Evaluation the Relationship between Online Advertising and Brand Loyalty (Case Study: Customers of sports brands in Isfahan city)

Author Name(s): *Mohamad Amin Barahimi, Mahmood Rafiey
Author Email: Mohamad.barahimi@gmail.com

Abstract

The purpose of this research was done with aim of evaluating the relationship between online advertising and brand loyalty among sporting brand customers in Isfahan city by descriptive-correlative method. The statistical population of the research was all customers and users of sporting brand in Isfahan. 384 people were selected as sample size through Cochran formula and available sampling method from this population. The data gathering tool was two questionnaires with the title of researcher made online advertising with 31 questions and a standard questionnaire with the title of consumer loyalty to the brand with 30 questions, whose content validity was confirmed by professors, experts and specialists. Their reliability was also evaluated and confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. This coefficient for the online advertising questionnaire was 0.825 and for the consumer loyalty questionnaire to the brand was 0.908.Data analysis was carried out at two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics through abundance distribution tables and distribution ratios, structural equation modeling and variance analysis. The findings of the research showed that there is a significant relationship between online advertising and brand. Also, there is a significant relationship between online advertising through banner and brand loyalty, between online advertising through e-mail and brand loyalty, between online advertising through search engines and brand loyalty, between online advertising through videos and brand loyalty, and between online advertising through advertorial and brand loyalty. But existence of a significant relationship between online advertising through websites and brand loyalty and between online advertising through social networks and brand loyalty was rejected.

Keywords

Online advertising, online advertising methods, brand loyalty

Introduction

Organizations have many resources and assets to carry out missions and to achieve to their goals (Toffler, 1990). One of the most important assets of the companies is their brand, and one of the concepts that can has direct effect on the brand and determines its value is the customers’ loyalty to it. In today’s world, maintaining and enhancing customer loyalty is a strategic challenge for companies that have concerns about maintaining and expanding their competitive position in the market. Advertising is considered as one of the broadest areas of marketing systems. The importance of advertising is to the extent that the term of “marketing” is synonymous with advertising in the minds of the public. Billions of dollars are spent on advertising in various media every year. Today’s human lives under heavy bombardment of commercial advertising. In the morning, when a person wakes up until falls to sleep, he or she will be exposed to various advertising from different media. The effectiveness of advertising is a key point in the evaluation of advertising. Advertiser companies are always interested in assessing the effectiveness of their advertising. The effectiveness of advertising varies in different media (Roosta et al., 2009). Marketers use advertisements to create awareness about brand, to create brand superiority among other brands, and ultimately to choose a brand by the customer (Laroche et al., 1996). Online advertising is a very important part of electronic communications, so that today companies spend huge amounts of money on online advertising because of the vital role of advertising in informing to customers and encouraging customers to buy.

Today, customers’ loyalty is considered the success key of any business. By increasing customer loyalty, the market share and profitability amount of an economic firm will be increased. With the advancement of technology and more competitive market conditions in the various manufacturing and service sectors, loyal customer is considered as the main capital of any company. Hence, paying attention to customer loyalty and identifying factors that can improve customer loyalty has been converted to a fundamental necessity for companies. Today’s companies have totally blended with all business elements, such as those elements, is the Internet space. The activities of the companies in this area are due to this fact that internet network has created a good opportunity for companies to expand their brand. Though numerous researches have been conducted in online advertising field and brand loyalty or the relationship between a particular method of Online advertising and brand loyalty, but a research that evaluated the relationship between online advertising and brand loyalty in general and not a particular method of Online advertising, has not accomplished so far. Also, since there is no accurate information from effect of online advertising on brand loyalty, the present research has been conducted with aim of evaluation of online advertising effect on brand loyalty in sporting brands in Isfahan.

Valid brands in some cases represent the fashion and the used product’s modernity, but in most cases, and especially in the case of sporting brands, the use of valid brands means the use of standard equipment and the importance of individual health. Many beginner athletes with neglecting the use of products and equipment with valid brands are caused physical irreparable damages and sometimes spiritual to themselves and their around people. Hence the use of sporting brands for people and society is important, and the manufacturing companies compete for customer acquisition and making them loyal in this industry.

Problem statement is evaluated first in this research and then the relationship between online advertising and its various methods with brand loyalty is evaluated by statistical tests.

Conclusion

The present research has been carried out with the aim of evaluation of effect of online advertising on brand loyalty in sporting brands in Isfahan and by descriptive-correlation method. Then the effcet of various methods of online advertising on brand loyalty was also evaluated. The statistical population of this research includes the users of existing sporting brands in Isfahan and the sample size has been considered according to the Cochran formula equal to 384. The sampling has been carried out in accessible random method. The data gathering tool was two questionnaires with title of “Online advertising of researcher-made” with 31 questions and standard questionnaire with title of consumer loyalty with 30 questions that their validity was confirmed by professors, experts and specialists. Their reliability was also evaluated and confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. This coefficient was calculated for the online advertising questionnaire equal to 0.825 and for the consumer brand loyalty questionnaire as 0.908. Analyzing the data at two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics through abundance distribution tables and distribution ratios, structural equation modeling and analysis of variance by SPSS software and Smart PLS have been accomplished after distributing the questionnaires among the intended sample and collecting information and data. Acceptance or non-acceptance of the hypotheses was specified after analyzing the findings and testing the research hypotheses.

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