Abstract:
Small and Medium Enterprises like other large enterprises have increasingly used various
marketing strategies in their operation. This study sought to find out the effects of marketing
strategies on the business performance of SMEs in Kitengela Township, Kenya. Companies are
continually faced with the need to meet the challenges that arises from the ever changing markets
and continuous competition that they face nationally, regionally and globally. As a result
companies have to develop clearly defined strategies and plans for survival and growth. This
research adopted a descriptive research design, with target population of 62 SMEs in Kitengela.
Census sampling method was used to select the SMEs, with the sampling size of the study being
186 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaire and analysed by aid of Statistical
Package of Social Scientists (SPSS). The findings were summarized using statistical measures of
dispersion while data is presented using tables, graphs and frequencies. The study found out that
place marketing strategy, promotion marketing strategies, and product marketing strategies have
a positive and significant relationship with business performance. It further found out price
marketing strategy to have a positive but insignificant relationship with business performance of
SMEs. The study thus recommends that SMEs need to pay attention to the 4Ps marketing mix in
general and on the place marketing strategy in particular (since it had the largest coefficient) to
improve business performance.
