The Engel Kollat Blackwell (EKB) Model of Consumer Behavior

The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior  was created to describe the increasing, fast-growing body of knowledge concerning consumer behavior. This model, like in other models, has gone through many revisions to improve its descriptive ability of the basic relationships between components and sub-components. The Engel Kollat Blackwell model describes consumer behavior as a 4-step decision-making process involving problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, and purchase decision. The model also considers how external factors like culture, social class, and reference groups as well as internal factors like motivation, personality, and knowledge influence the consumer’s decision journey. A key feature is distinguishing between high and low involvement purchases based on perceived risk. The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior or  consists of four distinct stages; Information Input Stage:  At this stage the consumer gets information from marketing and non-marketing sources, which also influence the problem recognition stage of the Continue reading

The Importance of Brand Equity

“If the businesses were split up, I would take the brands, trademarks and goodwill, and you could have all the bricks and mortar – and I would fare better than you.” The optimism for the concept can be stated on the fact that when one would say as a predictor of future financial performance, brand equity, if reported, would be valuable for capital marketers and shareholders. Brand equity has the potential to become the set of measures of business performance that matter most. For example, Starbucks can sell its coffee at a higher price than solid market competitors because consumers associate the brand with quality and value. This is why brand equity is oftentimes directly correlated with a brand’s profitability. The motivation for brand equity comes from the observation that many marketing efforts “realize” benefits; such as sales or profit and these are accounted for in the firm’s profit and Continue reading

Definitions of Key Terms in Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated means that combine or coordinate separate elements so as to provide a harmonious, interrelated whole. In other word, when all marketing communication tool work together, it will be more effective than work as a single component. It will create more competitive advantages, boost sales and profit, while saving cost, time and stress if this concept is incorporated in marketing strategy. So, if the marketing communication tools are combined as a group it will produce more powerful outcome in the process of delivering customer superior value. Marketing The root word for marketing is market. Market is defined as a place for consumer and sellers to carry out transaction that required cash as an exchange medium for obtaining a product or service. Marketing can be defined in two perspectives which include old view or new view of marketing. From the new view of marketing, it is all about the creation of Continue reading

Managing the Sales Force Effectively

The face of any organization is the sales force. Companies spend a considerable amount of time and money on managing the sales force rather than on any other promotional activity. However, sales force is expensive and companies are looking forward to managing them in an efficient and effective manner.  The  management of sales force consists of following: Compensating the Sales Force A compensation plan should constantly stimulate the salesman to put in their best efforts, quantitatively and qualitatively, to achieve the desired and planned levels of sales. Compensation must be fair to the management and the salesmen. It should enthuse efficient salesmen and help remove inefficient ones. It should be simple, flexible, easy to administrate, economic and capable of achieving the personal selling objectives of the firm. Periodic review and vision of the compensation plan is essential. Motivating the Sales Force It is the crunch of sales force management. The Continue reading

Pricing Objectives and Strategies

Price may be defined as the value of product attributes expressed in monetary terms which a consumer pays or is expected to pay in exchange and anticipated of the expected or offered utility. It helps to establish mutually advantageous economic relationship and facilitates the transfer of ownership of goods and services from the company to buyers.   The managerial tasks involved in product pricing include establishing the pricing objectives, identifying the price governing factors, ascertaining their relevance and relative importance, determining product value in monetary terms and formulation of price policies and strategies. Thus, pricing plays a far greater role in the marketing-mix of a company and significantly contributes to the effectiveness and success of the marketing strategy and success of the firm. Pricing Objectives A business firm will have a number of pricing objectives. Some of the them are primary, some of them are secondary, some of them are Continue reading

Advertising – Definition, Features, Objectives and Functions

Advertising is an important tool of promotion. Advertisement is a non-personal presentation of an idea or a product (where as personal selling or salesmanship help in personal promotional.) Advertisement supplements personal selling to a great extent. Advertising has, acquired great importance in the modern era characterized by tough competition in the market and fast changes in technology, and fashion and taste customers. Advertising is used for communicating business information to the present and prospective customers, often utilizing various mediums such as print, digital platforms, and advertising display screens. It usually provides information about the advertising firm, its product qualities, place of availability of its products, etc. Advertisement is indispensable for both the sellers and the buyers. However, it is more important for the sellers. In the modern age of large scale production, producers cannot think of pushing sale of their products without advertising them. What is Advertising? Advertising is the dissemination Continue reading