Marketing effectiveness of Botswana’s commercial Banks

Abstract

Banks nowadays face competition not only from other banks but also from other financial services companies which offer the same products that were traditionally offered by bank. Banks also have to deal with new regulations as well as the current emphasis on social responsibility. Therefore marketing effectiveness is imperative among commercial banks in Botswana as it result in achieving business goals. The primary objective of this study is to find out areas of potential marketing effectiveness problems facing commercial banks in Botswana. The specific objectives were: 1. To evaluate marketing effectiveness of the commercial banks in Botswana based on the five attributes of marketing effectiveness as proposed by Kotler , which include Customer philosophy, Integrated marketing organization, Adequate marketing information, Strategic orientation and Operational efficiency; 2. To identify the areas of potential problems with respect to their marketing effectiveness; and 3. To make recommendations that are in line with the observations. The research was conducted on 11 commercial banks in Botswana. The study used both qualitative and quantitative data which was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. One questionnaire was distributed per bank. The data was processed using Excel spreadsheet where descriptive statistics like percentages and mean were used. 3. Botswana’s commercial banks were found to be marketing effective, with two banks FNBB and Capital banks scoring the highest in all components of marketing effectiveness. Large banks being Barclays, Stanchart, FNBB and Stanbic were found to have slightly better marketing strategies and therefore more effective in marketing their services than the rest of the banks termed small banks. For banks to improve marketing effectiveness they have to clarify their strategies, align them with organizational objectives and measure the degree at which those objectives are met. Finally in setting their marketing strategies, banks need to consider all stakeholders in their business including those that do not benefit financially in any way.