Essential Principles and New Realities of Marketing - Essay Example

?Marketing High and Low Involvement Buying Advertising is one of the ways used in marketing as it acts as a channel to make a product known to the consumer. An advertisement is used as a persuasion to the consumer so that he/she can purchase the product in context (Groucutt, Leadley , Forsyth (2004). A consumer may be confused in making a decision on what to spend their money on when it comes to alternatives that are either virtually identical or even very different. In the case of choosing between virtually identical alternatives, which is also known as ‘low involvement in buying’ the consumer is usually looking for very slight differences that will convince them to forego one product and spend money on the other (Groucutt, Leadley , Forsyth (2004). An example can be, when one wants to purchase a product like hair gel, that is from different companies and they have a similarity in price. The consumer has to find a difference to convince them to buy one product and this makes a great impact on the consumer’s decision. On the other hand, a consumer may be confused in purchasing two similar goods but which are different, in terms of quality and price. This also, can be known as ‘high involvement in buying’ and the consumer usually looks for what will be favorable for them financially and the best quality (Groucutt, Leadley , Forsyth (2004). An example could be seen when one may be interested in purchasing a TV and they have to decide between a high quality one that is very expensive versus an average one that is of a much lower price. However, effects of advertisement fall under short persuasion. These effects are not obvious but in order to understand them, there has to be a measure of these effects. To understand these effects, a beam balance can serve as a good tool. Two brands are put on either side of the beam, it can only take a very small feather to cause a change on the balance when placed on one side of the beam. Feathers can represent balancing effects in this case instead of heavy weights. Examples of items that have a high involvement decision-making are highly priced items like cars, vacations, appliances. There is a great similarity between low-involvement items. In most cases, they are identical. It is never a major concern for customers on which of this products to buy. Advertisement effects are often greater in the low involvement products. With high involvement decisions however, there is more concern about the outcome of the weighing up process, so there is the thought about how much weight is given to each feature (Groucutt, Leadley , Forsyth (2004). This features include, quality, size or power. There are usually both positive and negative aspects involved and the more complex a product is, the more complex the assessment. If a brand is favored by an advertisement, it does not necessarily have to persuade people to buy it. All it does is to raise awareness about the product. Even though it is not easily noticeable, advertisement plays a great role. These is however visible after a significant amount of time. After the process repeating itself, small increments produce major perceived differences between brands. Considering that the making a decision to purchase the newspaper presents no significant challenge and the decision does not impact the buyer’s lifestyle significantly, low involvement buying applies to advertisement 2. This is also reinforced by the fact that people appreciate how low a chance they have at winning the high price given the number of participants that try their lack. In this sense, the potential reader does not take a lot of time deciding whether or not to buy the product. In fact, in most cases, the potential customer is little influenced by the advert as he/she has a preconditioned mind whether or not to buy the paper with or without the advert. The advert 1 below involves low involvement buying. This is because it not of much concern as it is concerned with entertainment, which has no great impact on a person’s lifestyle. It does not need the buyer to spend much time window-shopping. Advertisement 1 ‘Carry on Behind’ movie poster Retrieved from : http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba120/letters.shtml Market Segments Being Targeted by the Advertisements With the market composed of a wide range of variables with respect to customer characteristics, businesses prefer to focus their energies on fulfilling the needs of specific groups. A market segment, in simple terms is composed of individuals or institutions with similar characteristics. Based on the similar characteristics that members of the segment posses, its members will tend to demand similar services or/and products. Commonly, the market segment is distinct from its counterparts, exhibits similar needs, and responds in the same way to a stimulus presented in the market (Mercer 1996). Yet again, the segment may be reached through specific market interventions. Market segments may be founded based on variables such as religion, income, price and gender. Other variables include interests, location and household size. Advertisement 1 (Carry on Behind) targets the youth mainly. This is because the movie features the lifestyle of students especially the lifestyles they engage in when in an outdoor activity. It also features educational matters, which are part of student life. From the picture presented in the poster, it is evident that the advert targets people who love to partake of humor. Some characters presented in the advert are amused by what they are seeing – the girl riding a bicycle. The audience is presumed to have time to digest the picture presented therein. The advert on the front page of the Daily Express newspaper (Advertisement 2) seeks to encourage customers to buy the product (newspaper).The advert promises a chance to win 100,000 Euros with the purchase of the paper. The advert targets the general reader; people who are interested in catching up with current events in the world. The target segment consists of those who are educated, adults of both gender especially. Advertisement 3 targets artists who have a talent in drawing. Although the advert is not colorful, it remains appealing to the eye. The advert although made to be presented to the general public, mainly targets people of the male and female genders with artistic abilities. Job seekers are probably the target as the advert seems to have been posted by an organization seeking to fill vacant posts. Advertisement 4 which features a Rolex watch targets adults who are keen on quality, prestige and social classification. Given that the watch is famous for its high quality and cost, the target market segment based on price is the rich. The professional worker falls in this category as it is assumed that they have little time to read a lot of writings in an advert. The advert, going by its few words, presumes that the target audience appreciates the quality product on offer. Generally, it may be noted that the four adverts are effective in communicating with the audience. The adverts are unique in their own ways and have been designed with the audience in mind. Advertisement 2 Daily Express 19 November, 2011 Front Page http://www.express.co.uk/ Advertisement Effectiveness A perceptual process is a procedure consisting of factors like people, experiences, and objects that influence humans. It involves sensation, attention, and interpretation. People experience perception through their senses, which are sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Advertisement 1 is very effective because it has all the factors involved in perceptual process. It has cartoons representing people, who are riding on cars and a bicycle. The experience of travelling and enjoying adventure is clear in this advertisement. The objects include the two cars and the bicycle. There are also two chicks on a nest, which represent the process of reproduction. Advert 2 is colorful and gives the impression of achieving happiness to potential winners, the customers in this case. The advert is graced by a variety of warm colors and the couple featured therein is warm and jolly, possibly enjoying their fortune after emerging winner. The advert excels in the fact that it presents as much information to the target as possible. At a glance, the reader gets to know what to do to have a chance at winning the cash. Given that the advert seeks to capture as large an audience as possible, it claims to offer a chance to win a lot of cash “free”. Advertisement 3 features two characters, one of them an artist with his tools of trade. The second character is the object that the artist is drawing. The “object” seems to be at ease and enjoys her function even as she points to other details of the advert. On the other hand, the artist is presented as being serious and highly professional. He is also presented as having fun at work as seen in his engagement with a smoking stick. Considering the picture as described above, advert presents a lot of information to the audience through the picture. Words are also effectively used to ensure that the audience has no doubt what is required of those with artistic talent. Advertisement 4 features the Rolex watch, a symbol of status. The advert is simple in presentation and has very few words. The watch which is centrally placed in the ad is given a slightly higher level of illumination. The advert encourages people to live for greatness by purchasing a high quality product. Advertisement 3 Motivational Theory as Applied in the Adverts There are different theories of motivation. They include instinct theory of motivation, incentive theory of motivation, drive theory of motivation, arousal theory of motivation, and humanistic theory of motivation (Mercer 1996). The instinct theory of motivation suggests that motivation of people to behave in certain ways happens because of an evolutionary program to do so. For example, animals migrate because they do not learn to do so, but that pattern of behavior is born in them. The incentive theory suggests that people get motivation to do things because of external rewards (Thomas 2004). For example, people go to work each day for the monetary reward of receiving payment. Behavioral learning concepts such as association and reinforcement contribute largely in this type of motivation.? The drive theory of motivation suggests that people get motivation to take certain actions, in order to reduce the internal tension caused by unmet needs. The motivation to drink a glass of water in order to reduce the internal state of thirst is a good example to explain this theory. This theory is helps in explaining behaviors that have a strong biological component, such as hunger or thirst, but motivation of these behaviors is not always purely by physiological needs. For example, people often eat even when they are not hungry. The arousal theory of motivation suggests that people take certain actions to either decrease or increase levels of arousal (Thomas 2004). An example of low level in arousal is when a person watches an exciting movie or goes for a jog. A person can probably look for ways to relax such as meditating or reading a book, when arousal levels get too high. This theory motivates people to maintain an optimal level of arousal, although this level can vary based on the individual or the situation. A humanistic theory of motivation comes from the idea that people also have strong cognitive reasons to perform various actions. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs famously illustrates this theory by presenting different motivations at different levels. First, people are motivated to fulfill basic biological needs for food and shelter, as well as those of safety, love, and esteem. After meeting the lower level needs, the primary motivator becomes the need for self-actualization, or the desire to fulfill one's individual potential. The theory most applicable to advertisement 1 is the theory of arousal. This is because the target advert features a beautiful lady who is riding a bike with her body exposed. This produces a level of arousal to the audience who are encouraged hence to purchase the product. Considering advertisement 2, the targeted customer is probably one who has lower need met to a considerable level. This means that the newspaper buyer probably has food, security and is probably loved by family, friends or members of the society. The advert targets the highest need, which is self actualization. The customer who gets influenced by the advert considers getting wealthy and enjoying the goodies that life presents as a major goal in life. Advertisement 4 References Groucutt J., Leadley P. and Forsyth P. (2004) Marketing: essential principles, new realities. Kogan Page Publishers. Mercer D. (1996) Marketing Wiley-Blackwell. Thomas J. (2004) Guide to Managerial Persuasion and Influence. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. Read More