed, persuaded, and reminded customers are expected to buy the promoted products.

Roles of Advertising

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 2018) stated that advertising plays the following roles:

Provision of Employment Opportunities

The advertising business is such an important/lucrative one in which many people are employed in the sector as specialists and non-specialist employees (Sandage and Rotzoll 2018).

Creation of Standards through Competition

Advertising messages often extol the good qualities of products or services. For consumers to continue to buy these products or services, manufacturers or organizations 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 manufacturers and organizations do not allow the quality of their products or services to fall below a standard that is acceptable to consumers (Sandage and Rotzoll 2018).

Improve the Standard of Living

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 is 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 (Sandage and Rotzoll 2018).

Provision of Entertainment and Relaxation

Many advertising companies especially broadcast media advertisements present their messages with humour and thus provide entertainment and relaxation for the audience. The presence of some characters in advertorial prints is geared towards providing entertainment and relaxation for the audience without the message being lost or submerged (Sandage and Rotzoll 2018).

Aesthetic Role

The billboards on our roads and neon sign advertising displays on high-rise buildings play an aesthetic role and without them in our stadia and other public areas, they will look bare and unattractive. This is why it could be rightly said that advertising plays an aesthetic role in society (Sandage and Rotzoll 2018).

Customer awareness of the company’s product

Customer awareness is the extent to which a brand is recognized by the potential customer and is correctly associated with a particular product it may consist of customer knowledge about a particular product’s benefits, features, slogan, taglines, and other brand messages. (Kotler 2019). Advertising has a greater potential of building awareness of customers hence obtaining a high preference of market share which in turn will increase the sales volume (Penchman 2017). The measurement of advertisement effectiveness involves two different problems first problem is measuring advertisements or advertisements messages, the second problem is of measuring the media which exposes the advertisements messages to the consumers (DB. Lucas, SH Britt Psycnet.APA.org1963).

The partnership between producers and consumers through advertisement is solely aimed at achieving certain mutually beneficial objectives. There are;

To introduce a 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.

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, helps 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 in a particular product and this will ultimately create brand loyalty.

Develop a large market: Advertising creates a large market segment which leads to the development of a larger market. To promote the image of the firm: Advertising builds a corporate image for a company.

Sales volume

Sales in business terms are actual sales in the money value of a company that it receives after a necessary collection made from different sales channels of the total product put on the market. (McCarthy 2020). This is used to measure the amount, usually in cartoons/crates, etc, of the product being sold at a given point in time. This is commonly used as well with products but it could be used within a service company. As it is generally known that, the role played by advertising in increasing the sales volume of any company’s product at any point in time cannot be overemphasized. As a matter of reality, it has contributed immensely to the increasing growth of many companies in various industries. This is because it goes a long way in placing a positive image of the company’s products in the minds of potential consumers; this can also influence their buying behaviour.

Effects of Advertisement on the Sales Volume of a Product

Any business, whether a start-up or an established one, puts maximum effort into expanding sales volume because sustained growth in sales is the only key to survival in the market. A company resorts to many means of achieving this end: introducing new products; promoting them through attractive marketing campaigns and schemes; offering discounts and easier payment options.

Advertising also adds value by educating consumers about their options for choosing their desired value in the products or services they buy. If the price is more important to consumers, they have options of buying less expensive alternatives. Many of our wants are emotional, social, or psychological rather than purely functional. Advertising also offers consumers the opportunity to satisfy their psychic or symbolic needs and wants through products or services that they use. Advertising contributes to the self-interest of both consumers and advertisers by adding value to products and services in a free-market system. Furthermore, it encourages competition which adds to serving the Consumer’s self-interest.

Note that there are several costs involved in doing business, and advertising is one of them. Most retail advertising prominently focuses on price and tends to hold prices down. Manufacture advertising usually focuses more on product features, benefits, or images in an attempt to convince consumers that the product is better. In this instance, advertising tends to support higher prices. Economists are critical of advertising because it creates a barrier to entry for smaller firms which have fewer resources and cannot match the power of large firms with huge advertising budgets. High costs may inhibit their entry and brands of large firms could benefit greatly from this barrier. This results in less competition and consequently higher prices (Bennett, 2016).

There is increasing awareness of the need to measure the impact of marketing activities on firm performance. Practitioners are increasingly under pressure to report their contribution to the overall firm performance. The inherent complexity in quantifying marketing activities has often become a barrier to developing metrics for marketing measurement. Sullivan and Abela (2016) report that the ability to measure internal marketing performance has a significant impact on firm performance, profitability; stock return and marketing’s stature within the firm.

In recent years a number of studies suggest that a firm’s advertising directly affects stock returns (Frieder and Subrahmanyam 2016; Grullon, Kanatas, and Weston 2019; Joshi and Hanssens 2016,). This is in addition to the indirect effect of advertising through an increase in sales revenues and profits. Srinivasan and Hansens (2016) carried out an extensive literature survey on the impact of advertisements on market and firm value.

To improve messaging and gain the audience’s attention, advertisers create branding and moments that will resonate with target markets and motivate the audience to purchase the advertised product or service.

Relationship between Advertisement and Sales Performance

Sales performance refers to satisfactory and consistent turnover of goods and services put on the market by a company (Amanda, 2022).

The influence of advertisement on the sales volume can have short-term effects or long-term effects (Leslie, 2020).  Wood in his study concerning advertisement stated that advertising influences sales volume through short-term effects determined by the direct increase in penetration, basket size, and buy rate.

It is through advertisement or other forms of promotion of that brand in different market segments that can effectively tell people in the market that a product is intended especially for them (Engel 2017, McGraw and Russell 2018). And the essence of advertising is to increase sales value/sales performance (David et al, 2016). The significance of advertising is to let customers know that the established product still exists and has certain characteristics, users, and benefits.

Effective advertisement can increase sales of advertiser products and by doing so increase their profit.  It brings customers and the prospects of the company with information about different products available to them; this allows consumers to choose between products and in turn, increases competition (Cambridge International College Training Manual 2016).

Companies advertise to compete in a new and aggressive way within the market to increase their market share through increased customers and utilize the low-cost way of teaching customers to create marketing approaches.

According to Quelch (2017) promotional tools, materials, and techniques have dramatically increased in recent years by marketers. Then Blattberg and Neslin (2019) admitted that sales promotion has an impact on consumer buying behaviour by focusing on promoting occasion. Schneider and Currim (2017) argued that customer promotion acceptance is based on the out and in-store sales promotion. Later on, Schultz (2018) indicated that sales promotion has a direct effect on customers’ behaviours.

Chandon, Wansink, and Laurent (2016) pointed out that other factors can influence consumer buying behaviour rather than reasons beyond price saving. Pramataris (2018) argued that sampling is a good technique it has less cost and is an effective tool to attract customers. Fill (2022) indicated that promotion tools have a huge impact on consumer buying during any competition; therefore discounted prices are one of these tools that affect customers’ decisions. In regards to Pickton and Broderick’s research (2016) sales promotion can result in increasing sales volume with less profit. Others also agree that sales promotions aim to influence consumer buying behaviour by introducing a new brand product which is going to target customers who have no previous experience with it (Solomon, Marshall, and Stuart, 2017; Kotler and Armstrong, 2019). However, Esfahani and Jafarzadeh (2012) found that psychological variables have a significant relationship with sales promotion; therefore they concluded that there is no significant relationship between impulsive behaviour and sales promotion.

Theoretical Review  

The study was guided by the Self-perception theory;

Self-perception theory

Self-perception theory: Researchers who have applied self-perception theory to price promotions have stated that a purchase in the presence of a strong promotion is expected to lead the consumer to attribute the purchase to an external cause (i.e. the promotion) rather than an internal cause (i.e. liking for the product). This leads to the discounting of a favourable brand attitude and repeat purchase probability diminishes. Self-perception theory suggests a negative long-term effect of price promotions on consumer attitudes and behaviour. Busari (2022) examined different types of price promotions media-distributed coupons, cents off marked packages and on/in-package coupons – and used self-perception theory to explain the results. The media-distributed coupons had the highest economic value and were expected to induce more switching than cents off and package coupons.

They hypothesized that since media coupons had high economic value, consumers would attribute their purchase to the presence of the media coupon and this 11 would lead to lower repeat purchase probability. Since cents off deal and package coupon offered lower economic value, purchase here was likely to be attributed to internal factors and this would lead to higher repeat purchase probability. Attribution to internal (liking for the brand) versus external (presence of a promotion) factors would determine the repeat purchase probability for the brand. The results of the study were following the hypotheses. Media-distributed coupons undermined repeat purchasing to the greatest extent followed by cents off deals. Package coupons had the highest repeat purchase rate.

Although Dodson et al (1978) applied self-perception theory to interpret the results of their study; the panel data used did not match the requirements for causality to infer the conclusions. There are competing explanations for the results found by the authors. The study did not measure brand evaluations directly and it is not evident that consumers made the attributions suggested by the authors.

The choice of Self-perception theory was used in this proposed study because the proposition of the theories is related to the objectives of the study and the behaviour/ intention intended is prepared with the message if someone here can decide to purchase DStv products. This proposed study intends to explore the contribution of the advertisement to the sales volume of the DStv Company.

Empirical Literature Review

Keller (2018) said that the study found that sales volumes are positively related to purchase intention. It signifies that consumers will buy a familiar and well know production, so in other words, the higher the sales volume, the higher the purchase intention. In addition, the study reveals that action loyalty and affective loyalty are positively related to purchase intention.

Keller (2017) found that investment in sales volume and the attributes of brand image provides a positive sales benefit. This benefit can be quantified (within the expected limitations of all consumer research) providing additional ammunition to the argument that investing in brands is, for consumer goods businesses at least, the best way to deliver long-term profitability and real increases in business and shareholder value.

Mital (2022) suggests that managers should focus on investing in the concept of sales volumes by monitoring and maintaining purchases to the customers. They also had difficulty in measuring brand awareness and knowing the depth of brand awareness, that is, the level of accessibility or “salience” of the brand in the consumer’s mind, which is of most interest to mature markets. Hence, the more extensive research in this area so that greater sensitivity in measures of brand awareness can be developed.

According to Mital (2022) who researched the effects of advertising on the sales revenue turnover of a company revelled that “The role of advertising on the sales volume of a product is very important because often the consumer’s decisions as regards what to buy is motivated by what has been seen or heard of or practically used.  Advertising helps in that it carries the message far and wide to a scattered target audience that the advertiser or producer could not have reached at once so easily”.

Advertising’s effectiveness lies in its capability to help stimulate or maintain sales (Eachambadi 2020; Mantrala, Sinha, and Zoltners 2017; Naik, Mantrala, and Sawyer Sethi 2018; Vidale and Wolfe 2018). Thus, advertising is frequently used as an independent variable in explaining changes in sales (Lilien 2020). Abraham and Lodish (2019) believe that advertising effectiveness has to be captured by the additional sales of a product over and above those that would have happened in the absence of any advertising or promotion.

Yew, Keh, and Ong (2016) reported that, intensive investment in advertising contributes positively to the one-year stock market performances of non-manufacturing firms. However, their results were inconclusive on whether manufacturing firms benefit from investment in advertising as measured by the three-year stock market performance. Mathur et al (2019) used event study methodology concluded that investors react positively to announcements of advertisement changes leading to higher market value for the firms.

Joseph, (2022) of Mzumbe University in his research on “The impact of promotion techniques under competitive business environment” generally said that promotion tools are the most common weapon(s) used in the competition battle, and if they are effectively used, they tend to affect sales positively.

Luo and Donthu (2018) apply DEA – Data Envelopment Analysis – to the question of how to measure the efficiency of advertising in traditional media. Further Yunjae Cheong (2016) uses a similar model to carry out a study on the evaluation of ad media spending efficiency. This model focused on how one could measure, maximize, and benchmark the effects of advertising media spending thereby improving the effectiveness of advertising.

Zefania Kimolo (2018) in her report on the “Promotion Techniques” conducted at NSSF headquarters found out, that some organizations are not effective in sales because they are not aware of the promotion tools when, where, and how to employ them. She also said that some techniques are not affecting sales because they are wrongly implemented and lack enough funds for implementation.

Research Gap

Many researchers like Mital (2022), Keller (2017), Keller (2018), (Lilien 2020), Yew, Keh, and Ong (2016), and Zefania Kimolo (2018) have tried to research the impacts of advertisement on business activities. It is believed that advertisement has the power to increase sales volume to consumers because it influences the products of an organization. Companies are spending large amounts of investment on advertisements because they want to keep their product at the top of the customer’s mind. It is believed that Dstv is the leading broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice in Tanzania, due to its number of customers and coverage both in rural and urban areas.

Advertising is the promotion of a company product and service carried out primarily to drive sales volume of the products and service but also to build a brand identity and communicate change or new product or service to the customers. Like how advertisements increase sales volume but do not change customer awareness. Therefore this study intends to investigate the contribution of advertisement on increasing sales volume of products.

Conceptual Framework

The theoretical framework has been developed by focusing on the conceptual aspects of the impact of advertisement on the sales volume of a product.  Advertisement, customer awareness, personal selling, sales promotion, and advertisement media are the independent variables, sales volume is a dependent variable plus the brand loyalty of customers towards company products. An effective advertisement will bring company customers with information about the products to its market segments and target which will influence the purchases and raise sales but also an effective media used for the advertisement will ensure the company advertisement strategy reaches the targeted audience as intended by the company it is this targeted audience who are to be purchasers of the product to raise sales, finally the customer need to be loyal of the company offerings, product attributes, price and its distribution or availability to opt for buying company products than the competitor products as shown below.

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

Source: Constructed from Literature Review, 2024

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Data were collected from 45 respondents. Simple random and purposive samplings were employed in selecting the subjects to be used in the sample size. A researcher used Simple random sampling to collect data from customers of DStv Tanzania Mbeya branch; this method had the advantage to the study because every customer as a sample for the study has an equal chance of being selected. Purposive sampling is used to collect data from employees or staff of the DSTV Tanzania Mbeya branch who are likely equipped, able, and or experts in the field of study hence they are likely to be from departments of sales and marketing and or top management.

The study used both primary and secondary data collection methods. The collection of primary data involved gathering first-hand information and the use of secondary data sources such as documents and published or internet sources. The questionnaire and interview method were used to generate detailed information about employees or staff of DSTV Tanzania Mbeya branch who are likely equipped, able, and or experts in the field of study hence they are likely to be from departments of sales and marketing and or top management.

The analysis of data obtained through questionnaires was analysed by using the Microsoft Excel program. Quantitative analysis used frequency tables and percentages. The researcher used Microsoft Excel to analyse the data and presented it in tables and figures. The interview method involves gathering information from respondents; therefore the interview data were analysed by descriptive method. This involved the descriptions and explanations from the respondents.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Advertising drives sales performance which leads to sales volume in two ways, first by making consumers interested enough in the focal product that they would seek information about it and second, by converting information-seeking consumers into buyers. Moreover,  the main objective of the paper is to find out the contribution of advertisement to the Sales Volume of Products in Tanzania, Specifically, the study assessed the role of advertising strategy in shaping the public perception towards DStv products (Advertising Media applied by DStv Company, Awareness of customers on DStv Products, The role of advertising strategy in shaping the public perception towards DStv products and services) and consequence of advertising on sales volume as discussed below;

Type of Advertising Media applied by DStv Company

DStv Company is flexible in selecting media for advertisement, this method is very effective as it establishes direct contact with the consumer and also maintains secrecy in advertising. Media planners need to think beyond basic television and banner ads in today’s evolving marketing environment. Instead, they must improve a consumer’s attitude towards your brand. The brand experience should be central to the media plan, and an advertising platform should support this focus.

An advertiser uses a particular media form, broadly classified, as broadcast media or print media, to reach the target audience. Television and radio are the types of broadcast media that allow audio-visual or only audio exposure of an ad in an intrusive manner. The audience passively receives the information without getting actively involved in the information search.

Figure 2. Type of Advertising Media applied by DStv Company

Source: Field Data, 2024

Figure 2 above displays the distribution of responses from respondents whereby 42% of respondents said that DStv uses radio in advertising its products, 31% said that the company uses workshop and promotion, 18 of respondents said that DStv uses TV and 9% said the company applied social media like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

Advertising Media is a part of the marketing strategy to promote and market a product, service, or brand and increase sales volume. The major objective of the advertisement is to reach out to potential buyers, get them interested in the company, and convey the messages needed for them to buy products or services.

The goal of advertising media is to inform and influence the target audience through any means and mediums. The main purpose of advertising media is to increase awareness and understanding among the target audience about a specific product or service to attract customers. This is accordance with the Doyle and Saunders (2019) said advertising messages are usually paid for by the sponsors and viewed via various media including mass media like newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor advertising, or new media such as blogs, websites, or text messages.

Awareness of Customers on DStv Products

The researcher wanted to determine if customers are aware of DStv’s products and services as a result of advertisements. The table below shows the responses from respondents about their awareness of the company’s products. found that 69% of respondents agreed that they are aware of the DStv products since they hear advertisements on radio and television and 31% said No, that means they means they don’t have any information about the DStv products.

Table 1. Awareness of customers on DStv Products

Source: Field Data, 2024

From the findings, it was found that 69% of respondents agreed that they are aware of the DStv products since they hear advertisements on radio and television and 31% said No, which means they mean they don’t have any information about the DStv products. Advertisements come in a wide range of types, from print advertisements to television commercials, web page banners and more. These usually are targeted to a specific audience. This is supported by Karina (2016) argued advertising is a ‘paid for’ communication and it is used to develop attitudes, create awareness, and transmit information to gain a response from the target market.

Customer awareness is the extent to which a brand is recognized by the potential customer and is correctly associated with a particular product it may consist of customer knowledge about a particular product’s benefits, features, slogan, taglines and other brand messages (Kotler, 2018). Therefore, advertising has a greater potential of building awareness of customers hence obtaining a high preference of market share which in turn will increase the sales volume.

The role of advertising strategy in shaping the public perception towards DStv products and services

Issues examined to relate advertising and public perception are measuring media exposure, engagement and influence if the company has produced positive products and services or not. Also, advertising in providing important information about DStv goods and services to consumers.

According to Pandey (2020), Advertising plays a major role in modern life. It shapes the attitudes of society and the individual and inevitably influences consumer behaviour. The consumer has to contend with a huge amount of information and be able to make a choice, draw conclusions and make important decisions. The most important task for a business advertising itself is to present its product in such a manner that the whole environment around the buyer turns into a positive emotional stimulus. The main goal of advertising a certain product or service is to attract the consumer’s attention and analyse the impact of advertising on consumer behaviour, which is determined by a multitude of factors, in which the behavioural factors play the most important role. Private organizations need to respond to public perceptions regarding public needs and demands and maintain equity in the provision of public goods and services (Jones & Thompson, 2007). Mention is often made of effectiveness or ineffectiveness in most discussions on management of private sector organizations. To different people in different situations and environments, effectiveness means different things. In profit-oriented organizations, it often refers to monetary returns or outputs for a given input (Siddiqi, 1995). According to Malik, (2006), effective managers are result-oriented, they achieve management objectives. They are holistic in thinking and actions, carry everyone along and limit themselves to a few important carefully selected activities that are central to the organisation’s goal.

Table 2. Advertising plays a major role in shaping public perception towards to DStv products and services

Source: Field Data, 2024

The table above indicates that 55% of the respondents strongly agreed that advertising plays a major role in shaping public perception towards the company products and services, 30% of respondents agreed that advertising is a key used by DStv company to plan action a major role in constructing public perception towards the company products and services and 10% of respondents were not sure that DStv company made advertising design as a major role in shaping public perception towards the company products and services. This implies that Advertising is one of the most important and basic ingredients in today’s business environment. This is following Malik, (2016) said that without advertising neither the Company nor the consumer can survive. Hence, DStv Company cannot survive because; it will not have any tool to communicate to the consumers. Survival becomes difficult for consumers because, they will not have any information about the product, service, or company. Hence, comparison and search for a better product is impossible. Also, DStv Company creates faith and goodwill in the minds of the consumers and it should contain the core principles of believability, uniqueness, reputation, and reasonable claims.

Table 3: Advertising is providing important information about goods and services to consumers.

Source: Field Data, 2024

Data from the field indicate that 65 percent of the respondents strongly agreed and reported that advertising plays a big role in providing important information about goods and services to consumers, 35 percent of the respondents reported that advertising provides important information about goods and services. This implies that Consumers generally use advertisement as a means of obtaining information about the products and services, or brand or the DStv Company.

They cannot be informed unless they comprehend the message (grasp the message mentally and understand it fully). This means advertisement is like a channel that should be used by DStv Company to communicate to the customers and let them know the new subscribers and the marketer must inform consumers of the existence of the new item and convince them of the benefits flowing from its use. Nowadays, people have access to an endless supply of advertisements. However, they fancy something new, entertaining, and something that can grab their attention. Boring advertising will not be sustained in consumers’ minds long enough. Therefore, entertainment has been termed as a significant advertising strategy for increasing advertising effectiveness and imploring them to make a purchase.

The study established that the effectiveness of advertising on reach and creation of awareness was determined by the level of knowledge about the existing platforms of advertisements adopted by DStv Company. Most of the respondents had a positive attitude towards advertising as illustrated by their various perceptions about the use of advertising. This clearly shows a positive attitude toward advertising and hence is a good indication for marketers. The findings augment the findings of Baltas (2017) who indicated that marketing is perceived by advertising users as a major source of information on available products in the market as reflected by their positive attitude in the world over. Also, according to Calisir (2017), advertising is an effective channel for marketing as the ad is attractive and appealing which changes from time to time. The study established that even though the reach of the internet is much higher than that of other modes, its ability to attract consumers for awareness creation is very low.

From our literature review, we find that awareness and advertising are the two main drivers that force customers to buy a particular product. In DStv Company, people usually buy the products if they know enough about the product or if it is recommended by any close person. Along with that several other options are also considered in the buying behaviours of the people such as brand consciousness, social class effect, good experiences, suitability, or loyalty to the brand. But all of these factors will be applicable when people have awareness of a particular brand and they also have positive perceptions in their minds. Advertisements are used to create these factors in the customers but despite advertisements social circle, peers, friends, and family greatly affect the perception.

The Consequence of Advertising on Sales Volume

In many business organizations, the need for implementing advertising is increasingly as important as a factor in protecting the profit margin. The basic objective underlying all advertising is an increase in sales volume. The aim is to set in terms of time and a strategy devised at achieving either short or long-term gains. The table below provides the summary data on the argument of the effect of advertising on sales.

Table 4.  The Effect of Advertising on Sales Volume

Source: Field Data, 2024

Concerning new customer attraction (table 4.6), 71.1% said that, advertising affects sales volume at DStv Company positively and 28.9% of respondents responded negatively on informative advertising to sales volume. Every business organization that is determined to succeed has to adopt an effective system for the promotion, distribution, and sales of its services. To fully understand the situation the problem has to be determined if advertising has any impact on the volume of sales for the consumer preference of a particular service.

This result is support, by Mital (2022) who researched the effects of advertising on the sales revenue turnover of a company revelled that “The role of advertising on the sales volume of a product is very important because often the consumer’s decisions as regards what to buy is motivated by what has been seen or heard of or practically used.

Also, Keller (2017) found that investment in sales volume and the attributes of brand image provides a positive sales benefit. This benefit can be quantified (within the expected limitations of all consumer research) providing additional ammunition to the argument that investing in brands is, for consumer goods businesses at least, the best way to deliver long-term profitability and real increases in business and shareholder value. Moreover, Keller (2018) said that sales volumes are positively related to purchase intention. It signifies that consumers will buy a familiar and well know production, so in other words, the higher the sales volume, the higher the purchase intention.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusions

The above-mentioned major finding and discussion led this study to conclude that:

This study is designed and carried out to identify the underlying objectives of advertising among sales volume of DStv Company. According to the study findings the four types of media were identified as affecting the sales volume of the company and the media mixes that DStv Company advertises its products have been assessed.

Nowadays, advertising has become one of the main hurdles in the development of the DStv Company. The organization has to spend it’s a major portion of its revenue to serve the advertising expenses. It is assumed that advertising can help organizations to meet their objectives easily. DStv Company has relied much on advertising to improve its sales and profitability.

Even though DStv company has been well performing in which the advertising rate increased concurrently with the revenue collection no matter how successful the sales for a company is and regardless of the edge the company has in the industry to sharpen the performance availability of informative advertising, building brand name towards advertising is a must and should be continuous very potential activity.

Moreover, the study found that advertising had much influence on sales at DStv Company. Also, the findings of the media mix that the company used to advertise its product showed that DStv Company used Television and radio, sponsoring events, Giving prizes with the company product name, stickers, billboards, posters, and brochures. This indicates that the company uses visual, audio, and print media to advertise its product. On the contrary, the company did not use the internet and mobile to advertise DStv Company.

From the findings of this study, based on the positive relationship between advertising and sales volume, it can be concluded that the more consumers are exposed to DStv Company’s advertising, the more sales volume will increase.

Recommendations

From the analysed, discussed, and interpreted data collected in this study, the author therefore recommends the following:

• Due to the competitive nature of the industry, the marketing manager of DStv Company must develop and formulate marketing programmes that will satisfy the needs of the consumers.
• Since other service providers have similar advertising messages, it is recommended that for a more distinguished and effective response from the customer, other forms of advertising should be used.
• Regular and consistent up-to-date training on product information should be given to the advertising agency so that they will have the current knowledge and skills to handle the adverts and also to ensure that product information is being emphasized to enlighten the customers.
• As advertising campaigns are relayed from different service providers, the advertising should be used to help customers identify the company’s products or services when they are making a purchase decision.
• Good advertising should be effective, persuasive, and contain the necessary information on the products.
• For over fifteen months, there has been a slight backward shift in the market position of DStv Company and also there is a fall in the regular rate of increase in turnover as a result of negligence from the angle of advertising. It is thereby recommended that DStv Company should get back to their intensive and aggressive advertising practice to keep their pace of growth.

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