The extended marketing communication variables as a strategy for competitive advantage in media houses

Abstract

The global business world is faced with increasing competitive pressures therefore; marketing skills and expertise knowledge have become highly valued. Therefore this study looked at the extended marketing variables as strategy for competitive advantage in Media Houses. The study was guided by these three objectives: to determine the effect of physical evidence as a strategy for competitive advantage in media houses; to assess the impact of processes as a strategy on competitive advantage in media houses and to establish the effect of people as a strategy on competitive advantage in media houses. The study adopted a descriptive survey design while the target population was top management and middle level manager’s media houses in Kenya. Structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data from the respondents and the researcher applied the drop and pick later' technique allowing the respondents one week to fill the questionnaires. Collected Data was filled into SPSS version 22.0 for analysis, Descriptive analysis was done where means, standard deviation, percentiles and frequencies were developed. Multiple regression analysis showed the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The study found out that people are an essential ingredient in service provision in the media industry, attracting and recruiting the right staffs is required to create a competitive advantage in any firm, the art of putting a customer first in the service industry is paramount in gaining competitive advantage, having a system where needs or problems of potential customers are anticipated as well as met can serve as a competitive advantage, a modern fashioned building can help an organization to gain an edge over competitors and location or placement of the firm is paramount in gaining competitive advantage.The study concludes that the reputation of the brand rests in the hands of staff. They must be appropriately trained, well-motivated and have the right attitude, the process of delivering the product or service and the behavior of those who deliver it are crucial to customer satisfaction and a clean, tidy and well-decorated reception area or homepage is reassuring. The study recommends that more training be done to the media staff to catch up with the changing technologies and new ways of doing broadcast, strengthening the internal control processes will increase the effectiveness of the media houses which in turn increases the competitive advantage of the media houses and managers in the media houses should employ very strong and clear processes which prevent unwarranted losses in the media houses.