Abstract

The realities of our contemporary media, the fact that there has been an advancement in information technology over the years, these changes have placed marketers at an advantage. They have the opportunity to choose among a variety of media channels to advertise their products. Depending on how it best benefits them.

With this media variety, concerns have been raised as to which media is capable of delivering advertisers with more audiences. The researcher of this study sought to9 determine the preference of conventional and social media as advertising media among small business operators in the Molyko business community.

Also, to know why they choose to use a particular media in advertising. The researcher implored a qualitative research design and implemented the use of surveys (questionnaires) to obtain answers to her questions.10 questionnaires were first printed and used for the pretest. Afterward, 100 questionnaires were printed for data collection.

A total of 100 small business operators in Molyko responded to this. These participants were shop owners, managers of these small businesses, and staff. Others play the double role of owner/manager. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS.

Findings indicated that most small business operators in Molyko prefer social media to advertise because it’s cheaper and easier to use than conventional media. A considerable proportion of the population agrees that they use both conventional and social media in advertising.

As for recommendations, the conventional media owners and administrators should reduce the cost of advertisement space so as to encourage more people to use it in advertising. Since this study only included 100 participants, another study can be conducted to cover I wider population.

CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

1.0 Introduction

This study seeks to understand the perception of small business operators in Buea towards the use of existing traditional and digital media channels for advertising. In this chapter, the background to the study was examined, analyzing the topic concept from a wider point of view narrowing down to the issue in this study.

It stated the problem, looked at research objectives. Enumerated research questions, hypothesis as well as the scope of the Study not leaving out the significance of the study and definition of concepts.

1.1 Background to the study

Advertising as defined in Saiganesh and Meswaran (2012) is a tool used in communication to convince and persuade customers in buying a product or service.

Shefali (2012) states that the effects behind advertising are to enable advertisers to create market recognition and penetration of new goods.

In general, advertising is a planned communication strategy intended to change the behavior of customers in order to boost sales.

Marketers have traditionally depended on conventional media like newspapers, radio, TV and billboards. However, Talafuse and Brizek (2014) noted that Many marketers have switched from conventional medium to more digital medium on the Internet.

On their part, Tavik and Zaimovic (2018) maintained that innovations in information technologies and telecommunications have encouraged the creation of online marketing which is becoming irreplaceable in modern business.

In the presence of conventional and social media advertising platforms, concerns have been raised as to which medium can better deliver majority of prospective customers to the advertiser.

According to Talafuse and Brizek (2014) consumers’ media preferences has continued to be debated by marketers to know which media their prospective customers are exposed to or use more to be able to determine which one they can choose to advertise their goods and services. This is because marketers’ concern is on how own more customers.

In addition to considering the ability of the media in delivering more customers to the advertiser, there are probably other factors they may consider. It is stated in Dietrich (2015) that the advertising channels that are available have different advantages and disadvantages.

While some are cheaper to use others have the ability to reach a wider audience faster than others. Some are considered to be more credible than others etc.

It is against this background that this study seeks to investigate small business operators in Molyko Buea to understand which medium (conventional and social media) they often use for advertising and the reasons behind their choices.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Advertisers use various media platforms to target prospective customers for the goods and services they intend to sell.

The customers in contemporary society are diverse in terms of their media use and preferences. This, therefore, makes it difficult for advertisers to reach many customers on a particular media as they may miss a good number of them who are not exposed to such media.

A study on advertising media preferences amongst advertisers by Talafuse and Brizek (2014), showed that there is a shift from advertising on conventional media to social media. Such comparison on advertising media preferences (conventional Vs social media) amongst advertisers has not been explored in Cameroon.

Consequently, this study will help us to understand the kinds of media small business operators use for advertising within the Molyko business community and why they choose them.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 General objectives

The general objective of this study is to determine preferences of conventional and social media as advertising mediums amongst small business operators in Molyko Buea.

1.3.2 Specific objectives

1. To determine if there is a difference between social and conventional media as advertising medium amongst small business operators in Molyko Buea.
2. To determine if small business operators make use of integrated marketing communications.

1.4 Research questions

1.4.1 General research question

1. What are the advertising media preferences amongst small business operators in Buea.

1.4.2 Specific research question

1. Is there a significant difference between social and conventional media as an advertising mediums amongst small business operators in Molyko Buea?
2. Do small business operators in Buea make use of integrated marketing communication.