Consumer Behavior -- Four Approaches to Marketing Communications

If you are interested in marketing, or have taken marketing classes at some point in your life, then you have probably heard of the "Think-Feel-Do" marketing funneling model.

Basically, this model proposes that companies should first educate potential consumers about their products and brands so that people become aware and can retrieve information about your company as situations arise for considering making purchases. This brand awareness would also be stored in consumers' minds with their attitudes and feelings about your brand. Here you would want to get people to think your brand as superior than others in the same industry/category. Once people know about your brand and like what you offer, it is easier to convert them into consumers and lead to actual buying (the "Do") .

However, depending on the nature of the products and the level of personal importance these products have to consumers, we do not necessarily need to follow the "think-feel-do" sequence as we plan and carry out the marketing communication strategies.

For example, emotion plays a more influential role in the buying decision for some products over others. In this case, it is more effective to trigger people's emotional response first in the advertisement. Additionally, if people feel that they are more involved in the buying process, they are likely to take longer to actually make the purchase. In other words, people make more though-through decisions when purchasing things that are important to them, which is quite intuitive.

As I just mentioned, we can actually create a two-by-two matrix based on level of involvement (personal relevance) and emotionality/rationality. In the graph below, we can see that the sequence of the specific stages in funneling can alter.

When people need to make a logical decision, whether because of the high stake of the decision (choosing a college for the next 4 years) or because of economic factors (choosing the best value daily necessities), the best attention-getter should highlight the concrete benefits from making the purchase. On top the rational explanations, adding emotional appeals spice up the effectiveness of your marketing communication.

An example of college program marketing campaign.

However, when products and services are heavily involved with creating a positive experience such as having a good time with family or friends or going on an exciting date, the emotional appeal should come first. It is important to construct the scenarios in which people would be using these products as soon as possible to evoke their emotions and imagination. In the examples I used in the graph above, we want to tell our consumers that if they use our eye shadows they would be the most attractive and confident in the crowd and spending the best time with friends drinking our beer.

Qingdao Beer print ad which highlights fun and excitement of drinking the beer.

One thing to note here is that as people's personal involvement go down, they may take less time to make a buying decision but the "think" or "feel" after the purchases are made will have a lasting effect which may lead to repeated buying or switching to other brands/producers. Something to think about when you craft your message: What long-term impression do you want your brand come across your audience?

So here we've covered the marketing communication funnel and how to integrate it with the consumer involvement and emotionality dimensions. Hope you find it helpful. What other examples can you think of using the two-by-two matrix here? Feel free to comment below!

Cheers!