Effects of Marketing Strategies on the Performance of Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises in Kogi State

This study focused on the effects of marketing mix strategies on the performance of SMEs in Kogi State. To achieve the study’s objectives, a survey research design was adopted. A purposive sampling was used, and 300 respondents were selected. Findings show that promotion strategy relates negatively and significantly with sales and profitability performance of SMEs in Kogi State. Findings further show that distribution strategy significantly and positively relates with sales performance; while pricing strategy significantly and positively relates with the profitability performance of enterprises in Kogi State. The study concluded that marketing mix strategies have significant effects on sales and profitability performance of SMEs in Kogi State. The study recommends that SME owners should adopt less of promotion strategy to achieve high sales and profitability performance in the business environment of Kogi State, and that more aggressive distribution strategy and pricing strategy should be adopted to sustain sales and the profitability performance of their enterprises in Kogi State.


I. INTRODUCTION
oday, some SMEs are struggling to cope with the competition, and others have experienced improved performance in the business environment of Kogi State. Ogbadu (2012) also noted that the tough competition has characterized SMEs more. The successful SMEs have been observed for higher performance (in terms of sales and profitability) in Kogi State. This is perceived the antecedent of effective marketing mix strategies.  expressed that marketing strategy is an important tool for any SME to remain in competitive market environment and be stronger. Without the appropriate marketing strategy, an enterprise cannot survive in today"s competitive environment nor witness superior performance. The adoptable marketing mix strategies are advertising, promotion, distribution, customer servicing, packaging, sales and distribution strategies. The a-priori expectation is that marketing mix strategies influence increased profitability and sales of SMEs.  stressed that ineffective marketing strategy has negative effect on the organization"s performance, product quality, customer satisfaction and profitability.
The deficiency noticed from previous studies (Adewale, Adesola and Oyewale, 2013; Kuwu, Gakure and Ngugi, 2014;  is that there is no single marketing strategy theories that explains the performance of SMEs. Even Porter"s (1980) theory only identified strategies (cost leadership, differentiation and focus) in relation to large firms. The study of Kuwuet al. (2014) revealed that the development of marketing strategies theories and paradigms concerning SMEs" performance has not reached it momentum yet, despite the studies of the last 10 years. The effect of marketing mix strategies on the performance of SMEs has been a subject of growing interest in the field of strategies management (Kuwuet al., 2014). In the past, many studies on marketing strategies were limited to large enterprises and are carried out in a western context (Olutunia and Obamuyi, 2008). This accounts for few studies on marketing mix strategies to address the issue around performance in the SMEs sector in Kogi State. In the Kogi State context, it is observed that no empirical study has been conducted to investigate the effects of marketing mix strategies on the performance of SMEs in Kogi State. This study therefore explored this gap.

Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to critically examine the effects of marketing mix strategies on the performance of SMEs in Kogi State. Thus, the specific objectives of the study are to: i.
Ascertain the effects of pricing, product, promotion and distribution strategies on sales performance of SMEs in Kogi State. ii. Examine the effects of pricing, product, promotion and distribution strategies on the profitability performance of SMEs in Kogi State.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW Goi (2005) defined "marketing strategy as the set of the marketing tools that firms use to pursue their marketing objectives in the target market". This definition appears to be deficient in that it lacks essential keywords or terminologies. Adewale et al. (2013) expressed that "the function of marketing strategy is to determine the nature, strength, direction, and interaction between the marketing mix-elements and the environmental factors in a particular situation". Two salient points in this definition is that marketing strategy gives direction, and it is a vibrant explanation of the strength of any marketing SMEs. The determination of this strength may be facilitated through environmental analysis. In almost the same vein,  expressed that marketing strategy T process involves matching a company's internal resources and capabilities to external environmental opportunities for the company's long-term development. When the SMEs" internal environment/capabilities override the external environmental forces, there is a noticeable strength which can couple up into effective marketing strategy. Ebitu (2015) added that a "marketing strategy outlines the strategic direction and tactical plans that marketing teams must implement to support the company"s overall objectives". There is an observed mix up in his definition. The reason being that tactical plans only expire within the period of five years. Strategic plan has more than five years life-span, and it must be in alignment with the overall corporate goal.
However, the observed rationale behind the application of strategy to marketing activities trickles down to the pursuit of sales and profitability performance. In another way, Owomoyela, et al. (2013) added that "an organization"s marketing strategy is developed to establish, build, defend and maintain its competitive advantage".
Sequel to the above definition and discussion, marketing strategies can be referred to as a road map showing directions on how a long term oriented course of actions must be tailored towards achieving superior performance. It is important to note that marketing strategy is a confidential long term approach which SMEs must consistently use to enhance increasing sales and profitability at the market place. The priority of any marketing strategy is customer"s satisfaction.
Conventionally, marketing facilitates exchange to increase satisfaction (Ibidunni, 2004). Where the marketing strategy of an SME is effective, it is expected that sales and profitability will be facilitated. As earlier noted, an effective marketing mix strategy must commence with the analysis of the business environment; follow by formulation, implementation and evaluation. The stages of marketing strategies are captured in figure 1. Meanwhile, it is observed that some marketing strategies" failure is attached to problems at the formulation stage. SME owner/manager needs distinctive skill to help them avoid problematic marketing strategy. Kuwuet al. (2014) identified three steps to rescue SMEs from problems at the formulation stage as follows: i. The SME owner/manager should determine where the enterprise is. This can be done through situation analysis. ii. The SME owner/manager should determine where the enterprise is going.  emphasized on the need for SME owner/manager to "clearly and equivocally identify the enterprise's mission and long-term objectives".
The SME owner/manager should outline alternative course of actions from which the best can be chosen after screening. This will establish a pipeline for the enterprise to get to where it intends to be. Kuwuet al. (2014) stressed that SME owner/manager must decide on how to get where it wants to be. However, the implementation of marketing mix strategies is another tasking stage. It requires distinctive knowledge of SME owner about the target customers and distinguished prowess and capabilities to judiciously utilize available resources. At the same time, by using available resources, the firm should match its actions and activities with the needs and preferences of customers (Kuwuet al., 2014). The evaluation of marketing mix strategies is observed necessary to ensure that the strategies get the better possible payoff (positive). Almost all enterprises engage in constant evaluation of their marketing strategies to continuously pursue customer"s value.
The rationale behind this is explained by the game theory. Von Neumann and Morgenstern (1947) expressed that the position of the game theory is that all the enterprise owners are rational, and they struggle individually to create the best customer"s value by reviewing their strategies where a loophole is identified or change is observed in the competitive business environment.

III. METHODOLOGY
Survey research design was adopted for this study. The collection of data was actualized through the use of questionnaires. A five-point Likert scale were used for measurement scaling, ranging from "strongly agree", "Agree", "Neutral", "Disagree", and "Strongly Disagree". The study covers SME owners in Kogi State. The study adopted a purposive sampling based on the fact that secondary data regarding SMEs" operation in totality are absent in the state. The total of 300 respondents was purposively sampled, but 243 questionnaires were retrieved, forming 81%. This is considerably satisfactory for the study"s analysis. 136 respondents representing 56% were male; and 107 respondents representing 44% were female. About fifty SME clusters were located and surveyed across 15 Local Governments in Kogi State. The dominant SME categories in this study are from the service industry. Other participants belong to various industries such textile, food/beverage, manufacturing and so on. Data were analyzed using percentage and multiple regression model.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The result of this study encompasses both demography and the subject matter.           Table 4c shows that only two strategies (promotion and distribution strategies) significantly relates with the sales performance of SMEs in Kogi State. This supports the finding of Mustapha (2017) that promotion and distribution strategies have significant relationship with performance of SMEs. Given the β-value= -0.567 at the p-value = 0.01, the table 4c shows that 56.7% change in the promotion strategy will bring about proportional decrease in the sales performance of SMEs in Kogi State. That is, promotion strategy relates with sales performance of SMEs in Kogi State negatively. This result may occur as a result of the fact that there are unobserved shortfall in the promotion strategies of SME owners in the study area. The implication of this is that more investment in promotion strategy will cost the owner/managers of SMEs, and it will have dwindling effect on their sales performance. Also, given that β= 0.378 at p-value= 0.01 as shown in the      Profitability performance of SMEs in Kogi State is significantly influenced by marketing mix strategies (pricing, product, promotion and distribution). Based on the empirical findings, pricing and promotion strategies have significant relationship with the profitability performance of SMEs in Kogi State. Interestingly, promotion strategy has significant relationship with the profitability performance of SMEs in Kogi State. This means that the more the SME owners expends resources on promotion strategy the less the profitability becomes. This also implies that promotion strategy is not healthy for SMEs based on their scope.

Recommendations of the Study
The study recommends that: i. SME owners should adopt less of promotion strategy to achieve high sales and profitability performance in the business environment of Kogi State. ii. SME owners should adopt more aggressive distribution strategy to increase their sales performance in Kogi State. iii. SME owners should be more committed to their pricing strategy to sustain the profitability performance of enterprises in Kogi State.