Research and Evaluation in Advertising: Blog #4

Research Types

When it comes to advertising I think that there are two main types of research that are very important. The first of these would be advertising research. Advertising research is a specialized form of research that is conducted to improve the efficiency of advertising.

Marketing research, I believe, is also a very important type of research when it comes to advertising. Marketing research focuses on consumer and marketer relationships. This could be things like brand loyalty, consumers thoughts and ideas on certain products, and ad effectiveness. This all is very important information for companies to recognize about their products and their target audience. The goal of marketing research is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts consumer behavior (Boon and Kurtz). To be effective in their advertising, a company needs to stay up to date on information about their consumers as well as their consumer’s thoughts about specific problems.

What does Advertising/Marketing Research Do?

Researching consumer’s attitudes towards products, wants and needs, and your target audience’s overall personalities can help you to better market your product and come up with more unique and effective advertising strategies (Brauner). This is not the only thing that researching can do for a company, though. Below is a list of things that can follow good researching efforts (Boon and Kurtz; PowerPoint):

·         Help define your target audience and discover the vocabulary they use when talking about a company’s product. This can lead to a more trendy type of advertising that will reach that target audience more effectively.

·         Identify consumer wants and needs.

·         Measure the reputation of a company.

·         Be informed on consumer’s reactions to new product ideas a company may have. Consumers will be able to give their opinion on similar products and how yours will compare.

·         What types of product features appeal to your consumers the most. This would be things like size, color, flavor, etc.

·         Predict the sales of new products.

·         Assess marketing strategies and promotional activities.

·         Define your optimal selling propositions and advertising locations

·         Gain competitive intelligence. Gain a better understanding of other firm’s products and how to innovate to make them better.

·         How many people are exposed to your advertising and how many remember it.

·         Whether or not your intended message is the same message your audience is receiving.

As you can clearly see, there are so many benefits to taking the time to conduct research, not only for the company itself, but for the best interest of their consumers and the products they produce.

Research Components

3R’s of Marketing

The 3 R’s of marketing include recruiting, retaining, and regaining; all of which are extremely important. Recruiting is made in reference to new customers. Companies constantly want to be expanding their customer base while retaining their current customers. The other important aspect is regaining lost customers. Companies usually do this by having promotions to get the consumers to come back.

Levels of Relationship Marketing

There are three levels to consider when looking at a company’s client relationships. These levels include:

1.       First level: Focus on Price

a.       This is the most superficial level and is least likely to lead to long-term relationships.

b.      Marketers need to rely on pricing to motivate their consumers

c.       Competitors can easily duplicate pricing benefits

*On this level Marketers would need to recognize the importance of their prices to further capture their consumers.

2.       Second level: Social Interaction

a.       Customer service and communication are key factors

*At this level, advertisers need to consider holding social events to push consumers to choose their product over others. For example a wine shop holding a wine-tasting party

3.       Third level: Interdependent Partnership

a.       The relationship is transformed into structural changes that ensure partnership and interdependence between the buyer and seller.

*At this level a company is going to want to make all the right moves to sustain their current consumer levels.

Branding

Branding is not about getting consumers to choose your product over competitor’s product. Branding is getting consumers to believe that your product is the only solution out there to their problem. A brand is anything from a symbol, saying, name, sign, or design and branding is what comes from the marketing of that symbol/saying/etc.

References:

Brauner, R. (n.d.). What Does Marketing Research Do?. ronbrauner.com - Practical Advice & Tactical Tips for Marketers. Retrieved October 17, 2011, from http://www.ronbrauner.com/?p=43

Kurtz, D. L. (2012). Boone & Kurtz contemporary marketing / David L. Kurtz (15th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Advertising Theories and Concept: Blog #3

Advertising is a way of communicating with a particular audience with the intention to persuade people to buy their products or services. Advertisers use repetition of an image, slogan or product name to get it stuck in the minds of consumers. It gives consumers a positive image of their products and in return increases consumption of certain goods or services. This then leads to brand loyalty, which for most companies is a major goal.

There are a lot of key concepts and theories that go along with advertising. According to "Advertising Theory" by Hitesh Bhasin, “Advertising Theory or theories therefore try to explain how and why advertising is effective in influencing behaviors and accomplishing its objectives.” I strongly agree with this statement and believe it correctly describes the true reasoning behind certain theories in advertising. The majority of advertising theories revolve around the idea of keeping your product in the back of a consumers mind as much as possible. Advertisers do this by, like stated earlier, bringing an immense amount of exposure towards the brand or by using repetitive advertising. Advertisers want consumers to attach certain feelings or even expectations towards their products to get them to constantly be thinking about the products and the persons need/want for it.

Marketing Mix:
In my marketing class we talk a lot about marketing mix, and I believe it is a key component in advertising. The marketing mix consists of the 4 P’s; these include product, price, promotion and place, all of which are extremely important in their own way. Product represents the actual product itself and price refers to the value of the product. Promotion stands for the process of identifying and reaching the target market and then convincing them to purchase the said product. Lastly is place which represents the how to get product to your target market such as distribution channels and coverage. All of these things put together will lead to the best possible outcome for choosing how exactly a company wants their product to be perceived.

Hierarchy of Effects Model and Advertising:
Marketers must understand the factors that influence advertising’s effectiveness, or possibly ineffectiveness, in relation to their goals and objectives. Something that fits in with this well is the Hierarchy of effects model. This model shows clear stops on how advertising works and is shown as a pyramid. Items shown at the bottom of the pyramid are essentially easier when trying to accomplish ad objectives.  

Basic Outline of each level: (Hierarchy-of-Effects Model)

1.       Awareness: Task is to build awareness of the product to consumers. Example- name recognition

2.       Knowledge: Comprehension of the brand name and what it stands for. More in depth understanding.

3.       Liking: Does your target audience like the product? If not, how come and how do we resolve the issue?

4.       Preference: Build consumer preference by promoting quality, value, performance and other key features of the product.

5.       Conviction: Consumers may prefer the particular product but still not have motive to buy it. Advertisers need to build this motive (conviction) in its target audience.

6.       Purchase: Offer product at a low price, offer a trial or premium to pull consumers in to actually get around to buying the product.

Advertising doesn’t directly induce an immediate behavioral response to consumers. A company’s advertising does, though, create a serious of mental effects- the hierarchy of effects- that in the end leads to whether or not the consumer will purchase the item or not. They need to apply this knowledge of these steps into their advertising strategy to make it effective.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Advertising:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model is one that helps us describe and understand human motivation. It may not seem like this has much to do with advertising, but it actually makes a huge impact on how marketers choose to advertise their products and whether or not people will purchase them.

The whole idea of this pyramid of needs originated when Abraham Maslow noticed that certain things were more important to have than others. For example water is more important than food because without water, one can die in just a few days, but without food a person can live for almost a month.

The basic order of these needs goes: (Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs)

1.       Physiological

2.       Safety

3.       Love/belonging

4.       Esteem

5.       Self-actualization

Below is the pyramid with examples of each in these categories:

Using the knowledge of people’s behavior using this model, advertisers are able to predict buying patterns. By keeping track of current events and public opinion, advertisers can skew they advertising strategy to fit the needs of the population. For example after 9/11 people’s main concern became safety, therefore the demand for firearms, and increased training of security became predominant in society. Basing your advertising around these ideas would make people want your product more at that point in time.

By keeping track of these current events, you can start to predict what people will be spending their time and money on. When the economy is good there is an excess amount of money in the system and people will be more willing to spend their money on things higher up on the pyramid.

Sources:

Hierarchy-of-Effects Model

http://drypen.in/advertising/hierarchy-of-effects-model.html

Advertising Theory

http://www.marketing91.com/advertising-theory/

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs