The Consumer Audience
Part 2: Planning and Strategy
Chapter 5
The Consumer Decision Process
• Need recognition
• Information search
• Evaluation of
alternatives
• Purchase decision
• Postpurchase
evaluation
• The consumer
recognizes the need for
a product
• Advertising should
activate or stimulate this
need
5-2
The Consumer Decision Process
• Need recognition
• Information search
• Evaluation of
alternatives
• Purchase decision
• Postpurchase
evaluation
• Can be casual or formal
• Advertising helps the
search process by
providing information
and making it easy to
find, as well as
remember
5-3
The Consumer Decision Process
• Need recognition
• Information search
• Evaluation of
alternatives
• Purchase decision
• Postpurchase
evaluation
• Consumers compare
various products and
reduce the list of options
• Advertising helps sort
out products on the
basis of tangible and
intangible features
5-4
The Consumer Decision Process
• Need recognition
• Information search
• Evaluation of
alternatives
• Purchase decision
• Postpurchase
evaluation
• Often a two-part
decision
– Select the brand
– Select the outlet from
which to purchase
• In-store promotions
affect these choices
5-5
The Consumer Decision Process
• Need recognition
• Information search
• Evaluation of
alternatives
• Purchase decision
• Postpurchase
evaluation
• The customer
reconsiders and justifies
the purchase
• Determines whether the
customer will keep the
product, return it, or
refuse to buy the
product again
5-6
The Impact of Involvement
• Involvement
– Situational
– Generalized
• Decision Process will vary
– Low involvement will involve little information
search, and it will be primarily internal
– Heuristics may replace alternative evaluation
– Post purchase evaluation may only occur in the
presence of cognitive dissonance
5-7
Two different Decision Processes
Figure 5.8
5-8
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
• Two routes to persuasion
– Central route (high involvement): involves
deliberate and conscious effort to process ad
content and claims (message arguments)
– Peripheral route (low involvement): involves little
if any deliberate effort to process information;
persuasion occurs through association with nonmessage stimuli such as music, visuals, humor, etc.
(peripheral cues)
5-9
Simple ELM
Central route
Message
Arguments
Attitude
Toward the
Brand
Peripheral
Cues
Purchase
Intention
Peripheral Route
Involvement
5-10
Early Problems with the
Original ELM
• While they do mention the role of cognitions, they
do not explicitly include them in the model
– Cognitions are necessary to describe the attitude
formation process
• No mention of attitude toward the ad (Aad)
– Aad has been shown to be a mediating factor
influencing attitude toward the brand
5-11
Alternative
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Involvement
Peripheral
Cues
Ad
Cognitions
Aad
Brand
Cognitions
Ab
Message
Arguments
5-12
In High Involvement Conditions,
Central Route Processing
Dominates the Attitude Change Process
Involvement
Peripheral
Cues
Ad
Cognitions
Aad
Brand
Cognitions
Ab
Message
Arguments
5-13
In Low Involvement Conditions,
Peripheral Route Processing
Dominates the Attitude Change Process
Involvement
Peripheral
Cues
Ad
Cognitions
Aad
Brand
Cognitions
Ab
Message
Arguments
5-14
What does all this mean?
• Low Involvement = Creativity rules
• High Involvement = Message rules
5-15
The STP Framework for
Marketing Strategic Planning
• Segmenting
– Dividing the market into groups of people who
have similar characteristics in certain key productrelated areas
• Targeting
– Identifying the group that might be the most
profitable audience
• Positioning
– Establishing a brand image or personality within
the minds of the target market
5-16
Segmenting and Targeting
• Market aggregation strategy
– When planners purposefully use one marketing
strategy that will appeal to as many audiences as
possible
• Market segmentation
– Assumes that the best way to sell is to recognize
differences within the broad market and adjust
strategies and messages accordingly
5-17
Segmenting and Targeting
• Types of segmentation
Figure 5.8
5-18
Segmenting and Targeting
• Targeting the right audience
– The target is described using the variables that
separate this prospective consumer group from
others who are not in the market
• Profiling the target audience
– Describing the target audience as if they are people
you know
– Used in developing media and message decisions
5-19
Use of Perceptual Maps for
Positioning Strategy
• A visual depiction of product positioning
• Identify two (or more) key product attributes on
which differentiation may occur
• Score each competing brand on the attributes
• Plot the attribute scores for each brand
• Can be used to analyze product position relative to
competitors
– Find gaps
– Identify brand clusters
– Guide repositioning strategy
5-20
Question to Ponder
• Which element within the STP framework is
most directly affected by advertising?
• Why is an understanding of the involvement
level of a target market vital to developing
effective communication strategy?
5-21