Major Marketing Principles and Practices - Essay Example

Marketing principles and practices With every organization wanting to sustain its position or expand their reach and make an imprint in various markets, there will be enough opportunities for it, to initiate that expansion drive. So, when the organization has enough opportunities, it can set targets and formulate various strategies to achieve those targets or end products. Every organization survival and success hinges on the success of its end product or services. So, both the product and the services are the ‘keys’ for an organization, and that ‘key’ only opens the door of success or profit. These products or services can be reached to the consumer only through optimal marketing strategy. Although the consumer may buy the products through their hands, the crucial factor is only if the mind of the consumer is enticed by the product or services, the buying process will be initiated. The mind of the consumer only leads to particular behaviours from the consumer. As mentioned above, the key for successful marketing strategies is to first find out and corner in on the behaviours that will be exhibited by the prospective consumers before he/she makes the buying decision. Consumers’ behaviour during their buying decision process will be influenced by varied factors. That is, he/she make the buying decision based on factors like necessity for a particular product or service, next comfort or even as part of their living, etc. While coming up with that decision, particular thoughts about the products or services will percolate in the consumer’s mind, pushing them to make that buying decision. This supposed ‘seeding’ and percolation of thoughts in the consumer’s mind has to be guessed, analyzed and understood by the marketers to come up with apt marketing strategies. So, this paper will discuss why it is important for marketers to understand the consumer decision making process including influences on consumer behaviour and their marketing implications. Consumer Behaviour According to consumer behaviour theory, a consumer, while carrying out the decision making process, will be mainly influenced by his/her choice of product and then by budget constraints, which can be further classified into 4 factors - Rational behaviour, Preferences, Budget constraints and Prices. A consumer is will exhibit rational behaviour when he/she use their money to get heightened state of satisfaction, and/or utility from that purchasing decision. “Consumers want to get "the most for their money" or, to maximize their total utility.” (welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com). Thus, it is clear that although, the customer will try to think rationally while making the buying decision, emotion comes into play because he/she mainly wants emotional satisfaction from the bought product. Likewise, the second factor of preferences also exhibits same perspective. Each consumer will exhibit particular preferences for certain goods based on its availability in the market, and like the factor of rational behaviour, based on how much utility the product could give them. Buyers have a good idea of how much marginal utility they will get from successive units of the various products they might purchase. (welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com). These factors of rational behaviour and preferences of the consumer are visible among the current lifestyle or buying style of the consumers, as they wish to attain social visibility, by buying certain products. This trend of buying socially visible or viable products again proves that emotions will only a role in the customer’s buying decision. That is, although, they might get utility in buying those products, they want to fulfil the emotionally dependent factor of social visibility. In the current media savvy society, consumers are exposed to various advertisements and marketing efforts. Thus, they cannot escape the incessant attraction of possessing luxury commodities for their satisfaction. Consumer gets this emotional satisfaction from not only using the product, but also while showcasing the bought products to other people, and this constitutes conspicuous consumption. Conspicuous Consumption technically points out to consumers’ intention to exhibit prominent evidence of their capability to afford luxury goods to attain social visibility (Piron 309). This form of consumer behaviour is not just confined to particular sections of the population especially the rich. Due to the advent of globalization and the increase in purchasing power of various sections of population, and also with various financing options available, this behaviour pattern is being exhibited by sizable number of income groups. The other two factors that constitute consumer behaviour theory, budget constraints and prices also emotionally impact the consumer when making the buying or consumption decisions. In the normal sense, budget constraint will be a key deciding factor during buying process. That is, consumer wanting to buy any product; will select the product or product type based on the budget and price he/she can afford. However, in sizable number of cases, the emotional part of the brain could take over and minimize the influence of budget and price, and thereby push the consumers to go for the product, irrespective of the price. Also, certain sections of the population are so used to indulging in heightened buying that they would not be able to act or buy within the budget constraints and prices. However, the favourable scenario for the consumer as well as the product provider is, the consumer should buy the products or utilizes the service according to his/her budget constraints. From customer perspective, it is apt because only if they buy product within their budget and price constraints, it would not affect financially in other parts of the lives. From the product seller and manufacturer perspective also, it could be viable because if the consumer excessively buys products, there could be drop in their financial resources, and when mass global and financial event like financial recession strikes, the consumer will hold on to their reduced financial resources, without going for any buying. Thus, this will negatively impact the seller’s inflows and this was clearly visible in the consumer behaviour patterns of the Americans in the pre-recession and the post-recession period. That is, the mentality of many Americans during the pre-recession period is to buy or have more than everyone else, irrespective of their budget constraints and prices. “The country increases demand through innovative, increasingly intense, and overzealous expansion of consumption to feed its production, development and technology advancement” (Li, translated by Lim). Because of this mentality, people indulged in high consumption and low savings, with saving rate witnessing a major decline. “On average, consumers from 1950 to 1985 saved 9% of their disposable income. That saving rate then steadily declined, to around zero earlier this year.” (The Economist). So, in the recession period, there was not much buying and it totally affected many industries in a kind of chain reactions. So, the best consumer behaviour patterns, which can be exhibited by the consumers is to go for products, which can be of apt utility and can emotionally satisfy them, all within the price and budget constraints. According the price factor of the behaviour theory, since consumers have a limited income, they must choose the most satisfying combination of goods based partially on prices. (welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com). However, the bottom line is, the consumer behaviour will be oriented mainly based on emotions and so marketing department should formulate strategies which strike a chord with the emotion or mental state of the consumer. Marketing is an arena where the basic norm is to promote visibility. Visibility, in turn, depends on positioning, which again depends on branding, and the equity commanded by the same. This has promoted organisations the world over to study and implement strategies that will accentuate brand equity as this is the greatest indicator of, and the base for, the calculation of returns on investment. While the consumer’s awareness of a brand, and the reasons for choosing an associated product may depend on various factors beyond the direct control of the brand’s investor, the brand’s marketing mix is definitely within the investor’s control, and something that demands big budget investment. Marketing Implications It is a well known fact that people belonging to all walks of life will tend to act as well as react in various situations mainly based on emotions, and not based on logic. This truth is also applicable to the marketing campaigns. That is, when common people see or hear marketing campaigns, at first their eyes or minds will not mostly focus on the products’ features or services offered, instead they will subconsciously ‘look’ at the emotional message it expresses. When an emotion filled message reaches and entices the intended consumer’s mind, then only they will look at the products’ features and benefits, making the eventual purchase. So, here the factual details about the product or the logic behind the marketing campaign will be pushed behind emotional aspect. “Appealing to a novice consumer’s emotional responses may be highly desirable in terms of creating a favorable attitude toward a service brand” (Mattila 293) Marketing suggestions to make that emotional connection Incorporation of emotional story Any marketing campaign including print, video, audio and internet advertisements, which just conveys messages or information, without any emotional story connecting them, will not appeal to the intended client base. A good emotional story built in the campaign can act like a ‘bridge’, and help the product to ‘enter’ the consumer’s mind, along with the needed information with it. Importantly, if the advertisements have an emotional tinge in it, it will excite the right areas of the mind and will attach the marketing as well as the product or service to it. Visual Images Marketing campaigns will come out in different forms like visual images or videos or audible messages, to ‘attack’ the eye and ears of the consumer. Among them, Visual imagery has potentially powerful effects on human psychology and physiology, affecting ideas, perceptions, beliefs, feelings, behaviour and health (Branthwaite 164). That is, use of apt colours as part of visual imagery could incorporate the emotional component in an advertisement. “Colors induce moods and emotions, influences consumers’ perceptions and behaviour and help companies position or differentiate from the competition” (Aslam 16). Also, certain colours in certain countries get stereotyped to give certain meanings. In UK, white is perceived as ‘crap’ and below average, while neutral or beige is perceived as ‘boring and dull’ but expensive and ‘for a mature person’, whereas pink, perceived as ‘look young’ and red, perceived as ‘garish and tacky’(Kerfoot, Davies and Ward 146). Certain colours tend to get emotionally ‘attached’ to certain products, due to which if one sees that colour, his/her memory recollects and connects to the associated product. For example, when one sights or recollects the colour red in advertising context, they will maximally recall it has Coke, on the same lines in case of blue, Pepsi will be easily recognised. So, the colours can excite the emotional aspects of the mind and ‘hooks’ it to the product. Spoken or written Words As part marketing campaigns, spoken as well as written words will be used as part of visual images or separately in audio related and print related campaigns. Spoken as well as written words, particularly in the respective languages can entice consumer’s mind in a more effective way. That is, there will be marketing campaigns in which only the visual images will not be able to ‘wake up’ the consumers to the message or the product. In those cases loud, bold, emotion filled spoken and written words could do the trick and can effectively reach the consumer. There are two types of spoken and written words which can bring about different responses from the consumers. They are Causal indicatives and contrary indicatives. Causal indicatives are words or short phrases, which can work as a trigger element to bring out the emotional response from the consumer. On the other hand, contrary indicatives constitute words, which could create an uncomfortable ‘relationship’ between the consumer and the product, thereby making an impact on their minds. Heller and Areni’s (235) examples for perfect casual indicatives is when one talk about cars, with the spoken or written words in an marketing campaign can be arranged like this, “it has great acceleration because it contains the most powerful engine in its class”. “Here the proposition that the automobile contains the most powerful engine in its class, if accepted, provides a basis for believing that it also has great acceleration”. (Heller and Areni, 237). On the other hand, in the case of contrary indicatives, the words can be arranged in an odd, different but enticing manner, “low in fat, yet made with real butter”. “In this case, the proposition that the spread is made with real butter makes it harder to believe that the product is also low in fat and the indicative ‘yet’ signals this relationship”. (Heller and Areni, 237). So, spoken and written words can make and effective emotion connection Casting and performance of actor or model Although, a marketing campaigns will market and promote ‘non-living’ products or services; during sizable occasions, it will need ‘living’ actor or actors to establish an emotional association with the ‘living’ consumer. Products are normally manufactured and marketed to reach certain consumers and convey certain messages. This purpose can be optimally fulfilled if the person who conveys that message through a marketing campaign is a well known celebrity or a star, related to a particular field. For example, Adidas ads featuring football star David Beckham with the full Adidas sport wear & gear and playing football sends an emotional message to all the football fans that Adidas is a ideal choice for sports wear and gear. Conclusion The product can reach the mind of the consumer through their eyes and ear. If the eyes and ears of the consumer are enticed, the mind of the consumer will get tuned towards the product or service and will push them to buy or use the product and service. So, the role of marketing department or marketing manager is to formulate and implement strategies and thereby make an ‘all round attack’ on the eyes and ears of the consumer. So, the organizations’ strategies particularly marketing strategies can easily tune the consumer’s behaviour and buying habits and thus make its product or service an enticing one as well as an high selling and importantly an successful one. Consumers’ behaviour and motivation during their buying or consumption process is influenced by various factors. That is, a consumer will make a buying decision mainly based on necessity or comfort or as part of living, etc. While making that decision, certain thoughts about the products or services mainly bordering on emotions will get ‘seeded’ into their mind, and will push them to make that buying decision. This ‘seeding’ of thoughts is the motivation behind consumer behaviours and this can be utilized to come up with enticing marketing strategies. The logical and factual aspects about the product or service cannot make the first as well as the fullest impression on the intended consumer, with the emotional aspects doing that job. The emotional connections can be made if the above discussed suggestions or cues are incorporated into the marketing. These cues will fill the campaign with emotions and will form an emotional and favourable attitude in the consumer’s mind towards the product and the organization. References Aslam, Mubeen M. “Are You Selling the Right Colour? A Cross-cultural Review of Colour as a Marketing Cue.” Journal of Marketing Communications. 12. 1 (2006):15–30. Branthwaite, Alan. “Market Research.” Qualitative Market Research. 5.3 (2002):164- 171. Heller, Erik and Charles S. Areni. “The effects of conditional indicative language on the comprehension and acceptance of advertising claims” Journal of Marketing Communications, 10 (2004): 229–240. Kerfoot, Shona, Barry Davies and Philippa Ward. “Visual merchandising and the creation of discernible retail brands.” International Journal of Distribution and Retail Management, 31.3 (2003):143–152. Li, Xie. “American Consumption Reflects U.S. Government Spending.” Translated by Mona Lim. Watching America, 10 Dec 2008. Web. 22 Nov 2010. http://watchingamerica.com/News/14741/un-sustainability-of-american- consumption-behavior/ Mattila, Anna S. “Do emotional appeals work for services?” International Journal of Service Industry Management. 10. 3 (1999): 292-307. Piron, Francis. “Consumers’ Perceptions Of The Country Of Origin Effect On Purchasing Intentions Of (In)Conspicuous Products.” Journal of Consumer Marketing. 17. 4 (2000): 309. The Economist. “Spending and the economy: The End of the Affair.” The Economist. 20 Nov 2008. 22 Nov 2010. http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12637090 welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com. “Theory of Consumer Behavior.” n. p, n. d. Web. 22 Nov 2010. http://welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com/page/Theory+of+Consumer+Behavior Read More