Distance Learning Marketing Psychology Course
"A valuable course for anyone involved in marketing."
Parents act as role models for their children when they take them shopping (coshopping). During coshopping children learn about budgeting, pricing, selecting products as well as more complex skills such as understanding value for money. Children can also exert influence on their parents during coshopping and this is of particular interest to marketeers. Teenage children may act as role models for their parents at times, particularly over the purchase of products that did not exist during their parents’ youth. Also, adult children will often have an important influence on their aged parents’ consumer behaviour. It can be seen that socialisation is a complex process and it is further complicated by the fact that children and teenagers are a potent buying force in their own right
Why do people buy?
How can you capture the buyer's attention, and influence their choices?
Understanding these things can be the difference between success and failure in business.
Find about all this and more with this course!
This is an invaluable course for anyone working in marketing, sales or running their own small business. It is also of interest to anyone who wishes to pursue a career within market psychology.
COURSE CONTENT
There are eight lessons in this module as follows:
People as Consumers Understanding the types of psychological “rewards” gained by a person through buying. Distinguishing between consumers, customers and buyers? Market Segmentation Understanding market segments and applying the concept of target marketing. Internal Influences –Perception & Personality Consumer self image, difference threshold, trait theory of personality, etc. Internal Influences –Motivation and Awareness Customer satisfaction, the way complaints are dealt with, stimulus generalisation and stimulus discrimination, etc Social Influences Family Influences, Social groups, Developmental Influences, Peer Group Influences (Work and Leisure), Social Class and Culture Consumerism Deceptive advertising, sensitivity to consumer needs, variation between perception and reality. Communication and Persuasion Message Evaluation, Selection & Execution Deciding to Buy Why people shop, or do not shop; surveying the market place.
Duration: 100 hours
What qualification will I achieve for completing this course?
This is an individual module course. The individual module courses are 100 hour long usually and can be taken on their own or as part of a larger program of study.
If you wish to take an individual module course as a stand alone course, you can elect to sit an optional exam at the end of it.
If you successfully pass the exam and all assignments, you will receive a Statement of Attainment. You can take examinations at a time and location to suit you. If you enrol, you will be sent further information on how to arrange examinations at the end of the course.
If you do not wish to take the exam, you will receive a Course Completion letter when you have passed all assignments.
There is an assignment at the end of each lesson. So for example, if an individual module course contains ten lessons, you will need to complete ten assignments. Assignments can be sent to us via email, post or fax.
Other qualifications, such as certificates, diplomas etc may require examinations to be taken as part of the overall assessment process.
You can find further information on the examinations process by clicking on the “Enrolment” link above.
You can find further information on other courses by clicking on the “Courses” link above.
Aims
Identify different categories of shoppers.
Describe the key concepts of Market Segmentation
Determine the role of perception and personality in the marketing process
Determine the factors that motivate a consumer toward a purchase
Define how social factors influence a consumers behaviour
Discuss consumerism in the context of marketing.
Determine the factors that influence consumer attitude and marketing communication and persuasion.
Apply the concept of multi – element buying decisions.
Extract from Course Notes:
Changing Attitudes
Three possible ways of changing attitude are:
1. Exposure
Seeing a brand name or a product repeatedly; may be sufficient to raise enough interest for a consumer to purchase and try that product.
2. Persuasion
This involves presenting reasons why a consumer should buy and try.
3. Cognitive Dissonance
This theory says “because people have a powerful drive to be consistent, when they hold two conflicting opinions they need to find a way to resolve the resulting tension”.
Eg. A person believes a product they have used for years is very good; but then as a result of persuasive advertising, believes a new and competing product is equally good. In this situation they have equal reason to use both: but they only need one. In such a situation, they need to find a reason to choose one rather than the other.
Practical Applications to Marketing
There are various ways of approaching this
a. Strengthen an existing attitude.
Market leaders are generally more interested in strengthening consumer attitudes rather than changing attitudes or developing new attitudes. (eg. Coca-Cola will want people to think more highly about Coca-Cola rather than differently about coca-cola)
b. Develop a change in attitude.
Products that have a less significant place in the market may focus more on developing a new or different attitude.
c. Increase Involvement
Get people to feel more involved. eg. Raise awareness of environmental benefits so consumers consider an additional issue when making a decision about the product.
d. Focus on changing several different attitudes toward a product
Don’t just change one aspect of consumer attitude: try to change several aspects…and think about engineering an appropriate mix of attitudes.
Sample Course Notes -
Our senses play a major role in marketing strategies.
*Vision
Although the majority of people require reading glasses as they get older, we do not always wear them. As such many package designers use large clear lettering when making packages.
*Hearing
In-store background music has been demonstrated to have a clear effect on people’s consumer behaviour. It has been found that people spend less time shopping when music is loud (compared to quiet music), but that they spent just as much money. Also, it has been found that sales values increased when quiet music was slow compared to fast.
*Smell
This sense is not always given the emphasis that it deserves. Some producers have understood its importance, for example the addition of perfumes to sanitary products and cleaning agents.
Multi-Sensual Marketing
A clever marketing strategy is to make use of many sensory stimuli. A good bookshop might have quiet classical music, spacious shelving, an attractive colour scheme, soft carpeting underfoot, and an in-store coffee shop exuding the fresh aroma of ground coffee.
If you are interested in this course, you may also find some of the following courses of interest –
http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Business-and-Management/INDUSTRIAL-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS103-444.aspx Industrial Psychology
http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/INTRODUCTION-TO-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS101-359.aspx
http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS205--485.aspx Social Psychology
If you would like to see our range of psychology books, please visit - http://www.acsbookshop.com/books_productcategory.aspx?id=14
For more information on the range of careers available in psychology, have a look at - http://www.thecareersguide.com/articles.aspx?category=14
We have some interesting articles on psychology and counseling at - http://www.acs.edu.au/psychol/
More Information on ACS Distance Education and our courses
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Sample Course Notes
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How Long will it take to complete the course?
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