Application of Psychology in Marketing - Research Paper Example

Application of Psychology in Marketing Introduction Psychology has been considered an ideal area of study that can be applied in several social science areas. One of these areas is marketing. Perhaps, for those who would like to enhance their businesses, marketing is prioritized due to its extensive primary importance to business. Without marketing, potential customers are not able to learn about the existence of products and services they miss, and this leads to lack of success in business (Egan 78). In this regard, among areas of interest in marketing is the application of psychology in this field. One of the areas of psychology applied in marketing is evolutionary psychology. This psychological perspective mainly covers consumer behavior. Evolutionary psychology also seeks to unify the fields of evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology as applicable to the human condition. In essence, a large part of marketing focuses on consumer behavior. In this regard, application of psychology acts as a paradigmatic influence in explaining human behavior in terms of consumer perceptions and preferences of certain products and services. What evolutionary psychology entails Evolutionary psychology seeks to address basic issues such as how a particular behavior, emotion or cognition constitutes a functional solution to a given problem and why a particular behavior, emotion or cognition exists (Saad and Gill 1006). In an attempt to answer these questions, evolutionary psychology’s focal point is on the basic principle that the human mind is a result of the evolutionary process and the principle of natural selection as proposed by Darwin (1859). In his principle, Darwin developed a three-step process of variation, inheritance, and selection. The mind is argued to contain psychological mechanisms that solve specific adaptive problems. These psychological mechanisms are argued to help solve specific issues like perception, emotion, reasoning, and social relations. Evolutionary psychologists identified several psychological mechanisms that form a part of the human mind and qualify as being adaptations (Saad and Gill 1007). The underlying goal of these mechanisms is to maximize the inclusive fitness in the organism. Inclusive fitness was a concept endorsed by Hamilton (1964), which is a continuation of the Darwin’s criteria of natural selection, which was based on maximizing of reproductive success. However, the issue of the fitness maximization can be viewed far much beyond altruistic behaviors in animal and insects species as detailed by Hamilton. In fact, human behavior results from an interaction between the underlying psychological mechanisms and the environment (Raab 87). In this regard, any change in the environmental input could instigate behaviors that are neither adaptive nor maladaptive. Application of evolutionary psychology in marketing It is apparent that for any business to succeed, marketing forms a part of that success. In this regard, marketing strategy is considered ideal in determining the correct form of advertisements to use, potential or target customers, how to create customer loyalty, and, above all, how the marketing strategy can help the business realize its short-term and long-term objectives (Egan 81). In this light, evolutionary psychology can be applied in several ways. The following sections will give an overview of how evolutionary psychology can be applicable in the enhancing of marketing psychology. Almost all businesses seek success. A combination of various factors is believed to contribute to this success. Some of these factors include excellent communication systems and qualified workforce. However, in today’s business world, businesses are concerned with satisfying the customers’ needs more than with any other factors. In fact, there are more concerns about sensing, satisfying and serving the needs of customers (Egan 84). Nevertheless, this is not done without a proper planning. Many businesses are buying the idea of strategic planning, which directs businesses into their clearly defined destinations. Nonetheless, before an organization can develop its strategic planning, it has to define its mission. This can be done by first carrying out a market research, which aims at identifying an appropriate market and the needs of the customers. Using evolutionary psychology, researchers would be able to understand consumption behavior of customers in the intended market segment (Saad and Gill 1009). For example, the researcher would be able to assess consumer perception of brands that already exist in the market. This would not only help the research identify customer’s needs but also help the researcher design an appropriate brand that meets the customer’s needs (Egan 86). Perhaps, to be able to have a successful marketing strategy, an organization or business may opt to use the 4ps to enrich its marketing. Product After an organization has carried out efficient marketing research, it has to ensure it establishes a correct product for the market. The product has to be of the best quality and distinct from other products that already exist in the market. In order to achieve this, an organization should understand that it has to create a perception to the customers that the product best suits their needs and that it is of the best quality. This can be achieved through effective advertisement and promotion activities. An effective advertisement is argued to draw the attention of customers and tends to influence them to use the product. In fact, consumers are argued to be rational in consumption. They consume what is best for them at a particular time. If another product comes in the market and surpasses the current one, they jump over to the new product (Hoyers 150). Using evolutionary psychology, an organization can indentify certain problems with current products of their competitors and use appropriate measures to improvise their own product so that it can meet the needs of the customers. Evolutionary psychology argues that human behavior is an instigation of interaction with the environment (Saad and Gill 1007). This can be argued to mean that if the environment is adjusted, then the human behavior adjusts too. For example, if a certain industry produces expensive textiles to sell them in a poor neighborhood and another industry comes with an idea of producing affordable textiles meant for low-income earners in the same neighborhood, it is highly likely that the new product will sell better than the current product (Egan 89). Another major issue of concern that businesses are focusing on nowadays is far much beyond the quality of the product they offer. For example, apart from offering quality products, which is what every other competitor is trying to do, businesses are now focusing more on customer service and benefits accrued from the product. This involves changing the features and scope of the product and customer service. It is argued that when customers are treated in a caring manner, they tend to feel honored and are more likely to be willing to be identified with that particular organization and its products (Hoyers 153). For example, following up on the customers’ satisfaction level by contacting the customers and asking them what they feel about the services or products they purchased gives them a belief that the organization is certain that their products are of the best quality. On the other hand, customers are more likely to buy a product that is well packaged and labeled. In this regard, an organization that packages and labels its products in reference to the needs of its customers tends to change their behavior so that they want to buy these specific products, not the ones offered by other organizations. Place One of the most imperative aspects of marketing is the place where the product is distributed. Some customers tend to believe that certain products sold in certain markets or places are better than others sold from other places. However, to some extent, the customer perception is shaped according to what evolutionary psychology argues to be a modification of behavior by the environment. For example, rich people would prefer to buy expensive products and probably those that are sold in specified places and most likely associated with rich people. Their perception is that products sold in other streets are not of the best quality. Surprisingly, if the same products they buy in those designated places are taken to other places or in the streets, it is highly likely that they will not buy them. Therefore, as an organization decides places it would wish to distribute its product, evolutionary psychology can be used to help the organization identify the correct place to distribute its products (Egan 91). Promotion Promotion is used by organizations during advertisement to inform customers about the new product the organization is bringing in the market. A good promotion ensures that the customer builds a positive attitude towards the product. The main goal of promotion is not only to inform customers about the new product but also to inform them about its importance and quality (Hoyers 159). Promotion acts as a persuasive tool that aims at enlightening customers about the product. Through the use of evolutionary psychology, an organization can understand what influences customers to like and use a certain product (Saad and Gill 1012). With this information, the organization would be able to come up with a promotion tool that suits the needs of customers. For example, the promotion through the use of television advertisement that praises a certain product would most likely influence customers’ decision to purchase the product. Promotion acts not only as an endorsement technique but also as a convincing technique that the product being advertised is the right one. Since evolutionary psychology investigates emotions and environmental preferences, a prior investigation of how other organizations’ promotions affect emotions of customers can help design a new or distinct promotion technique that would sway emotions of the customers into a different direction (Brown 231). Price It is argued that price represents the value of a good or service. In most cases, people would tend to buy products at a cheaper price. However, a study of how customers respond to prices can help an organization determine the best price to set for its products. A notion that cheap products are of low quality can be argued to be among several factors on the basis of which an organization can set prices for its products (Brown 234). Evolutionary psychology can help study why people strongly believe in such notions, and, as a result of this study, an organization can make an informed decision about what will happen if it sets high or low prices for its products (Saad and Gill 1014). Social role theory and its application in marketing Social role theory framework is used in investigating the effects of gender. It accounts for gender differences in social behavior. Following Trivers’ (1972) analysis of differential parental investment, it was found that men tend to be keener in short-term mating than females (Raab 76). As a result of this keenness toward short-term mating, men were considered to have evolved an increasing tendency of arousal by visual stimuli of a woman’s body. In this regard, a direct influence on consumption-related cognition and attitude is the widespread use of sex appeal and, more so, female nudity in the modern day advertising. In this light, it is argued that men respond considerably more positively than women to the use of female nakedness in advertising. Social psychology and marketing Since marketing seeks to persuade, provoke specific behaviors, and change attitudes, it has always used psychological social theories for these purposes. Some of theories used in marketing are theories of influence, attitudes, and persuasion (Hoyers 152). However, apart from these theories, social psychology has introduced several techniques that are highly used in marketing. Some of these techniques include research techniques and experiments like in-depth interviews, attitude scales, and focus groups (Jain 110). They are used to evaluate the best means of designing appropriate products and services for customers. Psychology of persuasive and purchase decision It is apparent that most advertisers use the psychology of persuasion to attract customers in order to increase their sales. They use a universal aspect of human nature with regard to the saying ‘the way to love is to realize that it might be lost’. In this regard, advertisers have used this knowledge to articulate on the principle of scarcity. This principle argues that things and opportunities seem more valuable to people when their availability is limited (Brown 241). With this in mind, many advertisers use tactics that makes consumers feel that their products and services are few and will not last for long, thus insinuating that these products or services are valuable (Jain 112). The intention of creating a scarcity status of something is to tactically increase its worthiness. This also goes in line with the deadline tactics used by advertisers. Establishing a deadline to something makes customers have the tendency of rushing to get the product or service before the deadline. For example, different advertisers and marketers use different advertising words during Christmas season in order to capture the attention of more customers. These words are in line with the season, which makes them more appealing and making sense (Jain, 112). Words like “limited”, “improved”, “free”, and “new” among many others entice buyers a lot. These words conjure up images in the minds of buyers, acting as a drive for them to buy products of services. In addition to using the psychology of persuasion, advertisers use psycholinguistics in selecting appropriate words to persuade buyers. Conclusion For those businesses and individuals that would like to enhance their businesses, marketing is prioritized for its extensive primary importance for business. One of the major fields of psychology applied in marketing is evolutionary psychology. This psychological perspective mainly covers consumer behavior. In essence, a large part of marketing focuses on consumer behavior. Evolutionary psychologists identified several psychological mechanisms that form a part of the human mind and qualify as being adaptations. Using evolutionary psychology, researchers would be able to understand consumption behavior of customers in the intended market segment. After carrying out a market research, an organization should understand that it has to create a perception in the customers that the product best suits their needs and that it is of the best quality. Using evolutionary psychology, an organization can indentify certain problems with current products of their competitors and use appropriate measures to adjust their products to the desires of the customers. Evolutionary psychology can be used to help the organization identify the correct place to distribute its products. A good promotion ensures that the customer builds a positive attitude towards the product. Promotion acts as a persuasive tool that aims at enlightening customers about the product. Through the use of evolutionary psychology, an organization can understand what influences customers to like and use a certain product. With the help of evolutionary psychology, an organization can make an informed decision about what will happen if it sets high or low prices for its products. Social role theory has been used to enhance marketing, especially due to female nudity in the modern day advertising. Additionally, since marketing is interested in persuasion, in provoking specific behaviors, and in changing attitudes, it has always used psychological social theories for these purposes. Principles and tactics of scarcity have been used to entice buyers by many advertisers. Works Cited Brown, Stephen, Gordon Foxall, and Ronald Goldsmith. Consumer Psychology for Marketing. London; Boston, MA: International Thomson Business Press, 1998. Print. Egan, John. Marketing Communications. London: Thomson, 2007. Print. Hoyers, Wayne. Consumer Behavior. Mason, OH: South-Western, 2008. Print. Jain, Subhash. Handbook of Research in International Marketing. Cheltenham [u. a.]: Elgar, 2003. Print. Raab, Gerhard. The psychology of Marketing: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Burlington, VT: Gower, 2010. Print. Saad, Gad, and Tripat Gill. “Applications of Evolutionary Psychology in Marketing.” Psychology & Marketing, 17.12 (2000): 1005–1034. Print. Read More