How Can Consumer Behavior Impact Brands?

Would you like to scale your marketing strategy? One of the most efficient ways is by studying consumer behavior for market segmentation. This can have a profound effect on a brand’s marketing strategy. Entrepreneurs can eliminate the noise in the marketplace if they have a handle on what drives purchasing decisions for customers. When customers purchase a product for personal use, those customers become consumers of that product. Their actions can then be used to segment the market strategically, and further boosts your brand’s marketing strategy.

While some entrepreneurs make it necessary to research consumer behavior and use the data to add value to each touchpoint, they are not all infusing this tactic into their marketing campaign. Overlooking such insights can result in the inability to provide consumers with solutions and failure to compete in the marketplace.

This article will briefly discuss the impact of consumer behavior on market segmentation and marketing strategy of a brand.

So, let us dive in.

What is consumer behavior?

According to Wikipedia, “Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with purchasing, using, and disposal of goods and services, and how the consumer’s emotions, attitudes, and preferences affect buying behavior.”

We can reasonably say that it is the consumer’s perspective of a product or service. So, when designing your marketing campaign, some pertinent questions to ask are:

• What is my advertising objective? 
• Where can I post ads to get the most of my advertisement budget? 
• Who will be interested in my offers? 
• Are consumers satisfied with my current offers? 

When you know how to segment your market successfully, you can influence the purchasing patterns of customers.

Now, let us explore further.

How Important is Consumer Behavior for Market Segmentation?

For transparency, let us define market segmentation. According to research, it is dividing the market into groups based on criteria, such as geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral segments.  

Since buying behavior can differ per segment, consumer behavior research is becoming increasingly crucial for entrepreneurs to gain vital information to sufficiently segment their markets. 

That data can be used to assess the attractiveness of the positioning of offers on the market, the features that can be introduced to the products and services, the degree of consumer satisfaction, and customer ideas, among other variables.   

Notably, consumer behavior research data can provide you with clarity on how you can efficiently reach your ideal clients, assess each segment’s viability for sound business decisions, and make the most of customer preferences in each segment so that you can engagingly interact with the emotional appeal of the user.

To build the credibility of your brand, and to have the ability to identify these key components is invaluable. Failure to do so may be devastating for your business. Let us look at an example.

According to Forbes, “[…] an attempt was made by a brand to influence consumer behavior. However, its attempt fell short because the fictitious company failed to align with its target audience. [Moreover, this report] identifies that 76% of consumers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations.”

 “Consumers now have a voice. And the fact that consumers can be creators, producers, and distributors means they can push back against brands to punish them for their socially irresponsible behavior or reward them for their responsible behavior.” 
– Simon Mainwaring

So, when the market is segmented, entrepreneurs will have a greater understanding of why consumers are selecting certain products or services and why they buy them, and therefore more opportunities to convincingly meet their needs.

How Consumer Behavior Impacts a Brand’s Marketing Strategy?

Further research reveals that “brands, big and small, are scrambling to catch up with radical changes in consumer behavior.”  

As we can see, it is logical to believe that consumer behavior can have a direct effect on the marketing efforts of your brand. 

Knowing what your consumers want, such as, when they will buy, how often they will buy, how much will they pay, and what qualities will drive them to buy your products or services, will help you to position your brand and construct a compelling marketing strategy to stay ahead of your competitors.  

Consumer behavior research can also help you create winning product strategies by clarifying the offerings that are suitable for each market segment, setting prices, identifying the best location for distribution, and distinguishing your product during promotion. 

Apple, Inc., for instance, is a typical example. Let us look at Apple’s strategy and how consumer behavior impacts their marketing efforts. According to The Denver Post, “The awe-inspiring hype and buzz over Apple’s products have been an annual occurrence since the original iPhone launched in 2007, a phenomenon few brands can generate. It is a creation of general consumer behavior, with a push from the company itself […]. That coy approach has been the company’s mantra since the first iPhone, a strategy that has worked to drum up insatiable demand.”

Conclusion

Consumer behavior needs to be an integral component of a brand’s marketing strategy to segment your market effectively. As you have discovered, the insights it provides will indubitably help you to cut through the proliferation of intuition versus facts. Thus, enabling you to construct a powerful marketing strategy for your brand. Consumer behavior can be complicated and challenging, and should not be evaluated based on intuition, as problems can be underestimated.

So, what’s next!

Entrepreneurs must be mindful that customers can also track consumer behavior to their advantage. Why? Because it helps consumers to understand the competition and see how their perceptions, emotions, and behavior are affected by the marketplace. Also, savvy consumers can use the information to change their behavioral pattern.

Furthermore, entrepreneurs must be pragmatic in their methodology when studying consumer behaviors. There are several approaches to assess consumer behavior, including observation, experimentation, interviews, and surveys.  

Now, are you ready to learn how these approaches can be implemented to improve your brand’s marketing strategy and outrank your competition?

“A Brand can be an irresistible source of inspiration for customers when it is positioned by consumer behavior research.”
– Donnicka Robert

Let us look at how businesses use a range of approaches to gather information to build a consumer behavior profile that can be applied easily to scale the strategy of your brand.

Please share your thoughts and comments!