The Impact Of Brand Awareness On Consumer Loyalty: A Preliminary Research Essay.

Pick a research topic/question of your choice. Develop a preliminary research proposal to address this topic/question. Sections to include:

1. Problem statement

2. Significance

3. Research objective

4. Research question

5. Scope and limitation

6. Literature review

7. Research methods

Problem Statement

An increasing impact of brand awareness is deemed tin be highly significant to impact consumers brand loyalty. It will be impossible for the companies to attract a huge consumer base if they fail to understand the dimension of brand awareness to brand loyalty (Luxton, Reid & Mavondo, 2015). Companies tend to lose consumers and certain problems regarding increasing brand preference takes place if the consumers does not have any brand awareness regarding the product but still remains loyal towards the brand. Considering such problem, the current research will focus on explaining the impact of brand awareness strategies of selected brands on the consumer loyalty. This will provide implications to the marketers for developing and maintain brand commitment among its target consumers (Malik et al., 2013). Addressing the research problem, the current research will also explain that perceived value can guide purchasers to attain personal judgment on total product value that makes such products to have a differentiation along with turning out to be a renowned brand in the customers mind.

The significance of the study is to reveal the relationship between brand loyalty and awareness. This research will be carried out on selected brands of a consumer goods company in Lesotho that is Premier FMCG as the previous researches has made high contribution on the current study (Matthews, Son & Watchravesringkan, 2014). In the recent research, the findings are deemed to make an increased impact on rand awareness and loyalty. The research in the selected topic is expected to have high significance as after the completion of the research the products that have increased brand loyalty and awareness. This research is deemed to provide significant implications s it will facilitate in determining the impact of consumer purchase decisions on all the aspects of brand awareness (Matthews, Son & Watchravesringkan, 2014). Moreover, the research will also explain the impacts of the aspects on brand loyalty that explains the major objective of the research.

The objectives those are to be addressed through conducting research on “The impact of brand awareness on the consumer loyalty” are mentioned below:

• To analyze the brand awareness strategies those are implemented by the selected brands
• To evaluate the ways in which brand awareness has an influence on consumer loyalty of selected brands
• To analyze the factors that promotes the effectiveness of the selected companies brand awareness strategies

The research question that is to be answered through completion of the current research is:

• What is the impact of brand awareness strategies of selected brands on the consumer loyalty?

The scope of the research will be to conduct a research in brand awareness in order to realize to what extent awareness of a brand matters at the time consumers tend to select a rand they recognize of purchasing for the first time within unfamiliar culture (Pappu & Quester, 2016). The paper will reveal that consumers tend to select a brand that they can recognize rather than selecting an unfamiliar brand. The current research will make an attempt for reaching out to target consumers efficiently as consumer loyalty is impacted through several brand awareness strategies.

Along with several implications of the research, there is expected to be certain limitations of the current study. Due to time constraints the major focus of the research remained limited to fewer theories surrounding the research area (Romaniuk & Nenycz-Thiel, 2013). The aspects within the questionnaire only encompassed everyday commodities for the reason that all the consumers probably purchase these products. In addition, within the current research the only factors those were taken into consideration were the ones that have increased impact on selection of a brand.

Research Significance

Ashley and Tuten, (2015) explained brand awareness as the capability of a customer to recognize, identify and recall a specific brand in distinct situations. Brand awareness includes brand recognition and recall. Dhurup, Mafini and Dumasi, (2014) stated brand recall as a process where a consumer observes a product segment and then recalls a brand name. Brand recognition can be understood as a process in which consumers have the capability to recognize a brand if they get indication of a brand. Brand awareness is observed to impact purchase decision of consumers by means of brand association and if a product has positive brand image then it can support the marketing activities. Dolbec and Chebat, (2013) indicated that brand awareness also serves as a vital aspect impacting consumer purchase intention and few brands will accumulate within consumer minds that can impact their purchase behavior. A product having increased level of brand awareness is deemed to attain increased consumer preferences for the reason that it attains increased market share and equity valuation.

Foster and McLelland, (2015) defined consumer loyalty to be consumer attitudes towards a brand preference from past use and shopping experience of a specific product. Moreover, a loyal consumer base indicates entry barriers, a foundation for premium price, time to offer response to competitors and serves as an aspect of brand equity. Consumer loyalty indicates a repurchase commitment for future purchases that indicates consumers might not change their consumer loyalty in any situation and continues purchasing their desired brands. Freling and Forbes, (2013) elaborated that customers those have a strong commitment towards a specific brand will keep on looking for the marketing activities associated with the brand. A desired attitude supported by a positive consumption experience results in consumer loyalty that is explained in consideration to behavioral and attitudinal perspective. In consideration to attitudinal perspective, consume loyalty can take place where customers have positive beliefs regarding their attitudes towards a brand. However, attitudinal loyalty indicates an increased commitment to patronage of a specific brand through continuing to prefer its offerings.

Habibi, Laroche and Richard, (2016) elaborated perception as a process through which information is attained, organized, selected as well as interpreted by a person. Certain aspect that has an effect on consumer perceptions is explained under:

• Quality- This creates brand identity as consumers take into consideration quality of products while choosing a brand
• Price- This impacts brand choice as consumers either goes for lower price to escape financial risk or for higher price to ensure quality
• Influence by some individual
• Convenience- He and Lai, (2014) stated that easy access to a product is important while purchasing low involvement items.
• Packaging- This serves as a type of advertisement as it attracts a huge consumer base.
• Advertising- This is a type of communication through packaging or through advertising mediums in attracting large consumer segment

Hollebeek, Glynn and Brodie, (2014) indicated that brand awareness can drastically impact consumer loyalty and perceptions. Previous researches investigated the relationships between brand awareness and loyalty. It is also gathered that brand awareness and positive brand associations has a drastic impact on consumer brand loyalty. Moreover, brand awareness and associations is combined within a unidirectional concept. Hudson et al., (2016) findings indicated the impact of both brand association and awareness on brand loyalty. This research also explained the positive effect of brand awareness on loyalty and in contrast the researches examined the difference between brand association and awareness. In support of the findings gathered from the previous researches, the current study will focus on explaining the impact of brand awareness strategies developed by selected companies on their consumers’ loyalty towards the brand (Luxton, Reid & Mavondo, 2015).

Research Objectives

Research Approach

Deductive research approach will be selected in the current research for the reason that it suits well the selected positivism research philosophy. This approach is deemed to be suitable for the current research as it is concerned with hypothesis development relied on a specific theory along with designing a research strategy for addressing research questions (Saleem, Rahman & Umar, 2015). Moreover, this research approach analyses a renowned theory and focuses on testing validity of the theory in certain circumstances. The current research will focus in implementing deductive approach and developing research questions while initiating the research.

Positivism research philosophy will be selected in the current research for the reason that it depends on certain quantifiable observations which lead to carrying out statistical analysis. This research philosophy is deemed to be significant for the current research for the reason that the research remains in accordance to the empirical view which considers that knowledge derives from human experience (Sasmita & Mohd Suki, 2015). Moreover, positivism philosophy is selected because of the reason that the current research involves using an existing theory for developing hypotheses that is to be tested through the current research.

The research sample that will be selected for the current research includes certain selected brands of a consumer goods company in Lesotho that is Premier FMCG. These brands include Mister Bread, Blue Ribbon, Snowflake and Vulco. Research will be carried out on these selected brands in order to analyze the impact of the company’s brand awareness strategies on brand loyalty of its target consumers (Severi & Ling, 2013).

Both quantitative and qualitative data collection method will be employed in the current research in order to analyze the impact of brand awareness on consumer loyalty. Primary data for the research will be collected through questionnaires that will be sent to the marketing manager of selected four brands of the company. Questionnaire data collection will focus on generating both open and close ended questionnaires for attaining appropriate response from the selected survey participants (Suki & Sasmita, 2015). Moreover, secondary data for the research will be collected from previous research papers, articles, books and websites on the selected research topic.

Collected data will be analyzed through carrying out correlation and regression analysis using MS Excel tool. Moreover, the findings from the analyzed data will be represented through graphs and tables (Saleem, Rahman & Umar, 2015). The statistical data gathered from the findings will facilitate the researcher in carrying out statistical evaluation of the findings and indicate the extent and type of impact that brand awareness can have on brand loyalty.

While accomplishing the research, certain ethical considerations were ensured form the part of the researcher. In accomplishing the research, the researcher will make sure that the research participants are not prioritized and full consent was gathered from the research participants while developing a questionnaire (Malik et al., 2013). In addition, the researcher will also make sure of the privacy of research participants along with maintaining level of confidentiality of the collected data for research.

References

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27.

Dhurup, M., Mafini, C., & Dumasi, T. (2014). The impact of packaging, price and brand awareness on brand loyalty: Evidence from the paint retailing industry. Acta Commercii, 14(1), 1-9.

Dolbec, P. Y., & Chebat, J. C. (2013). The impact of a flagship vs. a brand store on brand attitude, brand attachment and brand equity. Journal of Retailing, 89(4), 460-466.

Foster, J., & McLelland, M. A. (2015). Retail atmospherics: The impact of a brand dictated theme. Journal of Retailing and consumer services, 22, 195-205.

Freling, T. H., & Forbes, L. P. (2013). An empirical analysis of the brand personality effect. Journal of Product & Brand Management.

Habibi, M. R., Laroche, M., & Richard, M. O. (2016). Testing an extended model of consumer behavior in the context of social media-based brand communities. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 292-302.

He, Y., & Lai, K. K. (2014). The effect of corporate social responsibility on brand loyalty: the mediating role of brand image. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 25(3-4), 249-263.

Hollebeek, L. D., Glynn, M. S., & Brodie, R. J. (2014). Consumer brand engagement in social media: Conceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of interactive marketing, 28(2), 149-165.

Hudson, S., Huang, L., Roth, M. S., & Madden, T. J. (2016). The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(1), 27-41.

Luxton, S., Reid, M., & Mavondo, F. (2015). Integrated marketing communication capability and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), 37-46.

Malik, M. E., Ghafoor, M. M., Iqbal, H. K., Ali, Q., Hunbal, H., Noman, M., & Ahmad, B. (2013). Impact of brand image and advertisement on consumer buying behavior. World Applied Sciences Journal, 23(1), 117-122.

Matthews, D. R., Son, J., & Watchravesringkan, K. (2014). An exploration of brand equity antecedents concerning brand loyalty: A cognitive, affective, and conative perspective. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research, 9(1).

Pappu, R., & Quester, P. G. (2016). How does brand innovativeness affect brand loyalty?. European Journal of Marketing, 50(1/2), 2-28.

Romaniuk, J., & Nenycz-Thiel, M. (2013). Behavioral brand loyalty and consumer brand associations. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), 67-72.

Saleem, S., Rahman, S. U., & Umar, R. M. (2015). Measuring customer based beverage brand equity: Investigating the relationship between perceived quality, brand awareness, brand image, and brand loyalty. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 7(1), 66.

Sasmita, J., & Mohd Suki, N. (2015). Young consumers’ insights on brand equity: Effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand image. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 43(3), 276-292.

Severi, E., & Ling, K. C. (2013). The mediating effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand image and perceived quality on brand equity. Asian Social Science, 9(3), 125.

Suki, J. S. N. M., & Sasmita, J. (2015). Young consumers’ insights on brand equity: Effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand image. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 43(3), 276-292.