Marketing communication: principles and practice

I M A G E
,
A N D R E P U T A T I O N
199
• 79% of consumers
• 78% of marketing managers
冧
said that reputation influences their
• 56% of purchasing managers
buying behaviour
• 45% of marketing managers believed that corporate citizenship efforts are
repaid in the bottom line
• 87% of business-to-business marketing managers felt the need for a good
reputation
• 63% of consumer marketing managers felt the need for a good reputation
(compare this with the 79% of consumers who said that reputation did influence
their buying behaviour)
Figure 10.1
Reputation as a criterion in determining purchase decisions

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An aspect of service and product quality
Kay (1993) indicates that reputation is especially important in markets where
product quality is important but can only be identified through long-term
experience – i.e. for service users who have no (or few) tangible clues:
Reputation is the market’s method of dealing with attributes of product
quality which customers cannot easily monitor for themselves.
(Kay, 1993: 87)
Work by Choi and Kim (1996) suggests that consumers, when faced with
uncertainty over the quality of certain products and especially services, employ
surrogates to allow some choice to be made on rational criteria. Factors
relating to the firm’s reputation, such as size and age, may assist consumers
to learn about their product quality.
The quality of product and service delivered is the ultimate determinant
of reputation. Although the modern consumer and purchasing officer is
increasingly looking to buy a package which includes the company standing,
their primary focus remains the output of the managing system – the products
and services which are promised. The management problem remains the
design, production, communication and delivery of value to the customer
(Bradley, 1995).