Consumers are becoming smarter day by day; it is not to fool them with any gimmick. Nowadays, consumer does his/her homework very well before making any purchase in the market. Even before buying a face wash a consumer go through a rigorous process of choosing the best among the many present in the market. Buying a face wash and buying a luxurious car is very different, therefore the perception involved and the information gathered by the consumer in purchasing a car is much more than buying a face wash. Henry Assael distinguished four types of consumer buying behavior based on the degree of buyer involvement and the degree of differences among brands. Routinized Response Behavior (RRB)/ Habitual Buying Behavior: This is the simplest type of consumer behavior. This occurs when the consumer already has some experience of buying and using the product. Usually, this kind of behavior is adopted for Continue reading
Marketing Concepts
Word-Of-Mouth Marketing – Meaning and Importance
In the present age, when skipping of television commercials is merely a matter of pushing a button of television remote and traditional advertisements reach fewer number of people, marketing professionals are increasingly moving away from mass media to word-of-mouth marketing. In addition to the traditional word-of-mouth communications, emerging marketing channels like blogs, buzz, viral and e-mails are gaining popularity as the new electronic word-of-mouth. While a positive word-of-mouth accelerates the acceptance of brands in new markets and reduces brand promotional expenses in existing markets, a negative word-of-mouth may hamper a brand’s acceptance and tarnish its reputation. Since word-of-mouth marketing has been playing a major role in marketing of organizations and some of its aspects are still evolving and have strong potential in future marketing campaigns of organizations, the focus of this article would be to explore issues related to word-of-mouth marketing in developing a strategic marketing plan for an organization. Continue reading
Different Tools of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communication is defined as the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tool, avenues and sources within a company into seamless program that maximize the impact on customer and other end users at a minimal cost. This integration affects all firm business-to-business, marketing channel, customer-focused, and internally directed communications. Integrated Marketing Communications is a management concept that is designed to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation. Besides, it acts as an aggressive marketing plan because it sets and tracks marketing strategy that captures and uses extensive amount of customer information. It also ensures that all forms of communications and messages are carefully linked together to achieve specific objective. The important tools of Integrated Marketing Communications are: 1. Advertising Advertising has four characteristics: Continue reading
Customer Based Brand Equity – Sources, Benefits and Measurement
Brand equity is defined and a comprehensive framework is described that incorporates recent theoretical advances and managerial practices in understanding and influencing consumer behavior. This framework identifies sources and outcomes of brand equity and permits tactical guidelines as to how to build, measure, and manage brand equity, as will be developed further in other sections of the article. Customer-Based Brand Equity Understanding the needs and wants of consumers and customers is at the heart of marketing. A brand equity framework should therefore recognize the importance of the customer in the creation and management of brand equity. Accordingly, customer-based brand equity is defined as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. A brand is said to have positive customer-based brand equity when customers react more favorably to a product and the way it is marketed when the brand is identified as compared Continue reading
Diffusion of Innovation Theory
Diffusion of innovation theory was developed in the early 1950s by Everett Rogers. It seeks to explain the spread of new ideas through individuals and members of a social system. This theory is still widely used now to spread innovations and ideas from the scientific world to the political sphere. According to Rogers, the diffusion of innovation is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. To understand that definition you must first understand some key terms. Innovation is used more generally here to mean an item, thought, or process that is new. Good examples of innovation would be automobiles, brain surgery, and a new kind of running shoe. It is important to realize that something can be an innovation in one place and have already been accepted in another. The other key term in the definition is Continue reading
Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
Sigmund Freud is considered by many to be the greatest psychologist in history. Opinions vary greatly on the validity of this, though all must agree that he is one of the most well known psychologists in history. He was well know for his research into the science of the mind, and is famous for his theories about the functions of the mind and the human psyche. One of Freud’s most famous theories is that of his views on the human personality, and the various psychological elements that play into it. An iceberg model is often used to describe Freud’s understanding of the mind. The conscious is the tip of the iceberg, barely above water. It is composed of our thoughts and perceptions. It is everything of which we are aware. The preconscious is just under the water. It is composed of our memories, stored knowledge, fears, and doubts. We are Continue reading