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Marketing Strategies and Social Performance Outcomes: A Field Study on MFI Clients

The study focuses on the relationship between marketing strategy elements and the social performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). The MFI clients’ perceptions of marketing strategy elements and the socio-economic outcomes of microfinance-based interventions were factored into the study. Latent constructs were developed based on the clients’ perceptions of marketing strategy elements and social performance indicators. A field study was conducted, wherein 200 clients of four South Indian MFIs participated. The authors carried out a multivariate test to analyze the data. The authors determined to what extent MFIs’ marketing strategies have impacted social performance. Necessary inferences were drawn from the findings to distinguish between marketing strategies, which have a stronger impact on specific socio-economic outcomes and those strategies, which have a marginal impact. The data, which have been obtained at a field level, would provide microfinance practitioners more insights into clients’ perceptions of marketing tactics as well as social performance outcomes. MFIs can fine-tune their marketing strategies to be more responsive to clients’ needs. Policy makers and practitioners in the development sector would find the socio-economic outcomes of microfinance relevant. The marketing strategies, which impact client behavior in the microfinance sector, would also be of interest to social marketers. Studies juxtaposing clients’ perception of marketing strategy elements and social performance outcomes are rare in microfinance research. The authors hope that their field studies on microfinance would add value to the discipline of marketing.