International Competition Consumer Behaviour Consumers have so many choices to make compared to ten or even twenty years ago. Today as always, business growth depends heavily on loyal customers who return because they are satisfied with the product and/or service they have received.
But first companies have to bring consumers into the stores. The companies bring consumers into the store by marketing their product. The average consumer would probably define marketing as a combination of advertising and selling.It actually includes a good deal more. Modern marketing is most simply defined as directing the flow of goods from producers to customers. In order to answer this question fully we must define consumer goods which means goods that are used or bought for use primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.
The paper outlines the contributions of marketing through fast moving consumer goods. Promotion, which works hand in hand with marketing a product, allows the product to be relayed to the right consumer through campaigns.A Market research must be completed to find a target audience which is used for promotional and advertising reasons. The last part of the scheme is the actual advertising of the good which pulls the consumer into the store.
Marketing has had an influential impact on fast moving consumer goods through abroad range of activities including, promotion, market research, and advertising. Promotion is used to communicate information about goods and services to target market audiences thereby facilitating the exchange process. Promotion plays an important role in informing, educating, persuading and reminding customers. The promotional mix is adjusted according to the organizations promotional objectives and its marketing situation.
Generally, in consumers services, marketing and advertising will be by far the main component and the most expensive. Promotion is essentially about communication. Target audiences need to receive information about goods and services before they can begin to consider making a purchase. The promotional objectives will influence the nature of the promotional message and the type of appeal used to get the message across.
One of the key tasks in designing and executing promotional programmes is the selection of appropriate media for advertising and other forms of communication. The range of possible media choice is extensive but will ultimately be governed by factors such as the budget available and the target audience profile.The development of an effective promotional campaign involves combining the promotional mix elements in the most appropriate way to meet the organizations communications objectives. Evaluation and monitoring is important and one method of evaluation is by completing marketing research. (Woodruffe 1995149,163-4) An advertisement, or a campaign of advertisements, is planned in much the same way a successful salesperson plans the approach to be used on a personal call. The first stage is working out the strategy.
This requires a thorough analysis of all available market research, personal discussions--or focus groups--with typical prospective buyers of the product, and knowledge of all competitive products and their advertising. Based on the understanding and insights derived from this information, advertising professionals write a strategy that defines the prospects that constitute the target market to which they must direct the message and what must be communicated in order to persuade the prospects to take the action that is desired.With this strategy as a guide, copywriters and art directors begin to create the advertisements. At this second stage they try to come up with an idea that involves the prospect, pertains to his life or problems, and is memorable. The idea can take the form of an unexpected set of words or a graphic symbol.
It also can be a combination of words and graphics, and even music. An advertising idea works best when it is a totally unexpected yet thoroughly relevant fulfillment of the strategy.The third stage is the execution of the idea. This means turning the idea into some form of communication that a prospect can see or hear. For print advertising, execution involves writing text, taking photographs or commissioning drawings, arranging elements on the page (layout), setting type, making photo engravings, and so on.
For broadcast advertising, it may mean writing dialogue and composing music, hiring actors and recording voices, filming in a studio or on location. Throughout all three of these stages, research plays an active role.Market research provides the information on which the strategy is based. Copy research may test the relative strength of several ideas on small groups of consumers or larger national samples. Focus groups may uncover communications problems in various headlines, photographs, actors, or musical compositions along the way.
Research remains active after the advertisement has been executed. Often a finished print ad or broadcast commercial is tested before it appears in print or on the air, and it is not unusual to track the effect of advertising in the marketplace during the course of a campaign. The objective of any advertisement is to convince people that it is in their best interests to take an action the advertiser is recommending.The action may be to purchase a product, go to a showroom to try the product, use a service, vote for a political candidate, make a contribution, or even to join the Army.
Like any personal salesperson, the advertisement tries to persuade. Advertising companies are keeping the pulse on contemporary culture, surging with new innovative marketing techniques that are imputed through promotion. Currently, consumers expectations need to be exceeded for commercial success so that customers are delighted with the outcome. (Jobber 1998: 13) Companies take pride in developing advertising that breaks through the media clutter and creates lasting impressions on potential buyers minds.
It is essential to be seen on TV, magazines, and other media in order to show potential buyers that your product is worth investing in. Today, media is so integrated into the society that it dominates the culture. Therefore, media presence is crucial in influencing consumers. The worlds cultures are growing increasingly visual. People spend less time reading and more time watching. Advertisers want to engage the viewer using highly simplified concepts that are a fusion of visuals and words.
They want their ideas to communicate linguistically in seconds, yet stay imprinted on the mind of the buyer.Companies need to avoid the mistake of setting customer expectations too high through exaggerated promotional claim since this can lead to dissatisfaction if performance falls short of expectations. (Jobber 1998: 12) Fi ...
