marketing

What Really Goes on Behind The Most Powerful Marketing Campaigns

Sorry to burst your bubble, but that latest campaign you’ve seen of us was done just so you’d react exactly the way you do right now.

Yes, we keep track of you and we do our best to know you. There are times when we don’t get it, but whenever we do, it goes down so good, you’ll never knew what hit you. And we’d always, always leave you wanting more of it. In fact, it may stay on your system for days, years or your lifetime.

It’s not magic, nor rocket science. It’s Marketing.

Marketing Campaign — When we put something up, we make sure that it’s something you’d at least notice.

Campaigns aim to affect your perception. It conditions your mind to think in a certain way, to manifest behaviors that would best serve the brand’s purpose. The goal is to get you to the place where we want you. All these without being so obvious.

How do we do that? Take note of how we communicate. We anchor our messages to your beliefs, we made them stand on your values, we rest them in your hopes. We’d make you feel like you’re standing in front of the Mirror of Erised, you’ll see everything that you ever want.

Because at the most basic level of consumption is the idea of needs and wants. You may need food, but you wouldn’t just have any food. There would always be something that you’d want more than anything else. And when you back this up with money, then a purchase transaction happens. That’s our moment of truth. It’s the ultimate test of how well we facilitated your journey. We finally got you where we want you. And sometimes, we also influence the time when you’d want more of what we offer. Or the how’d you want the offer to be.

Product Choices — Campaigns let you on the choices that you have.

Don’t misconstrue Marketing. We’re not here to deceive you. To think of consumers as pushovers or fools belittles our industry. We hold you in high esteem. We want to believe that a brand stands out because the best people support it, because it makes so much sense to have it in your life.

Also, we’re bound by law to tell you the truth. We just talk in way that you’d find it hard not to listen, we present in a way that you can’t help but be engaged, we act in a way that you’d find it hard not to talk about it with others. And we change because that’s just how you are.

And because, well, we Marketers are all brilliant like that!

The Bottom Line of Advertising | Philippine Association of National Advertisers – PANA Website

Visited PANA’s website today and came across this industry news about The Bottom Line of Advertising.

In a gist:

Even people from the industry can’t guarantee that greater ad spending leads to higher sales.

Advertising is a shout out to all your prospects and your current customers. It only helps to take your brand out there, to inform the market what you can do and the problems that you solve.

It’s not the be all and end all of marketing. In fact, advertising is just one of the many promotions activities that you can do when launching or marketing your products or services.

Ads effectiveness are measured through impressions, reach, engagement or resonance. Sadly, these indicators aren’t directly translatable to sales.

These figures just tell you how many people have heard about your product, are aware that it exists and its purpose. Whether they will convert depends on how effectively you integrate different activities on your marketing campaigns.

Advertising though, can greatly impact your brand or services in the long run. There was this one study that says, brands that steadily advertise, even during recession, have achieved higher sales at the end of the difficult economic period. Why?

Because most people would turn to a brand or product that sticks around no matter what. Brands, products, or services that consistently makes their presence felt and communicates to their market can hardly be forgotten. And that’s how a brand, product or services achieve share of mind. And once you got that space, it may not be very difficult to get share of wallet. 😉

What is Consumer Behavior?

According to the American Marketing Association, consumer behavior is “the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior, and the environment by which human beings conduct the exchange aspect of their lives.”

That’s some pretty hardcore definition right there. And I wish I can provide a simpler one. But because of the nature of consumer behavior, all I can give are situations in which they become obvious and relevant.

If you’re a consumer, it’s reflected on your buying decisions and consumption as affected by your thoughts, emotions, attitudes and environment.

If you’re an entrepreneur, then your knowledge of consumer behavior becomes indispensable in drawing up your winning strategy – because it’s all about knowing, serving and influencing your target market¹.

THE NATURE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

DYNAMIC
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One thing that makes the study of consumer behavior both exciting and challenging is that it’s constantly changing. What your market wants now might not be what they want in the future. What worked in your strategy today may be an epic fail the next time you implement it. You got to be aware of trends and how these respective trends shape your market’s preference. You got to be on the look out for new technological advancements, environment changes, spending behavior, lifestyle changes, etc. to keep up with your market.
INVOLVES INTERACTION
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This nature of consumer behavior makes it very difficult to define since it’s the result of our thoughts, emotions, actions and environment – all combined. What does your market think about your product? How do they feel about your product? What do they need to do to get or use your product? How do you influence the external environment of your market to make it more conducive for your product? You got to be as accurate as possible to better satisfy your customers and give them value.
INVOLVES EXCHANGES
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People has to give something up so they can have something in return. It can be your product or services in exchange for your customer’s money. As an entrepreneur, you got to create strategies for these exchanges to take place.

¹Peter,J.P., Olson,J.C., Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy 7th Edition, International Edition 2007
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