The principal aim of the research is to look at the various ways that brand recognition can improve customer relationship in the energy industry. The paper also discusses the importance of brand recognition to the firm, how to realize gains from return on investment, the creation of brand loyalty, building credit for the company, and the various strategies needed to improve and enhance this recognition at the firm. The research problem looks at the influence of brand recognition in increasing a firm’s stability in the market. On the contrary, firms debate that product marketing does not influence increasing direct investment returns. Data was, however compiled through qualitative and quantitative strategies. The research program included an estimated 78 participants (ICM students) with the help of descriptive study design. The questionnaire with these students was meant to gather various pieces of information about the study. There was a use of questionnaires, surveys, and observation techniques. The use of a mixed methodology approach will guide in interpreting the various concepts in the study.
Advice
Advice to the firm is based on comprehending the importance of brand recognition towards formulating good customer relations and loyalty thus increasing the income generated from product sales. According to Toll, Zhu, Coombs, Li, & Rouainia (2014), there is a need for the AGS Company to realize the likely outcomes of not identifying the importance of brand recognition to the business. The management should execute additional research on the benefits of a stable brand as there is little literature that can be relied on to make various decisions. The act of data collection should be based on the incomes that a firm is likely to generate when it adequately implements the brand recognition techniques (Rajauria & Tiwari, 2017).
Key Words: Brand Recognition, Customer satisfaction, Return on Investment, Customer Loyalty, AGS
Introduction and Historical Background
The AGS is an oil and gas registered company involved in the practices of processing and topography seismic information gathering. Its ownership is traced in Oman where it also holds the head office. The firm boast of branches in the United Kingdom, Tanzania, and Egypt among others. The economy of the Sultan has recorded improvements in the oil business in the past five decades. By the year 1999, the economy has enormously upgraded based on the revenue received from the oil business (LaMarco 2018). Conversely, numerous oil generating firms have generated a competitive atmosphere creating a decrease in the purchase costs. Instances where there is an increase in the supply, the costs of the merchandises reduce accordingly to the principle of supply. The 5% drop was due to a drop of the GDP to 25.5% in the year 2016 aggravating a series of challenges to the country’s economy. According to Mubeen, et al., (2017), these challenges were in the form of unemployment and infrastructure. The country’s leadership is planning on the strategies of securing more gas fields to meet the growing domestic consumption. The region is likely to have a growth of 5% (original rate 10%, the proposed is 15%) annually, which is linked to an increased number of power producers and industrialization. According to the findings provided by Figgins, et al., (2018), the year 2016 witnessed a 2% increase in gas consumption and a 4.6% growth associated with industrial undertakings.
Trends in the Oil and Gas Business
The Oman gas and oil institution is the original foundation in the country held with the mandate of training individuals in the country’s energy division. The country’s administration further included the state of art model technology and virtual realism podiums to give specialized training to the public. According to Malik et al., (2013), the Sultan has further faced a series of challenges, including the old oil reserves, creating a reduction in the country’s oil resources. Al-Mawali, et al., (2016) further state that oil reserves have an estimated 20 to 25-year lifespans except when new programs are realized in the sector. However, the organization, arrangement at AGS encompasses of knowledgeable work force in 2D and 3D terrestrial seismic exercise. The managing team further offers survey procedures, planning, and scheme across boundaries and quality declaration amenities.
Current Situation at AGS
Various mergers from Canada and Oman are being formed to perform hydrocarbon exploration assessments on Wajir survey site 2A. Mubeen et al., (2018) further lament that the merger happened after a 213 million fundraiser had been made by the firm to execute similar explorations in Kenya. The Canadian company later claims that the exploration program was awarded to AGS LLC.
Introduction of the Problem (Research Problem)
The majority of oil and gas companies in the world pay minimal attention to the benefits that they are likely to attain from brand recognition practices. Hudson (2017) states that these instances derive from a belief that brand recognition hardly offered better income returns on investment and customer satisfaction. Additionally, these firms would have realized significant gains from brand recognition practices if the AGS firm implemented it to achieve better customer satisfaction. It is also stated by Hodgson (2017) that the majority of these companies use brand recognition programs with the intentions of formulating additional markets for their companies. For example, a firm known as Hub spot applies brand recognition in their daily news with the target of providing critical information to investors and marketers on how best they can improve their businesses. The inclusion of this program will only help a company become recognized among other firms that offer similar services. The concept further helps an organization in the practices of attracting new clienteles and keeping the prevailing thus hovering additional incomes for the company (Ong, 2017).
AGS is very important in the service advertising procedure for innumerable oil manufacturing firms. The oil and gas corporation that identifies the remunerations of product gratitude has a constructive effect towards gratification levels on the clienteles. The amenities presented by this firm to similar corporations guarantee all consumers’ necessities are fulfilled and the requests of consumers are discussed (Shaw, 2018). In the moving world, numerous businesses are evolving in this industry, and only firms that are ardent to be employing the amenities required by the consumers have the opportunity to entice extra consumers. The amount of revenue produced by the firms will directly be determined by the amenities offered in the market. Consequently, product acknowledgment is considered to be precarious in the triumph of the corporations that demonstrate the need to gamble in this business (oil and gas). The product appreciation aspect permits the consumers to categorize a particular merchandise or service by observing the emblem, wrapper, promotion campaign and tagline (Joshi et al., 2015). Therefore the AGS should be precarious in indorsing brand gratitude by accumulation more structures that empower the clients to find the best oil generating businesses to buy their goods.
Client/ Addressee
The study looks at the primary consumers of oil and gas in the current world.
Outlay of the Study
The paper will be split into three sections. The introduction will discuss the company’s history, background information, problem description, and thesis structure. The literature review will comprise of research questions expounded with a date from various authors. The methodology will look at the research design, applied tools, sample area, population, validity, and reliability of data, limitations, moral considerations, data collection procedures, data investigation, argument, study insinuations, anticipated results, and advice.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review will offer diverse pieces of evidence from alternative bases, expanding the main inquiries and sub-questions. These pieces of information will be attained from different scholars that have discussed and made reliable conclusions on the subject matter. The various scholars offer in-depth analysis on these sections.
Service Marketing
Service marketing in the process of gratification, confidence, and assurance
Referring to the illustrations of Wagner & Rydstrom (2001), the aspect of customer gratification is described as a valid, productive state to a product. Brand acknowledgment through facility promotion is crucial to winning the confidence of customers. The structures presented to appeal the clienteles and persuade them to buy the goods from the point of sale. The notion of gratitude is often valued as an outcome of proficient connotations within the trade to the client and B2B advertising. Nevertheless, it is considered a vital philosophy in a social discussion perception (Irungu 2016). For any company to embrace customer gratification, there is a need for its management to dedicate more resources. The outcome of satisfaction among these consumers is highly based on their recognition of resources that can meet their demands. In a conventional manner, the clients ought to create confidence in the company.
According to the description by Wagner & Rydstrom (2001), the concept of belief refers to an individual’s acceptance that the trader’s assistant will provide conventionally required resources. However, a customer’s confidence is attained when corporations make investments with the target of minimizing uncertainties, enhancing effectiveness, and supplement efficiency of their connotation. The ideology of trust in a B2B act is a sign of assurance and necessary traits of a flourishing association. According to a publication by Van Vuuren, Roberts-Lombard & Van Tonder (2012), significant levels of trust and commitment have a direct link to customer retention, which later transforms in improved organizational productivity.
The authors also suggest that issues of engagement originate from joint values, confidence, and belief that may be challenging to determine the various patterns that will offer similar heights of value. Loyalty will always encourage acquaintances to the company to endure funds within their targets. Consequently, connotations are formed based on the perceptions of communal responsibilities and these stages have been revealed as the toughest prognosticators of charitable pronouncements to go after certain affiliations (Genoveva, 2015). Hereafter, relationship partners will always recognize assurance as for the major effort that will help expand and sustain their connections.
Malik et al., (2013), explain the concept of brand awareness as the possibility of a consumer to identify the approachability and the occurrence of an organization’s amenity offered to the customer. The existence of a prosperous brand consciousness package in an oil and gas service firm indicates that the delivered services have an improved status in the market. Nevertheless, brand cognizance plays a vital role in retrieving services and will have the capability to perceive threat valuations of customers inclusive of their declaration levels on the service, accessibility decisions resulting from brand consciousness and exceptionality (Wagner & Rydstrom, 2001). There is a need to have brand considerations when making individual choices in acquiring any service and instances where there are minimal considerable possibilities; there is no need for the individual to make such an acquisition.
The journals further offer clear comparisons on the remunerations of brand appreciation on the gratification of the customers. Again, the majority of the reports, approve that product appreciation is vital in grabbing the emotion of the customer. Nonetheless, inabilities to identify the brand has negative outcomes on the rate of purchasers’ gratification. Also, brand cognizance creates a developed reminiscence association concerning particular brands and creation of healthy brand reflections within an individual’s mind relying on the creation of a resilient brand assessment, accessible brand examination, and consistent brand exemplification.
Nevertheless, the implication of the practice within various customers’ minds will be assessed at various levels. For example, brand supremacy, recall, acknowledgment, and brand information (Taber, 2016). It can then conclude that brand awareness is very indispensable as its absence will lead to non-occurrence of the various forms of communication and connections as some customers have access to celebrated service products in the market. On the other hand, there is a considerable difference between brand awareness and recognition as the concept of brand awareness relates to brand memory within a customer as their memory has a key role in revealing their abilities to distinguish products in their diverse situations. According to Drumond (2017), the concept of brand appreciation requires the clients to recall the item’s make in the discrete reminiscence that often happens in case there is a presence of a strong bond between item classifications and the brand that the customer has to acquire. Drumond (2017) further suggests that brand recognition has a link to the grade at which consumers will identify the product from imagery and symbols.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer gratitude in an oil and gas service firm
Genoveva (2015) pronounces that customer gratitude is a feeling that a person will attain after gratification. Buyer gratification involves the assessment of service worth, and it is predisposed by other features such as price equality and consumer services and item worth. Firstly, customer service is vital for the aspect of growing pleasure among consumers. The oil and gas service supplier firms need special attention when delivering its services to the clienteles (Bolarinwa, 2015). Client gratification is formed by the individual’s valuation of the offered services whereby inabilities of these consumers receive suitable contemplation for their grievances forces them to search for other brands that will offer similar satisfaction levels. In most instances, these complaints happen when there is a weak relationship between consumers and employees about service delivery. Therefore, there is a need to have considerate behaviors and a friendly assertiveness from the service employees at the firm leaving better impressions on the customers. In the long run, the company will witness significant levels of satisfaction among these consumers.
Furthermore, Hanif, Hafeez, and Riaz (2010) expound that the aspect of price fairness will always affect an individual’s gratification in the oil and gas service firm. Similarly, price impartiality is considered to be a consumer’s assessment concerning the amenity provider’s rational charge and being admissible and tolerable by the buyers. The notion of rate fairness is commanding hence leading to customer gratification and loyalty. Additionally, an individual’s approval choice of a suggested price has an honest angle to the pleasure levels that will be attained by the consumer after they have received the stipulated service. Nevertheless, the mode of price fixing and offering module have enhanced the impacts of customer satisfaction. The client satisfaction will always result from the aspect of brand recognition and the services that are being offered by the oil and gas firm.
Impact of Brand Recognition
According to an interpretation from Kilei, Iravo & Omwenge (2016), epicenters of a brand approach helps in enlightening brand recognition that often rotates in fast-tracking acts brand responsiveness, and equity among its service consumer’s in enhancing product recognition. The usefulness brand recognition adverts are motivated to magnetize a consumer’s attention, hence convincing the public into venturing in the utilization of these items continuously thus resulting in improved customer satisfaction and the firm’s sales in a particular trade period. On the other hand, incomparable branding could assist firms to distrust of value with clients, financiers, and the media.
However, the existence of proper labeling often responds as a form of protection pervading from unenthusiastic broadcasting platforms. For example, current scandals witnessed at Facebook and Google on data mismanagement and sexual misbehavior claims. It is however that maximizing returns on asset presentation hardly demonstrates the attainment of supreme profits. The prolonged participation in ROI promotion is considered crucial because of its influence. For example, acts of building a brand, targeting customer gratitude, and attainment of commercial appearance. The consideration of these features is vital in the aspects of targeting long-term profits for the company. However, the marketing’s ROI is a major concern for an organization’ administrator as the acts of improving competition levels, and costs are inducement thinking with the targets of measuring presentation marketing. It further indicates that the majority of organizations in the current era allocate an estimated 20 to 25 percent of their expenditure on marketing with crucial support emerging from senior management and board members.
Nevertheless, the marketing ROI is influencing the management teams to validate their venture on marketing with the target of estimated budgets to attain approval hence rationalizing their responsibility within the firm. There is a minimal presence of approaches to computing market ROI. The application is vital for significance because of the nonexistence of globally accepted computation practices of marketing’s ROI. On the other hand, the results of the bidding are highly affected by the brand recognition expanding framework. However, the receipt of auspicious bids for corporations’ inappropriate measures facilitates the acquisition of an increased financial reward to the item’ use, which then leads to extra profit and triumphant returns (Hanif et al., 2010). The regular recall of these services by the consumers will help the firm significant recognition in the market in which it operates.
Brand Recognition Inspiring Client Association
The section targets the oil and gas service company. According to the publication by Dworak (2018), increasing client engagement in a firm’s operations will help the management team fulfill the customer’s needs, simplify B2C activities, convenience and being constant is crucial in the aspect of delivering conduit substitutions. To a greater extent, having a significant commitment towards digital revolution demands will help accelerate business operations. The clients will have the opportunity to evaluate the different services that are being offered by the various companies and choose the most suitable organization that will meet their needs. Similarly, Irungu 92016) also points out that this commitment views of the majority of the activities and strict points from the current customer’s perceptions. Furthermore, there is a need to create and nurture client-centric norms in the oil and gas companies giving an opportunity for the management to identify certain individuals and involve clients in various activities. These activities are associated with the aspect of providing seamless operations and satisfying digital knowledge. In the long run, the oil and gas companies will have to apply a series of strategies to realize better customer association through brand acknowledgment.
It is also claimed that there is a need for companies to invest in technology with the aim of strengthening client involvements. In the long run, this move will create an ideal client association with the firm’s products through regular recognition. However, a client’s prospect will always lengthen in terms of its growth, the company’s abilities to acclimatize and progress will be considered essential (Joshi et al. 2015). The prominence further implies high-tech investment with the target of improving the firm’s operations in the market. For example, IoT devices that would offer assistance in enhancing data performance, block chain that would offer significant regulation and oversight in products, and the use of robots that would guide the back-office workers in meeting the company’s desired targets. In the long run, there will be minimal involvement of the workers in executing various activities at the firm which later improves accuracy in data analysis based on the aspect that there is minimal manual involvement in these errands. The company would also resort to the use of natural speech dispensation chatbots that would help customers in responding to various queries, profound analytics, and recognizing the use of pattern plus value in customer segmentation.
Forrester (2017) explains that digital migration has highly facilitated corporations in the creation of improved customer relations. The target of including a digital presence in a firm is a vital factor in conducting business. The management can easily store and acquire information that could be of use on various sections of the business. Nevertheless, the creation of a company website formulates an opportunity to the customers to interrelate with the company hence sharing their personal experiences. The establishment of modern, entertaining, and available content creates immediate concern encouraging these clients to execute additional research over these products. Customers will develop aspects of loyalty and make a continuous purchase of their products once there is a better online communication platform and the employees offer good interaction systems. Based on an analysis by Forrester (2017), the creation of digital centers by these firms is due to the connection of brand recognition in the firm’s marketing programs. These centers will offer vital information to the customer and creation of particular levels of awareness to a broader public.
It is further believed that the digital centers act as an avenue for frequent communication with the customers as they continuously research on these products which later results into brand recognition. Additionally, the online search practices have a major influence on the customer’s minds persuading them to get involved in the different activities staged by the company, hence the aspiration for a given product (Forester, 2017). Consequently, the configuration in the use of business languages with the firm’s objectives and favored target market ensures that the attained information increases the opportunities of being viewed by the different people having an interest with the company’s products. Nevertheless, these activities have a positive impact on customer relations base on the aspect of brand recognition.
Importance of Product Recognition to a Company
Oil and gas service organizations often receive numerous benefits from service rendered to the public. According to LaMarco (2018), a company’s logo is a significant symbol of an individual that may have an interest in purchasing or receiving services from that company. The logo design has an immediate effect on brand recognition. For instance, the color selections and the shape of the design have a crucial role in shaping an individual’s mental nerve and can quickly identify the company from any distance as the picture sticks in their minds. The attainment of this goal is heavily linked with consultations between marketers and artists to create an attractive logo that will have a persuading influence on any viewer. In most cases, the company requests customers to take part in their promotion activities with the target of creating awareness of new markets.
On the other hand, the use of conservative marketing strategies is key to the firm once they have more concentration on target publications. For example, the company’s journals and media platforms (radios) will focus on the viewers’ attention on the products being sold hence making the item easily identified in the market and memorable to the customer (Kheng et al., 2010). However, the in-store display practices that often feature a product emblem with specified pricing ignites the aspect of physical product gratitude normally when these exhibitions are planted close to end caps or exits hence improving the company’s sales.
Consequently, the novel 21st-century broadcasting skill demonstrates that the merger between sound and image generate particular expectations of entire brand recognition. The current technology applied in marketing programs can pull a relatively big crowd, which then creates awareness and sales maximization opportunities. These factors are, however, linked to the competition levels among companies in the current era. It has further helped in pushing various brands to greater markets compared to the efforts being generated by similar companies.
Developing Brand Recognition
Any company irrespective of their industry operations will have to create an aspect of uniqueness to attain better product recognition in the market. However, the oil and gas companies will have to select a target market and draft strategies to increase product awareness among these buyers. According to the interpretation by Shaw (2018), the aspect of personality will always lead to greater levels of brand appreciation on a given item as well as the majority of consumers in this era often comprehend with what the brand signifies in the market. Similarly, a firm’s brand is a manifestation that elaborates the representations of a given project. These brands always allow the customer to create a particular link with the product audience. The primary focus of this motive personality integration is to increase the product’s success levels. Furthermore, the aspect of humanizing a given item helps in the aspect of brainstorming certain communications that have to be shared with the consumers (Taber 2016).
An example can be derived from the BPs branding incident which was the Dawn bowl soap taking part in the reverberation of the oil leakage at British Petroleum. The Dawn Company created an advert of wild animal emancipation determinations advising the public to use soap cleansers as the best option in oil clean-up. After the leakage, Dawn Company contributed many dish soap bottlers to animal rescue teams located around the oil spills. Malik et al., (2013) also state that the company also championed a series of promotional programs during this time declaring the significant amount of income that will be channeled in the oil cleanup programs. In the long run, the company received significant support from customers and other organizations with the intentions of cleaning up the oil spills and liberation of the wild animals.
On the other hand, resorting to exhibitions will also help convey valid information the viewers hence sharing ideas that can be included in the firm’s operations or products available in the market. However, it is a positive move to make adjustments on the products being delivered in the market. The creation of blogs is considered a significant avenue for the customers to read about the services that are being rendered and the type of commodities provided for sale. Similarly, the use of these blogs and website is a cost-effective approach for the company in advertising their products and communicating with customers about their products hence promoting avenues for business growth. Additionally, the various social media platforms will also help in developing ideas, content, and creation of a productive relationship with various buyers (prospective) and the acquisition of knowledge about the market. Various scholars also point out the creation of brand recognition opportunities is an additional platform to let the world know about your story. These interaction platforms will always have a positive impact on the brand.
Nevertheless, the shared pieces of information will remain in an individual’s mind and could also claim these items on their future lists. Ong (2017) also states that it is important for any management team to tell a narrative to their customers. These narratives are likely to entice the customer to attach their consideration to the product and also assist in recalling the handle after generating a given setting description to link. Furthermore, referrals have the abilities to create brand recognition as they can turn loyal clients into the company’s promoter of the items being sent to the market. Their verbal statements are of enormous significance to the company’s ales as they persuade a new individual to purchase these products. The company will then boast of new customers, increased number of sales, and also product awareness in the market. These unique services provided by designated clients will often have a significant impact in achieving this tact (Ong 2017).
These loyal customers tend to pull other people to take part in pushing the brand forward, hence widening the brand’s market. The suggested approach can offer excellent customer experiences. Some of these clients tend to use their private social platforms sharing information concerning the channels that they use in acquitting these products and the benefits that an individual is likely to attain after the purchase and consumption. Therefore, the modus operand assists in the aspects of analyzing a firm’s progress and creation of the product’s recognition. The company will also realize brand success through their focus on experiences provided by clients.
What to do to Realize Brand Recognition
There are a series of activities that the oil and gas service company have to do to realize recognition in the market. According to interpretations by Broughton (2014), the different social platform used in the industry can offer assistance to the firm in creating a relationship between the consumers and the company. The social media platforms are considered to be a second communication platform that requires the involvement of both parties to complete the suggested cycle. The management team is however held to the task of creating a strong link with the public to enable opportunities of realizing their goals in business. Nevertheless, it is pointed out that these associations have multiple advantages like the company receiving notifications concerning any crisis that is likely to occur or the steps that need to be executed to improve service delivery. Instances where a company has a poor bond with the customers, there is a likelihood that they will experience slow growth in the market and also register relatively low sales in a particular segment. In the case of the oil and gas company, poor bond with the customers will attract negative reviews from the public about the services that are being rendered in the market. Therefore, there is a need to initiate customer interactions to identify the various changes that can be made to improve service provision in the market.
There is a need for the company’s management to understand the importance of SEO and how best they can be utilized to improve service delivery. In most cases, these search engines will often provide a directive on the approaches that need to be made to attain their goals in the industry. The management team needs to collect different strategies that can be applied to improving brand recognition in the industry. In addition to the aspect of collecting various strategies, the SEO is a cost-effective platform for any organization as they will incur relatively low or no costs in information collection and implementation practices (Shaw, 2018). On the other hand, it is also claimed that these search engines receive an estimated 70% of visitor clicks which is a huge step that the company may take regarding budget allocation in comparison to the expenses that they may incur when advertising their services and products.
The firm will also save huge sums of money that can be channeled into other activities that will support brand recognition. The company should also minimize instances where they link their material to websites containing irrelative content. Supportive information from other websites can also be considered as a stepping stone for the site as people seeking to attain other pieces of information will find the firm’s data as a related search among the suggested logs. The managem
