ABSTRACT
If you were responsible for marketing nicotine supplements to help smokers give up, you could use your knowledge of the buying process to help develop promotional activity to fit in with the purchase process:
n At the need recognition stage you could gain the target audience’s attention by using PR to bring their attention to the reasons for giving up smoking
n At the information searching stage you could use advertising to stimulate interest in products that will reduce their craving for nicotine
n At the evaluation stage you could make free trial products available in consumer magazines or at chemist POS
n At the purchase stage you could encourage action by using sales promotion offers
Using the AIDA model you can see that communication messages can be tailored to fit in with the customer purchase process
Organizational buying is ‘The decision-making process by which business buyers establish the need for purchased products and services, and identify, evaluate and choose among alternative brands and suppliers.’ Kotler, Armstrong and Wong, 1999
Political and legal factors e.g. Government policies and laws
Economic factors e.g. interest rates, price of oil and raw materials
Social and cultural factors e.g. consumer trends change product demand which affects B2B markets
Technological factors e.g. technology affects product demand, internal processes and communication
Personal factors e.g. individual buyers have personal preferences and perceptions regarding suppliers, brands, etc.
