CHAPTER 1
AN INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRATED
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
The Growth of Advertising and Promotion
Advertising and Promotion
Vital communications system for both consumers
and businesses.
❖ In 1980, dominant forms of marketing
communication.
❖ Shift in advertising spending from traditional
media to digital formats:
 Online search, display and video
ads, social media.
 Growth in mobile marketing.
❖ Increasing globally.
The Role of Marketing
Marketing
Activity, set of institutions, and processes for
creating, communicating, delivering and
exchanging offerings that have value for:
▪ Customers, clients, partners, and
society at large.
Exchange
Involves two or more parties with:
▪ Something of value to one another.
▪ Desire and ability to give up something
to other party.
▪ Way to communicate with each other.
The Role of Marketing
Value
Customer’s perception of benefits of product or
service against cost of acquiring and consuming it.
▪ Benefits are functional, experiential,
and/or psychological.
▪ Costs include money paid for:
➢ Acquiring a product or service or
information about it.
➢ Making the purchase and
learning to use.
➢ Maintaining and disposing of
product.
The Marketing Mix
The four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion.
To develop an effective marketing mix, marketers
must:
• Be knowledgeable about the issues
and options of each element.
• Know how to combine elements to
form effective marketing program.
• Analyze the market and use data to
develop the marketing strategy and
mix.
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
• Coordinate various promotional elements and
other marketing activities that communicate
with firm’s customers.
 Recognize added value of a
comprehensive plan that:
 Evaluates the strategic roles of a
variety of communication
disciplines.
 Combines the disciplines to
provide clarity, consistency, and
maximum communications
impact.
• Ensures all marketing and promotional
activities project a consistent, unified image.
A Contemporary Perspective of IMC
❖ Criticisms:
▪ “Inside-out marketing” approach:
based on developing strengths and
internal capabilities to move the
business forward.
▪ “One look, one voice” approach
❖ Contemporary perspective:
▪ Goal is to generate short-term financial
returns and build long-term brand and
shareholder value.
▪ Views IMC as ongoing strategic
business process.
Reasons for the Growing Importance of IMC
▪ Strategically integrates various
communications functions.
▪ Develops more efficient and effective
marketing communications programs.
▪ Avoids duplication and takes advantage
of synergy among promotional tools.
▪ Adapts to changing environment:
 Evolution to micromarketing.
 Consumers’ unresponsiveness
to traditional advertising.
 Changing rules of marketing.
The Role of IMC in Branding
▪ Helps develop and sustain brand
identity and equity.
▪ Relationship era: Recognizes need for
companies to connect with consumers
 based on trust, transparency, and
authenticity.
▪ Sustainability: development that meets
needs of current generation without
compromising ability of future
generations to meet their needs.
➢ Companies are addressing
sustainability by carefully
examining social and
environmental impacts of
their marketing strategies.
The Promotional Mix: The Tools for IMC
Promotion
Coordination of all seller-initiated efforts to:
▪ Set up channels of information and
persuasion.
▪ Sell goods and services or promote an
idea.
Promotional Mix
Tools that accomplish an organization’s
communication objectives.
Advertising
Any paid form of nonpersonal communication:
▪ About an organization, product, or
service.
▪ With an idea from identified sponsor.
The nonpersonal component:
▪ Involves mass media.
▪ Message transmitted to large groups of
individuals.
▪ No opportunity for immediate feedback.
Benefits of Advertising
Most cost-effective way to reach large numbers
of consumers.
 Television.
❖ Builds brand equity by influencing consumers’
perceptions.
❖ Can advertise to consumers, businesses, or to
stimulate demand.
National Advertising
❖ Done on a nationwide basis or in most
regions of the country.
Retail/Local Advertising
❖ Shop at a specific store.
❖ Use a local service.
❖ Patronize a particular establishment.
Primary- versus Selective-Demand Advertising
❖ Primary demand: stimulates demand for
general product class or entire industry.
❖ Selective demand: creates demand for
specific company’s brands.
Business-to-Business Advertising
❖ Targets individuals who buy or influence
purchase of industrial goods or services for
their companies.
Professional Advertising
❖ Targets professionals, encouraging them to
use a company’s product in their business
operations.
Trade Advertising
❖ Targets marketing channel members,
encouraging them to stock, promote, and
resell manufacturer’s branded products to
their customers.
Direct Marketing
Communicating directly with target customers to
generate a response and/or transaction.
Involves:
❖ Database management.
❖ Direct selling.
❖ Telemarketing.
❖ Direct-response advertising.
 Encourages consumer to purchase
directly from the manufacturer.
 Through direct mail, online, and
various broadcast and print media.
❖ Increased use due to rapid growth of mobile
devices to access the Internet.
❖ Companies use omnichannel retailing.
❖ Extensive databases of customer names and
information.
Under Armour is an example of a company that
successfully sells its products online as well as
Digital/Internet Marketing
Interactive media:
❖ Allow users to participate in and modify the
form and content of information they receive in
real time.
Social media:
❖ Online means of communication and
interactions used to create, share, and
exchange content.
Mobile marketing:
❖ Messages delivered are specific to Personal Selling
consumer’s location or consumption situation.
• Person-to-person communication in which
seller attempts to assist and/or persuade
Advantages of Digital/Internet Marketing
prospective buyers to:
❖ Interactive nature.
a. Purchase a company’s product.
❖ Capability to precisely measure the effects of
b. Act on an idea.
advertising and other forms of promotion.
The ShopSavvy app allows shoppers to make price • Allows seller to tailor messages to customer’s
comparisons before making a purchase. specific needs or situation.

Sales Promotion • Involves immediate and precise feedback.

IMC Involves Audience Contacts
• Marketing activities that provide extra value or
incentives to the:
Touch Point
▪ Sales force.
❖ Every opportunity customer must see or hear
▪ Distributors.
about a company and/or its brands or have an
▪ Ultimate consumer.
encounter or experience with it.
• Aids in stimulating immediate sales. Categories:
• Company-created.
Categories:
• Intrinsic.
▪ Consumer-oriented.
▪ Trade-oriented. • Unexpected.
• Customer-initiated.
Reasons for Increased Emphasis of Sales
Promotion Paid media:
❖ Declining brand loyalty. ❖ Channels marketers pay to leverage.
❖ Increased consumer sensitivity to promotional ❖ Includes traditional advertising media (TV,
deals. radio, print, etc.).
❖ Retailers’ demand for more trade promotion
support from vendors. Owned media:
• Channels of marketing communication that a
Publicity company controls.
Nonpersonal communications regarding an • Websites, blogs, apps, social media channels.
organization, product, service, or idea not directly
paid for or run under identified sponsorship. Earned media:
Advantages: • Exposure for a company (free).
▪ High credibility and low cost. • Viral marketing.
Disadvantages:
▪ Not always under the control of an The IMC Planning Process
organization.
▪ Negative stories are highly damaging. Integrated Marketing Communications
Management
Public Relations • Planning, executing, evaluating, and
❖ Evaluates public attitudes. controlling use of promotional-mix elements
❖ Identifies policies and procedures of an to effectively communicate with target
individual or organization with the public audiences.
interest. Integrated Marketing Communications Plan
❖ Goal is to establish and maintain positive image • Developing, implementing, and controlling
among various publics. the organization’s IMC program.

Marketing Plan
❖ Describes overall marketing strategy and
programs for organization.
❖ Elements include:
❖ Detailed situation analysis.
 ❖ Specific marketing objectives with time Communication objectives:
frame and mechanism for measuring
performance.
• Determine what the firm seeks to
accomplish with its promotional program.
❖ Selection of target market(s) and plans
❖ Nature of the message to be
for each element of the marketing mix.
communicated.
❖ Program for implementing the
❖ Specific communication effects to
marketing strategy.
be achieved.
❖ Process for monitoring and evaluating
performance and providing feedback.
Budget Determination
❖ Set tentative marketing communications
Review of the Marketing Plan
budget.
❖ Examining overall marketing plan and
❖ Allocate tentative budget across different
objectives.
media, geographic markets, and time periods.
❖ Identifying the role of advertising and
❖ Budget may not be finalized until specific
promotion.
promotional-mix strategies are developed.
❖ Performing competitive analysis.
❖ Assessing environmental influences.
Developing the Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
Internal Analysis
Involves deciding role and importance of
Assesses relevant areas involving the
each promotional-mix element.
product/service offering and the firm itself.
Aspects of an advertising program include:
Assessment of:
❖ Creative strategy: Determining the
❖ Capability to develop and
basic appeal and message to be
implement promotional program
conveyed to target audience.
in-house.
❖ Media strategy: Determining which
❖ Brand image and implications for
communication channels to use to
promotion.
deliver the message.
❖ A product’s relative strengths and
weaknesses.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Control
Reviews previous promotional programs
Determining how well program is:
and results.
❖ Meeting communication objectives.
❖ Helping the firm accomplish its
External Analysis
overall marketing goals and
Assesses characteristics of firm’s
objectives.
customers, market segments, positioning
Evaluating promotional program
strategies, and competitors, through:
results/effectiveness.
❖ Customer analysis.
Taking measures to control and adjust
❖ Competitive analysis.
promotional strategies.
❖ Environmental analysis.

Analysis of Communication Process

Involves analyzing:
❖ Receiver’s response processes.
❖ Source, message, and channel
factors.
• Establishes communication goals and
objectives.

Marketing objectives:
• Determine what is to be accomplished by
overall marketing program in terms of sales,
market share, or profitability.
Chapter 2
The Role of IMC in the Marketing Process
Marketing Strategy and Analysis
Strategic Marketing Plan
➢ Guides allocation of organization’s
resources.
➢ Guides specific marketing programs and
policies.
➢ Evolves from organization’s overall corporate
strategy.
➢ Allows for understanding of market
opportunities, competition, and market
segments.
 Market segments: Distinct consumer
groups within a market who have
common needs.
Opportunity Analysis
❖ Market opportunities are areas where:
 There are favorable demand trends.
 Customers’ needs and opportunities
are not being satisfied.
 Firm can compete effectively.
❖ Steps to identify market opportunities:
▪ Examine the marketplace.
▪ Observe demand trends and
competition in various market segments.
Competitive Analysis
❖ Analyzing competition in the marketplace and
searching for competitive advantage.
▪ Competitive advantage: Attributes that
give a firm an edge over competitors.
Better quality products.
Superior customer service.
Low production costs and lower
prices.
Dominating channels of
distribution.
Advertising.
Target Market Selection
Done after evaluating market opportunities
and doing a competitive analysis.
Can select one or more target markets.
Has direct implications on firm’s advertising
and promotional efforts.
Identifying Markets
Marketer identifies specific needs of groups
of people (or segments).
Selects one or more of these segments as a
target.
Isolates consumers with similar lifestyles,
needs, and the like.
Increases marketer’s knowledge of
consumers’ specific requirements.
Market Segmentation
Dividing a market into distinct groups with
common needs, who respond similarly to a
marketing situation.
Bases for segmentation:
Geographic: Dividing market on
basis of region, city size,
metropolitan area, and/or density.
Demographic: Dividing market on
basis of age, sex, family size,
marital status, etc.
Psychographic: Dividing market on
basis of personality, lifecycles,
and/or lifestyles.
Behavioristic segmentation:
Dividing consumers into groups according
to usage, loyalties, or buying responses to a
product.
80-20 rule: 20 percent of buyers account for
80 percent of sales volume.
Benefit segmentation:
Grouping of consumers on basis of
attributes sought in a product.
The process of segmenting a market.
Marketers determine as much as they can
about the segment.
Companies offer research services to define
markets and develop strategies targeting
them.
Clusters consumer households
into distinct “microgeographic”
segments.
Selecting a Target Market
Determine how many segments to enter.
Undifferentiated marketing:
Offering just one product or
service to entire market.
Differentiated marketing:
Developing separate marketing
strategies for different segments.
Concentrated marketing:
Attempting to capture a large
share of one market segment.
Determine which segments offer potential.
 Select most attractive segment through:
Sales potential of segment.
Opportunities for growth.
Competition analysis.
Ability to compete.
Ability to market to this group.
Market Positioning
Positioning: Fitting product or service to one
or more segments of a broad market to make
it unique within the marketplace.
Approaches:
Focus on consumer: Linking product
with benefits consumer will derive.
Focus on competition: Positioning
product by comparing benefit it offers to
the competition.
Developing a Positioning Strategy
Positioning by Product Attributes and Benefits
Sets brand apart from competitors on basis
of specific characteristics or benefits
offered.
Salient attributes: Important to
consumers and are basis for making a
purchase decision.
5 economy, protection, and storage.
Positioning by Price/Quality
Cost is secondary to quality.
Quality or value at a very competitive price.
Positioning by Use or Application
Used to enter market or expand usage.
Positioning by Product Class
Positioning by Product User
Positioning by Competitor
Positioning by Cultural Symbols
 Makes the brand easily
identifiable and differentiated
from others.
Repositioning
Altering a products or brand’s position due to:
Declining or stagnant sales.
Anticipated opportunities in other
market positions.
Difficult to accomplish because of entrenched
perceptions and attitudes toward the product
or brand.
Developing the Marketing Planning Program
Product Decisions
Product symbolism:
What a product or brand means to
consumers.
What consumers experience in
purchasing and using a product.
Branding
Builds and maintains brand
awareness and interest.
Develops and enhances attitudes
toward the company or product.
Builds relationships between
consumer and brand.
Brand identity:
Combination of name, logo, symbols,
design, packaging, image, and associations
held by consumers.
Brand equity:
Intangible asset of added value.
Packaging
Traditionally provided functional benefits—
Role and function have changed due to:
Self-service emphases of many
stores.
More buying decisions at point of
purchase.
Used to communicate with consumers and
create an impression of the brand.
Many companies view the package as an important
way to communicate with consumers and create an
impression of the brand in their minds. This Dior
perfume packaging creates a product image.
Price Decisions
Price variable: What consumer has to give in
exchange for purchase.
Factors that determine price:
Costs.
Demand factors.
Competition.
Perceived value.
Product quality.
Advertising.
Distribution Channel Decisions
Marketing channels: Interdependent
organizations involved in making a product or
service available for use.
Direct channels: Directly deal with
customers.
Driven by direct-response ads,
telemarketing, Internet.
Used when selling expensive and
complex products.
Indirect channels: Network of wholesalers
and/or retailers.

Promotional Push Strategy

Programs designed to persuade resellers to
stock, merchandise, and promote a
manufacturer’s products.
Trade advertising: Used to motivate
wholesalers and retailers to purchase
products for resale.

Promotional Pull Strategy

Spending money on advertising and sales
promotion efforts directed toward the ultimate
consumer.
Goals:
Create demand among consumers.
Encourage consumers to request
product from retailer.
Chapter 3:
Organizing for Advertising and Promotion:
The Role of Ad Agencies and Other
Marketing Communication Organizations
Advertisers or Clients
The company or organization that has the
product, service, or cause to be marketed and
pays for the IMC program.
Have the products, services, or causes
to be marketed.
Provide the funds that pay for
advertising and promotions.
Responsible for developing marketing
program.
Advertising Agency
Specializes in the creation, production, and
placement of communications messages. They
may provide other services to facilitate the IMC
process.
Specializes in creation, production,
and/or placement of communications
messages.
May facilitate integrated marketing
communications process.
Media Organizations
Provide information, entertainment, or
environment for firm’s marketing
communications message.
Specialized Marketing Communication Services
Direct-marketing agencies.
Sales promotion agencies.
Digital/interactive agencies.
Public relations firms.
Collateral Services Organizations
Support functions used by advertisers,
agencies, media organizations, and specialized
marketing communication firms.
ORGANIZING FOR ADVERTISING AND
PROMOTION IN THE FIRM: THE CLIENT’S
ROLE
Factors Affecting How Companies Organize for
IMC
Size of organization.
Number of products it markets.
Role of advertising and promotion in the
marketing mix.
Allocated budget.
Marketing organization structure.
The Centralized System
Marketing activities are divided along
functional lines.
Advertising manager is responsible for:
Administration and execution.
Coordination with other departments.
Coordination with outside agencies
and services.
The Decentralized System
Used by firms with multiple divisions and
many different products.
Each product or brand is assigned to a brand
manager.
▪ Brand manager: Responsible for
total management of the brand,
including planning, budgeting, sales,
and profit performance.
▪ Category management system:
Additional layer of management
above brand managers.
In-House Agencies
Advertising agency that is set up, owned, and
operated by the advertiser.
• Reduces advertising and promotion
costs.
• Allows companies to maintain tighter
control.
• Critics worry about experience and
objectivity.
ADVERTISING AGENCIES
Ad Agency
Service organization that specializes in
planning and executing advertising programs
for its clients.
Agency Consolidation
Superagencies: Large agencies that merged
with or acquired other agencies and support
organizations.
Have evolved into 4 major agency holding
companies.
• Account for more than half of U.S.
agency revenue.
The Ad Agency’s Role
Reasons for using an agency:
▪ Highly skilled specialists.
▪ Specialization in particular
industries.
▪ Objective viewpoint of market.
▪ Broad range of experience.
TYPES OF AD AGENCIES
Full-service agencies:
Marketing, communications, and promotions
services.
Nonadvertising services.
Account services:
Link between ad agency and its clients.
Account executive: Understands
advertiser’s marketing and promotion needs
and interprets them to agency personnel.
Marketing services:
Research department: Gathers, analyzes,
and interprets useful information.
Account planners: Gather information that
is relevant to client’s product or service.
Media department: Analyzes, selects, and
contracts for space or time in the media.
Creative services:
Responsible for creation and execution of
advertisements.
Copywriters: Conceive ideas for ads and
write headlines, subheads, and body copy.
Art department: Responsible for how the ad
looks.
Traffic department: Coordinates all phases
of production.
Management and finance:
Basic operating and administrative
functions such as accounting, finance, and
human resources.
Agency organization and structure:
Departmental system: All agency
functions are set up as a separate
department.
Group system: Individuals from each
department work together in groups to
service accounts.
OTHER TYPES OF AGENCIES AND SERVICES
Creative boutiques:
Small ad agencies that provide only
creative services.
Advantages:
• Turn out inventive creative work quickly.
• Provide more attention and better access
to creative talent.
Media specialist companies:
Specialize in buying media.
Agencies and clients develop media
strategy.
Media buying organizations implement
strategies and buy time and space.
Rapid growth of programmatic buying:
• Wide range of technologies that
automate the buying, placement, and
optimization of advertising media.
AGENCY COMPENSATION
Compensation Methods
Commissions from media.
Fee, cost, and incentive-based systems.
Percentage charges.
Commissions from Media
Commission system:
• Receiving specified commission from
media on any advertising time or
space purchased for the client.
Negotiated commission system:
• Based on a sliding scale that
becomes lower as clients’ media
expenditures increase.
FEE, COST, AND INCENTIVE-BASED SYSTEMS Gaining and Losing Clients

Fee arrangement. Why agencies lose clients:

Poor performance or service.
Fixed-fee method: Poor communication.
Basic monthly fee charged for services Unrealistic demands by the client.
provided and media commissions earned are Personality conflicts.
given to client. Personnel changes.
Changes in size of the client or agency.
Fee-commission combination: Conflicts of interest.
Media commissions received are credited Changes in the client’s corporate and/or
against the fee. marketing strategy.
Declining sales.
Cost-plus system: Conflicting compensation philosophies.
Agency pays a fee based on costs of its work Changes in policies.
plus some agreed-on profit margin. Disagreements over marketing and/or creative
strategy.
Incentive-based compensation: Lack of integrated marketing capabilities.
Agencies compensated above their basic costs,
if they achieve or exceed results as measured How agencies gain clients:
by agreed-upon metrics. Referrals.
Solicitations.
Percentage Charges Presentations.
Adding a markup of percentage charges to Public relations.
various services purchased from outside Image and reputation.
providers.
Markups—usually ranging from 17.65 to 20 SPECIALIZED SERVICES
percent—are added to client’s bill.
Direct-Marketing Agencies
THE FUTURE OF AGENCY COMPENSATION • Provide a variety of services:
Database analytics and
1. Decreased use of traditional media. management.
2. Reduction of budgets all around. Direct mail.
3. Agencies held more accountable for fees they Research.
charge. Media services.
4. Increased emphasis on procurement-driven Creative and production
cost cutting. capabilities.
• Media rebates. • Three main departments:
Account management.
EVALUATING AGENCIES Creative.
Media.
Financial Audit
Cost and expenses. Sales Promotion Agencies
Personnel hours billed. Develop and manage sales promotion
Payments to media. programs.
Payments to outside suppliers. Provide a variety of services:
Promotional planning.
Qualitative Audit Creative research.
Planning, developing, and implementing Tie-in coordination.
program. Fulfillment.
Results achieved. Premium design and manufacturing.
Catalog production.
 Contest/sweepstakes management. Integrated Marketing Communications Services

Public Relations Firms Pros and Cons of Integrated Services

Develops and implements programs to manage Pros:
organization’s: Greater synergy.
Publicity. Convenience.
Image. Single image for product or service.
Affairs with consumers and other Cons:
relevant publics: Budget politics.
Employees, suppliers, Poor communication.
stockholders, government, No synergy.
labor groups, citizen action
groups, and public. Responsibility for IMC: Agency versus Client
Performs a variety of services:
Planning the PR strategy and Key obstacles to IMC implementation:
program. Lack of people with a broad
Generating publicity. perspective and skills to make it
Lobbying and public affairs efforts. work.
Community activities and events. Internal turf battles.
News releases, other Agency egos.
communications. Fear of budget reductions.
Research. Some agencies adding to resources, while
Special events. others seek specialization.
Managing crises.
Preparing for the Future
Digital Agencies
Development and strategic use of various Traditional advertising agencies competing
digital marketing tools: against:
Website design and development. Specialist companies, particularly in
Apps. digital marketing and information
Search engine optimization (SEO). technology.
Banner ads. Clients who are bringing IMC
Video. functions in-house.
Mobile marketing. Agencies must prove their value to clients
Social media campaigns. and provide solutions, not just services.
Foundations of the 2020 agency.
Collateral Services
Marketing research.
Package design.
Consultants.
Photographers.
Graphic designers.
Talent agencies.
Video production.
Event marketing.

CHAPTER 4:
PERSPECTIVES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer Behavior
• Process and activities people engage in
with relation to products and services to
satisfy their needs and desires.
• Searching for.
• Selecting.
• Purchasing.
• Using.
• Evaluating.
• Disposing of.
The Consumer Decision-Making Process
Problem Recognition
• Consumer perceives a need and gets
motivated to solve the problem.
• Caused by difference between consumer’s
ideal state and actual state.
• Sources:
• Out of stock.
• Dissatisfaction.
• New needs or wants.
• Related products or purchases.
• Marketer-induced problem
recognition.
• New products.
Examining Consumer Motivations
• Helps understand the reasons underlying
consumer purchases.
• Motives: Factors that compel a
consumer to take a particular action.
• Hierarchy of needs
• Lower-level physiological and safety
needs must be satisfied before higher-
order needs become meaningful.
• Psychoanalytic theory:
• Influenced modern psychology and
explanations of motivation and
personality.
• Applied to study of consumer behavior.
• Deep motives can only be determined
by probing the subconscious.
• Motivation research:
• Use psychoanalytic techniques to
determine consumers’ purchase
motivations.
• Problems of psychoanalytic theory and
motivation research:
• Psychoanalytic theory criticized as:
• Very vague.
• Unresponsive to external
environment.
• Too reliant on early
development of the individual.
• Uses small sample for drawing
conclusions.
• Motivation research criticized for:
• Results difficult to verify.
• Lack of experimental validation.
• Findings not generalizable to
entire population.
• Contributions of psychoanalytic theory
and motivation research:
• Psychoanalytic theory:
• Insights gained make more
effective strategies than
rationally based appeals.
• Motivation research:
• Helps assess how and why
consumers buy.
• Helps get around stereotypical
or socially desirable responses.
• Forerunner of psychographics.
Information Search
• Internal search: Information retrieval that
involves recalling:
• Past experiences.
• Information regarding various
purchase alternatives.
• External search: Seeking information from
external sources.
• Internet, personal, and public
sources.
• Marketer-controlled sources.
• Personal experience.
• Extent of external source to be used
depends on:
• Importance of purchase decision.
• Effort needed to acquire
information.
• Amount of experience relevant.
• Degree of perceived risk
associated with purchase.
• Time available.
Perception
• Receiving, selecting, organizing, and
interpreting information to create meaningful
picture of the world.
• Depends on:
• Internal factors.
• Characteristics of a stimulus.
Sensation:
• Immediate, direct response of the
senses to stimulus.
• Selecting information:
• Internal psychological factors
determine what one focuses on and/or
ignores.
Interpreting the information:
Organizing and categorizing information
influenced by:
Internal psychological factors.
Nature of the stimulus.
Selective perception:
Selectivity occurs throughout
various stages of consumer’s
perceptual process.
Selective exposure:
➢ Consumers choose whether or not to make
themselves available to information.
Selective attention:
➢ Consumers choose to focus attention on
certain stimuli and not others.
Selective comprehension:
➢ Consumers interpret information on basis of
own attitudes, beliefs, motives, and
experiences.
Selective retention:
➢ Consumers do not remember all information
they see, hear, or read even after attending
to and comprehending it.
Mnemonics: Symbols, rhymes,
associations, and images that
assist in the learning and memory
process.
Subliminal perception:
➢ Ability to perceive stimulus that is below the
level of conscious awareness.
➢ Controversial tactic with strong ethical
implications.
Alternative Evaluation
➢ Comparing brands that have been identified
as capable of:
Solving the consumption problem.
Satisfying the needs or motives that
initiated the decision process.
➢ Evoked set: Subset of all brands of which
consumer is aware.
Size depends on:
Importance of the purchase.
Time and energy spent comparing
alternatives.
Top-of-mind awareness; reminder
advertising.
Evaluative criteria and consequences.
Evaluative criteria: Dimensions or
attributes of a product that are used to
compare different alternatives.
Objective or subjective.
Viewed as product or service
attributes.
Functional consequences: Concrete
outcomes of product or service usage.
Tangible and directly experienced
by consumers.
Psychosocial consequences: Abstract
outcomes that are more intangible,
subjective, and personal.
Subprocesses:
Process by which consumer
attitudes are created, reinforced,
and changed.
Decision rules or integration
strategies used to compare brands
and make purchase decisions.
Attitudes
Learned predispositions to respond to an
object.
Theoretically summarize consumer’s
evaluation of an object.
Represent positive or negative feelings and
behavioral tendencies.
Multiattribute attitude model:
➢ Attributes of product or brand provide basis
on which consumers form attitudes.
➢ Consumers attach different levels of
importance to different attributes.
➢ Salient beliefs:
• Beliefs concerning specific
attributes.
• Consequences that are activated
and form basis of attitude.
Attitude change strategies:
➢ Changing strength or belief rating of brand
on an important attribute.
➢ Changing consumers’ perceptions of the
importance or value of attribute.
➢ Adding new attributes to the attitude
formation process.
➢ Changing perceptions of belief ratings for a
competing brand.
Integration Processes and Decision Rules
Integration processes:
Combining product knowledge, meanings,
and beliefs to evaluate alternatives.
Decision rules: Strategies used to decide among
alternatives.
Heuristics:
➢ Simplified decision rules customers
use for purchase decisions.
Affect referral decision rule:
➢ Selection is made on basis of overall
impression or summary evaluation of
various alternatives under
consideration.
Purchase Decision
Purchase intention:
➢ Predisposition to buy a certain brand
by matching purchase motives with
attributes of brands considered.
Brand loyalty:
➢ Preference for a particular brand that
results in repeated purchases.
Post purchase Evaluation
Satisfaction occurs when consumer’s
expectations are met or exceeded.
Dissatisfaction occurs when product
performance is below expectations.
Cognitive dissonance:
➢ Psychological tension experienced after a
difficult purchase choice.
Post purchase communication is
important.
Variations in Consumer Decision Making
➢ Many purchase decisions based on habitual or
routine choice process.
Marketers need to keep brands in
consumer’s evoked set.
Marketers of new brands or those with a
low market share face a challenge.
➢ A more complicated decision-making process
occurs when consumers have limited
experience in purchasing a particular product
or service.
The Consumer Learning Process
Behavioral Learning Theory
➢ Based on the stimulus–response orientation
(S–R).
➢ Learning occurs as result of responses to
external stimuli in the environment.
➢ Classical conditioning: Learning is an
associative process with existing relationship
between a stimulus and a response.
A conditioned stimulus elicits a
conditioned response.
Contiguity and repetition are necessary.
Marketers strive to associate their
products and services with positive
perceptions, images, and emotions.
Operant conditioning:
Learning occurs when individual actively
operates or acts on some aspect of the
environment.
Reinforcement: Reward or favorable
consequence associated with a
particular response.
Reinforced behavior strengthens bond
between stimulus and response.
Operant conditioning: continued Types: Usage, purchase, and
➢ Schedules of reinforcement: communications situation.
Continuous—Learning occurs rapidly
and every response is rewarded.
• Behavior is likely to cease
when reinforcement stops.
Partial or intermittent—Learning
occurs more slowly but lasts longer.
• Only some responses are
rewarded.
➢ Shaping: Reinforcement of successive acts
that lead to desired behavior pattern or
response.

Cognitive learning theory:

➢ Studies complex mental processes that
underlie consumer decision making.
Perception.
Formation of beliefs about brands.
Attitude development and change. Alternative Approaches to Consumer Behavior
Integration.
New Methodologies
Environmental Influences on Consumer ➢ Qualitative methods.
Behavior ➢ Linguistic or historical perspective of
communications.
Culture ➢ Examining symbolic meanings of
➢ Complexity of learned meanings, values, advertising and facets of consumption.
norms, and customs shared by members of New Insights
society. ➢ Leads to better understanding of:
Subcultures Cultural significance of advertising
➢ Smaller segments within a culture, whose messages.
beliefs, values, norms, and patterns of Influence of advertising images on
behavior set them apart from the larger society.
cultural mainstream.
• Social class:
➢ Homogeneous divisions in a society
into which people sharing similar
lifestyles, values, norms, interests,
and behaviors can be grouped.
Reference Groups
Group whose presumed perspectives or
values are being used by an individual
as basis for judgments, opinions, and
actions.
Types: Associative, aspirational, or
dissociative.
Can include families.
Situational Determinants
Specific situation in which consumers
plan to use the product or brand directly
affects their perceptions, preferences,
and purchase behaviors.