THE IMPACT OF INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION (IMC) ON SALES PERFORMANCE (A CASE STUDY OF COCOA INDUSTRY IBADAN, OYO STATE)

ABSTRACT The study examined the impact of integrated marketing communication on sales performance using Cocoa Industry Ibadan, Oyo State as the case study, the area of study of this research work was Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Staffs of Cocoa Industry in Ibadan constitute the study population. Data was sourced primarily with a structured questionnaire addressing the objective of the study. In all, 68 (sixty eight) questionnaires were administered and 66 (sixty six) which were properly filled were returned and used for data analysis. Chi square analysis was used to test the research hypothesis. The research concluded that as it is stated in the statement of the problem, the effect of IMC on sales performance as well as on other activities of the firm is an understudied topic especially in our country Nigeria, commitment as well as much endeavor is required from organizations to research and find out the effect and result of synchronizing or coordinating their marketing campaigns on the overall organizational performance to harness its massive benefits rather than trying to implement the marketing communication tools in a scattered or disintegrated way. Therefore, The result of this study revealed that integrated marketing communication has a significant impact on sale performance of Cocoa Industry. It was recommended that an extensive seasonal study about the effect of IMC on sales performance is required by the firm to find out which particular IMC tool is significantly affecting so that it can be maintained and also to pinpoint which particular IMC tool is negligibly affecting the firm’s sales performance so that the company would work on it for improvement. Keywords: Integrated Marketing Communication, Advertising, Sales Promotion, Direct Marketing, Personal Selling, Sales Performance. Word count: 265