Perception vs Attitude...

"Marketing is all about user perception and behavior". How many of you know what they mean? How does attitude change consumer behavior?

Perception refers to an opinion formed about a product or brand on reception of a stimulus. Every stimulus (selectively percieved stimulus) leads to formation of perception. Now once perception is formed about a product, consumers tend to learn more about the product or brand. Once learning comes up to the desired level, consumers form attitude.

Now, the difference between these two psychological domains lies in the fact that every single stimuli forms a perception, while attitude is a consequence of learning about a product/brand, which in turn is the outcome of perceptions. Consumers may have different needs for cognition. As such, consumer learning comes from multiple stimuli leading to multiple perception.

In a nutshell, consumers first perceive, learn from perception/s (on account of single or multiple stimuli depending on their need for cognition) and then forn attitudes, which dictate their purchase decisions.

Let us take an example:
Karan goes for a drive with his girlfriend Komal at 4 PM. He takes the most untraveled route towards a dense jungle. The road was narrow and curling like a snake. Everything was painted green except the brown leaves on the narrow road. As the time passed Komal started getting scared of the dense jungle and the jungle noise. The noise of the jungle conquered the sound of their bike. Suddenly they saw a beautiful view of a waterfall amidst the dense greenery. They had their time of the life and returned after the sunset.

Komal and Karan experienced the same ambience and atmosphere but they saw things from a different perspective.

Komal perceived the jungle as scary and Karan perceived it as challenging. They both perceived the waterfall as beautiful and had their time of the life.

Now the behavior towards this experience after they developed a perception is called attitude. Karan would be thrilled about this ride, whereas Komal could be cautious. Komal might develop a different attitude towards such experience.

Summing up: Attitude is a consequence of perception. It may be cognitive, behavioral or affective. Most of the times Attitude is a combination of the above factors.

Definition of Marketing

Marketing is one of the terms in academia that does not have one commonly agreed upon definition. Even after a better part of a century the debate continues...

In a nutshell it consists of the social and managerial processes by which products (goods or services) and value are exchanged in order to fulfill the needs and wants of individuals or groups.

Although many people seem to think that "marketing" and "advertising" are synonymous, they are not. Advertising is simply one of the many processes that together constitute marketing.

Marketing, as suggested by the American Marketing Association (AMA), is "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders".

Another definition, perhaps simpler and more universal, is this: "Marketing is the ongoing process of moving people closer to making a decision to purchase, use, follow or conform to someone else's products, services or values. Simply, if it doesn't facilitate a "sale" then it's not marketing."

Philip Kotler in his earlier books defines marketing as: "Marketing is human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes". Adding to Kotler's, the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) claims marketing to be the "management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements profitably".

Thus, operative marketing involves the processes of market research, new product development, product life cycle management, pricing, channel management as well as promotion. Marketing is "taking actions to define, create, grow, develop, maintain, defend and own markets". An approach to business that seeks to identify, anticipate and satisfy customers’ needs.

Marketing is building your brand, convincing people that your brand is the best and protecting the relationships you build with your customers.

Marketing is a sound; those who hear will resonate with it and will follow.

Marketing is helping your customers understand how much they need something they never knew they needed.

Marketing is anything that modifies the perceived value and/or desirability of a product or service.

Marketing is everything a company does. From how they answer the phone, how quickly and effectively they respond to email, how they handle accounts payable to how they treat their employees and customers.