Consumer Behavior

Consumer Behavior

The study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy.  It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.--Wilkepedia.com

Why do we study consumer behavior?
By studying the consumer, it helps organizations, businesses, and firms to improve their marketing strategies.
We can explore the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between competing alternatives.  The influences of the consumers' environment such as family, friends, culture, and media also reveal their importance when we delve into the study of consumer behavior.  Consumer behavior gives us a chance to study how consumers shop and make their buying decisions while shopping.

By researching all of this information, we can adapt and improve our marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.  Studying consumer behavior not only helps us to refine our marketing strategies, but it also makes us better consumers.  It shows us how to check for bargains and teaches us the benefits of buying in bulk as oppose to smaller, more expensive supplies.

"Consumer Behaviour - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia." Main Page - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 13 Apr. 2010.

Your Website Should be Your Hardest Working Employee

Why take the time and money to invest in the design and development of a website just to have it sit on the Internet like an old abandoned building, or even worse, stand around on a smoke break, like some questionable employees do, just collecting a pay check.  Well, take into consideration that your website is an employee that works for the company like everyone else.  If it doesn’t perform then it may be time to send it to the un-employment line, or at least give it a stern talking too.

The problem with creating a website in today’s environment, is understanding why you are creating it and what you are going to use it for.  Yes, it is no secret that if you want to do business in 2010 and beyond, you need to have a website to be taken seriously.  However, don’t just have one designed and created just because you read an article that said you should.  You need to have a complete plan on how making this investment is going to pay off for your business before you even think of having it designed.  The key is you want to design it to meet your goals not wrap your goals around its design.

Another key point to remember is that creating a website is an ongoing effort.  The worst mistake you can make is creating a website and then just leaving it on the Internet and hoping that the magic god of traffic will refer you customer after customer.  You have to be an active manager of your website or hire managers for your website, just as you do your employees.  You have to set goals and objectives for your website to meet.  Make sure your website finishes its projects on time. When making an investment you have to either constantly cultivate it yourself, or hire a professional to do it for you.  Make sure that if you invest in building an online presence, that presence isn’t  just left to run however it sees fit.  You are the boss and your website is an employee, tell that lazy bum to get to work.

Establish a Problem Then Position Yourself as the Solution

Defining a problem and having everyone or at least your target market see you as the solution is one of the ultimate goals of marketing.  When you mention marketing to most people they tend to classify marketing as sales or advertising.  Sales and advertising are a part of marketing, however, marketing is a much, much larger.

Create a product and then decide how to market and advertise that product.   Well, this is the standard approach that many companies choose when trying to bring something to market.  Unfortunately, most products brought to market during the year fail.

The failure rate for new product launch ranges from an estimated 50% and 75% (PRLEAP.COM) 

I hypothesize that this high failure rate can be contributed to marketing.  Marketing should be the very first step in the product development process.  Before you spend $1000s or even $1,000,000s of dollars developing a product and then advertising it and creating partnerships and distribution deals only to see it sell about 100 units; why not do some market research and determine if it is a product that is NEEDED by the consumer.  When opening up a new pizza restaurant or fast food chain, research the location and decide if that particular market can handle another restaurant such as yours.  Are there already too many of them in the area, do the demographics of the people living there actually like that type food?  These are all questions that marketing helps us to answer.

Remember:  The best marketing strategy there is, is  to establish a problem and then to position yourself to your target market as the solution to that problem.

Know Your Competition Better Than They Know Themselves

Throughout my marketing career, just as many other marketers have, I have had the responsibility of creating and implementing marketing plans.  I have found that there are many different techniques and channels for marketing different products.  Each product is like raising a child and even though every child has their own personality and special needs, for the most part every parent no matter where in the world they are or what culture they are in,take some of the same approaches.  


Well, marketing can be the same way.  Every product or service definately has their own needs and certain channels work better than others, however, they all share some of the same marketing prinicples.


Whenever I start to begin forming a marketing strategy, I like to take a look at the competition.  I want to know more about the competition than they know about themselves.  I want to know what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.  I want to gather as much information about them as possible.  Scour the internet to find strategic information on your competitors.  I have even pulled the unbelievable from time to time and just called them up and talked to them.  If they have a brick and mortar store then gas up the car and take a trip.  Talk to their customers and get a feel for your competitors brand experience.


Remember, the more you know about your competitors, the more you are equipped with the ammunition you are going to need in order to compete with them.  If you know where their weaknesses are, then you can exploit them and improve your company's brand and increase your market share.

Marketing Strategies 5 Tips to Success

Developing a marketing strategy is like creating a map to the future success of your business. It gives you an opportunity to mark X as the destination you are trying to get to and lets you see what the playing field looks like. Without a good marketing strategy its like you are just cruising on the highway with no destination. A business needs a destination, so everyone in the company knows what to strive for.

5 Tips For Developing a Marketing Strategy

1. Define your service or product
Define what you are offering in clear precise terms. You want to answer the question, "What does your company do?"

2. Know your competition

It is a good practice to take the time to know what other companies are offering the same or similar products or services to your own. Whenever I am creating a marketing plan or strategy, I like to say, "Know your competition better than they know themselves."

3. Determine your target market.

You have to find out who needs your products or services and where they are located. How they get their information and which products would be most beneficial to them.

4. Establish a marketing budget

A marketing budget is an important part of any business. If your budget is too large then you could over spend and lose money on disastrous marketing campaigns. If your budget is too small then you may miss out on opportunities to promote your company.

5. Keep track on what you spend and the results.

Marketing is mostly a process of hypothesis and testing. Some campaigns go well and some, well we just won't even discuss them. You need to track what works and what doesn't.