Due to IMC there is huge change in the role of the marketer from planning, developing and implement communication strategies to respond appropriately to customer needs and wants as it has kept customer at the centre of an organization (Schultz & Schultz, 2002). Social media provides the perfect interactive market place to facilitate such a relationship between the customer and business and makes Duncan’s customer initiated communication model highly relevant to modern day marketing communication.

 

Rapid changes in digital technology have facilitated the rise of social media, enabling bi-directional communication whereby audience members can directly or indirectly express their views to businesses (Woods, 2005). Due to which the Duncan’s customer initiated marketing communication model has become more applicable than before. A customer with two tweets, a video blog and a Facebook status update can do more harm or good to a brand than a well-planned marketing campaign (Levinson, 2010).

 

This communication provides information that enables organisations to better understand who their customer is, their needs and wants, and assists in uncovering changes in the marketplace allowing for more effective, efficient and dynamic marketing strategies, products and services (Levinson, 2010). An excellent example of this is nikerunning.nike.com whereby bloggers communicate with other bloggers via uploading quantitative data regarding their running activities that are recorded via a GPS tracking device.This communication can be linked to social media networks that allow friends and follower to view and comment on this information. Nike then uses this information to ‘reward’ participants via formulating personalised running programs and voice messages from professional athletes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belch and Belch et al’s basic model of consumer decision making leads us through 5 steps to help us understand the consumers decision making processes. By recognising the stage of the process we can apply targeted communications tools to guide the consumer from product awareness to a repeat and loyal customer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many different models that have been applied to consumer behaviour research, complementary and stand alone. For the purposes of the next part of the discussion, we will apply communication tools to the Belch and Belch model, to demonstrate how best practice strategies could affect the decision making process.
In a rapidly changing consumer, technological and media environment, organizations must take an IMC approach to effectively respond to customer initiated communication. Organizations should consider the benefits of utilizing customer touch points that impact the organization’s brand and brand equity, either positively or negatively. As IMC is a highly interactive process between an organization and its customers, stakeholders and staff (Belch et al, 2011).
So a strategy is to be made in such a way that attracts the customer, as it is designed to ignite their emotions and attachments for the specific product to increase the urge or desire of the customer to purchase the brand. Limited number of brands in the active purchase set minds of customer while purchasing is called Evoke set. This is done by putting the brand into the Evoke mind of the customer by heavy advertisements and promotional activities, which brings the brand into the active Evoke set of the customer. As the world is getting global and business are getting really competitive, organizations must consider the concerns of the customers in their day to day business activities and promotions in order to convert a window shopper to a loyal customer.
Big brands like Mc-Donald’s, Nike, Nestle, Engro, Optus etc are focusing on customer driven promotional campaigns in order to build a strong bond between their products and the customers. It has worked effectively for Nike as it is now the world’s number one sports foot wear brand. The process is simple and effective but needs a little more effort to make it productive and profitable for the organization. The process of customer purchase decision is defined and explained of Sony Vaio. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Sony Vaio Customer Decision Making Model:

 

 

 

1.  Need Recognition:

       In this information processing model, the consumer buying process begins when the buyer recognizes a problem or need of the product. Here so in case of Sony Viao the only thing which triggers the customer buying decision is its Brand name, which reflects the Quality of the product and the Social status which only a Sony viao can deliver to its customer. Many other competitors offer the same technology with same price range and features but still cannot manage to compete with Sony.

 

 

 

2.   Information Search:

      Customer research begins by searching different alternatives that can fulfil their problem. This might include different categories to fulfil their needs as well as different brands or providers. The customer has a active evoke set in his mind while considering the possible options for the purchase of any product. So here in case of computers there are many similar brand that provide same product like HP, ASUS, ACER, TOSHIBA, IBA etc. customer gathers information of all the possible options which he /she can afford according to the need and social status.

 

 

 

3.  Evaluation of Alternatives:

       The consumer compares their options like different offers, opinions from their friends, relatives and also from some review of customer who have posted in the company website. This is done in social gatherings as well by taking the opinions of the people who has a experience of the desired product or have any relevant information on it. This is very easy these days as almost all the computer manufacturers have their own websites and plenty of platforms where anyone can easily compare and check the available offers by any computer company. Sony has its own official website where all the detailed information of   all the products is mentioned accordingly. So it is really easy these days for any customer  to evaluate its evoke set options.

 

 

 

4.  Purchase Decision:

     Here in this stage customer finally make his mind to buy  the product he wants to buy out of the available options and of which brand, after a long process of evaluation of the product specifications, keeping in mind all the pros and cons of the product. With this decision he also make series of small decisions like where, when and how he will buy that product.

 

 

 

5.  Post-Purchase Behaviour:

    After purchasing the product a customer may be or may be not satisfied with the product, so customer provides their feedback depending on the type of experience they had. Customers provide their views on blogs, official company websites and social sites which may result in favour of the company, sometimes against as well. This depends on the level of satisfaction of a customer with the service provided prior and post buying. Sony in this regard provides very reliable services to its customers in shape of warranties, guaranties. So majority of Sony customers are satisfied.