Stimuli-response method
This model is based on the theory of stimuli and response; where the stimuli elicit the desired response in the consumer. In this case, the marketer must figure out which items the consumer needs and do their best to figure out how to provide the product and make it attractive enough for the consumer to desire and buy it. This model starts with the marketer rather than the consumer; it assumes that the consumer does not know what he or she needs and has to be stimulated using a product or an appropriate marketing strategy (Kotler and Armstrong, 207).
According to this model, there are four marketing stimuli that influence the consumer’s response the product, the price, the promotion and the place (Gangwar, Kumar and Rao 95). There are also other stimuli within the buyer’s environment that influence their decision: technology, economy, the political and cultural environment. These factors are the inputs required to output responses where the consumer chooses the brand they wish to buy, the price at which they will buy the product, the time they will buy the product and the quantity of the product.
The buyer decision is influenced not only by the stimuli, but also by his or her personal characteristics. These characteristics are primarily the buyers culture, social, psychological and personal factors. Understanding these characteristics is the first step towards influencing buyer response to the marketing stimuli. In addition to personal factors, the buyer decision-making process also affects the decision and response to the stimuli. The main components of the consumer decision-making process include the identification of the need. Here the consumer identifies that they need a certain item or service through their need or when it is pointed out by others. How the consumer identifies their need; whether it is a necessity or otherwise also determines how they will search for the item and how long it will take them to make the decision (Kotler and Armstrong 135).
The next step involves the search for information about the brand and the product they need and the prices of available alternatives. The information search is basic and general where the consumer wants to know which products can satisfy his need. The information search provides the buyer with knowledge of the product that will satisfy his needs, the price range, trends, brands and promotional discounts available (Pennington 55)
. The information enables the consumer to evaluate all available alternatives that suit his preferences regarding price, brand, and quality. The evaluation of alternatives depends on many parameters including the personal preferences of the consumer, the trends and brand popularity of the available alternatives. In the end, the buyer decision is determined by the prices and the amount of money the consumer is willing to part with compared to the benefits derived from owning the product. If the benefits expected are equal or if they exceed the monetary value, the consumer places on the item, then the consumer will buy the product (Kotler and Armstrong 152).
After the purchase decision the marketer is concerned about the post-purchase behavior of the consumer. He seeks to know whether the product was satisfactory, whether it exceed the consumer’s expectations or whether it was unsatisfactory. These will help the marketer decide whether they should formulate a new marketing strategy, adjust the product or venture into a new market based on the success in the market.
Every marketing model is based on the marketers’ ability to predict and influence the buyer’s behavior. The stimuli and response model, in particular, relies on the ability of the marketer to predict the behavior and response towards the products, prices, and the external environment of the buyer (Kotler and Armstrong 134).
Promotional strategies that reduce customer frustration
When formulating a promotional strategy, the marketer hopes that it will encourage the consumer to buy the product and maintain brand loyalty. It is important to have a promotional strategy that communicates the right message to the consumer. The right promotional strategy should be tailored to the right target market and should appeal to the main characteristics of that market. Failure to this leads to the miscommunication where the promotional strategy does not reach the target market or if it does, it is misleading and leads to customer dissatisfaction (Sherlekar, Prasad and Victor 1)
Customer dissatisfaction leads to consumer disloyalty to the brand where they shift to another brand or product and give a negative recommendation to other prospective consumers. This leads to the need for rebranding or the establishment of a new promotional strategy (Pennington 60). Consumer dissatisfaction often leads to consumer frustration where the consumer may not buy or even consider the brand even when the product they seek is different. Customer frustration often stems from misleading marketing campaigns that claim benefits that exceed the actual product features; the promotional message may often claim to have benefits that do not translate into actual use when the consumer finally acquires the product (Gangwar, Kumar and Rao 100). A promotional strategy based on discounts and after sales services may turn out to be frustrating to the consumer in the case where there is a breakdown in communication between the marketer and the distributors of the product. Inaccurate product features and benefits often cause the consumers to distrust products from the brand line which will affect the brand's image in future. It is, therefore, imperative that the promotional strategy is as accurate, realistic and as convincing as possible to the target market.
Another frustration may stem from the additional purchases that come after buying a particular product. The Play-Doh print advertisement is a simple campaign that clearly states that it does not come with any in-app purchases after the initial purchase. It is a gaming application for children, which make it susceptible to involuntary purchases, but the advertisement assures the parents that unlike other gaming applications it does not have that risk. This makes the game attractive to parents with children at an age where they tend to be curious.
The McDonald’s promotion campaign that aims at showing every ingredient in a box of fries is a clever promotion gimmick that targets health-conscious consumers who may want to know the contents of their foods before they make their purchase. The advertisement reduces consumer frustration by informing the consumer of every ingredient rather than forcing them to rely on information from their friends or forcing them to look for the information by themselves. It is also in line with the current consumer trends where they prefer the information be readily available. It also caters to current trends where consumers like to be aware of what they are consuming. http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en.html
B&B Hotels: Bacon used a picture of the bed with the prices and an egg to advertise their prices and the services they provide in the hotels. Compared to other advertisements that are often too brief or too cluttered with too much information. This advertisement is an example of a well-constructed, simple and elegant message that well represents the brand image as well as the elegance associated with the hotel. The advertisement is sufficient to provide any information that the client may require in the information collection stage of the buyer decision-making process.
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/09/printadii.jpg
http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2579983143-png/Agency_Post/Blog_Images/volkswagon-interactive-print.png?t=1460153163103&width=650
The gray agency used a sentimental message on a plate to demonstrate the quality of a pen. The message relies on the nostalgia of the message elicited the older generation to move them towards buying the product. The target market is the older generation who are still inclined towards using pens in their work. It also used the tagline Pilot. Water Resistant, which was popular at the time, which appealed to the target market who are likely to be up-to-date with the current affairs. This advertisement shows all the qualities of a good promotional message which should be brief, appeal to the target market and be up to date on the current affairs.
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/07/printadk.jpg
Promotional strategies base on motivational theories
The right promotional strategy has the right promotion mix tools for the target market. Promotion tools take different forms, including sales promotion, publicity, personal selling, marketing campaigns and direct marketing. The objective of the promotion and the message determines the method of promotion and the promotion strategy used by the marketer. The expected response to the promotional message also plays a large part in the selection of the promotion mix. The marketer may aim at eliciting a cognitive, an affective or a behavior response from the consumer.
When formulating a promotional strategy, the marketer must look at the motivations behind the consumers’ choice to either buy or forego the product. When the aim is to encourage the consumer to make the choice of the brand or the particular product the market should be aware of the motivational theories and in particular how they apply to his target market. Based on the theory of the hierarchy of needs the consumer must achieve the primary needs first before moving on to the next need towards the top of the pyramid. According to Abraham Maslow, the needs progress from the physiological, security, social, esteem and self-actualization needs. Upon the achievement of each need, it ceases to be a motivation for the consumer.
In a print Volkswagen advertisement, the company used a picture that showed the vehicle's ability to travel into the city, safari and through the mountain landscape as a way of illustrating that that can travel over six hundred and twenty miles without refilling the tank. The promotional message here is aimed at motivating consumers to buy the vehicle based on fuel consumption, especially for consumers with a limited fuel budget. http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2013/08/Volkswagensafari.jpg
In another advertisement also by Volkswagen, the company uses a porcupine parked between fish water balloons to illustrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the parking assist a new feature in the latest Volkswagen models. The aim of this advertisement is to attract customers who need vehicles or who have vehicles but need more efficient and luxurious features that assist them in the parking. It is also an emerging trend that many need as a way to gain esteem and prestige among their peers in addition to being very convenient. http://www.vw.ca/en.html
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/09/printadh.jpg
In order to motivate marketers to move from traditional advertisement media to using social media sites as media of advertisements. To demonstrate this point, the Maximidia used an advertisement that juxtaposed the aged print ads and colorful social media ads that have just one hundred and forty characters. This advertisement is an inspiration for advertisers whose occupation obliges them to be cutting-edge with every single accessible pattern.
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/07/printadd.jpg
Low and High Involvement Products
Low involvement products are products that are inexpensive and that pose no risk whatsoever to the consumer if they make a mistake. When buying these product consumers often make routine response behavior when they decide to buy those products. The consumers often buy these products repeatedly and would make the decision every day without necessarily going through all stages of the buyer decisions. The promotional strategies for these products are often simple, containing less detail and information. There are aimed at reminding the consumers of the good features.
On the other hand, high involvement products carry a lot of risk of making a big mistake. Therefore, the buyer has to go through all the stages of the buyer decision-making process. There are products that the consumer routinely buys, cars, house or an insurance policy. The buyer has to examine all the characteristics of the product, the prices, warranties and the after sales services.
The advertisement is simple and shows a picture of a banana that has frills that look like they are made out of strawberry. It has details of a high-tech blender that mixes fruits perfectly to produce a perfect blend. This is a high involvement product that consumers only buy once; therefore, the marketer has taken great care to make its description simple for the average consumer, yet attractive and detailed enough http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/05/print-ads14.jpg
As per the new Avengers Assemble production a Band-Aid: Hulk advertisement was created based on the movie where it simply shows a finger of the Hulk with a Band-Aid around his finger. The image does not have a tagline or text. This is an example of a low involvement product where consumers routinely buy it as part of their household shopping.
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/07/printado.jpg
3D Panasonic TV advertisement provides a lot of information about the television and also attracts the consumer’s attention. It contains details of the television and highlights its main features; it juxtaposes old furniture and the new television to bring to the attention of the consumer the need for an update in their entertainment. This is a clear example of a high involvement product. http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/07/printada.jpg
People usually buy their beverages on a daily basis or as part of their routine shopping. The Glacial ad shows details of how to use the paper to keep beverages cool. The print ad is made of salt particles that reduce the water to a freezing point. This ad shows low involvement products, in this case the beer and the beer cooler. http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2581065818-jpg/Agency_Post/Blog_Images/glacial-beer-ad.jpg?t=1460153163103&width=650
The Peugeot is a high involvement product whose advisement even shows a demonstration of how its airbags work in the print ad. The ad shows the brand features and asks people to hit it to show how the airbags work. It provides the details of the car which is a good quality of a promotional strategy. http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2582760402-jpg/Agency_Post/Blog_Images/peugeot-print-ad.jpg?t=1460153163103&width=650
Cross cultural marketing
Culture being the way of life of people includes the lifestyle, religion, language knowledge, beliefs, morale, law, customs and the habits of people within the target market. It also incorporates the learned beliefs of people, their attitudes, their habits and their behavior. Culture plays an essential part in the market segmentation and the formulation of a marketing and promotion mixes. Companies with branches that expand across different cultures have to formulate promotion messages that serve all the cultures; the message has to appeal to all the consumers. The marketer must learn the culture, subcultures as well as the factors that influence culture within a given the target market to formulate a suitable promotional strategy. The difference in culture environments of all the consumers creates a huge difference in how they perceive any products or promotional messages. Although the target market may be chosen within the same parameters, they may understand the same message may have the different impacts on the consumers. ("Special Issue On Cross-Cultural And Cross-National Consumer Research: Psychology, Behavior, And Beyond"1) Culture determines what is acceptable with product advertising. Culture influence people’s choice products, as well as their priorities in some case culture also influences their income. Language as a factor of culture is a big influence in the promotional strategies. The meaning of any message of may be lost in translation or the message offensive in some cultures. In countries where the religions predominantly, Muslim female models in advertising campaigns are frowned upon as compared to countries that are more liberal. The culture of the people also has a bearing on the type of products that they consume.
Cross-cultural marketing involves the research on the differences and similarities between the cultures of the two or more nations the marketer targets. The research also helps the marketer determine the basis of segmenting the market as well as understanding the strategies that will work within the market ("Special Issue On Cross-Cultural And Cross-National Consumer Research: Psychology, Behavior, And Beyond"1). The analysis determines the similarities of the people within the expanse of the company’s scope. The analysis also determines the alternative marketing strategies that can be used to venture into the new markets.
The coca cola marketing team has managed to tailor their campaigns to every region where the brand is distributed. The campaigns are tailored to the culture of the people in the demographic. The coca cola company has an “America is Beautiful” Super Bowl ad that sparked a lot of controversies. However, it was aired online. The ad saw the advent of cross-cultural advertising where it could have aired in different mainstream media such as the Univision, LA18 or BET as Fox’s airing of the Super Bowl advert.
https://www.google.com/search?q=america+is+beautiful+coca+cola&num=100&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFt7-v26HMAhUI7hoKHUNSD04Q_AUICigE&biw=1366&bih=643#imgrc=z0A7DMpqpICbpM%3A
Among the leading beverage companies, Pepsi created an ad that incorporated various cultures in their Live For Now advertisement. The campaign features a variety of summer activities where the people featured in the campaign are seen as enjoying their summer. It featured people from various cultures and ethnicities. It also invited people to participate by posting their photographs in the Pepsi company social media pages. This catered for the cross-cultural nature of the company.
http://www.csnews.com/userfiles/image/PEPS_X1987_E3973_M_38_v4_EG3.jpg
<http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/pepsi-debuts-global-campaign-live/234379/>.
These two ads are similar in that they are suitable for both mainstream media and social media sites, however, they differ in that the Pepsi ad incorporate people’s participation through posting their images. The Pepsi ad created a cross-cultural ad through the participation of people while coca cola ad was based on the company’s creation. The Pepsi ad was interactive while that of coca cola was not.
When creating a promotional strategy, it is imperative that the marketer takes into consideration all the factors involved. The product, the price, the distribution and the target market of the product. A good promotion strategy incorporates all the features of the target market. It has a purpose in that its aim may be to behavior, the motivation behind the consumers buying behavior.
Appendix
Play-ho
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2016/01/playdough.jpg
MacDonald’s
http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en.html
B&B Hotels: Bacon
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/09/printadii.jpg
Volkswagon
http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2579983143-png/Agency_Post/Blog_Images/volkswagon-interactive-print.png?t=1460153163103&width=650
waterproof
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/07/printadk.jpg
Volkswagen advertisement
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2013/08/Volkswagensafari.jpg
Volkswagon parking assist
http://www.vw.ca/en.html
women’s golf
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/09/printadh.jpg
powers whiskey
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2013/04/powers.jpg
maximidia
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/07/printadd.jpg
high tech blender
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/05/print-ads14.jpg
band aid: hulk
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/07/printado.jpg
Panasonic 3D TV
http://media.creativebloq.futurecdn.net/sites/creativebloq.com/files/images/2012/07/printada.jpg
Glacial ad
. http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2581065818-jpg/Agency_Post/Blog_Images/glacial-beer-ad.jpg?t=1460153163103&width=650
Peugeot
http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2582760402-jpg/Agency_Post/Blog_Images/peugeot-print-ad.jpg?t=1460153163103&width=650
Coca cola “America is Beautiful”
https://www.google.com/search?q=america+is+beautiful+coca+cola&num=100&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFt7-v26HMAhUI7hoKHUNSD04Q_AUICigE&biw=1366&bih=643#imgrc=z0A7DMpqpICbpM%3A
Live For Now-Pepsi ad
http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/pepsi-debuts-global-campaign-live/234379/
Work Cited
"Special Issue On Cross-Cultural And Cross-National Consumer Research: Psychology, Behavior, And Beyond". International Marketing Review 30.2 (2013): n. pag. Web.
Gangwar, Manish, Nanda Kumar, and Ram C. Rao. "Consumer Stockpiling And Competitive Promotional Strategies". Marketing Science 33.1 (2014): 94-113. Web.
Kotler, Philip, and Gary Armstrong. Principles Of Marketing. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. 134- 207. Print.
Pennington, Robert. "Developing Recipient-Based Strategies For Promotional Product Selection". Journal of Promotion Management 8.1 (2002): 53-66. Web.
Sherlekar, S. A, K. Nirmala Prasad, and S. J. Salvadore Victor. Principles Of Marketing. Mumbai [India]: Himalaya Pub. House, 2010. Print.
