Consumer Behavior and its Application in Marketing

       Consumer behaviors control the type of marketing strategy that organizations such as small businesses employ, so they conduct studies to determine which strategies are likely to prove most effective. Small businesses need to know the members of their target audience, what they want, where they are located and how they'll react to product promotions. They gather this information via surveys and studying data regarding the past behavior of consumers. Data is obtained from a variety of sources such as marketing databases, sales history and the Internet.

Sales Forecasts
Organizations study past consumer behaviors to determine future sales. Sales forecasts estimate the expected sales for a particular market during a specified time period. Sales forecasts cannot be higher than the market potential and usually fall short of expectations. Different methods exist for forecasting sales, most of which revolve around obtaining information directly from past buyers. Some examples of forecasting methods are quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative forecasts predict the sales of products based on past results and qualitative forecasts predict sales based on expert opinions in the field.

Research Surveys
Research surveys are conducted for the purpose of studying consumer behaviors. They help companies learn what consumers want, as well as how they respond to advertising. They also help pinpoint potential problems. Some examples of research surveys are new-product concept tests, product use tests and brand name recognition. Organizations conduct surveys in person, on the phone, through the mail and online. These surveys target specific population groups who share a similar set of characteristics.

There are many  applications of consumer behavior:
1)Branding: Branding is essential to prevent commoditization and to differentiate the product of one company from that of the others. Brands have an objective component that is associated with the product. On the other hand, its subjective attitude is linked with the equity of the brand.

2)Marketing Strategy—i.e., for making better marketing campaigns. For example, by understanding that consumers are more receptive to food advertising when they are hungry, we learn to schedule snack advertisements late in the afternoon. By understanding that new products are usually initially adopted by a few consumers and only spread later, and then only gradually, to the rest of the population, we learn that (1) companies that introduce new products must be well financed so that they can stay afloat until their products become a commercial success and (2) it is important to please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many subsequent customers’ brand choices.

3)Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling something. Marty Fishbein, a marketing professor, went on sabbatical to work for the Centers for Disease Control trying to reduce the incidence of transmission of diseases through illegal drug use. The best solution, obviously, would be if we could get illegal drug users to stop. This, however, was deemed to be infeasible. It was also determined that the practice of sharing needles was too ingrained in the drug culture to be stopped. As a result, using knowledge of consumer attitudes, Dr. Fishbein created a campaign that encouraged the cleaning of needles in bleach before sharing them, a goal that was believed to be more realistic.