How does consumers' perception influence brand equity - Essay Example

How does consumers perception influence brand equity? To start with, advertising and marketing is all about conveying a single, unified message downto the target audience in a manner which meshes along well both with the client’s budget as well as the aspirations and expectations of the people for whom the brand is being marketed or advertised. It is formed on the basis of psychological and physiological movements which are studied by the advertising and marketing people so that the client (the company people) also remain happy and their business flourishes in the longer run. However, to get this very message down to the intended people is not an easy job to start with. It needs to be very targeted, precise and significant for them in order for them to take notice and understand that the particular brand connects with them in the best and most easiest of manners possible and hence they should be the ones to buy it for themselves and for this reason satisfy their need or even please themselves more than they had already expected. It is a sure tough job for the people who have to extract the perfect message which needs to be sharpened again and again before it actually gets down to the right kind of people who will make the actual purchase and therefore the product will be sold in the end. However, on the flip side of the coin, this requires selling the product or the brand in the mind of the consumer before he actually decides to go and buy the very same. This is refereed as the pre-selling stage and advertising has got a lot to do with it. Speaking from a psychological standpoint, consumers connect with what is there on the electronic and/or print media for them in the form of a message that says a lot about their preferred brand and lists down the details as to how it could benefit the same person if he or she uses it. Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media. This is all the art of selling and it comes under the heading of marketing and for marketing to happen in the first place, advertising is of fundamental importance. Without advertising, marketers can only think of their product lying on the retail outlets waiting for angels to come and satisfy themselves. People need to be told the plus points of their brands (by the company) so that they actually go out and make the eventual purchase which in all fairness, not an easy job for the company, say that is producing a shoe polish which does not stick on to the shoes as much as do the other competitor shoe polishes already available in the market. If the customers do not know or are not given the liberty to comprehend the different features of the brand which is being advertised by the company, they would not make that valued effort on their part and hence the company will be the one to suffer in the end and no one else. For the company to see their brand thriving big time in the market with competitors having little or negligible business, it needs to build upon a base that it can erect its structure so that when the wind blows, it does not hamper the smooth business of this brand at all. Therefore, one pivotal role is played by persuading these very customers and consumers into making that vital purchase and for that they need to be given the space that they want and more importantly so the insight and understanding and not to forget the knowledge about this very brand that would make their brand sell and competitors’ brands to stay on the shelves when the moment of truth hits the retail chains all around the globe. This moment of truth is the eventual moment when the consumer goes out to a retail chain and makes a purchase. Advertising is a part of the social psychology and as we are discussing the persuasive part of it, hence there is a direct linkage here. Hence the branch of human psychology that deals with the behavior of groups and the influence of social factors on the individual is indeed the social psychology and as we are getting the hang of things from the advertising and persuasion perspective of it, the both are seen as being quite imperative here. One need to take into notice the fact that persuasion towards consumers and building their perception is a two way process and not a hand which can clap alone and on its own. People need to be given some benefit for their own selves so that they listen to or read the intended selling message or the advertisement. If they are not interested, then there is no use of selling the brand at all. Advertising creates the interest that eventually leads to the selling exercise. So in order to keep the product in the mind of the consumer, the selling message needs to be hit again and again in his or her mind till the time he or she makes that essential purchase of the product and even then the advertising and marketing of the brand does not stop as selling again and again is the ultimate motive of the business on the basis of which it stands. Therefore, this message has to be transmitted to the target people again and again so that they continuously buy their products and in the larger interest not only benefit themselves (the consumers) but also the company as it will have more profits and eventually a larger business share in the stock market and so on and so forth. Hence all this cannot be remarked as a one time activity, it needs to be on a continual basis. Persuasion thus needs to be on a consistent basis and it needs to produce feelings and ideas in the mind of the person who is directly or indirectly getting influenced by it. In the case of advertising, this persuasion takes a psychological turn and proves to be very helpful in making the actual sale that is so very necessary to comprehend here. Building consumer perception can also be gauged through the word of mouth approach that essentially takes into consideration the fact that the more people are happy and satisfied with the brand, the more they will buy it again as well as encourage their near and dear ones to make that step of having the eventual purchase on their part so as to give satisfaction to their own selves and thus indeed the benefit the brand and more than that the company itself in terms of its business. The word of mouth approach has its drawbacks as well as it can easily ask for negative message to get across and that too more quickly and in an ineffective manner than the positive counterpart. A study conducted recently by marketing people suggested that 8 out of 10 people who used a product and found it defective told badly and in a negative tone to others about the product’s shortcoming on the desired benefits while only 3 out of 10 people praised it after they had used the product and found it worthwhile of their money or were even highly satisfied. Consumer influence in advertising can also result from publicity which has a lasting and more telling effect on the consumers rather than advertising itself. The publicity factor comes directly under the persuasion heading and has a direct psychological relation with it. This publicity in the present times has come to be known as the public relations which help at building a linkage or a sort of association with the people without the selling of the advertising message itself. In a way the ad is being transmitted but no mention is made of the brand name or its accompanying associations like the ‘housemark’, symbol or anything that directly or indirectly tells anything about the product or the brand itself. Hence publicity has a got a lot of role in persuading people with the help of its different tools like press clippings, newspaper reports, general news about the whole category under which the company’s brand or the product actually lies as well as holding public awareness programs and services with or without the mention of the brand. These programs help at educating the consumers and customers as to what is the right way of going about doing things in the society and not to forget the provision of description in terms of usage of the product rather than the brand itself as it will fall under the category of advertising the brand than carrying out a publicity campaign. Publicity therefore has a big role to play in the world of advertising and the two of them are quite interlinked than is perceived at the very moment. Building consumer perception is also dependent upon how and what the message actually says. This depends on a host of factors which may range from the actual duration of the ad message to the number of visual shots that are changed in it. Lighting, direction and the eventual follow up of the ad are also very significant here. When we talk about the print media, typography (the language of playing with different fonts and its sizes), colors, graphics and the like are pivotal to bring about a single unified message that persuades and influences the consumer to buying into a particular product than its competitors.’ Similarly, what the message contains in it holds much significance as well as it will entail the kind of response that the intended people will actually produce which will have a positive or negative effect on the sales of the product and more so towards the company courtesy the present campaign through which the product is being promoted and heavily advertised. Apart from the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ factors, it is also quite imperative here to state that the number of times the actual message is going to be run on television or radio or the size of the print ad in the newspapers and magazines or the exact placement of the billboard or shop sign in the outdoor medium reflects the favorable or unfavorable response from the people. So the amount of times the message is hit on the consumer’s mind and the heart reflects his or her positive or otherwise feelings about the product, not to forget the persuasion or repulsion towards this product as well. In the former case when the persuasion has taken place, he or she will now move on to the next step of purchasing the product which eventually is the final step that the customer has to take when he or she starts interacting with the product. This could happen on quite a relevant stage for the high involvement product and not so importantly for the low involvement ones but nonetheless it happens and must be taken note of by the people at the helm of affairs in the company producing the product and the ones who work in the ad agency promoting it courtesy marketing and advertising methods and strategies. For this reason, it is very necessary to understand the psyche of the consumers as well as their buying/spending patterns on a consistent basis so that they do not stray away from the already planned and chalked out strategy that is known as the target market. It would be better on the brand’s part to narrow down this target as well as potential target market so as to pinpoint the relevant people and also not to have any such wastage during the whole process. A lot of times, people from the ‘aspirational’ group, the ones who act as role models for shoppers, consumers and the like turn the product into the ‘on’ mode for them and thus act as the bridge between the consumers and the company. As we know from human psychology that social psychology tries to understand groups themselves as behavioral entities, and the relationships and influences that one group has upon the other group This process requires hiring celebrity spokesperson or an actor for that matter with whom the target market attaches itself easily and wants to relate to. This could however be quite tricky as finding the perfect person is literally impossible, one who meshes along well with the brand personification concept, which says that the product in its own right, under the cover of the company is a person itself and may thus act and feel like a person in the minds of the consumers. It has been seen that at times, having celebrities as spokespersons that do not in any way link up with the target market or are not liked by people at all, brought in low sales or have hampered with the process of marketing the product in a very bad manner. At times, the marketer has to see whether or not the celebrity is keeping a good profile in the minds and eyes of the consumers and he must not do any activity or carry out any action which is detrimental to the cause of the brand’s strength. Thus in a way, this artist or the actor is the brand running here and there until the contract expires with him or her but it has been seen that people do remember this celebrity for a long time and would always link him or her up with the brand, the ad of which he or she appeared in. In terms of sports goods, Michael Jordan has done what none others have been able to do for Nike. He has literally changed the concept of the ‘aspirational’ group, bringing in huge sales throughout the world by appearing consistently in Nike’s ads as well as attending different awareness programs for the under privileged as well as other social service and society building programs. However, from the company’s perspective it is pretty difficult to handle a big name, a name they can trust and more than that pay a huge share of their earnings, every single day of the business until the agreement between the two comes to an end or the artist/actor/sportsperson quits performing. An imperative role is played by psychology. The perception is pertinent since the whole related process has a direct relation with the people for whom the product has been advertised. The retail chains thus act as the major influencing factor between the consumer and the products. It is the closest point possible between the two and in the retail store; people are at the closest between having that vital purchase and leaving the product alone in the wake of the selling exercise for its competitors. Hence a lot of emphasis is laid down on the retail and ‘instore’ activity now-a-days than was ever before invested in the same field. It is a wholly different field of marketing altogether, one that demands patience as well as understanding that the consumer or shopper will buy the brand or the product that best suits and satisfies his or her needs. This need could be satisfied in terms of the whole product package which includes the different features as well as the price bundles, discounts that are offered as well as the image factor of the product itself and not to forget the price that they are willing to pay for the company too. Thus retailing cannot be denied its due part in the marketing and advertising world of present times. A bad use of a particular product or the shortcoming of the product according to the expectations of the consumer might just ask him or her not to buy this same brand again. This is a vital factor in the marketing and advertising world and emphasis should thus be placed on turning these non-customers into one of a lot that shops for their product alone and not of the competitor’s. This is a hectic exercise but must be given significance on the part of the company producing the product because one customer who does not buy this company’s product means that he or she asks 8 out of 10 people not to make that vital purchase of this product and this figure thus gets exponentially higher. To start with, the company’s products must meet the highest standards of quality so that such a weakness is not detected at any level possible and even one such comes under the eye of the consumer or the company people itself, the supply should be stopped and the goods already present on the shelves in the retail stores must be disallowed from selling so as to keep the consumer in the spotlight and also making them realize that the company thinks about them and no one else. This will enable the consumers to understand that the defective product has been replaced by the new one, one that asks them to buy and hence try for themselves. It is an exercise that is sure to reap rewards for the company and the product’s equity will also rise with the passage of time. A product’s equity depends on four such factors which might include its name and how much the people are aware of this very name. Another factor is the loyalty level of the consumers with regards to this product or the brand which is available in the market. Under the loyalty level are five types of groups present which include the non-customers who simply do not buy this product which is being sold under the company’s name but purchase the one of the competitors’. Other one is the group that houses the price switchers who are extremely sensitive to price. The passively loyal lot buys out of habit rather than any reason. Fence sitters do not make an effort to judge between the competing products and buy any one and mostly they do not pay that much of a heed that is necessary in making that selling exercise. Lastly, there is the group of committed people who will stick to your product no matter what happens in the marketplace. The third factor is that of the perceived quality in which people have pre-conceived notions with regards to a product or a brand. This can happen due to their already set reservations in the mind with regards to this product’s packaging, size, colors and so on and so forth. The last factor is that of the associations attached with the product which include some celebrity spokesperson who is selling this product or the brand and with whom the people do not want to get associated to, hence bringing in low sales of this product in relation with the competitors’. Consumer persuasion and influence in advertising and the marketing world is an art rather than science itself. It has to be understood in the light of the different consumers that visit the marketplace at different times of the day as well as the times that they actually visit in a week or a month for that matter. Thus advertisers must understand what actually goes into persuading and convincing them (the consumers) into making that purchase rather than opting for the competitors’ product when they actually enter the store and buy. Brand equity is only built when there is brand loyalty, related associations with the brand, the brand with its name and attached symbols and the brand personalities which portray it in their respective lifestyles and endorsements. Equity is not built overnight rather it’s a long process that takes years to come up. Such is the intensity of brand equity that it takes a lot of convincing and planning on the part of the organization bringing out the brand towards its target audiences. Brand equity requires hard loyal customers to back up the whole ideology. It is for this matter that consumer loyalty is very specific to the hearts of the people who use the products and/or services. The loyalty to a brand raises a lot of questions that the competitors have to answer. These could be in line with their falling standards that the customer switched over to a loyal and more dedicated company or at other times, not able to come to the market scene much earlier than the one which has taken a large share of the customers anyway. The people who are more loyal to a particular brand or a company for that matter cost much less to this company than the ones who have not yet reached on to the bandwagon of adopting the said product. But on the other hand, the question also raises up in the light of the discussion on the costs that are lesser for the loyal folks but since they have to be reminded again and again of the products available in the market, their cost somehow or the other equals to that of the ones which are being targeted upon so that they could adopt this product and satisfy their needs, wants and desires. Furthermore, consumer loyalty is a tangent that needs to be specifically seen in the light of the ever changing consumer demands and these might just be short lived to start with. Consumer loyalty is something that the consumer might not easily tell to everyone as positive word of mouth ratios are much lesser than the negative spread courtesy the word of mouth where it spreads like jungle fire, with respect to a particular brand’s usage, experience or the mere presence of it within the sights of the target audience due to negative past images and memories. In the end, it is significant to apprise ourselves of the fact that marketing communication practitioners need to play their due role in the related scheme of things and more so where the patterns of consumer lifestyles and loyalties so that consumers’ perception and influence builds the equity of not only the brand but the organization that it is working under. More focus should be given on the roles adopted by the consumers and the manners in which they are actually making the purchase in the first place. Also emphasis should be laid on the fact that the cutting edge scenarios are found out so that the industry grows as a result of the same and there is a lot of competition that can occur in the market. This will only help the consumers as it would provide for more options and hence the value delivery network would also improve as a result of the very same. Lastly, it is correctly stated here that marketing communication planners need to understand the role of consumer loyalty and brand equity in the whole equation and thus carry out measures which run parallel with the consumer demands, expectations and more so the needs that have to be satisfied all this while. BIBLIOGRAPHY ALFINO, Mark. (1998). McDonaldization Revisited: Critical Essays on Consumer Culture. Praeger Publishers BAILEY, Scott. (2000). 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