Key Point 1: Who Are These People?
- How do prospects and customers differ? How do MC messages need to be adjusted for these two groups?
- How do consumers and business buyers differ? How do MC messages need to be adjusted for these two groups?
- Give an example of how society and culture affect someone's decision to buy a product.
- What is a reference group? Identify a reference group to which you belong, and explain how that group influenced some buying decision that you have made.
- How do a need and a want differ? Give an example of a purchasing decision that you have made in which the distinction between a need and a want is apparent.
- What does AIDA stand for? Why is the AIDA sequence referred to as a hierarchy-of-effects model?
- How does the think/feel/do model differ from the AIDA model?
- Why do hierarchy-of-effects models shed more light on the decision making of new buyers than on the decision making of repeat buyers?
- Find ads or other types of marketing communication that illustrate the think/feel/do variations. Analyze how they work. Also analyze how they deliver or cue the AIDA effects.
- Explain the difference between low involvement and high involvement. Is the difference determined by the product, the consumer, or the communication?
- Explain the relationship between relevance and levels of involvement? Give an example showing how relevance affected a buying decision that you have made.
- Explain how the concept of elaboration affects the way you make brand decisions. Give an example from your own experience.
- How does a problem differ from an opportunity? Find an ad that uses the problem approach and another that focuses on opportunities. Explain how the messages work.
- Distinguish between needs and wants, and between problems and opportunities. Give an example of each that might motivate the purchase of a product.
- Find an article in the business press about consumer trends. Brainstorm with others in your class to come up with ideas for new products that would address these consumer needs and wants.
- What are the three paths to a brand decision? Describe each one, and give an example of each.
- Why are there fewer steps in the habit/repeat approach than in the cognitive or emotional approaches?
- Contrast cognitive learning theory and conditioned learning theory.
- Explain the role of persuasion in marketing communication.
- What are the two dimensions of attitude? Choose a product category, and describe the dimensions of your own attitude about that category.
- Describe the four attitude and belief change strategies. Pick a high-involvement product that you are interested in buying, and explain how you might respond to MC messages using each of the four change strategies.
- What is the difference between liking the brand and liking the ad? Find an example in which the two likability factors are working at cross-purposes (you like the brand but not the ad, or vice versa).
- Collect cigarette ads that seem to be aimed at young people. Analyze how they affect attitudes in their attempt to sell cigarettes. Compare these ads with those in the Arizona "gross-out" campaign and other antismoking campaigns. Which ones do you feel are most effective? Why?