Issue of Marketing Promotion - Assignment Example

Name Course Lecturer Date Tutorial Questions Question 1 The environmental friendliness of a liquid cleaning detergent is one of the social cultural factors that are likely to influence a consumer’s purchase decision. The consumer has become more environmentally aware and will consciously search for product they perceive to be friendly to the environment (Baker and Hart, 120). A liquid detergent that is bio-degradable is an example of product that may appeal to environmentally sensitive consumers. The way a marketer of a liquid detergent approaches the promotion of the product will be a profound determinant of its success in the market. Promotion is thus a valuable marketing input in getting consumers to choose your product (Baker and Hart, 55). It means drawing the attention of users to your products and explaining to them why they should make the purchasing decision. Various media can be used for the promotion of a liquid detergent. Television and internet advertisement are likely to be more effective in influencing a liquid detergents purchase decision. The internet is now used by millions of users and enables will enable the marketer show the cleaning effects of the detergent through video and photo sharing (Schiffman and Kanuk, 32). A range of Social-cultural input can be used to influence the purchase decision for Pay-TV. Most people are worried about the kind content they expose their children to by letting them watch TV. Pay TV marketers need to know this and provide ways of controlling content access on their networks. Another social cultural input that can influence a decision to purchase Pay-Tv is class stratification in the society (Arnould, Price, and Zinkhan). A Pay-Tv marketer may have premium products that offer a range of benefits beyond the obvious. This social cultural input will lead the most wealthy to purchase the Pay-Tv subscription. It must be remembered that they is a group of people who think the more expensive an item is the higher its quality. Promotion is a marketing input that Pay-Tv channels may use to influence consumers purchasing decisions. Promotion should be geared at showing the kinds of services and products provided by the Pay-Tv marketer. Question 2 Products: Tour package abroad, buying shares, buying medical cover Tour package Abroad When travelling to a foreign country a tourist must make a careful and intensive search for information. Key consideration for any tour package is the safety and the enjoyment of the holiday (Reisinger, 29). A tourist must consider the external influences of the firm’s marketing practices and the social-cultural environment. Every company offering tour packages will promote them as the best. A tourist must verify the promotion information provided by the marketing company about the destination with information from other sources. Social-cultural considerations are also an important consideration (Reisinger, 52). The culture of the hosts will limit what a tourist can do in the destination. Language of the host is an important consideration as a tourist would prefer a destination where they can freely communicate with locals. Tour firms seek to influence the decision of the tourist in the decision making process through some psychological inputs (Reisinger, 123). One of the ways is to create the perception that the tourist is missing out on something if they do not go to a certain destination (Reisinger, 13). In most cases tourist depend on the experience of other tourist in destination they are interested in visiting to make the purchase decision. Their pre-purchase evaluation is available for other tourists on review sites on the internet. The purchase of shares is another product that needs an intensive pre-purchase search by the consumers. A consumer has a range of traded shares that he can purchase as offered by various trading entities. A consumer must proceed with caution as choosing the wrong shares may mean a loss of his investment. The influence of the firm’s marketing strategies is felt as Stock brokerage firms will market shares in a way where they can gain the most benefit (Schiffman and Kanuk, 32). For example they may offer investors shares that are being dumped by others. However, laws legislated after the backlash of the Global financial Crisis is an important social-cultural consideration as they offer consumers more protection when purchasing shares. Buying medical cover is another purchase decision that needs extensive pre-purchase search on the part of the consumers. Medical cover may mean the difference between life and death for the purchasing consumer. With many different medical covers offered by different companies, the consumer must choose which the best is (Baker and Hart, 42). The financial stability of the company offering the medical cover is an important consideration in the medical cover purchase decision. No consumer would want to purchase a cover from an insurance company that later collapses and leaves the consumer with no medical cover. Furthermore, the consumer must be aware about government policy concerning the purchase of medical covers. Question 3 Extensive Problem-Solving is the decision making process for a relatively new and important consumer need (Schiffman and Kanuk, 32). It occurs in situations where they are no established evaluation criteria for the purchase decision and there are no limited sets of brands to choose from. The consumer has to consider a great deal of information before making the purchase decision. Information is collected from internal (memory) and external sources including other people (Solomon, 63) The consumer first seeks information to establish a criterion to assess the products on offer. The purchase of such products as cars, apartment and Hi-tech equipment involves extensive Problem solving (Hawkins et al, 24). With limited problem-solving an evaluation criteria for the purchase decision is already in place (Solomon, 59). Several solutions to the problem exist and it only involves an application of the simple decision criteria to make the purchase decision (Hawkins et al, 62). Information from memory and a little external information are needed in making the purchase decision. It is used in the making of decisions to purchase such items as Laptops, mobile phones and Pay-Tv subscription. The consumer risk in this purchase decision is relatively moderate (Voelckner, 134). Routinised response behaviour is low-risk purchase decision where consumers purchase a product quickly with little or no information search (Hawkins et al, 64). This purchase behaviour is associated with products a consumer has purchased before. Routinised responsive behaviour occurs when consumers are brand-loyal and frequently purchase the product. a) Chewing gum; Routinised response behavior. People will rely on the brand in making the purchase. Furthermore, no information search is needed in making the decision. b) Sugar: Limited Problem-Solving. An evaluation criteria for purchasing sugar is already established c) Men’s aftershave lotion: Limited Problem-solving. Men aftershave is purchased regularly and therefore an evaluation criterion already exists. d) Carpeting: Extensive problem-Solving. Carpeting is an important consumer need that is done rarely. e) Paper towels: Routinised response behaviour. There is low consumer risk involved in the purchase decision. f) Mobile telephone. Limited problem-solving. It involves a lower level of consumer risk. g) New bank account: Limited problem-solving. A decision criterion for evaluating alternative brands is already available. h) Luxury car. Extensive problem-solving. There is a high risk involved in the purchase decision. Question 4 a) Purchase of canned Pepsi-Cola External factors Pepsi advertisement Internal factors I had not taken a beverage the whole day. My throat was feeling very dry. b) Purchasing Energy Drink External Factors Monster Energy billboard advertisement Internal factor Feeling very weak after a long day at the school. Needed to learn throughout the nights. c) Purchase of Sunglasses External Influence Advertisement of summer sunglasses on TV Internal Influence All my friends were putting on sunglasses. The similarity in these purchase decisions is the impact of marketing promotions in influencing problem recognition (Baker and Hart, 120). Before seeing the advertisements for the products I had purchased I had not realized I needed them. Question 5 The marketer can show the consumers that the laptop meets their needs and expectations. The marketing promotions should be tailored to be a response to the consumer expectations. In advertising the laptop the marketer should make sure communication about the power and lightness of the laptop dominates the message (Arnould, Price, and Zinkhan, 163). For example they may say; “want a laptop that is fast and light, here is the answer”. It is important for the marketer to illustrate how the product meets the consumer and expectation. This can be achieved by sampling some consumer expectations and in reference to what is required to meet them in terms of computing power and portability. This is then compared to what the ultra-light and powerful laptop offers. Question 6 The conjunctive decision making rule will see each of the brands selected for purchase (Sheth, 142). Brand B and C would be selected if the minimal level for quality and convenience is very good. Brand A would be acceptable under Lexicographic Decision Rule if the price attribute is most important to the consumers. It is important to note that purchase decision based on the price attribute of a product are very common (Enneking, Neumann, and Henneberg, 134). Works Cited Arnould, Eric J., Linda Price, and George Martin Zinkhan. Consumers. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2002. Baker, Michael John, and Susan J. Hart, Eds. The marketing book. Routledge, 2008. Delbert Hawkins et al. Consumer behaviour: Building Marketing Strategy. 9th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2004. Enneking, Ulrich, Claudia Neumann, and Sven Henneberg. "How important intrinsic and extrinsic product attributes affect purchase decision." Food Quality and Preference 18.1 (2007): 133-138. Michael, Solomon R., et al. "Consumer behavior. buying, having, and being." Engelwood Cliffs: Prentice Hall (2006). Reisinger, Yvette. International tourism: Cultures and behavior. Elsevier, 2009. Schiffman, Leon G., and Leslie Lazar Kanuk. Consumer behavior: A European outlook. Pearson Education, 2012 Sheth, Jagdish, ed. Models of buyer behavior: conceptual, quantitative, and empirical. Marketing Classics Press, 2011. Voelckner, Franziska. "An empirical comparison of methods for measuring consumers’ willingness to pay." Marketing Letters 17.2 (2006): 137-149. Read More