Correlation between Marketing Communication Tools and Business Performance Variables : Charles River Discovery Services Finland Case Study

Abstract

Companies use marketing communication tools to communicate with the target audience. It is extremely important to use proper tools to improve the performance. In order to understand the effectiveness of certain marketing communication tool, it is useful to investigate the relationship between it and business performance variables. The case company has distinguished personal selling activities and participation in exhibitions as the most strategically important tools for company’s performance. The number of orders per month and the number of new clients were chosen as the core determinants for business performance in 2015. Thus this study is focused on analyzing the correlation between chosen marketing communication activities and business performance variables in 2015. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to implement the research. The outcomes of research showed that the strongest correlation occurred between both of the chosen marketing communication activities and the monthly order numbers whereas the number of new clients was not affected by either of activities. It was also discovered that face-to-face meetings and participation in exhibitions were closely related to each other, and sometimes were used together. Moreover, they brought greatest results, when implemented together. These findings can be used by the case company to evaluate the impact of chosen marketing communication activities on company’s performance. In addition, this study can be used by further researchers to improve the investigation, taking into account the limitations and recommendations provided in this paper.