The Relevance of Logos in Buyer Behavior in Terms of Perception - Assignment Example

Name of the student: Course Tittle: Name of the professor: Date Question 2: Discuss the relevance of logos in buyer behavior in terms of perception Consumer perception is approximation of the reality on the ground as the brains normally attempts to make senses and react to stimuli to which they are exposed. It usually works effectively when consumers see, hear or sense things. There are several sequential factors, which influences consumer’s perception. The exposures do involve the extent through which we encounter the stimulus. As consumers walk along the streets, they encounter several commercial messages across the street; there are several billboards, bumper stickers, radio advertisement, banners and signs placed in the major shopping malls. Exposure is enough stimuli to have a significant impact on the individual perception, and this one is not necessarily based on one time trial. Commercial exposures such as Swoosh and logo are normal based on extensive and continuous repetition and not just one time action. In order for the stimuli to be consciously processed, attention is required. Attention is a matter of degree, and there are instances when our attention might be high and instances when attention might below. The level of attention does not matter, but the frequency at which you attract the attention of an individual is the most important. Logos are based on this simple principle where a particular brand of a product will choose a given logo and display that logo on its product repeatedly until the frequency at which a consumer can associate the product and the logo are uncountable. Interpretation of things involves making sense out of stimulus and triggers like logo bring stimuli. For example, when a customer sees a red color, it is likely to be associated with coke. Using Weber’s law and principle, this states that the consumer ability to detect changes in stimulus intensity normally appears to be strongly related to the intensity of that stimulus. If one hold a weight of two kg in his or her hand, an individual can only notice and realized that when the weight double either to 3 kg or 4 kg. Moreover, in case one hold 10 kg then there is additional of one kg, then it is not easy for one to realize the changes. It is on this simple concept, which the logo idea uses in attracting customer attention and perception where it is so simple and easy to associate some brands with specific things or colors. Kotler (2005) defines perception as the way information are received by individuals, the way they select information from the environment, organized the information and then interpret it in a manner that will satisfy their needs actors which influences perception include The advertisement by the companies, the way product is being packed, the pricing strategy and the general quality of the product. The way company is doing advertisement, and the way they are doing their packaging plays an important role in influencing customer’s decision-making process. Learning is another important concept in advertisement and getting customers attention being attracted on a particular goods or services. Customers can learnt about a product through advertisement and as Kotler puts it learning is a process of knowing more about something, acquiring new idea and knowledge. Learning can also helps consumers to change their perception concerning a product hence learning and perception is one thing in marketing. Using Weber principle, a marketer must increase the intensity and frequency at which the product is exposed to customers through advertisement and packaging. It will have an effect and influence the customer perception over time and will help the product to build its own brand in the market. For example, Sony has a specific logo in the market, due to the period at which it has been in the market, customers can easily identify with it, and there is that customer who has strong believed that it is the best. To compete fairly with the Sony with strong logo and brand name, another company will design another logo, which looks like Sony and in this case “Sonny”. When customer sees this, he might mistake “Sonny” for “Sony”. Logo can be defined as product identity or brand that has the ability and the capacity of changing consumer perception. Relevancy and learning are other factor that influences the consumer perception. The logo, which is relevant to the product, will awake Surprise stimuli and subliminal stimuli in human beings. Logo and brands also help in facilitating product identification and increases customer loyalty through learning. A customer can only learn about a particular product through product name, brand and its logo. Question Three Recognizing the need is one thing and making purchasing decision is another thing, all purchasing decisions always starts with need recognition as one of the most important factors in simple purchasing process. The process and means through which consumers perceive a purchase situation and become motivated to resolve it will have the control of the remaining buying decision process. Kotler (2005) defines motivation defines motivation as the factors that compel an individual to take a particular action. Classical theorist like Abraham Maslow mostly champions one of the most common theories that can help in understanding the motivation. Maslow developed human hierarchy of needs which gave five basic level of human needs that are arranged in hierarchical order with the physiological needs at the base of the pyramids, the consist of basic human needs like food, shelter, clothing and sex. The second group is safety needs that include safety from physical harm. The third level of need is the need for belonging includes social love; they include the need to have a cordial relationship with others and have a feel of sense of love, affection, belonging, and acceptance among your friends. In the Second last, in a pyramid scheme is self-esteem the need to feel a sense of accomplishment and gain recognition, to have the status of respect from others. Lastly, is self-actualization that is the need for self-fulfillment and desire realize one is own potential. The Maslow believes that lower level needs must be fulfilled first before one can move to the second level or order of level. While Maslow has several weaknesses, it gives marketers a good platform through which they can use to satisfy their customer needs. Online marketing and personal level of interaction give people sense of personal belonging as they participated themselves in the process of determining what they want to purchase without outside influence. However when it comes to sponsorship, the customers believe that they do not own product themselves but others own it on their behalf. These concepts partly explain the sudden shift in the consumer behavior and why marketers have shifted from the sponsorship to online marketing and promotion It is of great important for the marketers to be aware of how customers are acquiring information from external sources as this has an impact on their ability to retain the same information hence marketers can use it in formulating communication strategies(Kotler and Armstrong, 2004). The way they sense, they attend to, how they the interpreter and lastly how they retained the information is of very important to marketers, and all influences customers perception. Buyers receive, attend and store the information and build a meaningful picture of the real world through the process. Perception is usually an individual process. The mode of marketing or source of information influences how customer retains the information, which they have received. It involves storing the information for long term or short-term memory. Consumers have the ability to make some mental notes to make the focus on the message that are being advertised, and this can make they have either selective retention which means the consumer can only remember some aspect of the product or not. The sponsorship makes the customer have selective retention while online marketing and advertisement will enable the customers to have full retention on the massage being advertised. It has been also encouraged by digitalization and social communication, which are overtaking old method of communication The marketers should be quick in identifying consumer needs and wants as this will enable them to have a personal touch with consumers. Personal or face-to-face marketing is more appealing than vital marketing since the marketer can explain to the customer all content of the product and answer the customer questions. It offers online marketing a better platform than sponsorship advertisement. Question four Consumer psychology from the behavioral perspective is normally characterized by some direct measurement of the consumer behavior. Consumers normally considered as rational decision makers who are only concerned with their own self-interest. The supporters of this idea are Utility theorist who believes that consumers normally make decisions and choices based on the outcome of such decisions. Where utility theorist views consumers as rational economic man, the current researchers consider other several factors that influence consumer decision-making process hence designing consumer behavior. The marketer also acknowledges the wide range of consumption factors and activities, which goes beyond just purchasing (Saunders, et al 2003). These activities range from the need of recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, ability to build purchasing intention, the actual act of consumption and finally disposal of the commodity. Understanding customer behavior using the behavioral theory is helpful to the marketer in understanding customer decision behavior and factors, which motivates customers to make some specific decisions concerning the product. Applying humor in marketers there are three major aspects of humor in marketing. One of the aspects is the formal characteristics of humor stimuli. Secondly, the mental events, which are related to the processing and the appreciation of the humor in marketers and consumer and lastly the ludic behaviors frequently, associated with humor response. . Humor is well applied in this scenario and can capture the attention of intended consumers; they perform what called S-O-R (Stimulus-organization-Response) is. Since consumers are rational people, always makes a rational decision. Therefore, humor will trigger stimulus in consumer and makes them response to a given situation. Since UGL provides businesses with facility services such as operations & maintenance, cleaning, energy services, office services, and landscaping, humor will trigger the comfort, which an individual will derive from purchasing these items. Applying utility theory where each consumer to him, the need of comfort and happiness will be triggered and this advertisement will work for the benefit of the company. They're are theories that support this concept of humor in advertisement are only two. Cantor, Venus 1980, Peter, and Nord 1982 postulate a different mechanism to explain the importance of humor in influencing consumer behavior. Information processing theory usually assumes that a consumer who has decided to make decision following acquisition, evaluation and integration of information. Using the McGuires model of 1969, humor’s has the potential of improving the massage comprehensiveness, and it depends on its ability to first stimulate the audience attention and learning process. The timing of the advertisement is right, and the consumers will have higher retention of the message passed. There are two major explanations, which supports humors influence consumer perception and decision-making process. Helsons adaptation model argues that stimuli will attract attention and the way information is being process and being perceived. The mode of marketing or source of information influences how customer retains the information, which they have received. It involves storing the information for long term or short-term memory. Consumers have the ability to make some mental notes to make the focus on the message that are being advertised, and this can make they have either selective retention which means a consumer can only remember some aspect of the product or not. The humor makes the customer have selective retention and marketing and advertisement will enable the customers to have full retention on the massage being advertised through humor. This has been also encouraged by digitalization and social communication, which are overtaking old method of communication and laughing industry. However, the customers might get wrong perception in the process which also gives the limitations of humor as a mode of marketing. Perception in humor is quite personal, what is funny to one individual might not be interesting for another person. Humor has not been studied as measurable variables. Humor is a very important in attracting attention of people and is a good strategy in advertising. Humor has several limitations as a mode of advertisements as it is not easy to get a humor that will be attractive to everyone. Some consumers may ignore the advertisement simply because it is not appealing. Humor may also make the consumer to miss the most important aspect and serious product aspect and massage which the marketer may wish to pass to its audience during advertisement. Humor is not applicable to all product and all circumstances like advertisement through billboards or online marketing hence this limitation makes it not common among many marketers. Question five Personal characteristics normally influence buyer's decisions. They include buyer’s age, economic situation, occupation, personality and self-concept. Individual product demand normally shifts depending on the individual changes in with the change in status. Personal lifestyle affects his or her activities, interest and opinion and affects the choices of product. People have different personalities and different traits and this are normally shown with behavior such as self-confidence dominance, sociability defensiveness, autonomy, adaptability and the individual aggressiveness. The message content will make an individual to associate with a product or not. The diesel message is kind of associating with people of low status but not people of high class. Consumer changes goods and services they purchase over their lifetimes. Goods like food, Clothes and furniture are age related, and the above advertisement should follow the youth taste. Person’s lives in particular works and society in a particular class. A person may prefer the product and chose products as per his or her surroundings. A person’s economic level and situations have considerable impacted on the individual buying behavior and decision-making process. Individual lifestyle is normal expressed on his or her activities, opinion, and an individual interest. Lifestyle and status do varies from one place to another. People who have the same culture background, social background and having the same occupation normally have similar if not the same lifestyle. The behavior and practices within lifestyles are characterized with the mixture of habits, conventional means and ways of doing things. Status normally reflects on individuals’ attitude, values and the general life view. It affects the way on how people makes. Customer, on the other hand, has attitude toward a particular product brand. Attitude can be defined as an individual like and dislike over something. Attitudes normally are a lasting evaluation of something in general. An individual has the knowledge of that product or service, its strength and weakness. There are four major aspects, which constitute psychological factors of an individual. They include motivation, perception, learning and attitude. We are going to discuss the individual attitude and belief on how it affects consumer behavior purchasing decisions. Peter et al. (1999) defines attitude as a personas ' overall evaluation of a particular concept. Attitudes exert an influence on the behavior in order to fulfill its motivations and needs. Consumer’s attitudes have always had some specific concept that influences buyer’s behavior towards particular products. Normally consumers and buyers have attitudes towards various products and services are it physical, social, and this extends to product models, brands, stores and people. The imaginary objects such as concepts, ideas, logos, and people’s opinions also influence consumer behaviors. The message on diesel advert may make some have negative attitude towards the product since the message is talking of stupidity something many would not wish to associate. Apart from consumers, own behavior, actions that are current, future and past behavior influences their decisions. Attitudes formation helps consumers to make a decision by providing a way from them to evaluate alternatives on the characteristics and benefits of each product that are offered in the market. Consumer attitudes consist of three major components that are well explained by the tri-component model and concept. The concept elaborates three component’s which include • Affective • Cognitive and • conative It can be shown below The conative aspect captures consumer knowledge and the perception about the products and the said brands. The knowledge is also known as a belief about an objects attributes and the product benefits. In contrast, the most important part of the cognitive focuses is on the consumer emotions and feelings towards in a particular product or brand (Saunders, et al 2003). The most important part is the evaluation aspect more so in terms of rating products on their favorableness. Lastly, conative component is frequently measured in terms of consumer’s intention to buy a particular product (Saunders, et al 2003). Attitude behavior relationship is very crucial to the marketers simply because of its theoretically summarizes consumer evaluation of a company product or brand, and this gives represent a positive or negative feelings and behavioral tendencies from consumers (Feldwick, 2002).. The relationship between attitude and behavior can also be influenced by other external factors, and this explains the reason advertising and the promotion are very important and crucial for creating favorable attitudes towards new product. It can help and reinforce existing favorable attitude or can be used to change a negative attitude towards products. External factors like the message, which is contained in the advert, may influence consumer attitude like the one in the Diesel advert. The attitude of consumers towards a product can result of exposure to advertisement massages as well as individual assessment of the product as it appears in the advertisement messages. Attitude is very crucial variables in consumer behavior determination. In marketing and advertisement context, attitudes are predispositions towards specific brands, product or the firms that causes the consumer and convince the buyers that they are the best. Question six The buyer behavior theory maintains that consumers decision making process is being triggered by the recognition of the problem or the problem arousal of the customer need; the need may arise due to the various circumstance which surrounds the consumer. From the advert of the Fanta, a product of Coca cola company, it rouses a need of thirstiness in a consumer hence influences its behavior and decision-making process. The advert triggers motivation that is the first step in consumer purchasing process and triggers recognition or motivation, where consumers realize that he or she has a need for something. It does reflect inner states of arousal that directs the consumer to involve him or herself with the relevant behavior, effortful information processing and detailed decision-making process. The advert as the ability to trigger inner need of the customer. When motivation is high, consumers are ready and willing to do things, which are so closely related to their objectives and goals in life. If the customer is thirsty, he or she will not go for just a drink but a cold drink that is appealing and can quench their thirst. People who are highly motivated normally pay closer attention and think about their needs; they do an evaluation of the available information that are critically relevant to their needs and try to match the information with their needs. Consumers are normally motivated whenever they feel that they have processed information that are relevant to the. As supported by behavioral theorist who believes that consumer only gets stimulated with information that satisfied their lower level or immediate needs. Maslow theory is the best example, which can be used to illustrate this principle. Maslow of behavioral science states that once a need has been satisfied it motivates no more. When a consumer sees the advert and his having a thirst representing a need, which has not been satisfied, he or she will be motivated to go and buy that product. It is done after the consumer has processed the information displayed by the advert and believes that truly this product will satisfy his or her needs. Social needs are extremely and to a larger extend are directed and are related across consumers. Social needs are fulfilled by presence or action by other people. Only oneself is related to the product usage and the service usage. Non-social needs on the other hands, there are achievements, does not depend on other people but are directly related to the usage of the product or service by the consumer. Consumer behavioral theory states that functional needs do motivate the search of a particular product to solve the consumer present problem and the consumer will not stop searching for the product until the product is found and has been used in solving the problem. Symbolically, needs do affects how people do perceive themselves and influence the perception, which we do have on others and how others do perceive as in return. Consumer achievements, independence and self-control, are needs simply because it is directly connected with consumer senses. The uniqueness of consumers is a need because it drives product consumption and decisions about how a consumer expresses his or her own identity. Achievements, social status, belonging and affiliation are symbolic needs; this is because they do reflect consumer’s social role and social position. The social behavioral theorist also states that hedonic needs reflect consumer’s inherent desire, need for sensory, and pleasure. Sensory stimulation, cognitive simulation and novelty are non-social hedonic needs, while needs for reinforcement. Some of the hedonic need include sex and play as classified by social scientist. Therefore, Fanta is trying to create motivation by initiating need. Consumer perception is approximation of the reality on the ground as the brains normally attempts to make senses and react to stimuli to which they are exposed.It works better when buyers see, hear and when they sense. There are several sequential factors, which influences consumer’s perception. The exposures do involve the extent through which we encounter the stimulus (Kotler, 2005). As consumers walk along the streets, they encounter several commercial messages across the street; there are several billboards, bumper stickers, radio advertisement, banners and signs placed in the major shopping malls. Perception can be defined as the process and means through which buyers process the information from the environment, select it, organize the information and interprets it to satisfied individual need some of the factors which influences consumer perception include price and brand McDonald and Sharp (2000) clearly stated in his study that price can be used by buyers as a reason of choosing one brand and not the other. First is through going for lower prices to avoid financial risk and in the second scenario is going for the highest price in order to achieve product quality. According to Soderlund (2000), price, place and brand are the most important factor which consumer consider when choosing to purchase any given product brand. So as a number of brands in Australia routinely use discounts to promote their products. For example, the usual price for a large box of Kellogg’s Special K is $6.99 in both Coles and Woolworths but from time to time (about every 2 to 4 weeks) it sells for $5.It supports the assertion by McDonald and Sunderland in their findings on the effect of price on product perception. It is of great important for the marketers to be aware of how customers are acquiring information from external sources as this has an impact on their ability to retain the same information hence marketers can use it in formulating communication strategies. The way they sense, they attend to, how they the interpreter and lastly how they retained the information is of very important to marketers, and all influences customers perception. Perception can be said as the process through which buyers receive information filter it and interpret it to get the final product which will satisfied their need Question seven Perception is an individual process and affects the pricing strategy. The first strategy is different with discount strategy method of stimulating the buyer. The discount is ways of changing the already existing idea to try to trigger further motivation on the consumer so that he or she may not just buy, but pay quickly or buy in large quantity a brand of a particular product. The first idea was more of psychological idea to be used in lowering and raising prices to trigger customer motivation. Consumer psychology from the behavioral perspective is normally characterized by some direct measurement of the consumer behavior. Consumers normally considered as rational decision makers who are only concerned with their own self-interest. The supporters of this idea are Utility theorist who believes that consumers normally make decisions and choices based on the outcome of such decisions. Price of the commodity is a crucial part of the decision making process. Customers can change their buying attitude depending on the price of the product and other incentives. Yes, the answer would change. Discount is one of the incentives used by the marketers to trigger a reaction from the buyers but is different from the price and with this; the answer would change since discount is different with price cut. Discount is long term compared with the price changes like price cut which in most cases are short-term incentives. The law of demand can be used to explain how buyers react to changes in price. The law states that the increase in price of goods and services lower their demands while decrease in prices increase the demand of goods and services, therefore, when prices are low, buyers will purchase more goods and services and when prices are high buyers will shy off b from buying goods. This law is only valid for normal goods .Veblen goods take opposite reaction from the normal goods and explain buyers behavior when status changes. Read More