Successful marketing is one that is capable of transforming people's needs into ideas of products and services that are recognized, accepted and purchased in search of some benefit.
The starting point of any marketing process should be the identification of an unexplored, poorly explored business need or opportunity that can be covered with greater competitiveness and efficiency.
Once the need is identified and the product problem is solved, it is passed to the consumer field who will make purchase decisions based on their perception of need and the information they have to make a decision.
This article will show the identification of opportunities and needs of companies, and then explain the 4 main sources of consumer information.
APPROACH:
People have internal and external stimuli that determine purchasing needs.
The internal stimuli are those that come from inside a person, like when you are thirsty and looking for a glass of water, you're hungry and looking for food or feel boredom and a game or fun looking.
When the need is born from outside, external stimuli are generated that condition some type of consumption, such as seeing a showcase and wanting to have something, such as receiving publicity about the latest sports and wanting to buy it or how to see a notice of the upcoming release in the cinema and wanting to go see it, are needs created from external stimuli.
"The consumer bases his purchasing decisions both on physical needs and on created needs"
IDENTIFICATION OF NEEDS BY COMPANIES:
To please the consumer, the producer must:
- Knowing the types of needs: A first definition may be Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, who categorizes needs as physiological, security, belonging, esteem and self-actualization. Another simpler approach, you can divide needs into those that are physical, and those that are social. Identify the value of the need: Given the conditions of income, culture and psychology of people, companies must determine the value that people would be willing to pay to cover an identified need. For example: The consumer likes to eat a delicious ice cream, but will not be willing to spend all their income eating this product.Identify the right good or service to meet the need: Given a hierarchy of needs and an estimated value of the opportunity, the development of a product or service capable of meeting the need is passed so that the consumer agrees on the use, the quality and the price of the product that is offered to you, covering your need, be it created internally or externally.
RECOGNITION OF PRODUCTS BY CONSUMERS:
The companies identify needs, but it is the consumers who approve or disapprove the products or services offered, once the need is recognized the individual seeks to satisfy it.
Here are the 4 basic sources where individuals receive the information to make a purchase decision.
Basic sources of information for the individual:
1. Experience.
Most of a consumer's needs have been previously resolved, which means that the first source of purchase information is the consumer's experience of a previously used product or service.
If the consumer remembers a product that they have previously accepted, they may look for it again without any additional external information, which makes brand and company recognition a key factor.
2. Direct communication
The second basic source of purchase information comes from communication with other people (family, friends, etc.), who are a reliable source of information for the consumer. Many of the products or services we consume come from the purchasing decisions of people close to our social environment.
Examples: The friend who wears the same type of dress as his group, The recommendation of a clothing brand from mother to daughter.
3. Marketing sources:
The individual knows information about the products or services through traditional marketing means such as advertising, vendors, the internet, television, radio, press, etc.
Marketing strategies of companies and jingles or slogans that remind the individual of brands and products play an important role here.
4. Sources of experience and comparison:
It consists of testing the product for acceptance and purchase, taking into account factors such as price, quantity, quality, etc. This form of recognition requires the individual to go out looking for a type of product and evaluate alternatives to make a purchase decision.
To end:
The identification of needs can then be evaluated from the point of view of the producer who investigates about the preferences of people, or of the same people, who receive information from various media and make consumption decisions based on said information based on previous experience or marketing techniques.
If we analyze the information problem a little, we will find that in the real world it is impossible to find complete information, which forces the producer to estimate the preferences of their potential customers and the consumer to collect incomplete information to make consumption decisions.
For the producer:
The producer will seek to make his product known to the clients trying to efficiently reach the target market and trying to be the only one to arrive. To have positioning advantages and market advantage.
For the consumer:
The consumer must search for various consumption alternatives in order to maximize their degree of satisfaction. Making decisions with little information generates losses to the consumer and profits to the producer because incomplete information is a plus for whoever offers the product.
In other words, the producer identifies needs to develop a product and obtain market advantages, while the consumer will be the one who absorbs information, makes decisions and satisfies consumption needs where he can increase his degree of utility knowing as many alternatives as possible.
