Consumer's income and its implications on your marketing plans

Marketing plan is not just a yearly ritual that managers should perform, so as to give an impression of being proficient. If truth be told, a sound marketing plan plays a pivotal role in the success or failure of any product (or product line). Along with many other aspects, a core function of marketing plan is to look at the marketing environment and how it will affect the product in question. Marketing plan comprised of (but is not limited to) taking into consideration the overall situation of the market and economy, consumers, competition, upcoming trends and consumer behavior. Another part of marketing plan is customer segmentation based on different preferences, age, demographics or social class.

The most influential factor in consumer’s purchase pattern is of course, their income. Income plays an important role in distinguishing social class and consumer behaviors. A significant shift in consumer's income can invariably change the way they look and decide about purchasing some specific product. When the income increases, normally the quality of the product and the satisfaction they are getting out of this purchase becomes more important, on the other hand when it goes down, the cost may become the most decisive factor. Consumer’s income is also said to effect the hedonic consumption.

There are other factors for sure; however a shift in income can outweigh many of them. Therefore, when you are in the initial stages of making marketing plan, keep in mind the income level and social class of your targeted customers, and build up your plan around it. You can conduct your own research, to get an idea of the average income of your targeted customers; or you can also rely on secondary resources if you are a small business.

The information will help you in determining future demand for the product, consequently helping you in setting prices for your products. Also, when you are about to launch a new product (or an old product in a new market); you must consider the personal income of your targeted customers. For the reason that they are less likely to spend on trying a new product and experimenting when their income is decreasing, no matter how good the product is, except for when someone comes up with an alternate product or service which is cheaper than the existing one (that is why the recession is the best time for small businesses to get a jump start by providing low cost alternatives to the consumers caught in financial crisis).

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Keeping an eye on your advertising effectiveness

Slowly but surely, majority of businesses now understand the importance of marketing. Even the businesses with minimum resources are aware of the concept and significance of marketing. But there’s one thing that still goes without being noticed by many of them, that is advertising effectiveness. Many businesses have no idea on how to measure the success of their marketing campaigns. As a result, they keep running advertisements and marketing campaigns without really knowing if it is effectively working or not. Keeping a check on your advertising effectiveness is very important, or you may be wasting your resources on something useless, without even knowing it. On the other hand, measuring the accomplishment of your advertisement or marketing initiative is not as simple as measuring the increase in sales or inquiries.

How do we know if a commercial is effective or not?

A commercial that turns out to be extremely popular, doesn’t guarantee to be effective. For the reason, that the effectiveness of a commercial can be judged by evaluating its achievements and not by the hilarity in it. Therefore, if a commercial or any other marketing material that was meant to bring in more customers or to build a strong brand image is not effective unless there’s a positive change in the number of enquiries or the brand awareness. In fact, sometimes the storyline gets so interesting that it overrides the intended message in customer’s minds.

Setting objectives:

It is very important to jot down goals or objectives before initiating a marketing campaign. Most of the time, advertisement is targeted at generating sales but other equally important targets could be customer loyalty, product awareness, persuading customers or brand recognition. When setting objectives, make sure these are unambiguous and measurable, especially if you are delegating the project to some outside company.


Evaluating effectiveness:

Many companies test their ads or infomercials on a sample group of targeted customers to see the reaction. For small businesses that may not be possible but you can get the help from your family members or friends and ask for their opinion, the earlier you spot an ineffective medium, the better. If, after spending plenty of time and resources the end result is not impressive, don't waste more resources in distributing, publishing or making it public. Getting the accurate feedback is the key to constructive evaluation. Also, if you are trying to asses on the basis of increase in sales or revenue, don't rush into the process as soon as the commercial goes on air; you need to give it some time to develop.

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UK Wholesalers