Internal Influences on Consumer Behavior for Plasma TVs

Introduction

This phase of the marketing experience revolves around the perceived impact of various internal influences on consumers as they are convinced to purchase Gateway Plasma Screen Televisions. The report examines various aspects and marketing approaches — including demographic data such as age and income, as well as psychographic data such as personality style and lifestyle — and how these factors affect the marketing of televisions.

Our highly technologically advanced world has introduced new sources and opportunities such as direct database marketing, email contact points, and internet shopping. Marketing and selling have changed considerably. Traditional advertising techniques such as newspaper and television ads have become too impersonal, as the twenty-first century approach to marketing now entails personalized service. Technology has made it possible to sell directly to specific consumers. For example, magazine advertisements that place a subscriber's name within an ad give the consumer the impression that the message was created specifically for them. Traditional mass-media marketing may reach large audiences, but those techniques lack any reliable methodology for qualifying recipients. To sell Gateway Plasma Screen Televisions effectively, the marketing approach must find a way to identify and speak directly to potential customers.

Internal Influences and Database Marketing

Today, database technology has allowed all areas of the marketing industry — and the companies that use it to sell products — to gather a great deal of information on both current and potential customers. This detailed consumer knowledge has allowed organizations to construct profiles of their ideal buyer. To sell those model consumers on any new or existing product, it is then most effective to allow those consumers and their peers to discuss the product with each other, because word of mouth is what ultimately decides whether a product is purchased. "Word of mouth is the reality that intervenes between your communication and sales" (Silverman, 1997). Over time, databases have given marketers valuable insights into customers' personalities, motivations, attitudes, perceptions, and values.

Gateway now has the ability to gather a wealth of demographic information on its consumers, as well as data related to why those consumers purchase plasma screen products. This data has also been found to be far more accurate than at any previous point in history. Websites, for instance, can attract a large number of potential customers to take online surveys. These surveys provide sellers with so much information that they are often overwhelmed by it. Consumers have been asked to voluntarily complete personality tests that generate enough data for an organization to employ experts in Existential and Humanistic theories. With that information in hand, marketers can readily create strategies and approaches based on model consumers' authentic, meaningful, and self-directed choices, values, and motivations. Organizations worldwide now understand that they can actively harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing using this personality information stored in their databases. "Buzz is no longer a hit-or-miss proposition used exclusively by fringe marketers. These days, plenty of big players are trying hard to systematize buzz techniques" (Khermouch & Green, 2001).

Gateway Plasma Screen Televisions are more likely to be sold successfully through consumer-specific word-of-mouth and personalized marketing techniques than through traditional approaches such as television and radio advertising. Because Gateway has access to the personality profiles, motivations, attitudes, perceptions, and values of its consumers, it no longer needs to rely on market saturation or catchall marketing materials, events, or salespeople.

Psychographic Information

Companies are skilled at using psychographic information to construct profiles of ideal or target consumers. To create a model for Gateway Plasma Screen Televisions, it is best to focus entirely on consumer lifestyles rather than basic demographic information alone. Online surveys, in-store surveys, direct mail, or email questionnaires would ask existing owners of Gateway Plasma Screen Televisions, potential owners, and casual shoppers about their life activities, interests, and opinions. A second dimension of psychographic data collection may involve questionnaires that ask about or measure consumers' brand interests.

When Gateway or any other company cannot gather sufficient data from its own internal databases, it can purchase psychographic data from external organizations that specialize in this type of information. Gateway would hire or contract with such an organization to better understand the buying habits of past, present, and potential plasma TV consumers. These external services can also provide additional value in areas such as product development, product positioning, advertising effectiveness, and corporate image.

Conclusion

This phase of the marketing experience revolved around the perceived impact of various internal influences on consumers as they would be convinced to purchase Gateway Plasma Screen Televisions. The report examined various aspects and marketing approaches, including demographic data gathering such as age and income, as well as psychographic data gathering that incorporates personality style and lifestyle information.