What is relationship marketing? How might relationship marketing be used by marketers to become "closer" to consumers?

Marketers are carefully defining customer segments and listening to people in their markets as never before. Many of them have realized that a key to success is building relationships between brands and customers that will last a lifetime. Marketers who believe in this philosophy, called relationship marketing, are making an effort to interact with customers on a regular basis and giving them reasons to maintain a bond with the company over time. The Internet has become a great tool for building relationships with consumers.

81Define demographics. Next, using information you have learned from the text about the demographics of consumers, identify three marketing opportunities that match demographic trends. Justify your opportunities with specifics from your demographic appraisal.

Demographics are statistics that measure observable aspects of a population, such as birth rate, age distribution, and income.  To answer the second portion of this question, the student should use facts from the chapter, especially from the demographic dimensions listed in the chapter (age, gender, family structure, social class and income, race and ethnicity, lifestyle, and geography). The instructor may give additional instructions with this question (such as providing the student with a photocopy of a table or other pertinent data). The opportunities may be in new markets that might be emerging or new products that might be sold to new or existing markets. It would probably be best to give specifics here so there will be consistency in the answers among students. All students should be judged on their creativity and their use of factual data to support their answers. Be sure to allow enough time for this question or give it as a take-home question.

82 Describe a virtual brand community. Create an example that demonstrates the concept.

One of the examples used in the text is The Hollywood Stock Exchange, where a simulated entertainment stock market is found. Traders try to predict the four-week box office take from films. Major studios and actors cannot afford to ignore this customer community when making their "real" development and marketing decisions. Student examples should reveal how their proposed virtual brand community interacts, who the members might be, and what makes the interaction among customers special. This extension of the chat room is a special research opportunity for the marketer and consumer behavior specialist. The instructor can provide more structure to this question by designating the type of virtual brand community, such as one for cars, motorcycles, Beanie Babies, software, et cetera.

83          Considering the information presented in the text, take a position—do marketers manipulate consumers? Support your position by addressing the three questions asked by the text in its discussion of marketing’s ability to manipulate consumers.  Be specific in your statements supporting your position. The text deals with this issue by addressing three question areas. Students should explore each of these questions (and the associated text responses) to formulate their positions.

Question #1—Do marketers create artificial needs? Notice the text response addresses exactly what needs are. The role of the marketer is to address awareness that needs exist and not to create them.

Question #2—Are advertising and marketing necessary? Evidence is presented that social critics doubt the necessity of the advertising and marketing function. The text response indicates that, according to the economics of information, advertising plays a vital role in commerce. In fact, most consumers are willing to admit that advertising provides useful information and saves them time and energy in purchasing.

Question #3—Do marketers promise miracles? Many consumers believe they do. However, the text indicates that advertising and marketing offer solutions to problems. Promising miracles only agitates and disappoints consumers and is not a long-term strategy that has any merit.

76What is the difference between sensation and perception?

Sensation—The immediate response of sensory receptors (such as the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and fingers) to such basic stimuli as light, color, odor, texture, and sound. Anything that activates a receptor is called a stimulus.
Perception—The process by which people select, organize, and interpret these sensations.  The eventual interpretation of stimulus allows it to be assigned meaning. It is of critical importance to marketers.

83       Evaluate subliminal persuasion and messages. Be sure to demonstrate your knowledge of the evidence on the success of the technique as presented in the text. Under very specific conditions, some clinical psychologists suggest that people can be influenced by subliminal messages. However, the technique seems unlikely to be of use in marketing contexts; effective messages must be tailored to specific individuals rather than to mass markets.

It has also been found that there are wide differences in individual threshold levels. In order for a message to avoid conscious detection by consumers who have a low threshold, the message would have to be so weak that it would not reach those with a high threshold. Next, advertisers lack control over where consumers are positioned in relationship to the source of the message; perhaps only a few would be within range of the stimulus. Lastly, consumers typically shift their attention when watching television or a movie. They might not even be looking at the screen when the message was flashed.

Contrary to the above, most consumers believe that subliminal persuasion is being used on them in some form.

76       Briefly, describe the motivation process.

Motivation refers to the processes that cause people to behave as they do. It occurs when a need is aroused that the consumer wishes to satisfy. Once a need has been activated, a state of tension exists that drives the consumer to attempt to reduce or eliminate the need. Needs may be utilitarian or hedonic. In either case, a discrepancy exists between the consumer's present state and some ideal state; this gulf creates a state of tension. Satisfying needs can be done in any of several ways, depending upon the consumer's cultural upbringing. Once the goal is attained, tension is reduced and the motivation recedes—for the time being.

81 Explain the theory of cognitive dissonance. Once you have completed this task, create an example that illustrates the theory. Be sure that your example illustrates the phenomena that occur within the confines of the theory.

The theory of cognitive dissonance is based on the premise that people have a need for order and consistency in their lives and that a state of tension is created when beliefs or behaviors conflict with one another. The conflict that arises when choosing between two alternatives may be resolved through a process of cognitive dissonance reduction in which people are motivated to reduce this inconsistency (or dissonance) and thus eliminate unpleasant tension. A state of dissonance occurs when there is a psychological inconsistency between two or more beliefs or behaviors.

Illustration—A person purchases an expensive automobile with the expectation that it will increase his or her status within his or her social set. However, the increased status does not occur and he or she begins to doubt that the purchase was a wise idea. If unchecked, this doubt can create grave negative feelings about the automobile and the dealer that sold it to the person. However, dissonance reduction will occur if friends compliment the person or make it known to them that the purchase was a good one. In lieu of friends performing this role, the marketer must sometimes perform the confirmation role by running reassurance ads for their customers.

83       Explain the concept of involvement and its relationship to motivation.

Involvement is a person’s perceived relevance of the object based on their inherent needs, values, and interests.  We use the word object in the generic sense to refer to a product (or a brand), an advertisement, or a purchase situation.  Consumers find involvement in these objects.  Involvement is a motivational construct; different antecedents can trigger it.  These factors can be something about the person, something about the object, or something about the situation.

Involvement reflects how motivated we are to process information.  To the degree that you feel knowing more about a product will help you to achieve some goal, you’ll be motivated to pay attention to information about it.  As our involvement with a product increases, we devote more attention to ads related to the product, we exert more cognitive effort to understand these ads, and we focus more attention on the product-related information in the ads.

86 What is the relationship between motivation, need, drive, goal, and wants? Motivation refers to the processes that lead people to behave as they do. 

It occurs when a need is aroused that the consumer wishes to satisfy.  The need creates a state of tension that drives the consumer to attempt to reduce or eliminate it.
The desired end state is the consumer’s goal.  Marketers try to create products and services that will provide the desired benefits and permit the consumer to reduce the tension.
Whether the need is utilitarian or hedonic, the magnitude of the tension it creates determines the urgency the consumer feels to reduce it.  We call this degree of arousal a drive.
The specific path a person chooses to satisfy a need is influenced by a unique set of experiences and by the values instilled by one’s culture.  These personal and cultural factors combine to create a want, which is one manifestation of a need.
When a person attains the goal, this reduces the tension and the motivation recedes (for the time being.