BUSINESS TACTICS: USE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND PSYCHOLOGY FOR MARKETING

INTRODUCTION

There are many companies that use consumer behavior and psychology for marketing their products and services. This article briefly explains how these tactics are used along with some critical questions connected to Business tactics and Business ethics.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Consumer behavior can be defined as the set of reactions that a buyer, receiver or consumer of goods and services has towards them or the seller. Many companies use statisticians and Business Analysts to study these trends and make detailed reports for business development and marketing strategy.

PSYCHOLOGY

Human psychology is the general set of reactions and emotions of any human being towards the outside world. ‘Human sentiments’ is a term that is very closely related to Human psychology. ‘Human sentiments’ can be a delicate area as far as businesses are concerned.

THE SIMPLE SUCCESSFUL SELLING MODEL

A simple selling model can be successful if the buyer or receiver of goods or services is satisfied with the quality of goods and services. This implies that the goods or services were worth the price paid by the buyer.

USE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Consumer behavior trends are useful information about consumer’s reactions to various products or services and are studied and documented by various organizations. This information is used to predict the future behavior of the consumers and becomes a vital input for the marketing strategy of the organization.

A typical example of a consumer behavior can be drop in sales due to increase in prices. This may prompt a company to quickly reduce prices to increase sales.

The use of consumer behavior for marketing can be quite useful and is a direct way of understanding how receptive the consumers are to the product or service.

It is important to note that consumer behavior is a good indicator of overall quality of a product or service and is aimed at business excellence.

USE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is general information about human behavior and is a delicate science. Some companies use this information to entice or woo their target customers.

Psychology deals with and influences human sentiments and can be a questionable tactic when used for marketing. The use of psychology may directly affect human feelings to make them behave in a favorable manner.

A typical example of psychology can be can be a sale happening due to reasons other than quality like motivation etc. This may prompt a company to motivate a consumer or buyer segment to behave in a favorable way to achieve sales.

It is important to note that psychology is not an indicator of overall quality of product or service and is aimed at business development.

SOME QUESTIONS

Consumer behavior trends are entirely relevant to the product or service that is being marketed and hence can be termed as a ‘relevant’ approach to marketing.

Psychology is not connected to any product or service and is not relevant to the product or service that is being marketed and can be termed as an ‘irrelevant’ approach to marketing.

The questions are-

1. How ethical is psychology as a marketing or business tactic?
2. Does psychology speak about the product or service and its quality?
3. Does psychology based marketing conform to human rights principles?
4. Is it acceptable to influence human sentiments for business development purposes?
5. Does the use of psychology create win-win situations for a buyer and a seller all the time?