Consumer Psychology and Marketing Communications Article Analysis Essay

Consumer Psychology and Marketing Communications Article Analysis Consumer Psychology is the art of determining consumer requirements through study and analysis of consumer spending and purchasing habits relating to products or services advertised for sale. The analysis portion focuses on consumer motivation concerning products and mood relative to purchasing products. The Cherry (2012) website Consumer Psychology is a specialty area that studies how our thoughts, beliefs, feelings, perceptions influence how people buy and relate to goods and services. One formal definition of the field describes it as the study of individuals, groups, or organizations, and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. Psychological variable associations with buyer behavior represent a very significant part of what researchers study about consumers. Historically, the emphasis has been on several important areas: needs and motivation, perception, learning, attitudes, and psychographics. Many investigations into psychological characteristics and buyer behavior ultimately emphasize the existence of market segments and how well those segments predict differences in consumer activities, examining the intrinsic qualities of individuals and how those identifications facilitate targeting consumer groups (McDonald, 1994). According to the Society for Consumer Psychology, division 23 of the American Psychological Association, consumer psychology employs theoretical psychological approaches to understanding consumers. Consumer psychologists study a variety of topics, including how consumers choose businesses, products, and services, the thought processes, and emotions behind consumer decisions. Other factors considered are how environmental variables such as friends, family, media, and culture influence buying decisions, what motivates people to choose one product over another, how personal factors and individual difference affect people’s buying choices and what marketers can do to reach effectively out to their target customers (Cherry, 2012). Consumer behavior consists of studying buyer’s trends and the processes they use to choose, consume, and dispose of products and services. A more in-depth definition will also include how that process affects the world. Consumer behavior incorporates ideas from several sciences, including psychology, biology, chemistry, and economics. Mood of the consumer can affect buying habits. The line between an emotion and mood is frequently difficult to draw, but often by convention involves conceiving of a mood as longer lasting from a few hours up to days and lower in intensity than an emotion. Still another distinction between emotions and moods is that the former typically is intentional, that is, it has an object or referent, whereas moods are generally nonintentional and global or diffused. Marketing communications are messages and other media that used to communicate the promotion part of marketing that consisting of pricing, products, promoting, and placing. Marketing communications is what drives us to buy, whereas consumer psychology studies how or why we buy. It is the study of why we buy certain products and not others, and the process of what we go through to use, select, secure, and dispose of these products or services. It delves into the reasons of how we satisfy our needs and the impact these processes have on society and the consumer. The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues, such as the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives, e. g. , brands, products, and retailers. Several other psychological factors also considered are how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment, e. g. culture, family, signs, media; the behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions; limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome. Finally, how consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in his or her level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer, how marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer (Perner, 2010). Consumer psychology studies human characteristics (feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and beliefs) and how these characteristics governs our thoughts, influence how we relate to, and buy goods and services. It studies why we purchase desired products and not others, and the process of what we go through to use, select, secure, and dispose of these products or services. It delves into the reasons of how we satisfy our needs and the impact these processes have on society and the consumer.