Stimulate Demand
Factoring consumer wants and needs is an essential component to assembling a successful marketing communications strategy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most companies focused on producing products and services with little emphasis on customer needs and wants. Greater attention was given to the product or service, rather than understanding consumer behavior .
Grocery Shopping
To stimulate demand, brands must first understand the needs and motives of consumers.
Given the emergence of globalization and information technologies in the last decade, new markets and increased competition have forced marketers to modify the traditional approach to marketing communications. Companies are now increasingly focusing on how to stimulate consumer demand and compete for customer loyalty. For brands to successfully compete, they must understand the consumer needs that lie at the center of marketing communications.
Deconstructing Motivation
For there to be a demand for products and services, there must be consumer need and motivation. The field of psychology defines motive as the inner drive or pressure to take action to satisfy a need. Motives produce goals, which can be positive or negative for the individual. In all cases, the need must be aroused or stimulated to a high enough level so that it can serve as a motive. It is possible and common to have latent needs that do not serve as the motive of behavior. The sources of this arousal may be internal (such as hunger); environmental (viewing a McDonald's advertisement); or psychological (thoughts about food, which can cause hunger). For motivation to be useful in stimulating demand for products, brands must understand what motives and behaviors are influenced by the specific situation in which consumers engage in goal-directed, problem-solving behavior.
The difficulty of defining motives and dealing with motivation in consumer research accounts for its limited application in marketing. For the most part, the research in motivation involves benefit segmentation and patronage motives. Patronage motives typically concern the consumer's reasons for shopping at a particular outlet. Benefit segmentation may include consumer labels such as price-conscious, convenience-oriented, service-oriented, or other motivation features. Factors including age, sex, lifestyle, profession, income, educational level, and personal interests have all been used to assemble personality profiles designed to decode consumer motives.
The Psychology Behind Demand
Knowing the basic personality traits of target customers can be useful information for companies when designing and implementing marketing communications campaigns. Promotional tactics such as contests might appeal to suburban moms, but be ignored by single, urban professionals. Nevertheless, marketers have found personality to be difficult to apply in marketing strategy. This is primarily due to the lack of metrics for assessing personality traits. Most available measures were originally developed to identify people with mental problems. These have little value or application for consumers who are mentally healthy. As a result, most marketers have turned to lifestyle analysis.
Lifestyle is one of the newer and increasingly important sets of factors being used to understand consumer behavior behind demand. Lifestyle has been generally defined as the attitudes, interests, and opinions of the potential customer. Such variables as interests in hunting, attitudes toward gender equality, and opinions on the importance of stylish clothing can be used to better understand consumer behavior. Lifestyle segmentation is one tool used by brands to connect their value proposition to the needs of particular individuals rather than large, undefined demographics. As a result, companies can tailor communications and promotional offers that target identifiable groups and stimulate their continued demand for products and services.