Role of perception in consumer marketing

This one is based on personal experience.

Some time ago, I often used to hear from an elderly age group of people about the complexities that new technology has introduced. Say an ATM machine. Those people were introduced as oldies or outdated people. But today such complains have decreased substantially or to put it in other words those complains have escalated one more generation gap. The people in their mid ages have mostly got adapted to such technologies. Due to which marginal people of next level has also followed.

Now interestingly the fact is that there had been hard efforts to reduce complexity in using technologies, but however it alone did not help substantially to get more people using these technologies. Infact without changing the customer perception by proper marketing mix it would not have been so successful.

Its very hard to alter an established perception of a consumer. Only a deliberately thought marketing can help to make it real. The perfect marketing mix is what is needed to hit the established thought process of the consumer. Especially when we talk about Indian consumers who has their traditional and conventional products and alternatives, which they have been using for years, its very difficult to alter their taste. And majority of brands has also failed in doing so. Finally the marketeers has to adapt to the consumers, the best example being Pizza Hut with its Indian - Punjabi Menu and Mc Donalds with its Indianzied food. Still its not easy for them to get customers to their restaurant. Mc Donalds in India faces heavy competition from Vada Pav stallers, who without any strong marketting, forms the basic diet of lower working class of people of Indian metros especially Mumbai, Surat, Pune, etc.

Mc Donalds have hence evolved to a marketing strategy which serves the basic purpose of transmitting the message that the burger is yet cheap and that that the outlet is not only meant for kids or youths but to older people who has lost their love for such foods. It aims at altering the general perception that the product is expensive, and though if logically thought a visit to their outlet finally proves to be heavy on a normal customer's pocket as he end up spending more.

The basis of any marketing is to make the target audience realize that there is a neccessity of his product in his life and to make him agree to spend his disposable income on the product. The challenge was bigger in recent future. But with the increase of purchasing power of the consumers, more and more class of people has migrated towards better standard of living. Hence Air Conditioners , Laptops, Car Makers now lays more importance on middle class people as their target audience. There has been tremendous increase in advertisement of laptops from "Life is Easy, to King Khan's Compaq series". It has now been accepted trend in Indian consumers that in case you are looking for a machine for your small or big need then better go for a laptop. Needless to say that the sale of laptop has surprassed that of desktop by a huge number.

To sum it up, I would conclude that for any marketteer the most necessary thing today is to first read the conceived pereception of targeted audience and then mould the same with proper devised marketing principles and fundas.

Perception..!!

{Well this blog I wrote as a project. It seems you guys have really liked all my previous blogs. Thanks for your appreciations, but instead of praising them in private I would love if you guys can write them as comment below each blog. Anyways about this blog: Its an outsourced project to me. I am supposed to write more of such types in very less time alloted. Hence without reviewing it for second time I am publishing it. I will reconsider it asap and update the editions. Till then I am quite sure the words below will be make atleast some sense}

Perception



Perception plays a very important role in decision making!! Take this example:

In a party, where Shyam was on his part time job of a waiter, a lady lost her diamond ring. There was a police inquiry and all the guests, servants, caterers and everyone in the party were Maharashtrian except him. He being a Bihari was detained by police for inquiry. He was harassed to the best possible way. Though later the ring was reported to be misplaced by the lady herself, the question here is why didn’t police detain anyone else than a Bihari? In a heated argument with the friend over the same issue we came up with the conclusion that it was all about Perception. See perception took a place so widely and wildly that no one from police, caterers or guests even thought of having a second thought about the police detaining or questioning just a poor outcast Bihari without any sort of proof or reason. Is being a bihari his fault?

Same goes for Muslims in our country and I probably need not explain what I am talking about, cause it’s a wide perception.

If perception when so strong can make the most learned living being on earth loose his logic and reasoning then its noteworthy to think that how this perception when harnessed in proper sense can help to serve personal or utilitarian motives.

Marketers today make the maximum use of this perception game theory. They are the people who understand completely the power of perception. They do not leave any stone unturned to catch, mold and create consumers perception. Be it be FMCG basic product or an Luxurious product, each marketer try to hit on the perception of the consumer. Better put as Brand Identity. Identification of each individual to the brand.

Remember Anchor and Colgate war for their toothpaste box cover design? And of course the close up jingle “kya aap closeup karte hai?”. The only motive behind it was to impact upon target consumer’s mind that its just close up because of which that you get confidence and all good things happens to you. And how about Big B coming to screen and often advising you to include Dabur Chawanprash in you diet, or to drink Dabur Glocouse, or to eat Dabur Hajmola, or to apply Emami Boroplus cream.

In case you are aware of the few facts as that Shahrukhan is no more brand ambassador of Santro, now he is for Hundai i10, similarly, Pepsi has not renewed its contract with Sachin for Pepsi’s promotion, because it feels Sachin no more represent youth.

What’s the relation between Shahrukh’s not being a brand ambassador and perception? Its very obvious that now Santro wants its consumers or target audience to look at Santro and say it’s a Middle class man’s vehicle that were not able to identify themselves with the standards of Shahrukh Khan now with ordinary people can perceive the car to be affordable and meant for them.

Similarly now Pepsi has Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Narayan Kartik, Deepika Padukone, etc as young face of its youngistan campaign. And it wants its target audience to perceive that it’s the voice of Young people who fall in category of Youngistan, a utopia where everything is possible.

Perception is everywhere. Probably the reason behind our every action is the perception of things.

Well as a consumer, to decide if this marketers have the right to play with our perception, will be diplomatic answer. Its after all depends on customer to customer how he takes these imposed perceptions. So you decide if its perception or fact..?