The changes that have taken place in advertising over recent years has been amazing. Television, radio, the Internet and other new media have added so many different dimensions to advertising that it bears little resemblance to the paper notices and lineage of the past. That is not to say that the adverts and advertisers of earlier days were not good. They still inspire marketers today but the new techniques and media have added so much and so many different kinds to the panoply of practitioners in a short space of time that it could be described as kind of revolution.
The media have increased but that is no guarantee that the offering will be successful and bring in lots of new customers. The message has to be right. You have to be satisfied that the message you put out is the one you want the consumer to get. The response to the right message will tell you if the market is there for your product. Consumers are only human and if the marketing mix isn't quite right it will be reflected in sales. Each element of the marketing, advertising and promotion mixes is crucially important. Consumers respond to stimuli and behave accordingly. The number of things to be borne in mind when designing a campaign is staggering. The marketer has to know the product well enough to be able to sell it and the learning and memory abilities of the public. Consumer motivation will affect buying decisions.
We all have our values, core values taught by socialisation agents and value systems ranking things according to relative importance will ultimately have a lot to do with if we buy or not. Values are also incorporated into the means-end chain model which links product attributes according to increasing levels of abstraction to our terminal values (Solomon, Bamossy and Askegaard, 2002).
On the abstract level, many different product forms compete for our attention in any given category. Consumers must make a choice using their own decision rules. Marketing campaigns that are well integrated can do much to educate the public about your product and the choice they have to make. Consumers also have their own internal information system. Heuristic rules of thumb help a consumer to shorten information processing. Consumers develop assumptions about companies and products. These market beliefs can act as mental shortcuts whether they are accurate or not (Solomon et al., 2002).
Then there's the competition. The marketing concept says that competitive advantage is gained by satisfying target customers' needs better than the competition. First comes analysis then strategy development. Product category must be the first thing to consider. Companies in the same industry compete for customers in the market. Once a company enters a strategic group the members of that group become its main competitors. The more a company knows about its competitors' products, prices, marketing and sales plans, distribution coverage and so on the more competitive it will be (Kotler, 1999). Research and development and finance are other key strategies of which to be aware. Competitors can be of any number of classifications. If a competitor comes up with a more attractive rival product you may lose customers. Market orientation is a method that combines efforts to focus on both consumers and competition. You may want to win the hearts and minds of consumers.
Political consumers can use their buying patterns in ways that reflect their values in the same sort of way green consumers once did (Solomon et al, 2002). They are not the only people to say that businesses have too much political power. Pressures from the political and regulatory environment may also affect consumer decisions. They determine and maintain the framework within which business must be done (Brassington and Pettitt, 2000). Knowledge of local practices may be crucial in achieving sales (Kotler, 1999).
Income, social class and age will be factors that affect purchase decisions. Ability and willingness to buy depends on demand for products. Demand for necessities is stable over time. Many other products are frequently used as status symbols and often reflect the amount of discretionary income and conspicuous consumption or parody display that tries to avoid status (Solomon et al., 2002). Engel's Law suggests that such products may always find a market (Kotler, 1999). Money worries and anxieties about self-image and reference groups will have their effects and marketers should remember that if the price is not right consumers will look for substitutes.
Once gained, as many customers as possible should be retained. Retaining customers is more cost-effective than gaining new ones (Brassington and Pettitt, 2000). Customer retention will depend on how well needs have been satisfied. The focus was once on transactions now customer satisfaction also demands relationship marketing techniques like financial and social benefits and structural ties to turn customers into clients (Kotler, 1999).
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