High and Low Involvement Buying, Successful Advertisements - Assignment Example

Human behavior Introduction Advertising is a type of marketing incentive that is used to persuade, manipulate, and encourage people to take certain actions. This may involve persuading them to buy a product or generally encourage them to continue using a certain product. 1) Explain the differences between high and low involvement buying. Show how your advertisements reflect these differences. Many different factors tend to influence a consumer’s behavior. Depending on the knowledge and experience, some consumers are able to make quick decisions on what to buy while others require to get more information before deciding on what to purchase. Consumers thus have different levels of involvement in the decision process before buying or purchasing a certain product. This level of involvement in the purchasing decisions reflects how one is interested in purchasing a certain product and what kind of information one need to make a decision. Consumers with little or no experience consuming or purchasing a certain product usually have more involvement than the consumers who are just replacing the product. Low involvement is usually exhibited where the consumers engage in the routine-response behavior and make automatic-purchase decisions that are based on the information gathered from the past. For example, if consumers always take a Diet Coke during lunch time, they are engaging in the routine response behavior. They may not even have a thought about other beverage or drink options during lunch time since their routine is to order the Diet Coke and they simply do it. On the other hand, high involvement decisions usually carry a higher risk to the consumers. It mainly involves products that are not purchased often but are important and relevant to the consumers. High involvement decisions tend to cause consumers a certain deal of post-purchase anxiety if they had a tough time choosing between two options. Companies and businesses that sell high involvement products are well aware that the post-purchase anxiety can be a huge problem to their business. They thus frequently offer their potential customers a lot of information on their products including reasons why their products are superior to those of their competitors and that they are the best choice for them. Products such as the Diet Coke, which may be low involvement for many people use advertising to reach more consumers while many products, which are typically high involvement like the motor vehicles, may tend to use personal selling more to address the needs of specific consumer. A good example of high involvement is the print advertisement of Mercedes class September 3, 2014. Therefore, This level of involvement in the purchasing decisions reflects how one is interested in purchasing a certain product and what kind of information one need to make a decision. Companies and businesses that sell high involvement products are well aware that the post-purchase anxiety can be a huge problem to their business. 2) Identify the market segments being targeted by your advertisements. A market segment is a group of people who share one or several characteristics. Market segmentation is the marketing term referring to the grouping or aggregating of the potential customers into groups that have similar needs and respond the same to a marketing action. These groups are known as the market segments and they usually respond in a predictable to a promotion or marketing offer. Market segmentation gives the companies and businesses ability to target different groups of consumers who have different perception on the value of certain services and products. Each market segment has unique characteristics and the marketing managers usually decide on the various criteria to form their target markets. They approach each segment in a different manner after they fully understand the needs, demographics, personality, and the target lifestyle. For the marketing managers to attain the fundamental criteria for the market segment, they must ensure the presence of the following three characteristics; first homogeneity which refers to common needs within the market segment, second is the distinction which refers to the uniqueness from the other segments and thirdly is the reaction which refer to the similar response of the segment to the market. Market segmentation is done to separate the potential customers who make up large markets into small groups based on the selected characteristics shared by the consumers in the groups. The general markets are usually associated with the basic groups of products such as the beverage, automobile, footwear, cosmetics among others. The main aim of market segmentation is concentrate more within the general market so as to be able to locate consumers with more similar specific needs within the group. When grouped together, these consumers form a market segment and the marketing manager can now be able to predict the behavior of the consumers and can thus begin constructing highly targeted marketing campaigns. This is well illustrated by the Red bull advertisement in The Mirror November 10, 2014 that was targeting young sports people. Therefore, A market segment is a group of people who share one or several characteristics.Market segmentation gives the companies and businesses ability to target different groups of consumers who have different perception on the value of certain services and products.Market segmentation is done to separate the potential customers who make up large markets into small groups based on the selected characteristics shared by the consumers in the groups. 3) Use your understanding of perceptual processes to explain why your advertisements should be effective. A key factor for successful marketing is the good and effective communication of the traits of a product. The communication has to result to a favorable perception of the particular product by the target consumers. Businesses can fine-tune their marketing strategies by breaking down their communications into the separate perceptual processes so as to enhance their chances of a successful campaign. They can use different marketing strategies like print advertising to support the perceptual processes. This results to an effective communication of the good product image that the company is conveying. Before the businesses can communicate any information, they need to have the potential consumers’ attention. The marketing strategy has to formulate an initiative that will be able to draw the attention from other competing products and ensure that the target consumers recognize the product. For example, a print advertisement has to attract attention either through attractive imagery, position or through its color. The ideal reaction in accordance of perceptual process is that potential consumers notices the advertisement and reads it. Once the attention of the potential consumer is got, it is easy to communicate the message. The perceptual process that is involved is receiving of the information that the business is presenting. The message or information being offered has to much the medium. In this case, the advertisement message must be brief, clear, and easy to understand and must present the business’ proposition to sell. Understanding the message and delivering the same are separate perceptual processes. A potential consumer might read the message in the print advertisement but not understand it or understand what the business or the company is trying to communicate. Breaking the message into an introduction of the product, advantages of the product and the call to purchase makes the message more understandable. The context of presentation is an important part of the perceptual processes. The aim is to make the initiative an attractive context. By using this way, the product’s exposure takes place in friendly surroundings. When the potential consumers can associate the product with positive experience, they will likely be able to receive, understand the message being conveyed, and then act upon it. This perceptual process is well outlined by Lip Gloss print advertisement on The Wisconsin State Journal on September 19, 2014. A key factor for successful marketing is the good and effective communication of the traits of a product. Before the businesses can communicate any information, they need to have the potential consumers’ attention. Breaking the message into an introduction of the product, advantages of the product and the call to purchase makes the message more understandable. 4) Apply at least one motivation theory to explain what the marketers seem to think is motivating consumers to buy.   Motivation is the driving force within the consumers that compels them to take certain actions. It is usually referred to as the energization of a goal-oriented behavior. Motivation may be extrinsic or intrinsic. The term is often used for the human beings but it can also be used to describe the reasons or causes for certain animal behavior. Motivation is rooted in the need to reduce and minimize physical or emotional pain and maximize pleasure. It also includes achieving special needs such as resting and eating, getting desired objects, achieving the set goals or being in the state of being ideal. Motivation stimulates the consumer behavior in their purchasing of goods and services. The process of motivation initiates with the consumers need to satisfy and fulfil the unsatisfied needs, wants and goals. Needs are the key factor of the marketing concept. The marketing managers do not usually create needs but are responsible for making the potential consumers aware of the needs. This is proved by the print advertisement on chewing gum in Nanotechnology Weekly September 28, 2014 where it is suggested that chewing gum can help in whitening a person’s teeth. Need is something which is necessary for human beings to live a comfortable healthy life. Needs can be physical and objective such as water and food and can also be psychological and subjective such as the need for ones self-esteem. Theories of motivation help the marketers understand the consumers’ consumption pattern and how it is influenced by their needs. Abraham Maslow arranged the significant needs into a hierarchy that had five levels depending on their importance to a person. The five levels of the needs were physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem or egoistic needs and self-actualization needs. Understanding the needs of the consumers helps the marketing managers understand the purchasing behavior of the consumers. Motivation is the driving force within the consumers that compels them to take certain actions. Goals often referred to as objectives are some projected things that consumers intend and plans to achieve. It the consumer desired end result in assumed developments. It is the result that is sought after as a result of the motivation. Goals are of different types; generic goals and product-specific goals. Generic goals are generally the categories of goals the consumers see as the way to fulfill their needs. Product-specific goals are specifically designed or branded services and products that consumers choose to be their goals. Different consumers have different goals and this makes them to have different purchasing behavior as each consumer strives to achieve the desired or set goals. It is very helpful for the marketers to know what motives influence the consumers’ behavior. Many psychologists such as Henry Murray have tried to list down the human motives. The human motives listed by them are actually relevant to the marketers in studying the consumer behavior. With motivation being a major factor influencing the consumption pattern of the consumers, it develops a strong need to study it as a part of the marketing research. Focus groups, qualitative techniques of observation, in-depth interview, and analysis are highly used in understanding the different consumer motives and behavior patterns. The degree of motivation of a consumer is determined by how interested and willing a consumer is on purchasing a product. The source of motivation or stimulation and the particular situation that a consumer is in also highly determines the purchasing power and behavior. The consumers’ involvement could be low or high. The marketer thus has to understand how interested his consumers are and be able to formulate the relevant marketing strategies. The marketer who clearly understands the various needs motivating consumers’ purchasing behavior is often able to formulate, design, and exhibit his products effectively. It is thus very important for the marketers to be able to know the motivation behind the consumers’ purchasing behavior. References Mercedes Class, Just a Little More Compact. 2014, September 3. The Sunday Independent. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1 365355417.html? Patent Issued for Coated Chewing Gum. 2014, September 28. Nanotechnology Weekly. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1 378478814.html? Red bull Wings It with Music Weekender; Gig News & Listings by Brendan Mckeown & Mark Whyte. 2014, September 19. The Mirror (London, England). Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-383027910.html? The Lip Gloss/'N Sync Connection. (Rhythm). 2014, September 19. The Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1 63069569.html? Read More