Heuristics and Print Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Heuristics and Print Advertising - Essay Example This calls for the use of simpler methods to get satisfactory solutions. An example of this is the application of heuristics. Heuristics refers to experience-based techniques for discovery, learning and solving problems. Heuristics can also be described as simplifying strategies or rules of thumb that help people in their reasonable judgment and make guesses more quickly. Therefore, they are informal shortcuts or rules used to make daily judgments and get satisfactory solution since organizations cannot afford to spend large amounts of resources like energy, time and money on every single judgment or detail of life (Kahneman et al, 1982). Consumer behavior theories also give a good understanding of the behavioral trends among consumers and the factors that affect their decisions. Marketers combine information from these theories with heuristics so as to attain strategic marketing. The consumer behaviour theory gives a practical application of understanding the behaviour trends in con sumers and thus providing a way of strategizing to influence them. The theory explains the psychological, mental, emotional, non-utilitarian or subjective aspects of consumer behaviour in making buying decisions. ... It is also important to understand that there are consumers who are always after brands of high value hence they seek a lot of information on available brands before making any purchase (Engel et al 1995). Other consumers have habitual buying behaviour whereby they purchase products as a habit whereas others are variety seeking. Howard (1989) states that variety consumers always shop around to get a different brand of a product just to have variety. Variety seeking consumers are the best targets for advertisements since it brings the existence of the brand into their attention so that they can seek it. When they have got used to it, the manufacturers can make slight changes to re-advertise it as a new or improved product once again. Another consumer behaviour theory that explains the trends in consumer behaviour is the neoclassical consumer theory. This theory is a branch of microeconomics that deals with understanding consumer behaviours through the application of classical models o f economics. These models are based on the perception of consumers as people who are very rational in their decision making. In this respect it views them as people who always seek to maximize their satisfaction and benefits with purchases through informed and reasoned analysis of utility and value. When the neoclassical consumer theory is applied to consumer behaviour, it assumes that the utility or benefit of a product describes their behaviour over a life time. The utility maximizing rule states that for consumers to maximise satisfaction, they should allocate their finances so that the last amount of money spend on each product yields the same utility. The neoclassical theory factors in the issue of elasticity. If a product is highly elastic, its consumption will reduce if its price