Value-Based Marketing and Its Role in Strengthening Customer Advocacy

Abstract

Organizations in the food industry often focus on providing exceptional customer service by implementing specific operational mechanisms that help improve service quality and secure a competitive advantage, thereby ensuring long-term sustainability in a crowded market. In an attempt to close or lessen the knowledge gap in interpreting the relationship between the study variables by examining the nature of the relationship between them, the primary goal of this study is to investigate the impact of value-based marketing in encouraging customer advocacy. This was achieved by analyzing the opinions of a sample of employees at the Noor Al-Kafeel Foundation in Karbala Governorate. The researcher employed a descriptive-analytical approach, and the research tool consisted of a questionnaire distributed to a sample of 220 employees. A total of 211 valid questionnaires suitable for statistical analysis were retrieved. The questionnaire was analyzed using a number of statistical tests available in the statistical software programs SPSS V.26 and SMARTPLS V4.0.8.4. The study produced a number of conclusions, the most significant of which are: It became evident that the company's capacity to provide clients with genuine additional value is constrained by its reliance on traditional marketing. Additionally, it demonstrated how relying just on reputation without bolstering it with value-based activities diminishes its influence in the marketplace. Additionally, the study came up with a number of recommendations, the most prominent of which are: Adopting an integrated value-based marketing strategy that combines ethical and social values into all marketing activities to build customer trust, and conducting periodic market research to understand customer requirements and values and using the results to design effective marketing strategies.