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Consumer Behaviour Marketing Strategy (
Aneesh Varghese
SpeichernConsumer Behaviour Marketing Strategy ( für später speichern
Consumer Behavior Models and Consumer Behavior in Tourism
19523031 Consumer Behavior Models and Consumer Behavior in Tourism
MBA Revised Syllabus 2008
Consumer Behavior in Ibm
Hayden Noel-Basics Marketing_ Consumer Behaviour -Ava Publishing (2009) (1)
Consumer Behavior Models
A Brief Literature Review on Consumer Buying Behaviour
Creating Ideal Customer Profile
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Consumer Behavior Changes - Rahimunisa Begam LDC College
Introduction to CB.ppt
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING STRATEGY
The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their
marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how
The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select
between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products);
The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her
environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media);
The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other
marketing decisions;
Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing
abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome;
How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between
products that differ in their level of importance or interest that
they entail for the consumer; and
How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing
campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach
the consumer.
Understanding these issues helps us adapt our strategies by taking the
consumer into consideration. For example, by understanding that a
number of different messages compete for our potential customers
attention, we learn that to be effective, advertisements must usually
be repeated extensively. We also learn that consumers will sometimes
be persuaded more by logical arguments, but at other times will be
persuaded more by emotional or symbolic appeals. By understanding
the consumer, we will be able to make a more informed decision as to
which strategy to employ.
One "official" definition of consumer behavior is "The study of
individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to
select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or
ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on
the consumer and society." Although it is not necessary to memorize
this definition, it brings up some useful points:
Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a
group (e.g., friends influence what kinds of clothes a person
wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as
to which products the firm should use).
Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as
well as the study of how they are purchased. Product use is often
of great interest to the marketer, because this may influence
how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage
increased consumption. Since many environmental problems
CNB Joe Arun SJ
result from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being sent into
sewage systems to save the recycling fee, or garbage piling up
at landfills) this is also an area of interest.
Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as
tangible products.
The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance.
For example, aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or
aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have serious
repercussions for the national health and economy.
There are four main applications of consumer behavior:
The most obvious is for marketing strategyi.e., for making
better marketing campaigns. For example, by understanding that
consumers are more receptive to food advertising when they are
hungry, we learn to schedule snack advertisements late in the
afternoon. By understanding that new products are usually
initially adopted by a few consumers and only spread later, and
then only gradually, to the rest of the population, we learn that
(1) companies that introduce new products must be well financed
so that they can stay afloat until their products become a
commercial success and (2) it is important to please initial
customers, since they will in turn influence many subsequent
customers brand choices.
A second application is public policy. In the 1980s, Accutane, a
near miracle cure for acne, was introduced. Unfortunately,
Accutane resulted in severe birth defects if taken by pregnant
women. Although physicians were instructed to warn their
female patients of this, a number still became pregnant while
taking the drug. To get consumers attention, the Federal Drug
Administration (FDA) took the step of requiring that very graphic
pictures of deformed babies be shown on the medicine
Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers
rather than selling something. Marty Fishbein, a marketing
professor, went on sabbatical to work for the Centers for Disease
Control trying to reduce the incidence of transmission of diseases
through illegal drug use. The best solution, obviously, would be if
we could get illegal drug users to stop. This, however, was
deemed to be infeasible. It was also determined that the practice
of sharing needles was too ingrained in the drug culture to be
stopped. As a result, using knowledge of consumer attitudes, Dr.
Fishbein created a campaign that encouraged the cleaning of
needles in bleach before sharing them, a goal that was believed
to be more realistic.
As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior should make us
better consumers. Common sense suggests, for example, that if
you buy a 64 liquid ounce bottle of laundry detergent, you should
pay less per ounce than if you bought two 32 ounce bottles. In
practice, however, you often pay a size premium by buying the
larger quantity. In other words, in this case, knowing this fact will
sensitize you to the need to check the unit cost labels to
determine if you are really getting a bargain.
There are several units in the market that can be analyzed. Our main
thrust in this course is the consumer. However, we will also need to
analyze our own firms strengths and weaknesses and those of
competing firms. Suppose, for example, that we make a product aimed
at older consumers, a growing segment. A competing firm that targets
babies, a shrinking market, is likely to consider repositioning toward
our market. To assess a competing firms potential threat, we need to
examine its assets (e.g., technology, patents, market knowledge,
awareness of its brands) against pressures it faces from the market.
Finally, we need to assess conditions (the marketing environment). For
example, although we may have developed a product that offers great
appeal for consumers, a recession may cut demand dramatically.
There are two main categories of research methods. Secondary
research uses research that has already been done by someone else.
For example, marketers often find information compiled by the U.S.
Census very useful. However, in some cases, information specific
enough to satisfy a firms needs is not publicly available. For example,
a firm will have to run its own research to find out whether consumers
would prefer that more vanilla taste be added to its soft drink brand.
Original research that a firm does for itself is known as primary
There is no one perfect primary research method. Each has strengths
and weaknesses, and thus the appropriate method must be selected
based on research needs.
Surveys are useful for getting a great deal of specific information.
Surveys can contain open-ended questions (e.g., "In which city and
state were you born? ____________") or closed-ended, where the
respondent is asked to select answers from a brief list (e.g., "__Male ___
Female." Open ended questions have the advantage that the
respondent is not limited to the options listed, and that the respondent
is not being influenced by seeing a list of responses. However, openended questions are often skipped by respondents, and coding them
can be quite a challenge. In general, for surveys to yield meaningful
responses, sample sizes of over 100 are usually required because
precision is essential. For example, if a market share of twenty percent
would result in a loss while thirty percent would be profitable, a
confidence interval of 20-35% is too wide to be useful.
Surveys come in several different forms. Mail surveys are relatively
inexpensive, but response rates are typically quite lowtypically from
5-20%. Phone-surveys get somewhat higher response rates, but not
many questions can be asked because many answer options have to
be repeated and few people are willing to stay on the phone for more
than five minutes. Mall intercepts are a convenient way to reach
consumers, but respondents may be reluctant to discuss anything
sensitive face-to-face with an interviewer.
Surveys, as any kind of research, is vulnerable to bias. The wording of
a question can influence the outcome a great deal. For example, more
people answered no to the question "Should speeches against
democracy be allowed?" than answered yes to "Should speeches
against democracy be forbidden?" For face-to-face interviews,
interviewer bias is a danger, too. Interviewer bias occurs when the
interviewer influences the way the respondent answers. For example,
unconsciously an interviewer that works for the firm manufacturing the
product in question may smile a little when something good is being
said about the product and frown a little when something negative is
being said. The respondent may catch on and say something more
positive than his or her real opinion. Finally, a response bias may occur
if only part of the sample responds to a survey, the respondents
answers may not be representative of the population.
The case of "The Pentagon Declares War on Rush Limbaugh" illustrated
that biased surveys are often taken at face value. It was reported in
the national media, without question of the validity of the research,
that only 3.8% of listeners to the Armed Forces Network wanted to
listen to Rush Limbaugh. It turned out, however, that this inference was
based on the question "What single thing can we do to improve
programming?" Only if a respondent wrote in an answer mentioning
Rush Limbaugh were he or she counted as wanting to listen to Rush.
Experiments are used when the researcher wants to rule out all but
one explanation for a particular observation. Suppose, for example,
that we observe that sales of our brand increase when we send out
coupons. However, retailers may also give us better shelf space when
the coupon is out; thus, we cant tell if it was the coupon or the shelfplacement that caused sales to increasethe two variables are
confounded. In an experiment, we carefully control what varies. In this
case, we invite in one hundred people and ask them to shop in a
simulated store. Half of the respondents are randomly selected and get
a coupon; the others do not. Since the only difference here was
whether the subjects got a coupon or not, we can be more confident
that differences in brand choice were due to the coupon. Experiments
do, however, have a serious drawback in that the consumer is removed
from his or her natural surroundings. For example, if we pay some
consumers to come into a lab and watch TV "as you normally would,"
these consumers, figuring that they are being paid, may give more
attention to the advertisements than they would at home.
Focus groups involve getting a group of 6-12 consumers together to
discuss product usage. Focus groups are especially useful if we do not
have specific questions to ask yet, since we dont know what
consumers concerns might be. We start out talking broadly about the
need that a product might serve, and only gradually move toward the
product itself. For example, a firm considering the marketing of
sugarfree cookies might start out its group talking about snackswhy
people consume them and the benefits they expect. Gradually, we
then move toward concerns people have about snacks. Eventually, we
address sugar content and concerns that consumers have about that.
Only toward the end of the session do we show consumers the actual
product we are considering and ask for feedback. We postpone our
consideration of the actual product toward the end because we want to
be sure that we find out about the consumers needs and desires
rather than what he or she thinks about the specific product we have
on the drawing board right now (that product can be changed, and it
can be repositioned). Drawbacks of focus groups include high costs and
the fact that generalization toward the entire population is difficult for
such small sample sizes. The fact that focus groups involve social
interaction also means that participants may say what they think will
make themselves look good rather than what they really believe (the
social desirability bias).
Personal interviews involve in-depth questioning of an individual about
his or her interest in or experiences with a product. The benefit here is
that we can get really into depth (when the respondent says something
interesting, we can ask him or her to elaborate), but this method of
research is costly and can be extremely vulnerable to interviewer bias.
Projective techniques are used when a consumer may feel
embarrassed to admit to certain opinions, feelings, or preferences. For
example, many older executives may not be comfortable admitting to
being intimidated by computers. It has been found that in such cases,
people will tend to respond more openly about "someone else." Thus,
we may ask them to explain reasons why a friend has not yet bought a
computer, or to tell a story about a person in a picture who is or is not
using a product. The main problem with this method is that it is difficult
to analyze responses.
Observation of consumers is often a powerful tool. Looking at how
consumers select products may yield insights into how they make
decisions and what they look for. For example, some American
manufacturers were concerned about low sales of their products in
Japan. Observing Japanese consumers, it was found that many of these
Japanese consumers scrutinized packages looking for a name of a
major manufacturerthe product specific-brands that are common in
the U.S. (e.g., Tide) were not impressive to the Japanese, who wanted a
name of a major firm like Mitsubishi or Proctor & Gamble. Observation
may help us determine how much time consumers spend comparing
prices, or whether nutritional labels are being consulted.
Physiological measures are occasionally used to examine consumer
response. For example, advertisers may want to measure a consumers
level of arousal during various parts of an advertisement.
Although the text makes references to segmentation, this issue is not
discussed explicitly in much detail. However, segmentation is
important in consumer analysis because understanding the consumer
will allow us segment the market more meaningfully.
Segmentation basically involves dividing consumers into groups such
that members of a group (1) are as similar as possible to members of
that same group but (2) differ as much as possible from members
other segments. This enables us then to "treat" each segment
differentlye.g., by:
Providing different products (e.g., some consumers like cola
taste, while others prefer lime)
Offering different prices (some consumers will take the cheapest
product available, while others will pay for desired features)
Distributing the products where they are likely to be bought by
the targeted segment.
In order for a segment structure to be useful:
Each segment must have an identityi.e., it must contain
members that can be described in some way (e.g., price
sensitive) that behave differently from another segment.
Each segment must engage in systematic behaviors (e.g., a price
sensitive segment should consistently prefer the low price item
rather than randomly switching between high and low priced
brands).
Each segment must offer marketing mix efficiency potentiali.e.,
it must be profitable to serve. For example, a large segment may
be profitable even though the competition it attracts tends to
keep prices down. A smaller segment may be profitable if, for
example, it is price insensitive or can be targeted efficiently (e.g.,
if its members consistently subscribe to one magazine where all
the companys advertising can be put). Some segments are not
cost effective. For example, a small group of consumers would
love to have a no-sports news channel (similar to CNN), but we
are just too small a group to profitable.
There are three "levels" of segmentation. Levels here refer to the
tradeoff between the difficulty of implementing a segmentation
scheme and the benefits that result.
The first level of segmentation involves personal characteristicse.g.,
demographics. This is a fairly easy method of segmentation to employ
because (1) we have a good idea of who is in each segment and (2) we
can easily target these segments. For example, if we want to reach
males ages fifteen through thirty-five, we can find out which TV shows
they watch from firms such as Nielsen (similar services exist for
newspapers and magazines). The trouble with this method of
segmentation, however, is that there is often not a good correlation
between personal characteristics of consumers and what they want to
buy. Perhaps males may want more flavor, and be willing to settle for
more calories, in a soft drink than women do, but there is a great deal
of within group variation. Interestingly, it has been found that people
who live in the same area, as operationalized by their zip-codes, tend
to share a many consumption relevant characteristics. Firms such as
Claritas will sell profiles of zip-code based communities that can be
used in aiming messages at particularly receptive residents. For
example, the U.S. Army aggressively targets communities dubbed
"Guns and Pickups."
Psychographics includes a bit more information about the consumer
than his or her mere descriptive characteristics. For example, two men
could both be plumbers, aged 45, married with two children, and have
annual incomes of $45,000. However, one could be couch potato who
comes home and eats fast food while watching television. The other
could be a health enthusiast who spends his time exercising. Several
firms have tried to come up with psychographic profiles of consumers.
One is the VALS project from the Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
Since most of these programs are proprietary, there is not a lot of
published research on their usefulness. However, some firms are
paying a great deal of money for these firms consulting. For example,
Merrill Lynch used VALS to change its advertising strategy. The firm had
seen a disappointing response to its advertising campaign featuring a
herd bulls used to symbolize the bull market. A lot of consumers
responded, but not the wealthier ones the firm had hoped for. By
making a very simple changesubstituting a lone bull for the herd
based on advice from SRI, the wealthier group, which wanted to "stand
apart" from the crowd, was attracted.
The second level is benefit desiredthat is, segmenting on what
someone wants rather than who he or she is. Implementing
segmentation on benefit desired is more difficult since we have to
research for each product category. The benefit, however, is that we
can now make product that matches more closely a particular
segments specific desires, and we can promote, price, and distribute it
according to the desires of the segment. This method, then, lends itself
extremely well to strong product positioningwe make a product that
offers specific benefits, and we aggressively promote this fact to
interested consumers. A drawback, however, is some efficiency is lost
in marketing communication. While we can look up which television
programs males ages twenty to thirty watch, we do not have this
information for the segment of consumers that prefers scented over
unscented handsoap.
The third level is segmentation based on behavior. Behavior here
refers to a persons response (or lack of response) to a given
treatment. For example, some consumers will switch from their
preferred brand to another one that happens to be on sale (the
"switchers,") while others will stay with the preferred brand (the
"loyals.") The trick, then, is to get as many switchers as possible to
switch to your brand (which will take some incentive, such as a cents
off coupon) while not giving this incentive to the brand loyals (who
would have bought your brand even without the discount). In practice,
segmenting on behavior can be very difficult. For example,
supermarkets spend a great deal of money to establish the "clubs" that
give price sensitive customers who are willing to go through with the
required paperwork discounts not available to the "lazier" ones that
end up paying full price. Despite this difficulty, the rewards are often
great, because we can tailor the kind of deal we give a consumer to
the minimum concession needed to get that consumer to buy our (as
opposed to a competing) product.
Direct marketing offers exceptional opportunities for segmentation
because marketers can buy lists of consumer names, addresses, and
phone-numbers that indicate their specific interests. For example, if we
want to target auto enthusiasts, we can buy lists of subscribers to auto
magazines and people who have bought auto supplies through the
mail. We can also buy lists of people who have particular auto makes
registered.
No one list will contain all the consumers we want, and in recent years
technology has made it possible, through the "merge-purge" process,
to combine lists. For example, to reach the above-mentioned autoenthusiasts, we buy lists of subscribers to several different car
magazines, lists of buyers from the Hot Wheels and Wiring catalog, and
registrations of Porsche automobiles in several states. We then
combine these lists (the merge part). However, there will obviously be
some overlap between the different listssome people subscribe to
more than one magazine, for example. The purge process, in turn,
identifies and takes out as many duplicates as possible. This is not as
simple task as it may sound up front. For example, the address "123
Main Street, Apartment 45" can be written several wayse.g., 123
Main St., #123, or 123-45 Main Str. Similarly, John J. Jones could also be
written as J. J. Jones, or it could be misspelled Jon J. Jonnes. Software
thus "standardizes" addresses (e.g., all street addresses would be
converted into the format "123 Main St #45" and even uses phonetic
analysis to identify a likely alternative spelling of the same name.
Response rates for "good" listslists that represent a logical reason
why consumer would be interested in a productare typically quite
low, hovering around 2-3%. Simply picking a consumer out of the
phone-book would yield even lower responsesmuch less than one
percent. Keep in mind that a relevant comparison here is to
conventional advertising. The response rate to an ad placed in the
newspaper or on television is usually well below one percent
(frequently more like one-tenth of one percent). (More than one
percent of people who see an ad for Coca Cola on TV will buy the
product, but most of these people would have bought Coke anyway, so
the marginal response is low).
Culture is part of the external influences that impact the consumer.
That is, culture represents influences that are imposed on the
consumer by other individuals.
The definition of culture offered in the text is "That complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of
society." From this definition, we make the following observations:
Culture, as a "complex whole," is a system of interdependent
components.
Knowledge and beliefs are important parts. In the U.S., we know
and believe that a person who is skilled and works hard will get
ahead. In other countries, it may be believed that differences in
outcome result more from luck. "Chunking," the name for China
in Chinese, literally means "The Middle Kingdom." The belief
among ancient Chinese that they were in the center of the
universe greatly influenced their thinking.
Other issues are relevant. Art, for example, may be reflected in
the rather arbitrary practice of wearing ties in some countries
and wearing turbans in others. Morality may be exhibited in the
view in the United States that one should not be naked in public.
In Japan, on the other hand, groups of men and women may take
steam baths together without perceived as improper. On the
other extreme, women in some Arab countries are not even
allowed to reveal their faces. Notice, by the way, that what at
least some countries view as moral may in fact be highly
immoral by the standards of another country. For example, the
law that once banned interracial marriages in South Africa was
named the "Immorality Act," even though in most civilized
countries this law, and any degree of explicit racial prejudice,
would itself be considered highly immoral.
Culture has several important characteristics: (1) Culture is
comprehensive. This means that all parts must fit together in some
logical fashion. For example, bowing and a strong desire to avoid the
loss of face are unified in their manifestation of the importance of
respect. (2) Culture is learned rather than being something we are born
with. We will consider the mechanics of learning later in the course. (3)
Culture is manifested within boundaries of acceptable behavior. For
example, in American society, one cannot show up to class naked, but
wearing anything from a suit and tie to shorts and a T-shirt would
usually be acceptable. Failure to behave within the prescribed norms
may lead to sanctions, ranging from being hauled off by the police for
indecent exposure to being laughed at by others for wearing a suit at
the beach. (4) Conscious awareness of cultural standards is limited.
One American spy was intercepted by the Germans during World War II
simply because of the way he held his knife and fork while eating. (5)
Cultures fall somewhere on a continuum between static and dynamic
depending on how quickly they accept change. For example, American
culture has changed a great deal since the 1950s, while the culture of
Saudi Arabia has changed much less.
It should be noted that there is a tendency of outsiders to a culture to
overstate the similarity of members of that culture to each other. In the
United States, we are well aware that there is a great deal of
heterogeneity within our culture; however, we often underestimate the
diversity within other cultures. For example, in Latin America, there are
great differences between people who live in coastal and mountainous
areas; there are also great differences between social classes.
Cultural rules can be categorized into three types. Formal rules carry
relatively explicit standards as to how one should behave, and
violations often carry severe sanctions. For example, in many
countries, two forms of the second pronoun (you) exist, with different
levels of deference associated with each (e.g., t and usted in Spanish
and tu and vous in SpanishGerman even has three levels!) In Japan,
senior executives will enter and leave a meeting room before
subordinates in a very deliberate manner. Informal rules, on the other
hand, are less explicit and may not carry sanctions for violation. For
example, in the U.S., most people would consider eating dinner at
10:00 p.m. weird, while this is perfectly normal in parts of Latin
American and Southern Europe. Finally, technical cultural rules involve
implicit standards as to what constitutes a good product. For example,
in India, a movie must have at least seven songs to be successful; in
the U.S., preempting the soundtrack for that amount of time would not
be desirable.
Language is an important element of culture. It should be realized that
regional differences may be subtle. For example, one word may mean
one thing in one Latin American country, but something off-color in
another. It should also be kept in mind that much information is carried
in non-verbal communication. In some cultures, we nod to signify "yes"
and shake our heads to signify "no;" in other cultures, the practice is
Different perspectives exist in different cultures on several issues; e.g.:
Monochronic cultures tend to value precise scheduling and doing
one thing at a time; in polychronic cultures, in contrast,
promptness is valued less, and multiple tasks may be performed
simultaneously. (See text for more detail).
Space is perceived differently. Americans will feel crowded where
people from more densely populated countries will be
Symbols differ in meaning. For example, while white symbols
purity in the U.S., it is a symbol of death in China. Colors that are
considered masculine and feminine also differ by culture.
Americans have a lot of quite shallow friends toward whom little
obligation is felt; people in European and some Asian cultures
have fewer, but more significant friends. For example, one Ph.D.
student from India, with limited income, felt obligated to try buy
an airline ticket for a friend to go back to India when a relative
had died.
In the U.S. and much of Europe, agreements are typically rather
precise and contractual in nature; in Asia, there is a greater
tendency to settle issues as they come up. As a result, building a
relationship of trust is more important in Asia, since you must be
able to count on your partner being reasonable.
In terms of etiquette, some cultures have more rigid procedures
than others. In some countries, for example, there are explicit
standards as to how a gift should be presented. In some cultures,
gifts should be presented in private to avoid embarrassing the
recipient; in others, the gift should be made publicly to ensure
that no perception of secret bribery could be made.
The United States has undergone some changes in its predominant
culture over the last several decades. Again, however, it should be
kept in mind that there are great variations within the culture. For
example, on the average, Americans have become less materialistic
and have sought more leisure; on the other hand, the percentage of
people working extremely long hours has also increased. The text
discusses changes in values in more detail.
Significant changes have occurred in gender roles in American society.
One of the reasons for this is that more women work outside the home
than before. However, women still perform a disproportionate amount
of housework, and men who participate in this activity tend to do so
reluctantly. In general, commercials tend to lag somewhat behind
realitye.g., few men are seen doing housework, and few women are
seen as buyers and decision makers on automobile purchases.
Subculture refers to a culture within a culture. For example, African
Americans are, as indicated in the group name, Americans; however, a
special influence of the African American community is often also
present. For example, although this does not apply to everyone,
African Americans tend to worship in churches that have
predominantly African American membership, and church is often a
significant part of family life.
Different perspectives on the diversity in U.S. culture exist. The
"melting pot" metaphor suggests that immigrants gradually assimilate
after they arrive. Therefore, in the long run, there will be few
differences between ethnic groups and instead, one mainstream
culture that incorporates elements from each will result. The "salad
bowl" metaphor, in contrast, suggests that although ethnic groups will
interact as a whole (through the whole mix of salad) and contain some
elements of the whole (through the dressing), each group will maintain
its own significant traits (each vegetable is different from the others).
The "melting pot" view suggests that one should run integrated
promotions aimed at all groups; the "salad bowl" approach suggests
that each group should be approached separately.
Subculture is often categorized on the basis of demographics. Thus, for
example, we have the "teenage" subculture and the "Cuban-American"
subculture. While part of the overall culture, these groups often have
distinguishing characteristics. An important consequence is that a
person who is part of two subcultures may experience some conflict.
For example, teenage native Americans experience a conflict between
the mainstream teenage culture and traditional Indian ways.
Values are often greatly associated with age groups because people
within an age-group have shared experiences. For example, it is
believed that people old enough to have experienced the American
Depression are more frugal because of that experience.
Regional influence, both in the United States and other areas, is
significant. Many food manufacturers offer different product variations
for different regions. Joel Garreau, in his book The Nine Nations of
North America, proposed nine distinct regional subcultures that cut
across state lines. Although significant regional differences
undoubtedly exist, research has failed to support Garreaus specific
characterizations
Demographics and Social Stratification
Demographics are clearly tied to subculture and segmentation. Here,
however, we shift our focus from analyzing specific subcultures to
trying to understand the implications for an entire population of its
makeup.
Several issues are useful in the structure of a population. For example,
in some rapidly growing countries, a large percentage of the population
is concentrated among younger generations. In countries such as
Korea, China, and Taiwan, this has helped stimulate economic growth,
while in certain poorer countries, it puts pressures on society to
accommodate an increasing number of people on a fixed amount of
land. Other countries such as Japan and Germany, in contrast,
experience problems with a "graying" society, where fewer non-retired
people are around to support an increasing number of aging seniors.
Because Germany actually hovers around negative population growth,
the German government has issued large financial incentives, in the
forms of subsidies, for women who have children. In the United States,
population growth occurs both through births and immigration. Since
the number of births is not growing, problems occur for firms that are
dependent on population growth (e.g., Gerber, a manufacturer of baby
food).
Social class is a somewhat nebulous subject that involves stratifying
people into groups with various amounts of prestige, power, and
privilege. In part because of the pioneering influence in American
history, status differentiations here are quite vague. We cannot, for
example, associate social class with income, because a traditionally
low status job as a plumber may today come with as much income as a
traditionally more prestigious job as a school teacher. In certain other
cultures, however, stratification is more clear-cut. Although the caste
system in India is now illegal, it still maintains a tremendous influence
on that society. While some mobility exists today, social class
awareness is also somewhat greater in Britain, where social status is in
part reinforced by the class connotations of the accent with which one
speaks.
The text speaks of several indices that have been used to "compute"
social class in the United States, weighing factors such as income, the
nature of ones employment, and level of education. Taken too literally,
these indices are not very meaningful; more broadly speaking, they
illustrate the reality that social status is a complex variable that is
determined, not always with consensus among observers, by several
different variables.
The Family Life Cycle. Individuals and families tend to go through a "life
cycle." The simple life cycle goes from
child/teenager ---> young single ---> young couple* ---> full nest
---> empty nest ---> widow(er).
For purposes of this discussion, a "couple" may either be married or
merely involve living together. The breakup of a non-marital
relationship involving cohabitation is similarly considered equivalent to
a divorce.
In real life, this situation is, of course, a bit more complicated. For
example, many couples undergo divorce. Then we have the scenario:
full nest ---> single parent
This situation can result either from divorce or from the death of one
parent. Divorce usually entails a significant change in the relative
wealth of spouses. In some cases, the non-custodial parent (usually the
father) will not pay the required child support, and even if he or she
does, that still may not leave the custodial parent and children as well
off as they were during the marriage. On the other hand, in some
cases, some non-custodial parents will be called on to pay a large part
of their income in child support. This is particularly a problem when the
non-custodial parent remarries and has additional children in the
second (or subsequent marriages). In any event, divorce often results
in a large demand for:
low cost furniture and household items
time-saving goods and services
Divorced parents frequently remarry, or become involved in other nonmarital relationships; thus, we may see
full nest ---> single parent ---> blended family
Another variation involves
young single ---> single parent
Here, the single parent who assumes responsibility for one or more
children may not form a relationship with the other parent of the child.
Generally, there are two main themes in the Family Life Cycle, subject
to significant exceptions:
As a person gets older, he or she tends to advance in his or
her career and tends to get greater income (exceptions:
maternity leave, divorce, retirement).
Unfortunately, obligations also tend to increase with time
(at least until ones mortgage has been paid off). Children
and paying for ones house are two of the greatest
expenses.
Note that although a single person may have a lower income than a
married couple, the single may be able to buy more discretionary
Family Decision Making: Individual members of families often serve
different roles in decisions that ultimately draw on shared family
resources. Some individuals are information gatherers/holders, who
seek out information about products of relevance. These individuals
often have a great deal of power because they may selectively pass on
information that favors their chosen alternatives. Influencers do not
ultimately have the power decide between alternatives, but they may
make their wishes known by asking for specific products or causing
embarrassing situations if their demands are not met. The decision
maker(s) have the power to determine issues such as:
whether to buy;
which product to buy (pick-up or passenger car?);
which brand to buy;
where to buy it; and
when to buy.
Note, however, that the role of the decision maker is separate from
that of the purchaser. From the point of view of the marketer, this
introduces some problems since the purchaser can be targeted by
point-of-purchase (POP) marketing efforts that cannot be aimed at the
decision maker. Also note that the distinction between the purchaser
and decision maker may be somewhat blurred:
the decision maker may specify what kind of product to
buy, but not which brand;
the purchaser may have to make a substitution if the
desired brand is not in stock;
the purchaser may disregard instructions (by error or
deliberately).
It should be noted that family decisions are often subject to a great
deal of conflict. The reality is that few families are wealthy enough to
avoid a strong tension between demands on the familys resources.
Conflicting pressures are especially likely in families with children
and/or when only one spouse works outside the home. Note that many
decisions inherently come down to values, and that there is frequently
no "objective" way to arbitrate differences. One spouse may believe
that it is important to save for the childrens future; the other may
value spending now (on private schools and computer equipment) to
help prepare the children for the future. Who is right? There is no clear
answer here. The situation becomes even more complex when more
partiessuch as children or other relativesare involved.
Some family members may resort to various strategies to get their
way. One is bargainingone member will give up something in return
for someone else. For example, the wife says that her husband can
take an expensive course in gourmet cooking if she can buy a new
pickup truck. Alternatively, a child may promise to walk it every day if
he or she can have a hippopotamus. Another strategy is reasoning
trying to get the other person(s) to accept ones view through logical
argumentation. Note that even when this is done with a sincere intent,
its potential is limited by legitimate differences in values illustrated
above. Also note that individuals may simply try to "wear down" the
other party by endless talking in the guise of reasoning (this is a case
of negative reinforcement as we will see subsequently). Various
manipulative strategies may also be used. One is impression
management, where one tries to make ones side look good (e.g.,
argue that a new TV will help the children see educational TV when it is
really mostly wanted to see sports programming, or argue that all
"decent families make a contribution to the church"). Authority
involves asserting ones "right" to make a decision (as the "man of the
house," the mother of the children, or the one who makes the most
money). Emotion involves making an emotional display to get ones
way (e.g., a man cries if his wife will not let him buy a new rap album).
Group Influences
Humans are inherently social animals, and individuals greatly influence
each other.
A useful framework of analysis of group influence on the individual is
the so called reference groupthe term comes about because an
individual uses a relevant group as a standard of reference against
which oneself is compared. Reference groups come in several different
forms. The aspirational reference group refers to those others against
whom one would like to compare oneself. For example, many firms use
athletes as spokespeople, and these represent what many people
would ideally like to be. Associative reference groups include people
who more realistically represent the individuals current equals or nearequalse.g., coworkers, neighbors, or members of churches, clubs,
and organizations. Finally, the dissociative reference group includes
people that the individual would not like to be like. For example, the
store literally named The Gap came about because many younger
people wanted to actively dissociate from parents and other older and
"uncool" people. The Quality Paperback Book specifically suggests in
its advertising that its members are "a breed apart" from conventional
readers of popular books.
Reference groups come with various degrees of influence. Primary
reference groups come with a great deal of influencee.g., members
of a fraternity/sorority. Secondary reference groups tend to have
somewhat less influencee.g., members of a boating club that one
encounters only during week-ends are likely to have their influence
limited to consumption during that time period.
Another typology divides reference groups into the informational kind
(influence is based almost entirely on members knowledge),
normative (members influence what is perceived to be "right,"
"proper," "responsible," or "cool"), or identification. The difference
between the latter two categories involves the individuals motivation
for compliance. In case of the normative reference group, the
individual tends to comply largely for utilitarian reasonsdressing
according to company standards is likely to help your career, but there
is no real motivation to dress that way outside the job. In contrast,
people comply with identification groups standards for the sake of
belongingfor example, a member of a religious group may wear a
symbol even outside the house of worship because the religion is a
part of the persons identity.
Diffusion of Innovation
The diffusion of innovation refers to the tendency of new products,
practices, or ideas to spread among people. Usually, when new
products or ideas come about, they are only adopted by a small group
of people initially; later, many innovations spread to other people. The
bell shaped curve frequently illustrates the rate of adoption of a new
product. Cumulative adoptions are reflected by the S-shaped curve.
The saturation point is the maximum proportion of consumers likely to
adopt a product. In the case of refrigerators in the U.S., the saturation
level is nearly one hundred percent of households; it well below that
for video games that, even when spread out to a large part of the
population, will be of interest to far from everyone.
Several specific product categories have case histories that illustrate
important issues in adoption. Until some time in the 1800s, few
physicians bothered to scrub prior to surgery, even though new
scientific theories predicted that small microbes not visible to the
naked eye could cause infection. Younger and more progressive
physicians began scrubbing early on, but they lacked the stature to
make their older colleagues follow.
ATM cards spread relatively quickly. Since the cards were used in
public, others who did not yet hold the cards could see how convenient
they were. Although some people were concerned about security, the
convenience factors seemed to be a decisive factor in the "tug-of-war"
for and against adoption.
The case of credit cards was a bit more complicated and involved a
"chicken-and-egg" paradox. Accepting credit cards was not a
particularly attractive option for retailers until they were carried by a
large enough number of consumers. Consumers, in contrast, were not
particularly interested in cards that were not accepted by a large
number of retailers. Thus, it was necessary to "jump start" the process,
signing up large corporate accounts, under favorable terms, early in
the cycle, after which the cards became worthwhile for retailers to
Rap music initially spread quickly among urban youths in large part
because of the low costs of recording. Later, rap music became popular
among a very different segment, suburban youths, because of its
apparently authentic depiction of an exotic urban lifestyle.
Hybrid corn was adopted only slowly among many farmers. Although
hybrid corn provided yields of about 20% more than traditional corn,
many farmers had difficulty believing that this smaller seed could
provide a superior harvest. They were usually reluctant to try it
because a failed harvest could have serious economic consequences,
including a possible loss of the farm. Agricultural extension agents then
sought out the most progressive farmers to try hybrid corn, also aiming
for farmers who were most respected and most likely to be imitated by
others. Few farmers switched to hybrid corn outright from year to year.
Instead, many started out with a fraction of their land, and gradually
switched to 100% hybrid corn when this innovation had proven itself
useful.
Several forces often work against innovation. One is risk, which can be
either social or financial. For example, early buyers of the CD player
risked that few CDs would be recorded before the CD player went the
way of the 8 track player. Another risk is being perceived by others as
being weird for trying a "fringe" product or idea. For example, Barbara
Mandrell sings the song "I Was Country When Country Wasnt Cool."
Other sources of resistance include the initial effort needed to learn to
use new products (e.g., it takes time to learn to meditate or to learn
how to use a computer) and concerns about compatibility with the
existing culture or technology. For example, birth control is
incompatible with strong religious influences in countries heavily
influenced by Islam or Catholicism, and a computer database is
incompatible with a large, established card file.
Innovations come in different degrees. A continuous innovation
includes slight improvements over time. Very little usually changes
from year to year in automobiles, and even automobiles of the 1990s
are driven much the same way that automobiles of the 1950 were
driven. A dynamically continuous innovation involves some change in
technology, although the product is used much the same way that its
predecessors were usede.g., jet vs. propeller aircraft. A discontinous
innovation involves a product that fundamentally changes the way that
things are donee.g., the fax and photocopiers. In general,
discontinuous innovations are more difficult to market since greater
changes are required in the way things are done, but the rewards are
also often significant.
Several factors influence the speed with which an innovation spreads.
One issue is relative advantage (i.e., the ratio of risk or cost to
benefits). Some products, such as cellular phones, fax machines, and
ATM cards, have a strong relative advantage. Other products, such as
automobile satellite navigation systems, entail some advantages, but
the cost ratio is high. Lower priced products often spread more quickly,
and the extent to which the product is trialable (farmers did not have
to plant all their land with hybrid corn at once, while one usually has to
buy a cellular phone to try it out) influence the speed of diffusion.
Finally, the extent of switching difficulties influences speedmany
offices were slow to adopt computers because users had to learn how
to use them.
Some cultures tend to adopt new products more quickly than others,
based on several factors:
Modernity: The extent to which the culture is receptive to
new things. In some countries, such as Britain and Saudi
Arabia, tradition is greatly valuedthus, new products
often dont fare too well. The United States, in contrast,
tends to value progress.
Homophily: The more similar to each other that members
of a culture are, the more likely an innovation is to spread
people are more likely to imitate similar than different
models. The two most rapidly adopting countries in the
World are the U.S. and Japan. While the U.S. interestingly
scores very low, Japan scores high.
Physical distance: The greater the distance between
people, the less likely innovation is to spread.
Opinion leadership: The more opinion leaders are valued
and respected, the more likely an innovation is to spread.
The style of opinion leaders moderates this influence,
however. In less innovative countries, opinion leaders tend
to be more conservative, i.e., to reflect the local norms of
resistance.
It should be noted that innovation is not always an unqualifiedly good
thing. Some innovations, such as infant formula adopted in developing
countries, may do more harm than good. Individuals may also become
dependent on the innovations. For example, travel agents who get
used to booking online may be unable to process manual reservations.
Sometimes innovations are disadopted. For example, many individuals
disadopt cellular phones if they find out that they dont end up using
them much.
Background. Our perception is an approximation of reality. Our brain
attempts to make sense out of the stimuli to which we are exposed.
This works well, for example, when we "see" a friend three hundred
feet away at his or her correct height; however, our perception is
sometimes "off"for example, certain shapes of ice cream containers
look like they contain more than rectangular ones with the same
Factors in percpetion. Several sequential factors influence our
perception. Exposure involves the extent to which we encounter a
stimulus. For example, we are exposed to numerous commercial
messages while driving on the freeway: bill boards, radio
advertisements, bumper-stickers on cars, and signs and banners
placed at shopping malls that we pass. Most of this exposure is random
we dont plan to seek it out. However, if we are shopping for a car,
we may deliberately seek out advertisements and "tune in" when
dealer advertisements come on the radio.
Exposure is not enough to significantly impact the individualat least
not based on a single trial (certain advertisements, or commercial
exposures such as the "Swoosh" logo, are based on extensive
repetition rather than much conscious attention). In order for stimuli to
be consciously processed, attention is needed. Attention is actually a
matter of degreeour attention may be quite high when we read
directions for getting an income tax refund, but low when commercials
come on during a television program. Note, however, that even when
attention is low, it may be instantly escalatedfor example, if an
advertisement for a product in which we are interested comes on.
Interpretation involves making sense out of the stimulus. For example,
when we see a red can, we may categorize it as a Coke .
Webers Law suggests that consumers ability to detect changes in
stimulus intensity appear to be strongly related to the intensity of that
stimulus to begin with. That is, if you hold an object weighing one
pound in your hand, you are likely to notice it when that weight is
doubled to two pounds. However, if you are holding twenty pounds,
you are unlikely to detect the addition of one pounda change that
you easily detected when the initial weight was one pound. You may be
able to eliminate one ounce from a ten ounce container, but you
cannot as easily get away with reducing a three ounce container to two
(instead, you must accomplish that graduallye.g., 3.0 --> 2.7 --> 2.5
--> 2.3 --> 2.15 > 2.00).
Several factors influence the extent to which stimuli will be noticed.
One obvious issue is relevance. Consumers, when they have a choice,
are also more likely to attend to pleasant stimuli (but when the
consumer cant escape, very unpleasant stimuli are also likely to get
attentionthus, many very irritating advertisements are remarkably
effective).
Surprising stimuli are likely to get more attentionsurvival instinct
requires us to give more attention to something unknown that may
require action. A greater contrast (difference between the stimulus and
its surroundings) as well as greater prominence (e.g., greater size,
center placement) also tend to increase likelihood of processing.
Learning and Memory
Background. Learning involves "a change in the content or organization
of long term memory and/or behavior." The first part of the definition
focuses on what we know (and can thus put to use) while the second
focuses on concrete behavior. For example, many people will avoid
foods that they consumed shortly before becoming ill. Learning is not
all knowledge based. For example, we may experience the sales
people in one store being nicer to us than those in the other. We thus
may develop a preference for the one store over the other; however, if
pressed, we may not be able to give a conscious explanation as to the
reason for our preference.
Much early work on learning was actually done on rats and other
animals (and much of this research was unjustifiably cruel, but that is
another matter).
Classical conditioning. Pavlovs early work on dogs was known as
classical conditioning. Pavlov discovered that when dogs were fed
meat powder they salivated. Pavlov then discovered that if a bell were
rung before the dogs were fed, the dogs would begin salivating in
anticipation of being fed (this was efficient, since they could then begin
digesting the meat powder immediately). Pavlov then found that after
the meat had been "paired" with the meat powder enough times,
Pavlov could ring the bell without feeding the dogs and they would still
salivate.
In the jargon of classical conditioning, the meat powder was an
unconditioned stimulus (US) and the salivation was, when preceded by
the meat powder, an unconditioned response (UR). That is, it is a
biologically "hard-wired" response to salivate when you are fed. By
pairing the bell with the unconditioned stimulus, the bell became a
conditioned stimulus (CS) and salivation in response to the bell (with
no meat powder) became a conditioned response (CR).
Many modern day advertisers use classical conditioning in some way.
Consider this sequence:
Beautiful woman (US) ---> emotional arousal (UR) in males
Beautiful woman (US) + automobile (not yet CS) ---> arousal (US)
[repeated many times]
Automobile (CS) ---> arousal (CR)
(For the exam, you should be able to diagram an example given).
Operant conditioning. Instrumental, or operant, conditioning, involves a
different series of events, and this what we usually think of as learning.
The general pattern is:
Behavior ---> consequences ---> behavior is more or less likely to be
There are three major forms of operant learning. In positive
reinforcement, an individual does something and is rewarded. He or
she is then more likely to repeat the behavior. For example, you eat a
candy bar (behavior), it tastes good (consequence), and you are thus
more likely to eat a similar candy bar in the future (behavioral change).
Punishment is the opposite. You eat what looks like a piece of candy
(behavior), only to discover that it is a piece of soap with a foul taste
(consequences), and subsequently you are less likely to eat anything
that looks remotely like that thing ever again (changed behavior).
It should be noted that negative reinforcement is very different from
punishment. An example of negative reinforcement is an obnoxious
sales person who calls you up on the phone, pressuring you into buying
something you dont want to do (aversive stimulus). You eventually
agree to buy it (changed behavior), and the sales person leaves you
alone (the aversive stimulus is terminated as a result of consequences
of your behavior).
Please note the examples of reinforcement, punishment, and negative
reinforcement on the notes handout.
In general, marketers usually have relatively little power to use
punishment or negative reinforcement. However, parking meters are
often used to discourage consumers from taking up valuable parking
space, and manufacturers may void warranties if the consumers take
their product to non-authorized repair facilities.
Several factors influence the effectiveness of operant learning. In
general, the closer in time the consequences are to the behavior, the
more effective the learning. That is, electric utilities would be more
likely to influence consumers to use less electricity at peak hours if the
consumers actually had to pay when they used electricity (e.g.,
through a coin-slot) rather than at the end of the month. Learning is
also more likely to occur when the individual can understand a
relationship between behavior and consequences (but learning may
occur even if this relationship is not understood consciously).
Another issue is schedules of reinforcement and extinction. Extinction
occurs when behavior stops having consequences and the behavior
then eventually stops occurring. For example, if a passenger learns
that yelling at check-in personnel no longer gets her upgraded to first
class, she will probably stop that behavior. Sometimes, an individual is
rewarded every time a behavior is performed (e.g., a consumer gets a
soft drink every time coins are put into a vending machine). However,
it is not necessary to reward a behavior every time for learning to
occur. Even if a behavior is only rewarded some of the time, the
behavior may be learned. Several different schedules of reinforcement
are possible:
Fixed interval: The consumer is given a free dessert on
every Tuesday when he or she eats in a particular
restaurant.
Fixed ratio: Behavior is rewarded (or punished) on every
nth occasion that it is performed. (E.g., every tenth time a
frequent shopper card is presented, a free product is
provided).
Variable ratio: Every time an action is performed, there is a
certain percentage chance that a reward will be given. For
example, every time the consumer enters the store, he or
she is given a lottery ticket. With each ticket, there is a
20% chance of getting a free hamburger. The consumer
may get a free hamburger twice in a row, or he or she may
go ten times without getting a hamburger even once.
Variable ratio reinforcement is least vulnerable to extinction.
Sometimes, shaping may be necessary to teach the consumer the
desired behavior. That is, it may be impossible to teach the consumer
to directly perform the desired behavior. For example, a consumer may
first get a good product for free (the product itself, if good, is a
reward), then buy it with a large cents off coupon, and finally buy it at
full price. Thus, we reinforce approximations of the desired behavior.
Rather than introducing Coca Cola directly in Indonesia, fruit flavored
soft drinks were first introduced, since these were more similar to
beverages already consumed.
Vicarious learning. The consumer does not always need to go through
the learning process himself or herselfsometimes it is possible to
learn from observing the consequences of others. For example, stores
may make a big deal out of prosecuting shop lifters not so much
because they want to stop that behavior in the those caught, but
rather to deter the behavior in others. Similarly, viewers may
empathize with characters in advertisements who experience (usually
positive) results from using a product. The Head n Shoulders
advertisement, where a poor man is rejected by women until he treats
his dandruff with an effective cure, is a good example of vicarious
Memory. There are two kinds of memory. When you see an ad on TV for
a mail order product you might like to buy, you only keep the phone
number in memory until you have dialed it. This is known as short term
memory. In order for something to enter into long term memory, which
is more permanent, you must usually "rehearse" it several times. For
example, when you move and get a new phone number, you will
probably repeat it to yourself many times. Alternatively, you get to
learn your drivers license or social security numbers with time, not
because you deliberately memorize them, but instead because you
encounter them numerous times as you look them up.
A special issue in memory are so called "scripts," or procedures we
remember for doing things. Scripts involve a series of steps for doing
various things (e.g., how to send a package). In general, it is useful for
firms to have their brand names incorporated into scripts (e.g., to have
the consumer reflexively ask the pharmacist for Bayer rather than an
unspecified brand of aspirin).
Motivation, Personality, and Emotion
Perspectives on Consumer Behavior and Motivation. We considered
several perspectives on behavior as a way to understand what
motivates the consumer. Each of these perspectives suggests different
things as to what the marketer should do and what can (and cannot)
be controlled. Note that each perspective tends to contain a "grain"
oftruth and that one should not be too dogmatic in emphasizing one
over the others.
The Hard Core Behavioral perspective is based on learning
theories such as operant and classical conditioning. These
theories suggest that consumers must learn from their own
experiences--i.e., in order to avoid getting sick from overeating, a
consumer must experience the stomach and other ailments
resulting from gluttony rather than merely observing other
people who overeat and get sick. This suggests, then, that it is
important to reward good behavior (e.g., buying our brand) to
the extent possible. Money spent on advertising is seen as less
useful. Hard core behaviorists tend to look at observable
behavior (e.g., buying our brand or buying another) rather than
trying to find out what is going on inside the heads of
consumers--i.e., hard core behaviorists do not like to mess with
"mushy" things like attitudes.
The Social Learning Perspective, in contrast, allows for vicarious
learning--i.e., learning obtained by watching others getting good
or bad consequences for behavior. The models that may be
observed and imitated include peers and family members as well
as relevant others that may be observed in advertising. From our
study of social influences, we know that certain people are more
likely to be imitated than others--e.g., those that are more similar
to ourselves based on relevant factors such as age, social status,
or ethnic group. Consider, for example, the poor man who is
rejected by women because of his dandruff until he gets "with it"
and uses Head n Shoulders shampoo. Other dandruff sufferers
are likely to learn from the models experience. Generally,
observations are made of overt behavior, but some room is made
for individual reasoning in learning from others. This perspective
is clearly more realistic than that of the "Hard Core" view, but it
should be noted that the strength of learning tends to be greater
for that gained from own experience.
The Cognitive approach emphasizes consumer thinking rather
than mere behavior--we will encounter this to a great extent
when we study decision making and attitudes. Here, the
emphasis is on how people reason themselves to the
consequences of their behavior. Note that it is often somewhat
more difficult to attempt to "get into" a consumers head than it
is to merely observe his or her behavior, and what we "observe"
is somewhat more subjective. Note also that a wealth of different
factors influence peoples thinking, and some expectations and
assumptions that we hold tend to be culturally influenced (e.g.,
an American assumes that hard work will tend to lead to a
promotion, while members of certain other cultures believe that
personal relationships, and perhaps even luck, tend to be more
important).
The Biological approach suggests that most behavior is
determined by genetics or other biological bases. By this
perspective, it is suggested that consumers eat the foods they
eat in large part because the body craves these foods. Note that
although craving for fatty foods seems quite maladaptive in
todays society, it could have been very adaptive earlier in
human history where food was scarce and obtaining as many
calories as possible helped ensure survival. Clearly, this
perspective is very misleading when one takes it as the only
explanation of behavior--for example, people in different cultures
learn to enjoy various kinds of foods. The main implication of
biological determinism is that the marketer must adapt--for
example, food advertisements are more likely to be effective
when people are hungry, and thus they might better be run in
the late afternoon rather than in the late morning.
The Rational Expectations perspective is based on an economic
way of looking at the World. Economists assume that people
think rationally and have perfect information, even though they
know very well that these assumptions are often unrealistic.
However, despite the unrealistic assumptions made, economists
often make relatively accurate predictions of human behavior.
(The Cognitive perspective, however, is able to identify certain
significant exceptions to rational behavior, however).
The Psychoanalytic perspective is based on the work of historical
psychologists such as Sigmund Freud who suggest that (1) much
behavior has a biological basis which is (2) often sexual in
nature, and (3) that early experiences in childhood will have a
profound, but unconscious effect on later life--e.g., people who
are rejected in an early, "oral" phase of development may
become "oral retentive" and end up as wine connoisseurs later in
life. Because of societal injunctions against explicit discussion of
sexuality in Western society at Freuds time [late 1800s to mid
1900s], many objects were thought to take on seemingly
unrelated symbolic meanings--e.g., a tie might become a symbol
of a male reproductive organ. Although modern psychologists
certainly recognize that early experiences may influence later
psychological well being, the psychoanalytic view has largely
been discredited today as being much too centered on the issue
of sex. However, this perspective enjoys a great deal of
popularity among many advertising executives. It should be
noted that Freudian psychology tends to violate the cherished
scientific ideal of parsimony, where a scientist is expected to
propose the simplest theory that will account for observed
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. The late Abraham Maslow suggested the
intuitively appealing notion that humans must satisfy the most basic
objectives before they can move onto "higher level" ones. Thus, an
individual must satisfy physiological needs (such as food and liquid)
before he or she will be able to expend energy on less fundamental
objectives such as safety. Only when basic objectives have been met
will a person move on to seek such objectives as love and belonging,
and only a small minority of people make it as far as seeking selfactualization.
Maslows Hierarchy is useful in understanding different needs of
consumers across the World. However, one must be careful not to take
it too literally, since people may occasionally "swing" between needs.
For example, a homeless person who currently does not have shelter
may seek that out even though he or she is hungry.
Properties of motivation. Motivation is described through several
Motivation is composed of energy and direction. A person may or
may not have enough motivation to engage in a given activity.
For example, a person may be motivated enough to go and shop
for food, but not enough to engage in a comprehensive exercise
Motives may be overt, hidden, and multiple. Some motivations
are publicly expressed (e.g., the desire to buy an energy efficient
house), while others (e.g., the desire to look wealthy by buying a
fancy car) are not. Individuals may also hold multiple motivations
(e.g., buy a car and save money for retirement) which may
Many motivations are driven by the desire for tension reduction
(e.g., eliminate thirst or hunger).
Motivations can be driven by both internal and external factors.
That is, a person may want a painting either because he or she
likes it (internal motivation) or because this will give her status
among the artistic elite (external).
Motivations may have either a positive or negative valence-people may either be motivated to achieve something (e.g., get
a promotion at work) or avoid something (e.g., being hospitalized
without having adequate insurance).
Consumers are motivated to achieve goals. Achieving these
goals may require sustained activity over time (e.g., exercising
every day for months or years) as opposed to just taking some
action once.
Consumers maintain a balance between the desires for stability
and variety. Most consumers want some variety (e.g., they do
not want to eat the same meal every day), but also want a
certain stability (they do not want to try an entirely new food
every day).
Motivation reflects individual differences. Different consumers
are motivated to achieve different things, and it may be difficult
to infer motivations from looking at actual behavior without
understanding these differences in desired outcomes.
The reality that consumers are frequently motivated by multiple
motives suggests a possibility that motives may conflict. Three main
types of conflict exists:
Approach-avoidance. One alternative has both positive
consequences (that one wishes to seek out) and negative
consequences (that one wants to avoid). For example, eating a
large banana split is an enjoyable experience ("approach"), but is
contains a lot of calories ("avoidance") and may make one feel ill
later (another avoidance).
Approach-approach. A consumer wants to do two incompatible
things at the same time. A classic example is "Rainmans" desire
both to stay with his brother and stay at the institution. Another
example is a consumer who only has one weeks vacation but
wants equally to go to Hawaii and Greenland, but has time and
money only for one of the two.
Avoidance-avoidance. A consumer does not want to go for either
of two alternatives, but must choose the lesser of two evils. For
example, the consumer does not want to pay for car insurance,
but does not want to get into an accident or get caught by the
police without it. A "work ethic disadvantaged" student does not
want to study, but does not want to fail his or her courses, either.
The Means-End chain. Consumers often buy products not because of
their attributes per se but rather because of the ultimate benefits that
these attributes provide, in turn leading to the satisfaction of ultimate
values. For example, a consumer may not be particularly interested in
the chemistry of plastic roses, but might reason as follows:
Highly reliable synthetic content of roses --->
Roses will stay in original condition for a long time --->
Significant other will appreciate the roses longer --->
Significant other will continue to love one ---> Self esteem.
The important thing in a means-end chain is to start with an attribute,
a concrete characteristic of the product, and then logically progress to
a series of consequences (which tend to become progressively more
abstract) that end with a value being satisfied. Thus, each chain must
start with an attribute and end with a value.
An important implication of means-end chains is that it is usually most
effective in advertising to focus on higher level items. For example, in
the flower example above, an individual giving the flowers to the
significant other might better be portrayed than the flowers alone.
Personality and consumer behavior. Traditional research in marketing
has not been particularly successful in finding a link between
personality and consumer behavior. Part of the problem here is that
much of the theory has been developed by clinical psychologists who
have tended to work with maladjusted people. Not surprisingly,
research that sought to predict, based on standard personality
inventories, which kinds of consumers would buy Chevrolets as
opposed to Fords was not successful.
Emotion. Emotion impacts marketing efforts in several ways. One
purpose is to get attention to a stimulus (since emotionally charged
individuals tend to be less predictable than calmer ones, there has
been an evolutionary advantage in paying attention to emotion).
Secondly, emotion influences information processing. In general, happy
people tend to scrutinize arguments given (e.g., purported benefits of
using a product) somewhat less, since they do not want to lose their
happy moods by doing too much thinking. In general, happy ads are
somewhat better liked, and may be better remembered. Empathy may
also increase liking for the ad and the sponsoring product.
Definition. Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumers (1)
beliefs about, (2) feelings about, (3) and behavioral intentions toward
some object--within the context of marketing, usually a brand or retail
store. These components are viewed together since they are highly
interdependent and together represent forces that influence how the
consumer will react to the object.
Beliefs. The first component is beliefs. A consumer may hold both
positive beliefs toward an object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as well as
negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled and stains papers). In
addition, some beliefs may be neutral (coffee is black), and some may
be differ in valance depending on the person or the situation (e.g.,
coffee is hot and stimulates--good on a cold morning, but not good on
a hot summer evening when one wants to sleep). Note also that the
beliefs that consumers hold need not be accurate (e.g., that pork
contains little fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer examination, be
contradictory (e.g., that a historical figure was a good person but also
owned slaves).
Since a consumer holds many beliefs, it may often be difficult to get
down to a "bottom line" overall belief about whether an object such as
McDonalds is overall good or bad. The Multiattribute (also sometimes
known as the Fishbein) Model attempts to summarize overall attitudes
into one score using the equation:
That is, for each belief, we take the weight, or
importance (Wi) of that belief and mutiply it with its evaluation (X ib).
For example, a consumer believes that the taste of a beverage is
moderately important, or a 4 on a scale from 1 to 7. He or she believes
that coffee tastes very good, or a 6 on a scale from 1 to 7. Thus, the
product here is 4(6)=24. On the other hand, he or she believes that the
potential of a drink to stain is extremely important (7), and coffee fares
moderately badly, at a score -4, on this attribute (since this is a
negative belief, we now take negative numbers from -1 to -7, with -7
being worst). Thus, we now have 7(-4)=-28. Had these two beliefs
been the only beliefs the consumer held, his or her total, or
aggregated, attitude would have been 24+(-28)=-4. In practice, of
course, consumers tend to have many more beliefs that must each be
added to obtain an accurate measurement.
Affect. Consumers also hold certain feelings toward brands or other
objects. Sometimes these feelings are based on the beliefs (e.g., a
person feels nauseated when thinking about a hamburger because of
the tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may also be
feelings which are relatively independent of beliefs. For example, an
extreme environmentalist may believe that cutting down trees is
morally wrong, but may have positive affect toward Christmas trees
because he or she unconsciously associates these trees with the
experience that he or she had at Christmas as a child.
Behavioral intention. The behavioral intention is what the consumer
plans to do with respect to the object (e.g., buy or not buy the brand).
As with affect, this is sometimes a logical consequence of beliefs (or
affect), but may sometimes reflect other circumstances--e.g., although
a consumer does not really like a restaurant, he or she will go there
because it is a hangout for his or her friends.
Attitude-Behavior Consistency. Consumers often
consistently with their attitudes for several reasons:
Ability. He or she may be unable to do so. Although junior
high school student likes pick-up trucks and would like to
buy one, she may lack a drivers license.
Competing demands for resources. Although the above
student would like to buy a pickup truck on her sixteenth
birthday, she would rather have a computer, and has
money for only one of the two.
Social influence. A student thinks that smoking is really
cool, but since his friends think its disgusting, he does not
smoke.
Measurement problems. Measuring attitudes is difficult. In
many situations, consumers do not consciously set out to
enumerate how positively or negatively they feel about
mopeds, and when a market researcher asks them about
their beliefs about mopeds, how important these beliefs
are, and their evaluation of the performance of mopeds
with respect to these beliefs, consumers often do not give
very reliable answers. Thus, the consumers may act
consistently with their true attitudes, which were never
uncovered because an erroneous measurement was made.
Attitude Change Strategies. Changing attitudes is generally very
difficult, particularly when consumers suspect that the marketer has a
self-serving agenda in bringing about this change (e.g., to get the
consumer to buy more or to switch brands).
Changing affect. One approach is to try to change affect, which may or
may not involve getting consumers to change their beliefs. One
strategy uses the approach of classical conditioning try to "pair" the
product with a liked stimulus. For example, we "pair" a car with a
beautiful woman. Alternatively, we can try to get people to like the
advertisement and hope that this liking will "spill over" into the
purchase of a product. For example, the Pillsbury Doughboy does not
really emphasize the conveyance of much information to the
consumer; instead, it attempts to create a warm, fuzzy image.
Although Energizer Bunny ads try to get people to believe that their
batteries last longer, the main emphasis is on the likeable bunny.
Finally, products which are better known, through the mere exposure
effect, tend to be better liked--that is, the more a product is advertised
and seen in stores, the more it will generally be liked, even if
consumers to do not develop any specific beliefs about the product.
Changing behavior. People like to believe that their behavior is
rational; thus, once they use our products, chances are that they will
continue unless someone is able to get them to switch. One way to get
people to switch to our brand is to use temporary price discounts and
coupons; however, when consumers buy a product on deal, they may
justify the purchase based on that deal (i.e., the low price) and may
then switch to other brands on deal later. A better way to get people to
switch to our brand is to at least temporarily obtain better shelf space
so that the product is more convenient. Consumers are less likely to
use this availability as a rationale for their purchase and may continue
to buy the product even when the product is less conveniently located.
(Notice, by the way, that this represents a case of shaping).
Changing beliefs. Although attempting to change beliefs is the obvious
way to attempt attitude change, particularly when consumers hold
unfavorable or inaccurate ones, this is often difficult to achieve
because consumers tend to resist. Several approaches to belief change
exist:
Change currently held beliefs. It is generally very difficult
to attempt to change beliefs that people hold, particularly
those that are strongly held, even if they are inaccurate.
For example, the petroleum industry advertised for a long
time that its profits were lower than were commonly
believed, and provided extensive factual evidence in its
advertising to support this reality. Consumers were
suspicious and rejected this information, however.
Change the importance of beliefs. Although the sugar
manufacturers would undoubtedly like to decrease the
importance of healthy teeth, it is usually not feasible to
make beliefs less important--consumers are likely to
reason, why, then, would you bother bringing them up in
the first place? However, it may be possible to strengthen
beliefs that favor us--e.g., a vitamin supplement
manufacturer may advertise that it is extremely important
for women to replace iron lost through menstruation. Most
consumers already agree with this, but the belief can be
made stronger.
Add beliefs. Consumers are less likely to resist the addition
of beliefs so long as they do not conflict with existing
beliefs. Thus, the beef industry has added beliefs that beef
(1) is convenient and (2) can be used to make a number of
creative dishes. Vitamin manufacturers attempt to add the
belief that stress causes vitamin depletion, which sounds
quite plausible to most people.
Change ideal. It usually difficult, and very risky, to attempt
to change ideals, and only few firms succeed. For example,
Hard Candy may have attempted to change the ideal away
from traditional beauty toward more unique self
expression.
One-sided vs. two-sided appeals. Attitude research has shown that
consumers often tend to react more favorably to advertisements which
either (1) admit something negative about the sponsoring brand (e.g.,
the Volvo is a clumsy car, but very safe) or (2) admits something
positive about a competing brand (e.g., a competing supermarket has
slightly lower prices, but offers less service and selection). Two-sided
appeals must, contain overriding arguments why the sponsoring brand
is ultimately superior--that is, in the above examples, the "but" part
must be emphasized.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and Celebrity Endorsements.
The ELM suggests that consumers will scrutinize claims more in
important situations than in unimportant ones. For example, we found
that in the study of people trying to get ahead of others in a line to use
photo copiers, the compliance rate was about fifty percent when
people just asked to get ahead. However, when the justification "...
because I have to make copies" was added, compliance increased to
80%. Since the reason offered really did not add substantive
information, we conclude that it was not extensively analyzed--in the
jargon of the theory, "elaboration" was low.
The ELM suggests that for "unimportant" products, elaboration will be
low, and thus Bill Cosby is able to endorse Coke and Jell-O without
having any special credentials to do so. However, for products which
are either expensive or important for some other reason (e.g., a pain
reliever given to a child that could be harmed by using dangerous
substances), elaboration is likely to be more extensive, and the
endorser is expected to be "congruent," or compatible, with the
product. For example, a basket ball player is likely to be effective in
endorsing athletic shoes, but not in endorsing automobiles. On the
other hand, a nationally syndicated auto columnist would be successful
in endorsing cars, but not athletic shoes. All of them, however, could
endorse fast food restaurants effectively.
Appeal approaches. Several approaches to appeal may be used. The
use of affect to induce empathy with advertising characters may
increase attraction to a product, but may backfire if consumers believe
that peoples feelings are being exploited. Fear appeals appear to work
only if (1) an optimal level of fear is evoked--not so much that people
tune it out, but enough to scare people into action and (2) a way to
avoid the feared stimulus is explicitly indicated--e.g., gingivitis and
tooth loss can be avoided by using this mouth wash. Humor appears to
be effective in gaining attention, but does not appear to increase
persuasion in practice. In addition, a more favorable attitude toward
the advertisement may be created by humorous advertising, which
may in turn result in increased sales. Comparative advertising, which is
illegal in many countries, often increases sales for the sponsoring
brand, but may backfire in certain cultures.
Self-Concept, Situational Influences, and Lifestyle
The self-concept. The consumer faces several possible selves. The
actual self reflects how the individual actually is, although the
consumer may not be aware of that reality (e.g., many anorexic
consumers who are dangerously thin believe that they are in fact fat).
In contrast, the ideal self reflects a self that a person would like to
have, but does not in fact have. For example, a couch potato may want
to be a World famous athlete, but may have no actual athletic ability.
The private self is one that is not intentionally exposed to others. For
example, a police officer may like and listen to rap music in private,
but project a public self-image of a country music enthusiast, playing
country songs at work where police officers are portrayed as heroes.
The key here is to keep in mind which kind of self we are trying to
reach in promotional messages. If we appeal to the hidden self, for
example, we must be careful to make our appeals subtle and hint, if
appropriate, on how the individuals confidentiality and privacy can be
enhanced.
Individuals will often seek to augment and enhance their self concepts,
and it may be possible to market products that help achieve this goal.
For example, a successful attorney may want to wear (in politically
correct terms) cowchild boots and a cowchild hat to bring home an
image as a ranch enthusiast.
Lifestyles. Self-concept often translates into a persons lifestyle, or the
way that he or she lives his or her life. For example, a person may be
very materialistic, preferring to wear flashy clothes and drive
expensive cars, or prefer instead a simpler life with fewer visible status
symbols. Attempts have been made to classify consumers into various
segments based on their lifestyles. The Values and Lifestyle (VALS)
Project, developed by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), attempts to
classify people based on a combination of values and resources. Thus,
for example, both "Achievers" and "Strivers" want public recognition,
but only the Achievers have the resources to bring this about. A global
analogue is the Global Scan.
Situational influences. Specific circumstances often influence consumer
behavior. For example, consumers in a rush are likely to take the most
convenient product available. Consumers whose attention is demanded
elsewhere are likely to disregard commercial messages. Consumers
shopping for a special occasion (e.g., a wedding) may buy different
Consumer Decision Making
Definitions. Consumer decision making comes about as an attempt to
solve consumer problems. A problem refers to "a discrepancy between
a desired state and an ideal state which is sufficient to arouse and
activate a decision process." Thus, problems can be major (e.g., a
consumer has been fired and is without a job) or minor (e.g., the
consumer lacks an eraser necessary to take an exam the next day),
and the broader and more ambiguous a problem is, the more potential
solutions are generally available (see class slides for examples).
Consumer Problem Recognition. Consumers often note problems by
comparing their current, or actual, situation, explicitly or implicitly, to
some desired situation. In terms of the "big picture," what is compared
may be the totality of ones lifestyle. Once a discrepancy is found, a
determination is found as to whether this is large enough to warrant
action, in which case a search for solutions is initiated.
Problems come in several different types. A problem may be an active
one (e.g., you have a headache and would like as quick a solution as
possible) or inactive-- you are not aware that your situation is a
problem (e.g., a consumer is not aware that he or she could have more
energy with a new vitamin). Problems may be acknowledged (e.g., a
consumer is aware that his or her car does not accelerate well enough
or unacknowledged (e.g., a consumer will not acknowledge that he or
she consumes too much alcohol). Finally, needs can be relatively
specific (generic), as in the need for enjoyment (which can be satisfied
many different ways), or specific, as in the need for professional attire
to wear at a new job.
Several different methods can be used to detect consumer problems,
which are discussed on pp. 508-509 in the text.
Creating problems for consumers is a way to increase sales, albeit a
questionably ethical one. One way to create new problems, and
resultant needs, is to create a new ideal state. This is often done quite
arbitrarily in the fashion industry, as skirt lengths and the appropriate
number of buttons on a suit often change arbitrarily up and down. It
may also be possible to create dissatisfaction with current states--e.g.,
a firm may publicize current crime statistics to increase the sales of
handguns and alarms. Many vocational training schools advertise that
better careers than the consumers current one are available upon
graduation (a promise on which, by the way, they may not deliver in
the end).
There are two main approaches to search. Internal searches are based
on what consumers already know. Thus, it may be important for certain
firms to advertise to consumers before they actually need the product.
For example, one bail bond company advertised its existence to people
"in case you ever find yourself in jail." As another example, if you
decide to go out for fast food, you may not consult any directories, but
instead search your memory for fast food restaurants conveniently
located. A problem is that some excellent ones which are not
remembered, or have never been heard of, are not considered.
External searches get people to either speak to others (getting
information by word of mouth) or use other sources (such as
advertisements now sought out or yellow page listings). Because the
yellow pages are often the first place to which people turn, this
medium is able to charge very large advertising rates.
Consumers often do not consider all alternatives. Some are not known
(the "unawareness" set), some were once known but are not readily
accessible in memory (the "inert" set), others are ruled out as
unsatisfactory (the "inept" set--e.g., Glad bags attempts to get
"bargain bags" into that set), and those that are considered represent
the "evoked" set, from which one alternative is likely to be purchased.
The amount of effort a consumer puts into searching depends on a
number of factors such as the market (how many competitors are
there, and how great are differences between brands expected to be?),
product characteristics (how important is this product? How complex is
the product? How obvious are indications of quality?), consumer
characteristics (how interested is a consumer, generally, in analyzing
product characteristics and making the best possible deal?), and
situational characteristics (as previously discussed).
Two interesting issues in decisions are variety seeking (where
consumers seek to try new brands not because these brands are
expected to be "better" in any way, but rather because the consumer
wants a "change of pace," and "impulse" purchases. Impulse purchases
are, generally speaking, unplanned, but represent a somewhat fuzzy
group. For example, a shopper may plan to buy vegetables but only
decide in the store to actually buy broccoli and corn. Alternatively, a
person may buy an item which is currently on sale, or one that he or
she remembers that is needed only once inside the store (remember
the Wal-Mart article).
Several different strategies for influencing consumer decision making
are discussed in the text on pp. 537-541.
Consumer Outlet Selection
Retail evolution and consumer choice. For many products, consumers
frequently have numerous choices as to where they are going to
actually obtain the product. Although we are used to thinking of buying
automobiles only from dealerships, for example, it is today possible to
buy them through brokers or fleet sales organizations that may both
(1) offer a lower price and/or (2) provide the help of a neutral third
party which does not have a vested interest in the sales of one make
over the other.
In general, the evolution of diversity in the retail scene has provided
consumers with more choice. In the old days, most consumers had
access only to "general" stores for most products. Gradually, in urban
environments, specialty and discount stores evolved. Today, a
consumer may generally choose to buy most products either at a
relatively high price, frequently with a significant amount of service, in
a specialty store, or with lower service in a discount store. A special
case of the discount store is the category killer--a store that tends to
specialize in some limited area (e.g., electronics), lacking the breadth
of a traditional discount store often undercutting the traditional
discount store on price (which they are able to do because of the
bargaining power that results from high buying volumes of a narrow
assortment of merchandise from the same manufacturer).
"At home" shopping and electronic commerce. During the last several
decades, the incidence of "at home" shopping has increased. The
growth of catalog sales can be traced to advances in computer
technology and subsequent list availability (as we discussed in the
section of direct marketing segmentation methods). A more recent
development is Internet based marketing. Although sales are modest in
this domain at the moment, it is too early to judge the total potential of
this medium. Although many of the concerns that consumers hold
about computer crime tend to be exaggerated and/or largely
unwarranted, public fears are a major holdback. Another problem is the
demographics of computer and Internet use--the majority of U.S.
consumers, and certainly the great majority of residents of even highly
industrialized countries, are not regular Internet users. Certain
products specifically aimed at heavy Internet users (e.g., records,
software) and products/services that require a high level of
customization (e.g., airline tickets) may find good opportunities. An
interesting problem with Internet commerce, which may well have
spillover effects outside the realm of the Net, is the relative ease with
which consumers may compare prices of different retailers, resulting in
intense price competition. Note that recent legislation has limited
taxation of Internet sales in the U.S., in a sense attempting to "jump
start" this innovation.
Store positioning. Positioning of retail stores is essential. In general,
stores which excel on a significant dimension seem to perform better-for example, Nordstroms excels through its intense customer service,
while Wal-Mart excels through its efficiency and low prices. (In a course
on marketing strategy or retailing, you will probably discuss the issue
of the importance of balanced markets--it is healthier if different firms
have different strategies, so that everyone will not be competing
intensely on the same variables). Stores which fall somewhere in
between--e.g., Sears--tend to do less well since they get "stuck in the
middle" and have to compete against both. Obviously, there is a limit
to how strongly you can move toward one extreme. For example, if
Nordstrom were to double its prices and even double its service, that
position would be untenable, and certain extreme discount stores that
offer lower prices than Wal-Mart tend not to be successful because
they are ultimately not satisfactory to consumers.
Public Policy Issues
Throughout the term, we have considered marketing practices which
may harm consumers. Two main issues are (1) deceptive marketing
practices (such as misleading advertising) and (2) the marketing of
dangerous or otherwise harmful products (e.g., tobacco). The following
are some ethical problems that occur in marketing, and the question
arises as to which, if any, kind of government intervention is
appropriate:
Marketing efforts may encourage excess consumption
(e.g., products that consumers cannot afford and do not
really need). Note, however, that there are many gray
areas--e.g., cosmetics, video games, and even something
as politically correct as a gourmet coffee houses. A special
case involves marketing to children, whose parents may be
coerced, often out of guilt, to buy questionable items
aimed at children.
Resource depletion and waste disposal issues associated
with the above consumption. Some European countries
have mandated that manufacturers be required to take
back packaging materials for their products.
Deceptive marketing practices: Products claim benefits
which really do not result from use of the product (as is
numerous
supplements); advertising may be misleading (may not
indicate the true cost of a product up front or may contain
"fine print" that the consumer is unlikely to see or
understand)
Products are unhealthy (e.g., many childrens foods contain
excessive fat)
Government action is often considered, although it may not always be
effective. For example, although the government requires the use of
warning labels on some products, manufacturers will often try to
"water down" the warnings as much as possible. Further, the
prevalence of warning labels today may desensitize consumers since
reading all of them carefully would provide the consumer with
Another issue is anti-competitive behavior. Antitrust laws are generally
aimed at prohibiting firms from conspiring to "fix" prices or collectively
drop service levels. Antitrust law is, however, a "thorny" area.
Consumers may benefit, for example, as some less efficient firms are
driven out of business, and may benefit from the efficiencies which
may or may not materialize when large firms "gobble up" smaller
ones--a defense used in the Microsoft trial.
Reference: Hawkins, Del I., Roger J. Best, and Kenneth A. Coney
(1998), Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, 7th
ed., Boston: McGraw Hill.
Coaching Chip e-course
Balance Bite e-course
[can also be configured as Leadership [can also be configured
Lessons]
as Change Chips ]
Prepare To Succeed
Managing Expectations
Building Rapport
Delegation for Results
Mastering Time
4. Managing
Overwhelming Workloads
Resilient Relationships
Learning About The Coachee
Coaching Tactics 1: Beacon, Radar,
Re-Energize
Theres Too Much To Do
Coaching Tactics 2: Patience, Flexible, 8. Important But Not
Honest Self-Perception
Coaching Tactics 3: Confrontation,
Selling, Push The Envelope
9. Perseverance and
10. Coaching Tactics 4: Motivation,
Cheerleader, Optimistic
10. What Can I Do?
11. Coaching Tactics 5: Subject Matter
Expert, Directive, Helping Hand
11. Surrender
12. Coaching Tactics 6; Venting,
Seed/Cultivate, Notice Success
12. Baby Steps
13. Measuring Progress
13. What Will Be Different
14. Starting Over or Ending
14. Self Esteem
15. Five Step Problem Solving Model
15. Being Authentic
16. Problem Identification Tips
16. Personal Best
17. Determining the Causes of Problems 17. Warming Wind Chill
18. Using A Decision Grid To Pick A
18. Balancing At Work
19. Team Design
19. Balancing At Home
20. Life Stages Of Teams
20. Balancing In Your
21. Managing Conflict on Teams
21. Focus On Leisure Time
22. Managing Change
22. Are You Sleeping
Enough?
23. Clarifying Expectations During
Periods Of Change
23. Achieve Harmony By
Creating Tradition
24. Relationship Building
24. Working On Volunteer
25. Linking With Communities Of Interest 25. Focus On Leisure Time
26. Leave Something for
Effective marketing - based on emotions
JIANG YAN,China Business Weekly staff
On what basis do most consumers make their purchasing decisions?
The brain? The heart?
The prevailing thought among most marketing specialists is consumers
make their purchases based on perceived benefits.
But that logic is flawed, at least according to scientific findings.
Current research methods continue to be based on 1940s' service
models and 1950s' mass-marketing ideas, despite tha fact the global
business world has changed tremendously since then.
Now, the time is "ripe for a revolution" in the marketing research
industry, suggests Dan Hill, president of Sensory Logic Inc.
Scientists have suggested - after the drafting of the human genetic
code and studying how the human brain works - humans are irrational
decision-makers.
Researchers have concluded our largely unconscious, sensory-emotive
reactions shape everything about us - including how we relate to
companies, how we interpret advertising and how we respond to both
products and services.
We sense before we think.
This has even been proven in the jungles of New Guinea, where a
professor spent about 10 years, beginning in 1965, looking at
videotapes and photographs to make sure it works.
Our hearts make decisions, within three seconds of us eyeing the
products, and then our brains find reasons to rationalize those
decisions, Hill said.
That is the meaning of "love at the first sight."
Hill has advocated and used those scientific findings. He established, in
1998, Sensory Logic Inc, based on the theory, and, through practice,
related the findings to marketing strategies.
He contends marketing research based on customers' verbal replies do
not provide accurate results. That argument is hard to refute,
especially considering more than 80 per cent of humans'
communications are non-verbal.
"For conventional research, you have to do a lot of double checking to
make sure it works, because people lie, for good or bad reasons," Hill
said.
They might not realize they are lying, because many people often have
trouble using words to express themselves, he added.
With that in mind, Hill developed a new research method. He placed
cameras in stores and videotaped customers' gut reactions. He also
studied muscle movements, facial expressions and core emotions such as happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, fear and contempt.
"People may control their mouths, but not their eyes and foreheads."
Hill's ideas and method are gaining in popularity, and CEOs (chief
executive officers) are turning to him.
"They do not want to waste their money," he explained.
In other words, these bosses do not want to double-check results
obtained through conventional, verbal research methods.
Hill has secured several big-name clients - including Target, the No 2
retailer in the United States, after Wal-Mart; Toyota; General Motors;
and Cannon.
Now, he is promoting - in partnership with Shanghai-based CrossBridge Consulting Co Ltd - his system in China.
"Companies in China will warmly embrace Hill's method," said Nicholas
Read, Cross-Bridge's chairman and CEO.
Many multinational firms in China are trying to do what was successful
in Europe and the United States, Read added.
But, he continued, there are two problems: First, the method they are
using was designed for another country; and second, the method was
based on rational marketing, not emotional marketing.
"The heart is the boss of your mind, and people always make rational
choices, but for emotional reasons," Read said.
In China, for example, an increasing number of people are buying
houses and cars that they cannot afford, Read said.
But, he added, they love such items, and they tend to think, "Oh, I will
become richer and richer."
Another reason Hill's method will be effective in China is Chinese
people bend over backwards to save face, and prevent others from
losing face. Chinese are good at telling good lies, to avoid sparing
others' feelings.
During face-to-face surveys, respondents tend to say "yes," even
though their bodies say "no."
Read said Hill's method is more likely to guarantee accurate answers to
surveys, while the traditional method is more apt to provide skewed
Generally with surveys there are small differences between choices,
but we ensure much larger separations, Hill said.
Hill's sensory-emotive marketing method can also help in designing
stores, products, packaging and advertising.
(Business Weekly 11/02/2004 page18)
Persuasive Marketing Writing Involves Emotions
Goal of Persuasive Marketing Writing
Persuasive Marketing Writing goes far beyond common marketing
communications or public relations. Persuasive Marketing Writing is
more than writing well. Persuasive Marketing Writing
convinces and instigates action.
Persuasive Marketing Writing is initially based on insights gained
from neurophysiology. In addition, it also uses insights from
psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics. Persuasive
Marketing Writing addresses the questions "why", "what", and
"how" while common marketing communication responds to the
question "what."
To convince, Persuasive Marketing Writing addresses the
Fundamental Elements of Persuasion to match conscious and
unconscious needs with solutions. Persuasive Marketing Writing
also guides the reader and instigates action.
Persuasion and Neurophysiology
Persuasion is deeply linked with the physiology of our brain.
Throughout its evolution, the human brain has acquired three
components that progressively appeared and became superposed:
the brainstem, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex.
The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of
the cerebral hemisphere. Cortices are
asymmetrical. Both hemispheres are able to
analyze sensory data, perform memory
functions, learn new information, form thoughts
and make decisions.
The limbic system is responsible for emotions
and feelings like anger, fright, passion, love,
hate, joy and sadness. Information retention
and long-term memory are stimulated by the
firing of the amygdala, which performs a key
role in processing nearly all emotional events.
Emotions help deciding what to pay attention
to, which messages someone will ultimately
The brainstem is responsible for body functions
necessary for survival (breathing, digestion,
heart rate, blood pressure) and for arousal
(being awake and alert).
Fundamental Elements of Persuasion
Three elements need to be satisfied to convince the reader of a
1. Content or "What is the message":
The message is based on the positioning statement, the
strategic approach and the evidence to support your
message. This is the traditional approach used for marketing
writing and communications. Content addresses the cerebral
cortex of the brain. A reader learns new information; analyses
and compares information; makes decisions and stores the
2. Credibility of the writer and message:
Readers filter messages depending on their perception of the
credibility of the author or message. The more credible the
writer, the more information passes the filter to the cerebral
cortex, where the message is analyzed, compared and so on.
This absorption filter implies trust, which is an emotion.
Hence, a message needs to go through the limbic system to
be treated in the cerebral cortex.
Credibility of the writer and message is fundamental for
persuasion. Messages that seem to mislead will close the
absorption filter for an extended period of time. Hence,
credibility implies that the message must be truthful and
straight forward.
3. Emotional Involvement of the Reader:
To be persuasive, a message has to go through the limbic
system. As we have seen, trust is the gatekeeper for
information passed to the cerebral cortex. Emotions tell the
reader when to pay attention. Furthermore, emotions are
processed faster than logical thought and have the final say
in moments of indecision. To be persuasive, the message
MUST stimulate an emotional reaction from the reader.
Emotions are stimulated by psychological, sociological,
cultural, economical, and historical experiences and
associations. Thus, to stimulate an emotion, the message
needs to create these associations.
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