be used. A great variety of appeals are devised by marketing and advertising specialists. Special methods and techniques have to be used for determining which of these appeals is the most effective in motivating people to buy the product. Executive judgment comes into play in making a choice of an agency, or techniques that are to be used, for measuring the relative effectiveness of several appeals to consumers.
Traditionally, entire marketing programs have been based on the personal judgment of the executive. Executive decision is still here. It is still the guiding hand of every marketing program. Now the decision is on which of the research techniques should be used, in order to have maximum scientific control in marketing as well as in production.
Consumers make decisions in the market place, sometimes consciously and frequently unconsciously. Consumers are generally not aware of what motivates them to buy one brand instead of another. However, executives have to make their decisions consciously when they are confronted with diverse avenues of action. The decisions of executives or managers have an effect on the behavior or actions of their subordinates. In other words, the decisions of executives have an effect not only on their own behavior, but also on the actions of others. Such decisions cannot be made unconsciously or subjectively in a functioning business.
In making a decision, the executive must be aware of action alternatives. He must evaluate them before he can make a decision. In evaluating the alternatives he may rely on his personal experience. He may depend on sketchy information that he had once received and which still lingers in his memory. He may consult his subordinates, each of whom also has a slight knowledge about the problem, or he may rely on information derived from thorough research of one or more kinds, from one or more sources. There is evidence that executives in successful business organizations generally make their marketing decisions on the basis of reliable research.
For most modem, up-to-date executives, market research provides support in each phase of market planning. One type of market research is designed for the purpose of evaluating the potential market and predicting the rate of development of the market. A second is used for predicting consumer attitudes toward a specific product design or product character. A third is employed to determine the best marketing theme or the most effective selling strategy. A fourth is used for measuring the production capacity of the organization. And research is also used for determining what will motivate personnel—sales personnel, production personnel, shipping personnel, office personnel, etc.
Qualitative research is used where it is necessary to learn about the kind of action or kind of product. Purely quantitative research is used to get a measure of how much action or how much of a product there should be in a given time or place.
The modern executive uses “scientific” methods as a guide in making decisions. Modern, up-to-date management is “scientific management.” Modern, up-to-date executives practice “scientific marketing.” This means that business decisions are made by managers on what is considered to be factual support.
“Scientific management,” say some, is not as exact as “true” science. It is not based on absolute principles. However, this should not make us hesitate to use the term “scientific” in relation to business. Modern physicists do not consider physics absolute. Classical physics is as obsolete now as is nineteenth century industry. Einstein, Bohr, Planck, Heisenberg and others have discovered elements in nature that are not in the structure of Newton’s physics. There are no absolutes in atomic physics.
I should at this point call attention to one kind of decision making practiced in many corporations which is not scientifically sound, yet is not based on the subjective opinion or limited knowledge of the manager or a subordinate. I have in mind the committee method of decision making. Sometimes this is called the democratic method. It is also known as the brain picking method or brain storming method. This often operates on the assumption that a number of uninformed people can arrive at a better decision than one uninformed person.
Decision making in a marketing program is frequently and crucially in the area of communication, in finding an effective means of persuading potential consumers to buy the particular product or brand.
Persuading means influencing opinions or affecting attitudes by means of communication. It means not only informing, but educating, plus motivating. It means affecting the hearts as well as the minds of people.
To persuade a person, the message has to reach his emotions, not merely his sense of logic. If the message contradicts an individual’s opinions, beliefs or attitudes, the individual will reject the message or will have no interest in it.
Many advertising men fail to realize that a sales message delivered is not the same as a sales message received.
A communication about a product is one thing. But people paying attention to it, believing it and being motivated by it is another matter entirely.
An unconvincing message is either rejected outright or is modified to fit the opinion of the person who sees it or hears it. For a message to be effective it must fit a goal of the individual who receives the message, it must satisfy an emotional need. The message must motivate the individual.
There is no longer any question among serious students of psychology whether people are rational or irrational. We know that individuals are motivated by both emotional and rational factors. A message has to have emotional appeal and at the same time possess rational or practical elements.
A number of questions have to be answered in planning any kind of message on which many thousands of dollars will be spent. The questions are particularly hard to answer if the message is of the persuasion type. Is the message addressed in the most effective way? Is the timing the best? Does it appeal to the particular people it is supposed to reach? Is it easily recalled? Is it confused by people with another message from another source? Does it impress only those who agree with the message or does it have a favorable effect on people who ordinarily would not agree with it?
For a message to fail in persuading, it does not necessarily have to antagonize people. Indifference to the message means that the communication is weak.
Managers can, and some do, use research to get answers to these questions. Some research discloses the kind of people and how many are reached by the message. Other research shows how many are favorably affected by the communication, how many are unfavorably affected and how many indifferent to it.
However, research can play its role only after there is something to test. First, creative individuals have to compose the message. Generally, a number of approaches are used; several themes are tried. The message is composed in many forms. Executives have to decide which of these forms, in which of the several ways, the communication will be most effective.
Executives use some basic principles in nuking such decisions. One device used by advertising executives is the “principle of association,” which is demonstrated in the use of a pretty girl for selling a soft drink, or a rugged individual for selling cigarettes. It is known that most people, men and women, like to look at pretty girls. If a bottle of the particular brand of beverage is shown next to the girl, those who look at the girl will automatically see the brand of beverage. The “principle of association” becomes still stronger when the message communicates the idea that this pretty girl drinks this particular beverage.
The “association principle” operates in the same way in selling cigarettes by associating the brand of cigarettes with an appealing, rugged, he-man character. This interesting man not only attracts people to the cigarettes, but the message communicates that men such as he, smoke this brand of cigarettes.
The “association principle” is understood by advertising and public relations men and women. However, executives of the communications media still have questions that they cannot answer. They do not
