Marketing Psychology

ONLINE STUDY MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY

A valuable course for anyone involved in marketing.

Once a niche in the market has been identified, a product can be positioned in the market place.

Today marketers are able to target their market segment and send personalised communications. This is known as a segment of one and is a return to producer-consumer relations that existed prior to mass production.

If this interests you. This may be the course for you.

Why do people choose to buy something? What influences their thinking to decide one way rather than another? Develop your ability to understand how an understanding of Psychology can be applied to marketing

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. People as Consumers
   • Understanding the types of psychological rewards gained by a person through buying. Distinguishing between consumers, customers and buyers?
2. Market Segmentation
   • Understanding market segments and applying the concept of target marketing.
3. Internal Influences
   • Perception & Personality Consumer self image, difference threshold, trait theory of personality, etc.
4. Internal Influences
   • Motivation and Awareness Customer satisfaction, the way complaints are dealt with, stimulus generalisation and stimulus discrimination, etc
5. Social Influences
   • Family Influences, Social groups, Developmental Influences, Peer Group Influences (Work and Leisure), Social Class and Culture
6. Consumerism
   • Deceptive advertising, sensitivity to consumer needs, variation between perception and reality.
7. Communication and Persuasion
   • Message Evaluation, Selection & Execution
8. Deciding to Buy
   • Why people shop, or do not shop; surveying the market place.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Some Sample Course Notes

There are three main types of innovation that can be diffused (incorporated into the market over time; though most innovations are never diffused and disappear quickly).

1/ Continuous innovation is where a product is modified slightly to give a minor change in consumer behaviour e.g. low-sugar baked beans

2/ Dynamically continuous innovation involves a greater modification of an existing product or the invention of a new one in order to bring about a greater change in consumer behaviour.

3/ Discontinuous Innovation is less common and involves a change in attitude and behaviour, having the greatest social impact. It arises due to the invention of a new product e.g. the motor car.

There are five variables that serve as a good indicator of consumer response.

1/ Relative advantage is the extent to which the innovation represents an improvement on the part of the consumer in comparison to existing products.

2/ Compatibility is the extent to which a new product matches the existing wants, needs, preferences, attitudes and behaviours of the existing market.

3/ Complexity is concerned with the perceived difficulty of using the product. Obviously the easier it is to use the more saleable the item will be.

4/ Testability refers to trying out or sampling the product, which is obviously easier with some products than others.

5/ Observability is the ease with which the benefits of the product can be conveyed to other consumers. It can be seen that public products will have an advantage over private products