A post on the ‘Talking Points’ page of The British Population Survey website caught my attention the other day. It was talking about unemployment and the fact that job hunting is becoming an on line occupation via a mobile internet device. Not so much ‘on yer bike’ as ‘on yer android’ (Apologies to Norman Tebbitt!)
This prompted me to look at some other changes which the advance of technology has brought to marketing and if the hype is reflected in the reality.
In a recent post the amount of coverage Social Media gets in the marketing press was contrasted with the influence it has on purchase decisions. The result being that very few consumers are influenced by Facebook etc, whereas the vast majority are still influenced by Family and Friends, Brand Experience and In Store Discounts.
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The Non Internet Population
Are people without internet access worth marketing to ?
With the rise in digital media, marketing seems dominated by email, social media, banners, apps, buttons etc. Not surprising when you combine the desire to cut cost with the ‘shiny new toy’ syndrome. After all, old style marketing via things like direct mail, door drop and even TV seem dull compared to the brave new world of digital!
The other issue is that a lot of research is now done via internet surveys and panels. The net effect being that little is known about people who do not use the internet, assumptions are made about them, and they are ignored by a lot of marketers.
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Wouldn’t it be great to know your customers so well that you could predict how they will respond to a new product launch or marketing campaign? By understanding the basic decisions and actions of the people involved in buying and using your products you can.
‘Buying behaviour’ describes what, when, where and how customers purchase our offer. Contrary to popular belief, marketing is not about controlling these factors, but about understanding them and adapting our marketing mix to appeal to the target audience and satisfy their needs and wants.
With each and every purchase, we engage in decision-making behaviour. The time and effort we put into the decision-making varies from the situation we are in and from person to person. For example, my husband and I needed a sat nav. If I was buying it I’d have gone to somewhere like Halfords or Argos, seen what was available for around £100 and bought the nicest looking one. My husband however, spent hours researching products and reviews on the internet and came up with an elaborate scoring system that covered consumer rating, price, size of display, how you update the maps and much more… It took him a long time to make the decision but he was very satisfied with his purchase. I kind of like the sat nav too but clearly not as much as my husband does!
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