Decisions and Perception of the Organizations Products - Case Study Example

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AFFILIATION: Marketing Communications can be used to change s’ attitudes and influence Customers’ behaviour Introduction Marketing Communications are defined as a means for communicating the organisation marketing message with the consumers present in the market. Marketing communications can be categorized as promoting the products and services for the organisation. The marketing communications modes used by marketing managers are advertising and branding practices, sales promotion aspects, online marketing activities, being involved in public relation so on and so forth. Marketing communication tools can strongly be used to change the attitudes of the customers and influence their decisions and perception about the organisation’s products and services. The different models and the ways are discussed below that may change the attitudes and perceptions of the consumers. The marketing models discussed below for the marketing communications allows the marketing managers to know about the attitudes of the customer and then influence different strategies to influence their buying behavior. Attractive marketing campaigns and promotions need to be done so that a huge level of customer base can be attracted towards the organisation. AILA Model The AILA model consists of A= Attention, I=Interpretation, L=Learning, and A=Attitudes. This model allows us to focus on the attitude level of the consumer and how they interpret and learn about the new information that is being communicated to them through the advertising messages and other marketing mediums. It is important to influence the strength and usability of a product or service to the consumers in the marketing messages so that they can show their interest towards the product or service (Fitzgerald and Arnott 2000). McGuires information processing model The McGuire’s information processing model basically focuses on five elements. They are as follows: Exposure, attention level from the customers, Comprehension, Acceptance level ability of the consumers, and the Retention level rate of the consumers (Dahlen et al 2009). The information processing model developed by McGuire allows the researcher to learn about the attitudes and changes in behavior of the consumers for the communication aspects that take place while communicating the marketing information to the consumers about any product or service. According McGuire, the changes in behavior will occur if the communication takes place in a persuasive manner. The communication can be delivered in a persuasive manner by following the steps that follows ahead (Fill 2008). Firstly, the message that is to be communicated to the consumers must be presented in a clear and unambiguous manner. Then, the message must be clearly attended by the one who has delivered it. All queries regarding the message must be addressed in appositive manner with the consumers. The message details must be accepted and retained well. Finally, the message should be strong enough to lead to the behavioral changed by the consumer. Attitudes The consumers may always response in a positive perspective, once the marketing message is having the instinctive of attracting the customers towards the message. The attitudes of the consumers usually consist of their beliefs about the product or services, their feelings are involved in their attitudes, and also their behavioral intentions are affected towards way the products are advertised in the consumer market. All these elements are depending upon each other and affect the way the consumer reacts to the various types of products and services that are being advertised in the market. Attitude of the consumer also depends upon the knowledge that they are delivered about the product or service of the organisation (Clow & Baack 2007). Changing attitudes The way the information is processed towards the consumer makes a consumer decide whether they should make the decision for buying the product or service. To change the attitudes of the customer towards any product or service, the marketing manager needs to communicate the marketing message in such a way that it adds on a new salient belief about the goodness of a product or service through the marketing message, the negative or low salient beliefs need to be changed and transformed into a new and positive salient belief. If this is done, then definitely the attitudes of the customers can be changed into a favorable one (Kouzes & Posner 2007). Cognitive dissonance reduction The marketing message should be communicated in such a way that it reduces the cognitive dissonance that pertains with customers. Cognitive dissonance is a feeling of uncomfortability that may be in the minds of the consumers due to unclear and ambiguous messages that are depicted in the advertisements. They may not be clear about the advantages and benefits that they may gain and therefore may not be willing to try out the product (Lee & Schwartz 2010). With the help of marketing communications and the different marketing tools, the marketing managers need to develop the message that reduces such types of cognitive dissonance from the minds of the consumers. The task is challenging but once successful a large base of loyal customers can be built for the firm. Customer’s attitudes towards the different products and services need to be analysed by the organisation so that accordingly they can work upon creating a need in the market for the products and services (Mullins 2010). AIDA model The AIDA model is used for studying the consumer behavior in businesses. In this model the steps for studying the personal selling business are focused upon so that customers can be attracted towards the product and service of the organisation. There are usually four cognitive situations that buyers go through while they are making a decision to buy any certain product or service. A= Attention In this phase, the marketing managers are focusing towards gaining the attention of their customers. This is a very crucial stage as all products need to be advertised in such a way so that it gains the attention of the consumers. The strategies need to be developed that may catch the attention of the consumer for the product. I=Interest The product or service being advertised needs to be raising the interest of the customer to a high extent by depicting the advantages and benefits that will be gained as a result of using the product and service. The interest of the customer needs to be developed by the design of the product, by its usage, by its price and other such elements. D=Desire The advertising message must be adamant in forcing the customers to think that the specific product or service is for them and they should use. Their needs will be satisfied if they use the specific product or service. The uses of the product should be explicitly demonstrated in the advertising messages for the purpose of attracting customers (Fitzgerald and Arnott 2000). A=Action The action phase will allow the customers to buy the product after showing interest and attraction towards the marketing message delivered by the marketing managers. The steps of AIDA tend to gradually focus on how to change the perceptions of the consumers and attract them towards the product. A systematic approach such as this allows the marketing manages to target the consumers effectively and achieve the desired level of results for the organisation. Examples of products that influence customers Lipton Green Tea has created a need in the market that consumers must have green tea to have good health living and lifestyle. Johnsons & Johnsons communicate their marketing messages by focusing on the importance of their products for babies as well as for the mothers in their slogan “Best for baby; Best for you”. Energy drinks communicate their message by portraying the level of energy one gains through the energy drinks. Nescafe portrays the importance and necessity of coffee in one’s life. The lively feeling that one can have after having coffee is usually demonstrated in the advertisements. The Colgate Precision toothbrush highlights its importance of using fine bristle brushes that cleans the teeth from every angle. So on and so forth; we have a number of examples that influence the behavior and attitudes of customers through the marketing message that is being depicted in the advertising messages of products and services. The marketing managers implement all the possible marketing, advertising and promotional tools to influence the decisions of buyer behavior in their favor and successful use of marketing communications give the desired level of result. Conclusion Customer attitudes and buying behavior have the tendency to change at an un-predictable rate. Customers can easily switch to other products and services that influence and attract them. The marketing managers of the organisation need to use a proper mix of marketing communications and then attract the customers towards the products and services of the organisation. Marketing communication models and tools focus on monitoring and evaluating the attitudes and preferences of the customers and further work upon the marketing activities according to the level of interest of customers that can be captured by the marketing managers. The different model such as AILA, AIDA and McGuire’s information processing model has been discussed so that proper suggestions and steps are available of attracting the target market towards the organisation. Different tools can be used to influence the attitudes and preferences of customers towards the product and service of the organisation. References Clow, Kenneth E. & Baack, Donald (2007). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications 3rd edition. Pearson Education. Dahlén, Micael, Lange, Fredrik Smith, Terry (2009). Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach. John Wiley and Sons. Fill, Chris (2008). Marketing Communications: Engagement, Strategies and Practice. 4th edition. London: Prentice Hall. Fitzgerald, Maureen and Arnott, David (2000). Marketing communications classics: an international collection of classic and contemporary papers. Cengage Learning EMEA. Kouzes & Posner, (2007). The Leadership Change. 4th edition. London: Jossy Bass. Lee, S.W.S., & Schwartz, N. (2010). Washing away post decisional dissonance. Science, 328(5979), 709. Mullins, Laurie J. (2010). Management and Organisational Behaviour. Ninth edition. London: FT Prentice Hall. Read More