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For ages, marketing has been the most premium channel in generating a brand value for a product. From the car you drive to the shampoo you use, you are looking at the brand value of the product you use. So what exactly helps you decide on a particular product? If the product matches your lifestyle ideals, you are likely to buy it over other products.

What Is lifestyle marketing?

According to Rona Ostrow and Sweetman R. Smith:

Lifestyle is a distinctive mode of behaviour centred around activities, interests, opinions, attitudes and demographic characteristics distinguishing one segment of a population from another. A consumer’s lifestyle is seen as the sum of his interactions with his environment. Lifestyle studies are a component of the broader behavioural concept called psychographics

Lifestyle marketing is a marketing technique where a product is branded and marketed such that it is perceived to possess aesthetics, ideals, and aspirations that the targeted audiences identify with and revolve around an ideology that gives meaning and purpose to why it exists.

How To Create A Lifestyle Brand?

Having a brand name, a logo and some basic marketing personas doesn’t make your product stand out anymore. The market today requires the brand that operates off a much more ‘human-driven’ methodology. One of the characteristics that separate lifestyle brands from non-lifestyle brands is that lifestyle brands succeed in activating and uniting communities. They market the product as a lifestyle or a part of the lifestyle.

Before you select a marketing strategy for your product, you need to follow through these steps:

1. Define your target market with demographics and psychographics
2. Identify where your target market receives information from
3. Identify how your brand will be positioned
4. Define the marketing channel
5. Moderate the information flow and monitor public response

Why Lifestyle Marketing?

Now that you know what exactly is lifestyle marketing, you must be thinking what could be its importance or why should you focus on lifestyle marketing strategies for your future products. The answer is pretty simple: Brand association.

When you target individuals based on the lifestyle they live or the lifestyle they aspire to live, you are creating a more personalized information channel. Now, this may sound fancy, but this is how most consumers think. Most consumers would ask the question Why should I buy this, over What is this product? Thus the initial perception of a product should be such that the consumer is convinced that this product would do it for them.

This is the hard-hitting point: Lifestyle marketing starts with ‘Why’

Here is a very basic example. Instead of rolling out specs or infomercials, Apple released this advertisement to fight off “PC” sales:

No wonder Mac saw a 42% boost in sales in a year with the help of this advertisement.

What Mac did here was created a perception of Virus-free computers where on the other hand Windows was struggling with viruses. Without talking about numbers, Apple was able to win over the audience.

Further when iPhones started killing the market. Apple cemented its position by the famous ‘If you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone’ advertisement

This gave a clear sign out there. That iPhone is an elite phone and people who aspire to be elite should have iPhones in their pockets. Again no numbers or comparisons were made, the only thing that was at play here was brand perception.

Let’s take the case of Marlboro Man:

Now Marlboro initially targeted woman with its ‘Mild as May’ campaign where it would have red cellulose around the filter to protect lips, concentrated heavily on how light it was and was safer because of its filter.

In the late 1950s, Marlboro decides it needs to shift its target market to young American men. And thus the concept of Marlboro men was brought in. A cowboy who’d smoke Marlboro cigarettes and as opposed to the standard marketing, wouldn’t talk about filters or being safe at all.

The campaign was an instant hit. Young Americans saw cowboys as a lone wolf, who’d do what he wants with masculinity. This influenced people. The shift in Marlboro’s sales was phenomenal from holding a 1% market share to having the top 4 position in the US market. Marlboro since then has been synonymous with the most popular cigarette.

What changed all of this: Marlboro sold on the rough and masculine lifestyle a cowboy leads and how masculinity was associated with smoking Marlboro. They created a lifestyle perception young Americans were looking for.

Since the Marlboro campaign, lifestyle marketing has never left the table.

OldSpice brought in ‘The man your man could smell like’

OldSpice realized that woman more often than not choose grooming products for men. So, they targeted women with an advertisement that addresses their purchasing power and giving them the right to choose the smell they’d want their man to wear.

Of course, it was slightly abused when it came to deodorants. The initial campaign of ‘Sex appeal through smell’ was an instant hit. But with time, deodorant giants realized that the campaign won’t be working anymore. The lifestyle they were trying to sell had been exploited a bit too much by the industry and it was time to move on. Well, it indeed is true. Aren’t we all bored of advertisements that portray a man spraying Axe deo on himself and becoming an instant chick magnet?

Now even though, the market calls out an overused template there are clearly ways to improve your product branding through lifestyle marketing. OldSpice has been doing it. Axe never saw a plummet in its sales.

Creating a brand revolving around lifestyle is definitely a great plan. However, you need to make sure you are aware of your target audience and their lifestyle before launching a marketing campaign.

Go On, Tell Us What You Think!

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No matter how hard you try, some markets have become impenetrable now. The barriers to entry to these markets may include technology challenges, government regulations or patents, huge costs, and/or licences which are really hard (or impossible) to get.

No matter how advantages, disadvantageous, or frustrating it may seem, no one would deny that barriers to entry are the biggest competitive advantage for companies which are already in the market.

But before moving ahead and diving into the mechanics of barriers of entry, here’s a quick barriers to entry definition:

What Are The Barriers To Entry?

Barriers to entry are obstacles or hindrances like high costs, government regulations, patents, or other challenges which prevent the potential entrant seller from entering the market and competing with the existing players.

Barriers to entry pose a real danger to the competitive scene since the playing field is not level and it is hardly possible for new entrants to reach the level of the existing players.

For example, an existing company serving to millions of customers might have an advantage of economies of scale and as a result, marks its product at a really low price. This competitive advantage might pose a real barrier to entry for a startup which can’t afford to sell at such a low price.

Types of Barriers to Entry

Three types of barriers to entry exist in the market today. These are natural barriers to entry, artificial barriers to entry, and government barriers to entry.

Natural Barriers To Entry

Also called structural barriers to entry, natural barriers to entry emerge naturally as the dynamics of an industry take shape and by the company’s inherent situation in the market. These include:

Economies Of Scale

Economies of scale is a proportionate saving in the costs of the goods because of an increased level of production. Many existing players who serve to the majority of the customers benefit from low production costs which results in them reducing the final price of the product as well. This acts as a big setback for the new entrants as they cannot sell the goods at the prices set by these players.

Network Effect

The network effect, also known as the network externality or demand-side economies of scale, states that a good or service becomes more valuable when more people use it.

For example, Whatsapp is more valuable to its users when compared to other IM apps as most of their friends use Whatsapp. This will make them reluctant to move to a different IM application as Whatsapp does the job for him.

The network effect is one of the main reasons why even Google is struggling to enter the social media networking market.

High Costs

Some industries require new entrants to incur huge costs during the research and development phase and/or during the setting up. These include distribution costs, marketing costs, production costs, etc.

There are also cases when such high costs result in the break-even after a very long time (like in the case of Uber and other companies working on aggregator business model)

Many new entrants aren’t prepared for such exorbitant costs and refrain themselves from entering the market.

Access To Distribution Channels

There are times when one or a few businesses control all of the distribution channels. This poses a barrier to entry to other businesses as no business would allow its competitor to surpass itself.

Inelastic Demand

Inelastic demand is the type of demand which is unaffected by the change in the price. It becomes really hard for new entrants to find a space in the market if that market witnesses such inelastic demand

Ownership Or Access to Raw Materials

There are times when the old players have control over or special access to the scarce resources. This acts as a strong barrier to entry for new businesses.

Artificial Barriers To Entry

Also called strategic barriers to entry, artificial barriers to entry are enforced explicitly by the existing players to stop potential entrants to enter the market. These include:

Pricing Strategies

There are around 10 types of prominent pricings strategies in the market and each one of them, if used properly, acts as a strong barrier to entry for others in the market.

However, predatory pricing strategy (also called below the cost pricing) is often used by big players to eliminate the competition as well as close the gates for any new entrants in the market.

Marketing Strategies

Many firms spend huge amounts to market their product as the best (or the only good) alternative in the market. This results in the creation of a strong brand position in the market which acts as a strong barrier to overcome.

The marketing strategies are so well executed that people start using many brand names as generic terms. For example, Jacuzzi isn’t a product, it’s a brand.

Technological [dis]advantage

There are times when the market leader and existing players have an advantage over the others in terms of technology used. They don’t open up much about their methods and where to find that technology.

Brand & Brand Loyalty

Strong marketing strategies give rise to brand loyalty among customers who become reluctant in trying new brands.

Switching Costs For Customers

Switching cost is the monetary and non-monetary cost that the consumers incur as a result of changing brands or suppliers of products. Although a majority part of the switching cost is monetary in nature, there are also psychological, effort and time-based switching costs which act as a barrier for consumers to accept new entrants.

Patents & Other Legal Restrictions

Some pioneer brands apply for patents for their concepts and technologies, which makes it impossible for other players to enter the market and sell similar goods. Crocs is one such brand which made use of patents to lead the market.

Government Barriers To Entry

Industries that are heavily regulated by the government are most difficult to penetrate. These industries include defence contractors, airlines, railways, etc. Moreover, the government may impose import or export barrier making it really difficult for foreign businesses to enter into or move out of the local market.

It may also require businesses to obtain licences before starting the businesses or the government may declare the limitation to the access to raw materials. The government may also offer subsidiaries to certain companies making it really hard for others to cope up with them.

Barriers To Entry Examples

Google

Google has acquired such dominant space on the internet that both the users and publishers consider it as the most trusted search engine.

The only company which has ever been able to surpass Google (in a country) is Baidu which benefitted from the Government’s decision of banning Google in China.

Facebook

Facebook capitalized on the network effect. It created an easy-to-use platform to connect with friends all over the world.

Now that every friend of a person is on Facebook, there’s no need for him to choose any other social media network.

Uber

Uber disrupted the taxi industry with the help of a great idea, huge funding, and predatory pricing. It initially benefitted both the consumers and the taxi drivers (partner) and gave rise to great brand loyalty among both.

Now when that predatory pricing strategy is no more, people prefer to use uber because they have become loyal to the brand.

Go On, Tell Us What You Think!

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Wouldn’t it be great if marketers know exactly what drives their target audience to choose a particular product over others? This knowledge, if analysed and brought into use correctly could result in selling anything to anyone.

No matter how manipulative it seems, crafting marketing strategies based on the consumer behaviour is a common practice now. Marketers market their product keeping in mind the emotions and reasoning ability of the target audience, entrepreneurs present their pitch deck keeping in mind what the investor actually wants from them, and even products are built according to what the customer is willing to buy in the market.

All thanks to consumer behaviour.

But what exactly is consumer behaviour and how does it work? Let’s dive deeper into its mechanics.

What Is Consumer Behaviour?

Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals’, groups’ and organisations’ decisions with regard to the selection, purchase, use, and disposal of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants.

In simple words:

Consumer behaviour is the study of how consumers make decisions about what they need, want, and desire and how do they buy, use, and dispose of goods.

Importance Of Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is very important to understand what influences the buying decisions of the consumers and why does it so.

By understanding how consumers decide on a product it is possible for marketers to fill in the product-market gap and identify which product is needed and which products are obsolete in the market. It also helps marketers decide how to present their products such that they have maximum impact on consumers.

Marketers also need to understand the psychology behind every buying decision so as to be able to influence the same. For example, a consumer may purchase a product because it is fashionable even though it may not be the most utility providing product. In such a case, the marketer needs to understand why the consumer is making this choice and then present the product in such a way that the consumer is convinced that it is the best possible choice.

Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour

There are a number of factors that influence consumer behaviour. These can be classified into four main categories:

Psychological factors

The perception of a particular problem is unique to every individual and so is the perception of different products. Psychological factors can be influenced by the present situation, perception of needs and problems, the ability to process information and their individual attitude. Thus, marketers have to focus how they portray their product and what psychological effect it has on consumers.

Personal factors

Personal factors are governed by an individual’s personal choices and preferences, interests, likes and dislikes. The sub-factor influencing personal factors can be age, gender and personal issues.

Socio-Cultural factors

Social influence is one of the major driving forces while making a decision. Social class, income, living society, company an individual keeps; workplace, etc. can have a major effect on consumer behaviour. Of course, influencers and other opinion leaders have a major role in an individual’s decision-making process too. Other factors include religion, race and nationalities.

Motivation

The theories that decide on how a consumer comes to decide what he needs are discussed below.

Freudian theory

Sigmund Freud’s theory states that behaviour is guided by subconscious needs. It is governed by three factors namely Id, superego and ego.

• Id is the impulsive need of thirst, hunger and sex an individual has.
• Superego is an individual’s expression of society’s morals. Thus it is what bounds Id from impulsive behaviour such that an individual fulfils his needs in a manner that is accepted by the society.
• Ego is an individual’s conscious control over the impulses and restrictions created by Id and Superego.

Maslow’s Theory Of Hierarchy

Behaviour runs from bottom to top and is dependent upon the lowest unmet needs. The hierarchy pyramid designed by Maslow is shown below:

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

Frederick Herzberg stated that behaviour is guided by two factors that go hand in hand. These are motivation and hygiene. Hygiene can be stated as dissatisfaction and motivation can be passed on as satisfaction. Consumer behaviour is in your favour when satisfaction is highest and dissatisfaction is minimal.

The Types Of Consumer Behaviour

There are four types of consumer behaviour categorised by their level of involvement in a purchase. These are:

• Complex buying behaviour
• Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour
• Habitual buying behaviour
• Variety-seeking buying behaviour

Complex Buying Behaviour

Complex buying behaviour happens when the consumer is highly involved in the purchase (of usually expensive products) and perceives significant differences between brands. They will conduct extensive research to find the best option before making a decision. For example, when buying a car, consumers will read reviews, compare prices and test drive multiple vehicles before settling on one.

This behaviour is triggered by high cost, infrequent transactions, perceived risk and high levels of brand differences. Cars, houses and electronics are all examples of products that may trigger complex buying behaviour in consumers.

Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behaviour

Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour happens when the consumer is highly involved in the purchase and perceives little difference between brands. In order to reduce cognitive dissonance (the feeling of discomfort that comes from holding two conflicting beliefs), they will justify their purchase by finding reasons to support their decision.

This type of consumer is likely to be an expert on the product and will have done extensive research before making a purchase. For example, they may read multiple reviews, compare prices and features, and talk to friends or family who have purchased the same product before making a decision.

An example of this type of purchase would be a gaming chair. While several brands provide almost similar products, a discerning customer would still compare and contrast before making a decision. They would consider brand reputation, materials used, reviews, price and features before making their final choice.

This type of customer is the most difficult to please because they know exactly what they want and are not willing to compromise. They are also the most likely to be satisfied with their purchase because they have put so much thought into it.

Habitual Buying Behaviour

Habitual buyers are those who purchase products out of habit or routine. They usually don’t put much thought into their decision and often purchase the same brand or type of product. For example, someone who always buys Coca Cola is a habitual buyer.

Habitual buying behaviour is often influenced by convenience, price and availability. Habitual buyers are also the most loyal to a brand or product and are less likely to switch to a new one as they don’t to put much thought into their purchase.

Variety-Seeking Buying Behaviour

Variety-seeking buying behaviour is when consumers purchase different products or brands, depending on their mood or occasion. They are more likely to switch brands and experiment with new products. This usually happens when the cost of switching is low. This type of behaviour is often seen with convenience products such as toiletries and cleaning supplies.

Customers who engage in variety-seeking buying behaviour are heavily influenced by friends, family and peer groups. They also tend to be influenced by marketing messages that focus on the benefits or features of the product.

How Consumer Behavior Works?

To understand how Consumer Behaviour works we need to understand how Perception works.

What Is Perception?

Perception is the process by which we select, interpret and organise data to create a logical sequence which is meaningful. Perception can be dependent on the stimuli we receive, how we respond to those stimuli and the conditions of our surroundings when we receive the stimuli.

Now, every marketer works on maximising their gains through perception. This is an essential topic of consumer behaviour as the perception of a product is the make it or break it deal for the given product’s life cycle.

The four cornerstones of perception are:

Selective Attention

Selective attention is when you select some particular inputs/stimuli and choose to ignore others in a group of stimuli. Basically, in simpler terms, not all information reaches and connects to you. You perceive the information you relate to.

Selective Retention

Selective retention is when you remember the parts of the stimuli that support your personal feelings and beliefs and forget the inputs that do not. In easier terms, you remember the information that connects to you at a psychological level.

Selective Distortion

Selective distortion is when you twist inconsistent information to abide by your personal beliefs and feelings. When an ambiguous input is provided, you at times may bend the information as per your will to fit in your existing set of values and beliefs. Thus there are chances that subtle marketing tactics may backfire and thus most marketing strategies are much directed.

Subliminal Perception

Subliminal perception is when sublime messages influence you without having a direct role in the information provided. The basic example being: how deodorants use lifestyle marketing to subconsciously associate the fragrance to leading a better life. Subliminal perception is basically how you subconsciously associate to a particular product because of a stimulus that is not directly provided.

Consumer Buying Process

Now consumer behaviour eventually boils down to this step. How a consumer decides on which product he is going to buy. This is based on a set of steps each consumer follows:

Problem Recognition

When a consumer realises that he has a problem with the existing products, needs replacement or has to buy a new product because his demands require a purchase. He sets the chain in motion.

Information Search

The consumer looks for prospective replacements or products that will fit his requirement perfectly. The sources of information are usually personal (based on personal research), public (based on public opinion), commercial (information pushed in by the vendor), experiential (a previously used product).

Evaluation Of Alternatives

Based on the consumer’s research, they decide which products are to be shortlisted. And which one of the competition is to be eliminated. The two basic models of choice are:

• Conjunctive: Where the minimum threshold acceptable quality of all attributes is the deciding factor.
• Lexicographic: When the most important attribute is preferred even if that means a slightly lesser quality in other aspects.

For example: If you are buying a cell phone and you go for a model with a good overall processor, RAM, camera and display. It is a conjunctive choice.

But if you require a really good camera and go for a model with an exceptional camera but sub-par processor, it is a Lexicographic choice.

Purchase Decision

As it suggests, after factoring in all the pros and cons of a product, the consumer makes the purchase decision at this step.

Post-Purchase Behaviour

Depending on the user experience, the consumer may recommend the product to people or slash the product if their experience isn’t good. The post-purchase behaviour of social influencers is very important to the initial market and this may be the most underrated point of influence that your product creates.

Go On, Tell Us What You Think!

Did we miss something?  Come on! Tell us what you think about our article on consumer behaviour in the comments section.

With an insane number of varieties of products and services available in the market, we often look up to a certain people for choices these days. Personally, when I am stuck while choosing between two products I take the opinion of my preferred channel on YouTube, my techie friend, or the reviewers on Amazon.

Is this relatable? Does the opinion of a particular individual/group of people change your opinion too?

Who are Opinion Leaders?

Opinion leaders are individuals or organizations that are able to influence people by their opinion. They are ones that the opinion receivers consider credible and hold high regard for in that particular area.

Opinion leaders could be anyone ranging from your friends, family to famous actors, politicians, websites, CEOs or your favourite tech geeks.

There is often one particular influencer in your family that is a go-to person in terms of a particular product or service. For e.g., if you are a foodie and your family trusts your taste, they will ask for your opinion before trying out new cuisine. This makes you the Opinion leader in terms of food. Similarly, when masses idolize well known public figures, they also become their opinion receivers. They keenly follow their opinion leaders.

Characteristics Of Opinion Leaders

Opinion leaders are the influencers of their respective niches. They influence the choices and beliefs of their followers towards or against a specific brand, product or service.

1. They are knowledgeable in their field.
2. They are respected and trusted by their followers.
3. Their views carry weight and significance.
4. They interpret the media messages and put them into context for the wider population.
5. They have a giving spirit and often share their knowledge with the followers on social media.

Opinion leaders who don’t have an affiliation with the product they’re promoting are even trusted more than the people who do. If the opinion leader is within your family or friend circle, you tend to believe him more than anyone else as you feel that they have your best interests in mind and want you to make the right choice.

True opinion leaders have a strong impact on their audience’s choices and have a higher social status among their friends, family, and followers.

Why Are Opinion Leaders Important?

There was a time when brands only focused on marketing through advertisements and CEO’s and top-level executives didn’t even attend any press conference. However, the trend has changed. CEOs like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs have become opinion leaders in their own niche. Brands are focusing more on keeping the celebrities and other influencers happy as even one tweet or Facebook post can make the business lose billions.

sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad.

— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018

With an average person witnessing around 10,000 advertisements each day and not recalling even a fraction of those, opinion leaders have evidently become very important when it comes to the marketing of a product.

Opinion leaders are deemed to be most credible in the niche by their followers. According to a study by Nielson, Eighty-three per cent of people agree that the recommendation from friends and people they trust is the most credible form of advertising.

Opinion leadership has even become a profession in this era of the internet. These professional opinion leaders (also called influencers) put in efforts to constantly improve their judging skills by following a particular topic closely, getting hands-on experience with various products of their area of interest. During their journey to expertise, they garner enough audience and followers. They have their own personal brand and can build or shatter any brand just by their words.

Customers prefer engagement, interaction and a sort of physical touch over distant advertisement messages. This is where opinion leaders make a world of difference. They talk to the target audience.

Understanding The Influence Power Of Opinion leaders

In 1944, sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld introduced “The two-step flow of communication model”. According to this model, mass media doesn’t directly influence the mass audience. Rather, the information flows from mass media to the opinion leaders who interpret the media messages and put them into context for the wider population. Thus people have a feeling of more trust towards opinion leaders as compared to the advertised mass media.

Opinion leaders are considered to be expert in a particular area and their influence sphere is limited there. Their opinion over other areas holds little to no importance.

Now there is a special case of opinion leaders, these are market mavens. Market mavens are intense opinion leaders and their area of expertise has a wide domain. They are sound about various sectors of the industry and their social status is generally higher than that of opinion leaders. E.g: Warren Buffet, John Mcafee, etc.

How To Get Opinion Leaders On Your Side?

Opinion leaders usually belong to the early adopters portion of the innovation adoption lifecycle. This means, they try and test the product before the 84% of the users and have a huge influence over the majority of the customers who are yet to try the product.

This makes it extremely important for you as a marketer to keep them on your side and use them to influence others to buy your product.

Previews

Having the opinion of an opinion leader during the introduction phase is a sound marketing strategy and is practised quite a lot.

E.g. Movie critics are invited for the premiere.

Samples

A lot of consumer products send their samples to influencers (bloggers, doctors, etc) to spread the word about their products.

Pre-release

Electronic goods are known to do giveaways to tech geeks or influencers with a heavy social pull before the release date to artificially create a surge during the introduction phase.

Endorsements

A lot of products pay opinion leaders and influencers to endorse their product because a huge chunk of the population follows their lead. Mostly the masses see through such strategies yet endorsements are a tried and tested method of improving market stats.

Go On, Tell Us What You Think!

Did we miss something?  Come on! Tell us what you think of our article on Opinion Leaders in the comments section.