Applying marketing activities to strengthen brand equity within SMEs: Case studies on Italian and Spanish Language Schools.

Abstract

The reason for this research is to present marketing activities within Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the area of branding. There are two types of problems which are supposed to be analysed in this thesis: theoretical and empirical. The theoretical problem addressed in this study is the little literature on marketing in SMEs particularly concerning brand equity. This focus of the research is important because nowadays SMEs more and more recognize the brand value and initiate to use it as a source of competitive advantage. Brands are among the most valuable assets owned by an organisation. This research and the theoretical framework rely on previous literature regarding product and service branding, branding in SMEs and corporate branding as well as brand equity, marketing, marketing activities and more general literature about SMEs. The empirical problem is the grasped challenge of strengthening brand equity by marketing activities in small and medium Italian and Spanish language schools. “High brand equity results in stronger and more favourable consumer response to the brand and may generate brand sales” (Keller, Kevin L. (1993). Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of Marketing. 57(1), 1-22.). Thus, this thesis includes the analysis of customers perception of brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand image and brand identity, brand quality of Italian and Spanish language schools. This research makes a contribution by revealing approaches, presented in the cases of language schools’ marketing activities in order to enlarge consumers’ recognition of the brands. The applied method in this thesis is a qualitative approach compound with a case study design. The study comprises an inductive argumentation derived from the generated knowledge from the data accumulated through interviews. It will help to evaluate the data which are rich in complex evaluations of the brand. As a result of the findings, it will be demonstrated how brand equity within SMEs can be strengthened by the usage of marketing activities in the most effective ways.