Buyer Behavior and Branding - Case Study Example

Buyer Behavior and Branding Name Professor Course Date Introduction Buyer behavior is the study of organizations or individual groups and the processes they are using when selecting, securing, and disposing of experiences, services, products, or ideas to meet their needs of the processes on the society and consumer. This process attempts to understand the decision making process of individual and group buyers. In addition, it tries to assess the influences on the consumer from different groups like friends, society, family, and other groups. Buyer behavior has been a difficult process to predict even by the experts in the field. The marketers as per the age, gender, source of income, employment, and the family structure classify the buyers or consumers. This will assist the marketers to market the products as per the target population (Krystallis & Chrysochou 2011, p. 99). For example, the marketing process targeting young people is different from those targeting adults. This is because their interest on different products is not the same. Brand is the relationship with the consumer. The relationship with the consumer is built as per the consumer experiences on the brand. In the business, one might be having a trademark, which identifies his brand, but the consumer will be helpful in identifying the brand. In this paper, we are working on Cambridge International College (Melbourne) as the brand. Marketers will need to identify the target population in this case the students, parents, and lecturers (Kukar-Kinney, Ridgway & Monroe 2012, p. 102). This is because the students are the most crucial people because they are the consumers or buyers. This is because they will join the college as the targeted consumers. The branding and consumer behaviors used should be the interest of the youth in most cases. The youth will get a chance to convince their parents that this is the best college that they can join to achieve their future careers. The youth will get all the information from the brand and the consumer behavior displayed by the marketers in the process of marketing the college. The parents on the other end will convince their children that the college is best as per information about courses offered in the college as per the brands and consumer behaviors demonstrated by the concerned marketers. The lecturers and other individuals will be interested to work in the college as they will feel good when associated with the college (Kim & Hyun 2011, p. 159). This is because the college is offering better quality courses, better remuneration to the employees as displayed on the brands. Consumers as Individuals Buyer behavior concept is a systematic consumer decision-making process along with other common modes of decision-making used in developing marketing strategies. Buyer behavior concepts include; need recognition, information search, purchase and experience, and decision models. Need recognition is the first consumer buying process. This is where the consumer becomes aware or informed of emotional or functional need of the brand. In any marketing strategy, it is common for the marketer to include an emphasis, which will stimulate and funnel the buyer to the brand’s direction. As per the Cambridge International College as the brand the consumers should be made aware of the functional need of the brand. This is through explanation of the positive effects of education. After which they will be made aware of the courses offered in the college. This will stimulate their desire to join the college, as they will have known the importance of education and different courses offered in the college. After the consumers have realized that the need exists, the next step is information search (Kenning, Grzeskowiak, Brock & Ahlert 2011, p. 70). This is where the consumers develop the consideration by comparing the available options on important criteria. This is the crucial stage for marketers, as they should persuade the consumers on their solution to choose the best value of a given need. The marketing plans in this stage will include the formulation of a positioning strategy. This is a distinctive image created with targeted customers, which explains why your benefits are more superior to those of the competitors. In competitive markets, brand development and effective positioning in affecting the customer’s decision during search processes. When it comes to CIC as the brand, the marketers should persuade the consumers who are the students and other individuals and stakeholders that they offer best solutions to learning problems compared to other colleges. This is through the explanation of the quality education they offer, lower rates of fees offered in the college, and other benefits offered in the college. This especially those offered in CIC and not offered in the neighboring colleges (Kukar-Kinney, Ridgway & Monroe 2012, p. 115). Another buyer behavior concept is purchase and experience, which deals with customer loyalty and retention. Customer loyalty and retention are important marketing strategies because many companies are looking for long-term success. This will make the companies offer strong point of purchase experience to their customers. The strong points include deliveries, warranties, effective follow-up on support promises made, and installations, as they are integral in marketing. In addition, during the implementation of the buying process, follow-up should be made by use of add-on selling efforts, reinforcement in advertising, and loyalty programs. This will help to increase revenue and build loyalty from consumers. In the case of CIC, they should make sure that the current students are treated well as they will assists in marketing the college. The students should be recognized by being rewarded on various academic performances and leadership achievements. This will enable the college to retain the higher number of students because when others are going out of college others are coming in due to the recognition and how they are treated generally (Kapferer 2012, p. 94). CIC should also make a follow-up after branding the college using the advertisements, add-on selling efforts, and loyalty programs. The advertisements will assist the college to reach more people who are not reached by use of brands. The last buyer behavior concept is decision modes. This is whereby the decision made by the customer is based on the level of experience and the level of importance in a purchase situation. A buyer enters into the decision from one of the four perspectives. The four perspectives are a limited problem solving, brand loyalty, extended problem solving, and habitual buying. The marketing strategies in big and competitive ticket categories deal with extended problem solving. This is whereby the customers will actively seek and research lots of information on benefits and options (Papadopoulos, Banna, Murphy & Rojas-Méndez 2011, p. 142). Limited problem solving is whereby one deals with everyday items and less risky purchases. Visual messages and quick hitting are more common in this perspective as compared to other perspectives. Companies to maintain a relationship with core and loyal customers use the loyalty brands or programs. Habitual buyers are those who purchase a certain brand of a product routinely without conscious thought. All these perspectives are a battleground for both the competitors and the brand being purchased as they are trying to influence a stronger value proposition. CIC should apply all these perspectives, as there are different kinds of students. This is because there are others who come and join the college without asking many questions about the college. On the other hand, other students will take some time searching more information about the college before joining. The information might include the previous performances, rate of fees payment, and the registration status of the college. Consumers as Decision Makers There are many theories on the buying behavior, which are applied by businesses or individuals to analyze and figure out how they can persuade their customer to buy their products and services (Foxall & Schrezenmaier 2011, p. 72). Generic theory of buying behavior is one of the theories considered by many consumers before making any decision on whether to buy or not to buy. The consumer will follow a systematic generic model of decision-making. This is by going through a certain process before making a decision. At this point, the consumer recognizes a purchase that needs some research on its pricing and products. For example, when a tailoring machine broke down, the owner will compare the price to repair and the price to buying a new one. After comparing, he/she will make a decision. If he makes the decision to buy, another challenge is how the machine (Brown & Donthu 2012, p. 195) satisfies him/her. If the machine satisfies the owner, he/she will buy the same type of the machine in the future. When it comes to CIC as the brand, the performances and the behavior of the current students will determine if the new students will join the college. This is because the new students will research on how the current students are performing to those of other colleges. If they find that they are performing well, they will join the college and advise others to join the college in the future. Cultural theory of buying behavior is another theory, which determines whether consumers will buy a certain product in the market. Cultural influences affect the buying behavior of certain groups or individuals. This is because one’s culture has a set of beliefs and values which are respected and followed in the community. The beliefs and values will lead someone to certain buying behaviors. Different people belong to different social class based on income, occupation, and education, which will influence the buying behavior. For example, members in a group like friends, schoolmates, or family will influence each other on whether to buy or not. This is because one of the members in the group can be having more experience on the product and he/she will influence the others. Their friends or family members will influence those who will join CIC because they know more about the college. They will give either positive or negative effects of the college and this will make someone join the college or go for other colleges due to the reasons given (Rahbar & Wahid 2011, p. 225). Family income and occupation will determine whether the student will join CIC. This is because if the parents are earning a certain amount that it can enable them to join the college it will be better. On the other hand, the student might fail to join the college because the parent cannot afford to pay the fees. The college administration should consider this issue and set the fees as per the level of living standard of the residents. CIC should compare its fees to that of the competitor and slightly adjust it for many students to afford the fees (Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy & Pervan 2011, p. 172). Environmental theory of buying behavior can influence the buyers. This is because one can decide to buy a product because he/she wants to impress a friend. In the case of CIC as a brand, a student can be influenced to join the college because he/she wants to impress one hi/her friend who is in the college. As a result, student will not join, the college by his/her will but the environment has influenced the decision. Internal theory of behavior can influence the decision of the buyer whether to buy or not. This is because the buyer will go round looking at different products and comparing them to those of friends or family members in terms of prices or features. The buyer may end up choosing a product, which is not good in terms of, features and price, but because of influences. Students might be influenced to join CIC by the students already in the college. This is because students in the college might be relatives. The new students will choose to enter the college not because it is better but because of the influence. In addition, the family members can influence a student to join CIC as per their own views on the college (Berthon & Hulbert 2012, p. 88). The student will join the college not as per his own decision but because of the influence from the family members. Consumers and Sub-Cultures Social media is a communication type that is used frequently all over the world. This is due of the frequent changes in information technology, which is transforming the world slowly to the digital era. Today almost everything is done through the internet. For example studying online, banking online, communication, interviews, and many others. In the case of CIC, it can influence the decision of students joining the college using the social media. This has been the best way to advertise or communicate. CIC can brand itself on the social media, as this the best way to attract the attention of the youths (Samiee & Leonidou 2011, p. 62). This is because the most targeted group by the college is the youths. This is the best way because most youths are on the social media now days. This will enable the youths to access the branding of the college and it will automatically influence their buying behavior of joining the college. Different groups will influence the potential students of CIC. The groups include friends, family, workmates, and others. This is because the members in the group trust each other and the opinions given by one of the members will influence the other members. The culture can influence the students joining CIC. This is because many students are brought up in different backgrounds. Others come from poor families while others are coming from well off families. In addition, different families have different beliefs, which might influence the decision of the student on whether to join the college. The financial status of the family will determine if the student will join the college. This is because the college might be expensive that the families who are leading normal life cannot afford to pay the fees and the student may opt for another college that the family can afford. Since the target of CIC is the youth and parents, they should use the social media mostly to brand the college. This will enable the college to meet their target of students. This is because most of the youth are on the social media and their buying will be influenced, as many of them will access the CIC information on the social media (Backhaus, Steiner & Lügger 2011, p. 241). For CIC to influence the interest of parents who will in turn release their children to attend CIC, they should adjust their school fees slightly. CIC should do this by comparing its fees with that of competitors such it can adjust the fees slightly. This will attract the attention of the parents, as they will see the affordable fees, which will enable their children to complete their studies. Recommendations for CIC’s Branding Another strategy that CIC should focus most is the college performance. This will influence the buying behavior of many people; parents, students, and other stakeholders. This is because performance is the only factor that is considered by many people (Sheth 2011, p. 97). They should even post their yearly performance on the social media. College performance is what it is valued most than any other factor in learning. Parents and other guardians prefer to pay more fees to get better performance than paying less only to receive poor performance. The college should reward the best performers in the college every year. This is another better way that the college can market itself. The rewarded students will stimulate the upcoming students to work hard bearing in mind that there is the reward of recognition for better performers. The best performance due to competition for rewards will have marketed the college because many people will go for the college because of the best performance. Conclusion Buyer behavior and branding are the best strategies to be used in every organization. This is because the buyer will be looking at the brand and compares with other brand before the start of the decision-making. When deciding the marketing strategy of the product, the target group should be considered. This will enable the organization to choose the best mode of advertising. For example, CIC is targeting the youths mostly and they should use the social media when branding it (Aaker 2012, p. 104). This is because most youths are registered on the social media and they are visiting the social media frequently. Another to be considered before designing the marketing strategy is the culture of the target group. The product marketed and supplied in the market should be in line with cultural beliefs of the targeted group. 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