Marketing Psychology

MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY COURSE CONTENT
There are eight lessons in this module as follows:

1. People as Consumers Understanding the types of psychological "rewards" gained by a person through buying. Distinguishing between consumers, customers and buyers?
   
2. Market Segmentation Understanding market segments and applying the concept of target marketing.
   
3. Internal Influences -Perception & Personality Consumer self image, difference threshold, trait theory of personality, etc.
   
4. Internal Influences -Motivation and Awareness Customer satisfaction, the way complaints are dealt with, stimulus generalisation and stimulus discrimination, etc
   
5. Social Influences Family Influences, Social groups, Developmental Influences, Peer Group Influences (Work and Leisure), Social Class and Culture
   
6. Consumerism Deceptive advertising, sensitivity to consumer needs, variation between perception and reality.
   
7. Communication and Persuasion Message Evaluation, Selection & Execution
   
8. Deciding to Buy Why people shop, or do not shop; surveying the market place.

Duration:  100 hours
Aims

• Identify different categories of shoppers.
• Describe the key concepts of Market Segmentation   
• Determine the role of perception and personality in the marketing process
• Determine the factors that motivate a consumer toward a purchase
• Define how social factors influence a consumers behaviour 
• Discuss consumerism in the context of marketing.
• Determine the factors that influence consumer attitude and marketing communication and persuasion.
• Apply the concept of multi - element buying decisions.   

Extract from Course Notes:
Changing Attitudes
Three possible ways of changing attitude are:
1. Exposure
Seeing a brand name or a product repeatedly; may be sufficient to raise enough interest for a consumer to purchase and try that product.
2. Persuasion
This involves presenting reasons why a consumer should buy and try.
3. Cognitive Dissonance
This theory says "because people have a powerful drive to be consistent, when they hold two conflicting opinions they need to find a way to resolve the resulting tension".
Eg. A person believes a product they have used for years is very good; but then as a result of persuasive advertising, believes a new and competing product is equally good. In this situation they have equal reason to use both: but they only need one. In such a situation, they need to find a reason to choose one rather than the other.
Practical Applications to Marketing
There are various ways of approaching this
a. Strengthen an existing attitude.
Market leaders are generally more interested in strengthening consumer attitudes rather than changing attitudes or developing new attitudes. (eg. Coca-Cola will want people to think more highly about Coca-Cola rather than differently about coca-cola)
b. Develop a change in attitude.
Products that have a less significant place in the market may focus more on developing a new or different attitude.
c. Increase Involvement
Get people to feel more involved. eg. Raise awareness of environmental benefits so consumers consider an additional issue when making a decision about the product.
d. Focus on changing several different attitudes toward a product
Don't just change one aspect of consumer attitude: try to change several aspects...and think about engineering an appropriate mix of attitudes.
Sample Course Notes -
Our senses play a major role in marketing strategies.
*Vision
Although the majority of people require reading glasses as they get older, we do not always wear them. As such many package designers use large clear lettering when making packages.
*Hearing
In-store background music has been demonstrated to have a clear effect on people's consumer behaviour. It has been found that people spend less time shopping when music is loud (compared to quiet music), but that they spent just as much money. Also, it has been found that sales values increased when quiet music was slow compared to fast.
*Smell
This sense is not always given the emphasis that it deserves. Some producers have understood its importance, for example the addition of perfumes to sanitary products and cleaning agents.
Multi-Sensual Marketing
A clever marketing strategy is to make use of many sensory stimuli. A good bookshop might have quiet classical music, spacious shelving, an attractive colour scheme, soft carpeting underfoot, and an in-store coffee shop exuding the fresh aroma of ground coffee.

Parents act as role models for their children when they take them shopping (coshopping).  During coshopping children learn about budgeting, pricing, selecting products as well as more complex skills such as understanding value for money. Children can also exert influence on their parents during coshopping and this is of particular interest to marketeers. Teenage children may act as role models for their parents at times, particularly over the purchase of products that did not exist during their parents' youth. Also, adult children will often have an important influence on their aged parents' consumer behaviour. It can be seen that socialisation is a complex process and it is further complicated by the fact that children and teenagers are a potent buying force in their own right.
Why do people buy?
How can you capture the buyer's attention, and influence their choices?
Understanding these things can be the difference between success and failure in business.
 
Find about all this and more with this course!
This is an invaluable course for anyone working in marketing, sales or running their own small business.  It is also of interest to anyone who wishes to pursue a career within market psychology.