THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON THE CONSUMER’S BUYING BEHAVIOR

Code No: 787244

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ABSTRACT

Studying a market, producing a product and selling it are important steps for each company. With technological growth, businesses have efficient means of communication which they use in these in- teractions, either within the company with employees or outside with customers whose company aim is to mainly draw their attention to the product or brand. This is so as to familiarize these customers in order to get them to buy/use the products/the services. Among the forms of communication available, there is advertisement and its role in shaping customer behavior and buying decisions.

Advertising is one of the most powerful and important ways that allow to give consumers an idea or “change their opinion” about a certain product or service, and that businesses from all over the world tend to use. Therefore, the aim of the thesis was to put the light on this subject by explaining why ad- vertising is important, its types, how to develop it, how it influences the consumer’s behavior from children to adolescents to adults and elderly, as well as its effects with its good and bad on the buying decision of the consumers.

As the last part of the thesis, a questionnaire and an interview will be done along with the results for more analyses concerning this study.

CHAPTER 1

1 INTRODUCTION

In a consumer economy, the world arises where the customer faces similar and identical goods per- forming the same roles and needs. That is why consumer satisfaction and the analysis of its actions are at the core of the marketing strategy and the needs of all companies who want to ensure their market survival.

1.1 Background

Consumers are the main market component. Their behavior is based on individual needs. That is why, most of the times, they find themselves stuck in the option between different goods as provided by cor- poration. Indeed, the principal goal of the customers is to fulfill their needs as much as possible by the act of buying the commodity they select. However, before arriving at the decision point, consumers experience the influence of a multitude of variables which are the other similar products that cause ei- ther their motives to buy or brakes to give up on the product.

According to Jhangiani & Tarry (2014), advertising, which is one of the components of the interaction, has the main objective of catching customers’ interest and attempting to persuade them to buy a certain product by changing or improving its attitudes either on the cognitive, emotional or behavioral level.

Those who persuade should also grasp how the information they provide refers to the receiver motiva- tions, needs and objectives.

Over the years, the way businesses or organizations communicate with customers through ads has changed and this is due to several factors including printing press, radio, tv, and social media. As a re- sult of this advancement of means of communication, businesses do not hesitate to invest in ads through this means to achieve their goals. Advertising is currently much more flexible than ever.

Whenever and wherever, whether they like it or not, people are exposed to ads, and sometimes without even knowing. The effect of the digital revolution on the advertising industry has dramatically changed the reach and accessibility to wider audiences drawn to contents from social media (Nekatibeb 2012). Entertainment owes it all. In fact, entertainment according to Haider & Shakib (2017) [Madden & Weinberger (1982)] has been identified as a major promotional strategy for increasing advertising effi- cacy and persuading consumers to make a purchase.

According to Herhold (2017), we live in an information-obsessed environment. Thus, the odds of a company surviving if it does not advertise are very low. We can say that nowadays, social media has practically become a weapon and is playing a major role in advertising. The way businesses operate, and particularly the methods they use to raise public awareness of their goods and services, have been radically changed by the Internet and social media. Therefore, advertisers are continually trying to find new ways to improve the intensity and efficiency of their ads in today's cluttered media environ- ment (Muda, Musa & Putit 2010).

1.2 Objective of the study

Marketers must, at the beginning of any project, allocate part of their expenses in favor of creating their own advertisement in order to inform people of the existence of the target product, and expand the circle of consumers.

Without advertising, the number of those familiar with this product will be limited to the circle of fam- ily, friends, and those people who will know about it only by chance. Although awareness of the exist- ence of the product has a neutral effect on the consumer, it mainly works to transfer people from the stage of lack of knowledge of the product to the stage of discovery, and knowledge of it. Ur Rehman (2014) [Ashcroft & Hoey 2001], claim that the awareness is the cognitive phase in which consumers are attracted and the first step in their contact process.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the impact of advertising on consumer behavior and to identify the most effective and powerful advertising channels for influencing the consumer's behavior.

In order to accomplish the objective of this thesis, television, radio and Internet (social media and web) will be the main advertising platforms used to achieve the primary goals and that is by deciding those that are most efficient in influencing the consumer's buying behavior as well as understanding this latter towards advertising.

The other objective is to show that advertisement must contain sufficient information about the product in order to be an effective advertisement. In fact, this leaves the customer curious to learn more. For example, it is possible to add a phone number to ensure that the consumer communicates through it in case he has any questions, or needs additional information about the product. It is also important to provide viewers with the goal, or idea behind the product, service, or company it is promoting as well.

In most sectors, it is known that there is intense rivalry between service providers and goods, which is what separates each product from others by its ability to satisfy the consumer's needs in a unique and distinct way. Businesses can reach this uniqueness by promoting this difference in a correct way. As the consumers evaluate the product compared with other products, and get in conclusion that a particu- lar product helps them satisfy their needs the most, this help them make the purchase decision.