Think about a recent purchase that you made. Did you start out with a problem or need? How did you determine what product you wanted to purchase? Did the product you purchased end up filling your needs?
To determine how to connect with a consumer audience, marketers need to understand the consumers behavior. Its their goal to get inside the head of a consumer. What motivates the consumer to go out and make a purchase? Why might they choose a particular product over another? Why might a customer be satisfied with their purchase or why might they choose to return it? The consumer decision making process brings to light the need or desire for products. Many purchases are made without a second thought. Some, however, take much thought and investigation. The consumer decision making process consists of five steps:
Need recognition
Information search
Evaluations of alternatives
Purchase
Post-purchase behavior
Please review the video below to go in-depth on the 5 steps of the consumer decision-making process:
The Consumer Buying Process: How Consumers Make Product Purchase Decisions | Episode 50 (12:14)
The Consumer Buying Process: How Consumers Make Product Purchase Decisions (Links to an external site.)
The Consumer Buying Process: How Consumers Make Product Purchase Decisions
Consider how this information could be helpful to a new small business. What are some best practices they could use to influence their potential consumers to do business with them?
Factors that Influence Decision Making
There are several factors that impact and influence consumer decision-making. Consider your own buying behaviors. When you were growing up, did your personal values, teachers or other cultural factors impact what brands you chose to buy? What about social factors? Where you ever influenced by your parents or friends? Personal or individual factors that could influence decision-making include gender, age, family life cycle stage, personality, self-concept, and lifestyles. Consider these questions while you watch the video Key Factors that Influence the Buying Decisions of Consumers.
Key Factors That Influence the Buying Decisions of Consumers (6:31 minutes)
Key Factors That Influence the Buying Decisions of Consumers (Links to an external site.)
Key Factors That Influence the Buying Decisions of Consumers
With the emergence of social media, word travels fast! We are able to connect with many individuals and share our thoughts and opinions even more quickly. Advertisements have become common on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. There are even social media influencers who are paid by companies to encourage their followers to purchase their products. While reading the below article, consider the influence social media has had on your buying decisions.
How social media influences consumer buying decisions (506 words)
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/marketing/2015/05/how-social-media-influences-consumer-buying.html (Links to an external site.)
Buyers Remorse
Buyer’s remorse is a phenomenon that occurs more often than business owners and corporations would like. It can occur when a customer is sold something (large or small) and after purchasing it and thinking about how they may not truly need or want it, they feel remorse or even anger. The customer may choose to return the product, write a negative review or discuss their dissatisfaction with other consumers. Buyers remorse is often caused by dissonance, which is conflict or tension within the consumer as they consider a purchase. Please read this article which will discuss the concepts of dissonance and buyers remorse as well as what marketers can consider to try to avoid it:
What is Dissonance in Marketing? (431 words)
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/dissonance-marketing-25900.html (Links to an external site.)
Prompt
Many of you have purchased or plan to purchase a new vehicle. This process can be very trying and lengthy. Using the five steps in the consumer decision-making process discuss each step as related to purchasing a vehicle. It can be new or used, you choose the features, specifications and price.
For your citation, you might use articles that show the steps in the consumer decision making process. You can also find articles from experts that discuss the impact of making purchases without prior consideration. You will also cite and reference the source for the information on the vehicle type and final choice.
Your initial and reply posts should work to develop a group understanding of this topic. Challenge each other. Build on each other. Always be respectful but discuss this and figure it out together.
DISCUSSION-2
Learning Objectives Covered
LO 03.02 – Discuss the importance of maintaining a professional graphic design presence
Career Relevancy
In this discussion, we will discuss the importance of establishing a professional network and presence as a graphic designer. This is relevant to your career as a professional graphic designer because if you do not have a presence in digital spaces as a graphic designer, you most likely won’t be found by clients. Potential employers also will most likely scour the web looking for information on you to see examples of your work before considering to hire you, thus your digital presence can also become a way you might be interviewed.
In addition, when beginning in graphic design much work comes via word of mouth. By cultivating a professional network of design contacts, you have a larger field of contacts who are much more likely to recommend you to clients and keep their eyes open for projects that might be a good fit for your skills.
Background
DES109_Discussion4.jpg
Graphic designers most often help others build their own personal brand and digital presence. That said, it is equally important that designers themselves have a strong personal brand including a professional graphic design presence.
The following five reasons outline why maintaining a professional presence is particularly important:
Stand out from the crowd
Position yourself as an expert
Show professional commitment
Set expectations
Build connections
Stand out from the crowd
The graphic design world is extremely competitive. Maintaining a personal presence helps you showcase your unique abilities and qualifications. This helps to set you apart from the thousands of other designers out there. In addition, showcasing your unique abilities helps clients find what they are looking for and ensures that you both are a good fit to work together.
Position yourself as an expert
Showing that you know how to effectively market yourself and showcase your own presence as a designer increases your credibility as a designer because it shows that you know how to practice what you preach. By being an expert in your own personal promotion, clients know that they can trust you to apply the same care to their brand and needs.
Show professional commitment
Having an established personal graphic design presence as a professional shows that you are committed to your work and the field of design. A sense of stability helps to increase trust within the client relationship because clients know they can work with you long term on their brand or project needs.
Set expectations
Using your graphic design presence to showcase your own unique style and abilities means that you can give clients a sneak peek into who you are and how you work before they even meet you. This is very valuable because it helps to clarify expectations and again build trust amongst you and your client.
Build connections
Your personal graphic design presence acts as a marketing and promotional tool that works around the clock, showcasing your skillset and capabilities. In this way, you never know who may come across your work. Other designers may see your projects, be interested, and ask you to work with them in a collaborative manner. Clients may see your projects, be interested, and ask you to work with them to develop a design piece they need. Opening the potential to these connections is key because you never know where they might lead.
The design world is extremely competitive. If you do not maintain a strong presence as a designer, you will quickly fade into the background and be passed over. On the other hand, if you consciously cultivate a presence as a professional designer you will most likely reap many benefits.
Prompt
For this discussion, imagine again that you are attending a networking event with several other designers. In the course of a conversation, one of the designers mentions that they are not comfortable sharing their work with others thus they have no professional design presence, online portfolio, etc. They ask your thoughts on the subject.
How might you explain to other designers who are resistant to an online portfolio why maintaining a professional design presence is so important?
What benefits might you highlight and why would you highlight them?
How might you describe the current professional design world?
Why might someone be hesitant to maintain their presence and how might you help them become more comfortable?
For your citation, you might use articles that show examples of the importance of a graphic design portfolio. You can also find articles from experts that suggest how designers go about marketing themselves.
Your initial and reply posts should work to develop a group understanding of this topic. Challenge each other. Build on each other. Always be respectful but discuss this and figure it out together.
Instructions (if needed) to upload and embed images to the discussion: (make sure you reference all images you use)
How to embed an image in a discussion reply as a student: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1929 (Links to an external site.)
How do I upload a file to my user or group files: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-3145
