Marketing & Me

While I move through my marketing and advertising degrees, I will use this blog to share my new found skills and knowledge. I will showcase developing skills, interesting topics, and occasionally analyse and review marketing materials. 

[marketingandme]

Consumer Decision-Making Process

The consumer decision-making process (CDMP) is an important one for us marketers. Particularly for non-habitual, non-impulsive purchases, understanding where a consumer needs what information or influence can help refine our understanding of consumer behaviour.

There are three major phases to the consumer decision-making process, which are then broken down further into 5 steps. Let's go through each one.

Pre-Consumption

This stage involves the first three of five steps, need recognition, information search and involvement, and evaluation of alternatives.

Need Recognition

This is known as a state of felt deprivation, the difference between our actual state and desired state. As marketers', we need to ask the question, what triggers consumers to recognise they have an unfulfilled need? And what can we do to stimulate or uncover that need?

Information Search and Involvement

Information search refers to consumers searching for ways in which to fill their needs. This could be either internally or externally. Some contextual factors to keep in mind include task complexity, organising information, and time constraints. Involvement refers to a person's perceived relevance of the object based on their inherent needs, values, and interests.

Evaluation of Alternatives

During this step, consumers review their options and all the alternatives available to them. For us, the important thing in this stage is to understand what criteria the consumer is looking to fill.

Consumption

This is the stage at which the purchase is made. Questions to ask as a marketer include how customers make the transaction and what influences them at the point of sale. Contextual factors affecting the retail environment include things like music, lighting, temperature, and mood.

Post-Consumption

This stage mainly consists of consumer's evaluating their experience with the transaction and the product itself. It's the customer essentially comparing their previous expectations of the product and whether the product exceeds expectations, matches expectations, or performs below expectations.

Understanding the consumer decision-making process is an integral part of marketing. It allows us to understand what is going on with the consumer and what recommendations to make. Marketing strategies that are more informed are usually more impactful, leading to higher chances of realising corporate objectives.

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Black Friday?

As an Australian, I always wondered what Black Friday was in the American context. I don't remember it when I was younger, but it's certainly grown into a widely known sales event that (in Australia alone) brings in billions of dollars. But where did Black Friday come from? What are the origins for this huge sales event?

Where did it come from?

Black Friday, in America, is the day after Thanksgiving. It was named as such because of the intense traffic that would ensue as a result of the large sales events. The phrase was coined by the Philadelphia police department in the 1960s as a way of describing the absolute mayhem which would result in major traffic accidents and even violence amongst people.

To Americans, Black Friday signified the beginning of the Christmas period. Meaning it was time for them to get their Christmas shopping done. Retailers eventually realised that it was one of, if not the biggest day of the year sales-wise.

How about now?

Of course, Black Friday was only contained in the USA for a long time. Then, along came the internet. Online retailers also started participating in the sales and mayhem of Black Friday to capitalise on the American sales event. Eventually, even brick-and-mortar retailers began introducing Black Friday sales all across the world. Over 100 countries worldwide now participate in this crazy sales event.

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Does This Work?

Recently, walking around my local shopping centre, I took notice of the signage outside each store. I took a photo of one and would like to talk about it here. Just explaining some things about it.

This is a large cardboard sign from the entrance of the Superdry store. It was most likely intended to appeal to customers walking through the centre, they see the sign, the deal, and then they become intrigued. The text for "20% off Full Price" is large, eye-catching, and the centre-piece of this sign. It's really the first thing you notice. And who doesn't love a deal?

But the phrase I wanted to mention, the phrase at the top, "Limited Time Only". This phrase is often used as a way to create urgency in customers which can provide an incentive to buy now. A hard sell. Because of this phrase, consumers will know that they could miss out on this promotion, miss the opportunity to save money.

Yeah, But Does It Work?

Yeah. It does. There's a lot of psychology and tactics that go into designing adverts and in the end, they usually work. Next time you go shopping, take note of all the signage around you. What attracts you to it? What is it about the language that entices you to consider this product or company?

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Marketing for Change

An interesting concept, that I only learned about last semester, is the concept of Social Marketing.

I'm talking about those commercials on TV or at a bus stop that aim to encourage (or discourage) a certain behaviour within society. They're trying to promote real change in individuals rather than promoting for the benefit of a brand. Most of the time, these campaigns are run by charities, not-for-profit organisations, Government organisations, and emergency services.

Now how do you market a certain behaviour to society?

There are a few steps that need to be taken:

1. Identify the barriers to this behaviour. Why aren't people already adopting this behaviour? What is limiting them? And how can this be changed/overcome?

2. Choosing the behaviour. This has to be specific and realistic, it can't just be as simple as "recycle". What do you want recycled?

3. Designing a campaign to overcome the barriers to this behaviour.

4. Implementing the program. What can you do to make the campaign cost-effective?

5. Evaluation of the campaign. Have you achieved your desired outcome? What would you do differently?

Just like any other marketing materials, it is important to define your target market for the campaign. You wouldn't target a "stop smoking" ad towards a teenager who has never once touched a cigarette. Defining the target market can assist in identifying the barriers to this behaviour as you can conduct a situational analysis on your audience.

What's the catch?

Sometimes these campaigns can be run by for-profit brands or companies if the cause is something they are really passionate about. And there is nothing wrong with that. However, using these campaigns to promote their own products or services isn't social marketing. Simply, it is 'green-washing', using the growing demands for environmentally friendly practices to push your product. Be wary of the difference in social marketing and green washing. As the abundance of green-washing actually has the adverse effect to what social marketing is trying to achieve. It makes the customer distrust any green or environemtnally friendly products. They'll never know if a company is truly green, or if they are trying to push a green image to seem "trendy" and more appealing.

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Know Your Audience...

One of the most important parts of being a marketer is understanding your target audience and developing a consumer persona. It seems logical to try and broaden your target audience, right? Marketing to as many people as possible would surely bring in as many sales as possible...right?

Well...maybe?

It can be hard to cater to every individual's needs and desires, which is why clearly defining a target audience can actually increase the effectiveness of your marketing materials. You're able to develop messaging that is specific to your target audience, communicating directly with their particular needs and desires. The problems you address in your messaging can be more distinct to who you want to be addressing. Not only this, but defining your ideal consumer can assist in also defining your company's positioning, where it fits in the market, and who your competition is.

But how do I define my consumer persona?

That's a great question. There are many aspects of a consumer persona that you need to consider which can also help in creating targeted marketing messages. It can easily be broken down into two questions:

Who is this consumer?

- Demographics such as age, location, and gender identity.

- Background information such as employment status, education level, and relationship status.

- Personal habits such as device type, device usage, and media and communication preferences.

What is this customer looking for?

- What are their personal and/or professional goals?

- What are their frustrations with products and companies already on the market?

- What challenges do they face?

- What opportunities may arise?

What now?

Now that you have the most basic questions you should be asking yourself about your consumer, it is time for research. A lot of it. Making a consumer persona should never be based on assumptions, because then your marketing materials will also just be based on these empty assumptions. There's no real data and evidence to support that this persona is indeed like your customers. This is why you should be going out, collecting data, and reviewing your best customers.

There are a few ways you can go about this, ask your salespeople, interview customers, or do surveys. However, stepping into a more modern and technological era, you could use an analytics tool such as Google Analytics. By simply adding a block of JavaScript code to your website, you can instantly start collecting highly detailed information about your audience. This primary research can then assist you in confirming your initial assumptions and perhaps detailing even more important information about your consumer persona.

While defining your ideal consumer persona can, at times, seem trivial, it is the foundation of marketing. The beginning of the road in the marketing process for any new company or product. All the time and money that you will, most likely, end up spending on advertisements will be using your ideal consumer persona as a basis for development. While you may never be able to please everyone with your product, nestling yourself into a nice little niche corner ensures that at least some people will be satisfied.

- Sheniah

[marketingandme]

Taking the First Step...

Hello there,

This is my first post on my new Marketing and Advertising blog. It has been a long time since I've used Tumblr. I'm probably a little different than 14-year-old Sheniah, signing up purely for the 5 Seconds of Summer content.

A Little Background About Me

- I previously studied Accounting. I did two years of a Bachelors degree before deciding that Accounting just wasn't the right fit for me. I then took a whole year off before deciding to then transfer into Marketing and Advertising.

- I currently work in retail. While studying, I simply must have a job. Otherwise, I'll find no purpose in my day-to-day life. Retail certainly keeps me busy.

- I enjoy the psychology behind consumer behaviour. This has been my most enjoyable unit to date, I excelled simply because it excited me so much I just had to keep studying.

What To Expect From This Blog

I'm really not sure exactly what will be posted on this blog. My intentions are to share the most interesting parts of my respective degrees, any developing design skills (a design student, she is not), and perhaps analyse the various marketing materials of companies.

In conclusion,

I hope you enjoy this blog. I hope that I will also enjoy writing on this blog.