Creating and sustaining loyalty in the recruitment industry by means of integrated marketing communication

Abstract

Today’s fierce market-place calls for effective marketing which has made relationship-building pivotal in the quest for marketing success. In order to foster relationships with clients, an integrated approach is needed. Integrated marketing communication has become progressively significant since marketers (read: communicators) seek to enhance long-term relationships with clients, rather than concentrating on once-off transactions. Communicators need to regard each point of contact with a client as an opportunity to build a relationship and to ultimately create loyalty. Relationships are based upon value-added, reciprocal exchanges of information. This study’s primary objective is to ground what within the IMC perspective creates and maintains client loyalty and how one could better understand why and how clients become and stay loyal in the recruitment industry. Through the combination of grounded theory and discourse analysis, this study indicates that a communicator in the recruitment industry should attempt to integrate the totality of his/her communication to guarantee a “one voice, one-look” strategy and a holistic approach. This study revealed that communicators, or personnel consultants, should sophisticate their IMC techniques in order to be able to identify the most effective method of communication, evidently constituting relationships that foster loyalty. Essentially it boils down to the notion that IMC dwells in its ability to utilise planned and unplanned communication optimally. This study stems from the belief that everything one does begets synergy.