Beyond the Purchase: Inside the Mind of the Consumer

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Situational Influence: Advantageous if Perfected

This week in Consumer Behavior we covered the topics of situational influence and problem recognition, which covers situations of purchase, and the first step in the decision making process. More specifically, I took a liking to the topic of situational influence, and how purchase situation, which has nothing to do with the consumer themselves, can have such a big impact a consumers ultimate decision to buy. The situation a consumer finds themselves in even before they walk into a physical retail store can have an impact on their purchase decisions. Situational influence is defined as the factors particular to a time and place that have an effect on current behavior, yet do not follow from the knowledge of the stable attributes of the consumer. Breaking this down into layman’s terms, situational influence is all the components of a situation that will impact a consumers perceptions of products, attitudes, behavior, and purchase intentions. Situational factors can include many aspe...

Self-Concept: Capitalizing on Brand Identity

This week in consumer behavior we covered the topics of self-concept and lifestyle. What I took a liking to was the concept of how self-concept combines with a certain product’s brand image, to create a relationship between the two, and ultimately influence consumer purchasing habits. How Self-Concept Works Self-concept, the totality of one’s thoughts, feelings, and perceptions towards their own self can be a useful tool for marketers, if acted on appropriately. The attitudes towards yourself make up how you truly think of your identity, and how you wish to be perceived by others. Since there are four basic parts that make up the self-concept, your actual self, ideal self, private self, and social self, it is important to know the relationships between each sub-section. The actual-ideal separation refers to the individuals perception of who I am now, vs who I would like to be perceived as. Lastly, the private-social separation refers to the individuals perception of how I am ...

Attitudes: The ELM Model of Persuasion

This week in Consumer Behavior we covered the topic of attitudes, how attitudes are formed, the three components of an attitude, cognitive, affective, and behavioral, and lastly, how to influence attitudes using persuasion approaches. The topic that I most drew a liking to was how the use of the Elaboration Likelihood model can be used to persuade a consumer to ultimately create a favorable attitude towards a brand, and purchase their product. Marketers can use emotional marketing strategies in their promotions to to gain sales and foster a favorable brand image towards consumers. Successful advertisers can use peripheral cues when conducting these campaigns to persuade consumers to change their attitudes about a brand and ultimately buy their product. ELM: An Example Dawn, the dish detergent company is a great example of using emotional marketing in combination with both routes of processing persuasive messages in the ELM model, the central route, and the periphe...

Motivation: Sex Sells in Advertising

This week in Consumer Behavior we covered motivation, personality, and emotions as they pertain to consumer decision making. More specifically, I was most interested in how motivation plays a role in consumer behavior and marketing strategy in the advertising industry. Sex sells This is a classic motto for advertising agencies, and why sexuality is used so often in product advertising, especially on television, and in magazines. Sexuality in advertising is the use of provocative images, phrases, sounds, or messages used to arouse interest in a particular subject. Society purchases products because they have sexually stimulating imagery, or the advertisement triggers attraction to the product or service. This could be a beautiful women or handsome man to attract the attention of the audience, even though it may have nothing to do with the product or service being advertised. But why is sexuality used so often in advertising? Because it is proven to sell. Human’s are cognitively wir...

Schemas: Consumer Perceptions of a Brand

This week in Consumer Behavior we covered the topic of learning and memory. Diving deeper into this topic we explored our memory’s role in learning, including short-term and long-term memory, as well as the two paths to learning, conditioning or cognitive processing. The largest take away from our lectures that I grasped and took a liking to was human memory, and how brands can use schematic memory to influence consumers behaviors and perceptions around a brand. Why are Schemas Important? Schemas or schematic memory, sometimes called knowledge structures, are a pattern of associations around a particular concept. These associations are formed from within the long-term memory of a person. Marketers are specifically interested in semantic memory, and episodic memory, which make up LTM. Semantic memory is the basic knowledge and feelings an individual has about a concept, at a simple level, such as BMW being a “luxury car.” On the other hand, episodic memory is memory of a sequence o...

Customer Perceptions: How to Differentiate Yourself

This week in Consumer Behavior class we covered the topic of perception and how as humans, we react to exposure, attention, and interpretation of marketing messages. Exposure occurs when a stimulus such as light, color, or an ad comes in contact with our senses. Attention occurs when the stimulus is passed on to our brain through our senses. Lastly, interpretation is assigned meaning of the experienced sensations. These three stages represent the process of perception for humans. Why Does Perception Matter In Marketing? Perception in the mind of the consumer influences customer awareness about a product or service, or an organization or brand. This perceived awareness comes from our memory, and thoughts and emotions evoked when we see, hear, touch, smell, or taste a product or marketing message from a company. Since customer perceptions are intangible, meaning they are a figment of abstract concepts, they may be very hard to understand a grasp from a companies point of view. P...