Assessment of effectiveness of marketing communication mix elements in Ethiopian service sector

Creating effective communication with customers is the most important aspect in services marketing. To date we still have poor understanding of the role of effective communication with customers in attracting and maintaining prospective and present customers. This research article evaluates the effectiveness of advertising and personal selling practices of Ethiopian Service Sector in communicating with its customers with the aim of finding solutions to improve the existing communication and customer satisfaction. After reviewing related literature, a questionnaire was prepared and distributed to 500 customers, out of which 30 percent from the telecommunications and 10 percent each from the remaining seven service industries viz. banking and insurance, education, travel, tourism and hotel industry, and hospital industry used to gather the data about the effectiveness of advertising and personal selling activities. The participants were selected randomly once the service type is determined by stratified sampling. The data collected was analyzed based on predetermined rating factors and expected results of performance with the help of SPSS software package. In conclusion, the findings of the analysis showed that Ethiopian Service Sector's advertising and personal selling indicated moderately effective in providing information, creating awareness, and changing attitude and ineffective in building company image and enforcing brand loyalty. The research also identified lack of integration between advertising and personal selling.