The effects of marketing strategies on brand loyalty and corporate reputation, a research on individual and corporate clients

The most valuable asset for any company is its reputation. As the latest research indicates; the reputation of a company is a quantifiable value, and that it should be managed, protected and even refined; and the subject became a new field of academic discussions. On the other hand, due to increasing competition brand loyalty has also become very crucial. Brand loyalty can easily be interpreted as the value of the brand itself. Due to globalization and fierce competition that tags along, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty has become vital for companies. We can easily observe the behaviour of the people we know and follow the literature on the subject which leads us to the conclusion that people become less price sensitive once they turn into long term loyal customers. Heavy competition in the financial/banking sector has increased the importance of marketing strategy. To build long term brand loyalty and respective cooperate reputation, modern marketing techniques have to be adapted and should be supported by scientific approach. All these strategies add up to customer satisfaction and brand loyalty and increase cooperate reputation. Reputable and financially strong banks initiated global strategic partnerships in order to increase efficiency by economies of scale and thus improve their return on capital. Similarly, Turkey has recently witnessed a huge increase in foreign acquisition of local banks and according to the Turkish Banking Association 15 banks are now owned by foreign investors/banks as of 2016. The aim of this paper is to determine the effects of marketing strategies on cooperate reputation and brand loyalty and if there exists any difference between retail and SME clients. The retail and SME clients of a mid-sized local bank, which was acquired in 2007 by a reputable global financial institution, are reached across the country and their responses were analysed. In addition, the effects of cooperate reputation and global partnerships on loyalty via marketing strategies are investigated.