THE ROLE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN MEDIATING MARKETING COMMUNICATION EFFECT ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY

INTRODUCTION:A company, in an effort to sell products, needs to establish good communication with its customers through marketing. According to Nickles (in Swasta and Handoko, 2000), marketing communication is a seller -buyer communication activity that is significantly influential in the decision making process of marketing. It also creates a satisfying exchange between the seller and the buyer by encouraging both parties to play their roles well during a transaction. The point is that marketing communication is a two-way exchange of information between parties or agencies involved in marketing. The parties involved will listen, react, and speak to create a satisfying relationship exchange. A marketer must understand how the communication takes place. A marketing communication model will answer things related to who sends it, what to say, what communication channel to use, to whom, and what the consequences will cause. In the communication process, a good communicator must be able to deliver the message to the recipient. A communication process model can give an illustration to marketers about how to influence or change the costumers' attitude through a persuasive communication implementation design. The activity process is intended to get a final response from the audienc es in a form of purchases, high satisfaction and a mouth -to-mouth positive story. Marketing communication represents a collection of all brand elements and communications in a marketing mix that facilitates a brand to reach its target (i.e. the customers). Information technology, in globalization era, has produced various kinds of information media providers for customers, including cellular phone network service operators. The increasing number of cellular service providers has forced each of them to improve their product quality, in both sectors: goods and services. A provider needs not only to implement a brilliant product -positioning strategy in market through a quality standard establishment, but also to maintain the brand position in customers' mind through an appropriate promotion strategy. Product competition has also led to an increase in the cost of advertising and other promotional activities in an attempt to seize the customer's attention. An appropriate marketing communication may avoid losses due to ineffective and inefficient promotional activities. Marketing communication strategy can be included in marketing -communication-mix concept. An understanding of communication is intended to make the delivered information to be able to result in the desired impact that is reaching a similarity in expectation. All types of communication, both instructional and motivational, are aimed to make the recipient react something as desired by the message sender. Communication suggests a mind, a meaning or a message that is shared equally between the sender and the recipient. Another word that is similar to the communication is community. It also emphasizes a similarity or togetherness. Community refers to a group of people who get together or live together to achieve certain goals, and share meanings and attitudes (Mulyana, 2003). The process, that builds a relationship between manufacturers and individuals or groups in a product delivery, is made to meet customers' needs and desires in order to achieve a higher s atisfaction level through the creation of a qualified product. Communication in marketing activities is quite complex. A more complex communication requires a more effective strategy planning for the communicator to deliver a message to the communicant. A merged study between marketing and communication will result in a new study called marketing communication. Marketing communication is a communication application that aims to help the marketing activities of a company. The application is strongly influenced by the different forms of media used, the message appeal, and the service frequency. Business communication application is very important, especially in the delivery of communication messages that faces various issues, differences in perceptions, cultural differences, and limitations of the medium used. …