Question: I just need help anwsering the following 3 questions.
1. Sonic has selected a target demographic consisting of: professionals, students, corporate users, entrepreneurs, and medical users. Based on these target groups, should Sonic's marketing plan emphasis the aspect of consumer behavior they find the most relevant in purchasing smart phones, or those most relatable to each demographic, and why?
2. Is it more important to the Sonic marketing team to advertise to make a personal connection as a new company, or influence the social group in hopes of establishing brand recognition when considering Sonic's target demographics?
3. Consumer behavior is the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, use and dispose of good, services, ideas, or experience to satisfy their needs and wants (Kotler, P. & Keller, K., 2016). Three factors influence consumer behavior, cultural factors, social factors, personal factors. Give an example of each, and determine which one has the most influence on the consumer for the product or service you have selected for your own marketing plan, and why.
Here is the info to answer the questions.
Introduction
Sonic is preparing to launch a state-of-the-art, multimedia smartphone, the Sonic 1000. They have outlined their marketing plan addressing some of the most basic needs of targeted consumers and business segments in a cost-effect manner. For Sonic to find ways to advertise their product, they need to understand the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select their products. "Consumer behavior is the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their need and wants" (Kotler& Keller, 2016, p. 157). Marketing is linked to satisfaction and fulfilling the emerging needs and wants of consumers in an efficient way that is better than their competitors. Sonic need to focus their marketing plan based on consumer choices. By analyzing consumer characteristics of demographic, psychographic, behavior and geographic traits, Sonic can use this information to separate and recognize prime customer factions.
Analysis
What cultural, social, and personal factors are likely to most influence consumer purchasing of smartphones?
Many cultural factors can have a significant effect on the consumer's purchasing decisions. Beliefs and principles play a large role in what smartphone are purchased. First, cultures will be broken down into subcultures. Religion, class status, and age all play a role in the buying decision for each consumer. While religion may not play a big role in purchasing of smartphones, class status, and age does. Upper or middle-class people may choose a smartphone that has more features at a higher cost. However, lower class people may choose to go with the cheapest phone that only has basic features such as talking and texting. Age plays a role in purchasing smartphones as well. Younger generations may want a phone that has a multitude of apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat while the older generation may like a phone that is simple to use with the basic features such as making calls and sending text messages.
Consumers are easily influenced by what they see on TV and by their close peers. The media influences consumers by telling them what a phone can or cannot do. Parents and peers can also influence the purchase of specific smartphones. It is easy to get suggestions from peers who already have the phone of interest. In addition, the internet can easily sway a consumer to choose one phone over another. The internet is full of reviews of many different types of phones, and a quick search can show what one phone may do better than another. Many individuals also like to purchase phones that are currently trending such as the iPhone X.
Every individual has a different need when it comes to their smartphone. An individual may need an iPhone because the iOS is compatible with the Mac's at work or want certain apps that may not be available on competitor operating systems. For example, Excel on an Android phone is much easier to use than Excel on an iPhone. For these reasons, personal factors often play the most important role in the individuals' consideration in purchasing a smartphone (Warren, 2011). There are many other features on an Android app that are comparable to the iPhone app. Physicians may use an iPhone because companies such as Kaiser use FaceTime to communicate with patients.
What research tools would help you better understand the effect on buyer attitudes and behavior?
Communicating with the customer in order to understand the need for the company's products and services is essential. This can is achieved through the integration of different channels such as advertisement, internet, exhibitions and direct marketing. Multiple research tools can be utilized to get a better understanding of Sonics effects on buyer attitudes and behaviors. Seeing how Sonic is a new company, surveys and questionnaires can be conducted either over the phone, online and/or in person, to obtain information about Sonic's smartphone - Sonic 1000. Surveys tend to be on the shorter side in regards to the amount of questions, while questionnaires are much more in-depth and can take much longer. The questions need to be fact-finding to identify "the circumstances that trigger a particular need by gathering information from a number of consumers" (Kotler & Keller, 2016, p. 173).
Additionally, focus groups are used to collect information about the product itself, commercials, or other Sonic marketing efforts. Myers (2016) writes, "Focus group participants might watch a commercial and give their opinions about its effectiveness, or they might share opinions about several similar products." These focus groups can provide feedback (pros and cons) about the use of Sonic 1000. Another research tool that can help Sonic is Google Analytics. Google Analytics provides detailed information and insight into their website's traffic. Some of the information they can obtain are demographics, interests, geographic location, behavior, and the technology that is being used. If Sonic sets up advertising, they can place UTM tags to track traffic to their website, which then can provide them more insights.
Which aspects of consumer behavior should Sonic's marketing plan emphasize, and why?
The consumer behaviors which dictate the ways in which individuals and groups "select, buy, use and dispose of" (Kotler & Keller, 2016, p. 157) are of vital importance to a marketing plan. With target markets of corporate and medical users, entrepreneurs, professionals, and students, Sonic must decide which aspects of consumer behavior to focus on. As a new company with no established customer base, brand recognition is a challenge they will be facing. Some consumers will simply not buy their product because of another brand they are loyal to, so they need to find a way to connect with their intended client base to establish themselves. Sonic wants to put emphasis on the innovation of their new product at a value-added price. Associating their brand from the start with traits the individual finds appealing, or can relate to, are key. Sincerity and Competence are two options to lure customers which complement the brand's innovation and lower price. The desire to deliver a cost-effective product, with the goal of meeting the customers' desire for versatility and reliability can establish Sonic as a leader in its target demographics. Though many individuals assess the purchases of their peers when buying a smartphone, entering into this type of market with no brand recognition as a company which cares about meeting the specific needs of each customer, can establish a connection and accelerate sales and brand recognition. Sonic may find that focusing on the personality traits associated with their brand is key to their success.
What marketing activities should Sonic plan to coincide with each stage of the consumer buying process?
Problem Recognition. Problem Recognition is where the buyer recognizes a want or need. A want or need hopefully compels the prospect or buyer to start the buying process. An ideal way of recognizing the needs of consumers is through a survey. Knowing the needs of consumers when designing the product is vital if we talk about the possible sales and interested consumers (Kotler & Keller, 2016, p. 182) In addition, Sonic intends to have a sales promotion campaign in January and participate in exhibitions at the major consumer electronics trade shows. At these events, buyers will see and try out the new device. At the same time, they would provide samples to selected product reviewers, opinion leaders, and celebrities. When these people recognize a feature, like voice recognition, as a unique feature that could spread and identify speech recognition as a must have for any device. An example of such a phenomena is the iPhone. When iPhone entered the market the phone was the first to have a touchscreen and made touch screens a must on any smart device.
Information Search. When consumers are aware of a new product or a new need, they will start to look for information. At the start, a person has heightened attention in which "a person is more receptive to information about a product" and then move to "an active information search" (Kotler& Keller, 2016, p. 183) Initially they will approach friends and family to get a trusted opinion. Next, they will look in stores and talk to dealers. Finally, they will look to mass media or consumer rating agencies like Consumer Reports. Advertisements, good customer service, easy to use websites, and clever packaging are the important marketing activities to be implemented at this time. Getting word of mouth and getting people excited is the goal of marketing activities at this time. Also, broadcast and other mass media will help get the device into the mind of the consumer. Sonic, plans to use print or radio or internet campaign targeting the professional and consumers on February which is good timing.
Evaluation of Alternatives. At this point, the unique features of Sonic's device must be emphasized. "Through experience and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes" (Kotler & Keller, 2016, p. 184). Consumers have plenty of access to information about competitors and the devices they offer. Consumers are careful in terms of selecting the right product and they always seek for benefit and avoid being a loser. This stage is often where the win or loss happens. If Sonic has a value proposition that is seen as better than anyone else they will likely get the win. Sonic must ensure their product is seen as often as possible and must show why their product is better. A good example of such a campaign is when Microsoft ran commercials where they compared the Surface Pro to other tablets and touted the Surface as a way to replace the laptop. In March, Sonic will be adopting sales promotion tactics such as giving away leather carry-case as a premium. Further to this they will provide new point-of-purchase displays to retailers.
Purchase Decision. At this point, the consumer has, hopefully, done the research and is ready to make the final decision as to brand, dealer, quantity, timing, and payment method (Kotler & Keller, 2016, p. 186). To help with any indecisiveness or to make one last attempt; Sonic plans, in April, to have a sales contest offering prizes for the salesperson and retail organization that sells the most Sonic devices during a four-week period. This is a great strategy because the contest will make staff more proactive. However, the contest is only the start. Sonic's brand is not established enough at this point and will not take over other brands. Building on the momentum of the contest Sonic needs to reach the target market which will hopefully be reinforced by those prospects that bought the device. Sonic will be starting a new national advertising campaign in May. The radios ads will feature celebrities promoting Sonic. As noted before, the celebrities are opinion leaders and have influence and can inject the Sonic brand into the consumer's' mind.
Post Purchase Behavior. The purchase is not the last step. A thorough marketing campaign considers what happens after the sale. The after sales data becomes a vital marketing input which affects future product offerings of the organization. Once a product is sold, it is important to follow up and evaluate the product again based on customer satisfaction as the main barometer of success. Did the product meet or exceed the buyer's expectations? If the answer is yes or no data must be gathered. Gathering this data is one of if the most important step. The organization must conduct customer satisfaction surveys, monitor social media and check consumer rating websites. This is a more holistic approach to marketing in which the organization tries "to fully understand customers so the right products are always marketed to the right customers in the right way" (Kotler & Keller, 2016, p. 188)
What are the implications for Sonic's marketing efforts to support the launch of its smart phone?
To support the launch of its smartphone, Sonic's marketing effort focuses on getting their brand out there by using crowd sourcing to generate buzz with a video contest designed to grab the attention of the young consumer. Anything that has the perception that it is popular or has become viral, in this social media driven society, will ultimately have a larger following (Kotler & Keller, 2016). One area that needs to be addressed is that they must stay relevant and keep the brand in the viral state within social media. This creates an opportunity for Sonic to obtain their 1 percent of the market within the first year. If Sonic is able to remain relevant, they can work on breakeven point within the second year.
Furthermore, their marketing mix from January through product launch and continuing until June will incorporate feedback from consumers for their next model. With the incorporation within their marketing of feedback from consumers, the brand gains loyalty by showing that they are listening to the users and giving them what they want.
Conclusion
Sonic is in arguably one of the most vital steps in their life cycle, researching and analyzing their target market for launch. Sonic has looked at cultural factors such as class status and age, social factors including television and peer influence, and personal factors like apps and features to best understand what influences consumer purchasing. Sonic will be using surveys, questionnaires, focus groups and Google analytics to understand the effects of buyer attitudes and behavior. Sonic has an opportunity to emphasize their brand recognition, the innovation of their new product, and the value added price of this new smartphone in their initial marketing plan.
Sonic chose the following marketing activities from each stage of the consumer buying process. In the Problem Recognition stage, surveys, sales promotion campaign and exhibitions at major consumer electron trade shows were chosen. In the Evaluation of Alternatives, they chose to emphasize Sonic's unique features. In the Purchase Decision stage Sonic plans, in April, to have a sales contest offering prizes for the salesperson and retail organization that sells the most Sonic devices during a 4-week period. In the Post Purchase Behavior stage, a thorough marketing campaign will consider what happens after the sale. Gathering this data is one of if the most important step.
To support the launch of Sonic's smartphone, they need to focus on getting their brand well known and popular. Their marketing team needs to keep the brand relevant and trending on social media while at the same time incorporate consumer feedback on their next model.