Consumer Behaviors in Advertising
Culture is an aspect that is informed by the traditions and the customs of society. It is usually revealed through intellectual and artistic achievements of the society and maintained by progressive codes of behaviour that are transmitted across all generations. It is essential to pay attention to culture in advertising. Culture influences the adverting for brands that generally work on a worldwide scale and especially when a brand is working in a market with a cross-cultural difference to where they are based (Strasser, 2003). The symbols, messages, rituals and the colours used for the brands hold different meanings and messages across the global cultures. The basic concept for every business that wishes to be successful in the global markets is to know their consumers. The ability to Know a consumer encompass understanding their culture and how it interacts with the brand. As the world becomes more connected with advanced technology, there is an increasing need to understand other cultures. Culture plays a significant role in advertising by businesses around the globe.
Consumer Behaviors in Advertising
Culture plays a role in impacting the behaviours of consumers across different markets. Culture is an aspect that determines the success of the sales of certain products amongst particular business, nationalities and ages. For example, at the global level, a brand that is successful in the western market may not be successful in the Middle East. A successful technique of advertising in Australia may be a flop in Japan. The consumers from America respond well to conspicuous and bold advertising, and this is not applicable among the British consumers (Holt, 1998). In Asia, there is a market for selling skin whitening products, but in the West, such markets are less popular the same way the market for sunscreen is not performing in the Middle East. Consumer behaviours are different from one country to the other, and this is based on political influences, socio-economic factors, geographic together with the social traditions and history. The origin of their culture mainly influences the differences in the behaviour of the consumers. Consumers in a particular country are often bound by a common culture that influences their buying behaviours and exposure to the advertising techniques. For every culture, a business is expected to perform market research so that a relevant marketing strategy can be used to reach the consumers.
Consumer behaviours are different in the same way as their culture. Within a country itself, consumers differ in terms of ages, education, sex and religious affiliations, but a common culture unites them. Such characteristics of individuals within a country can impact their buying behaviour. The challenge of targeting the audience accompanies the diversity in the cultures. Human beings usually like grouping together intending to secure identity, and this is what influences the trends in fashion and overall consumption. Despite the opportunity for every human to be autonomous, there is increased safety in number, and this is how culture comes into play (Frank, 1997). While there are numerous different cultures with diverse consumer economies across the world, trends also transcend the differences in the cultures. The ability of a business to launch a brand in various countries regardless of the cultural differences calls for extensive research on consumer behaviour. For example, Facebook is a form of advertisement that has been successful globally, irrespective of the differences in the cultures. Starbucks is one of the organizations that have adapted their franchise to conform to different cultures (Holt, 1998). The same applies to Cadbury. The marketing of these firms is specially tailored to suit the cultural norms of the consumers from the advertising they use in these markets. Culture influences consumer behaviours, hence, investing in the research of the target audience is essential in the world of advertising.
Communication in Advertising
Understanding the cultural differences can assist a business to establish a more effective content while reaching out to consumers beyond borders. The marketing team for a business needs to travel abroad and have some time with the people who come from different places to examine how their culture impacts how they view advertising. How a person reacts, respond or interprets the content in advertising is greatly influenced by their cultures. For example, Toyota strived to integrate the difference in culture and motivations into their communications by establishing its six-version TV ad for the Camry in the US (Holt, 1998). Numerous global communications are regularly released by international brands (Adorno & Horkheimer, 2000). The primary objectives of these brands should be to work on how to improve the effectiveness and the power of their messages across borders. Improved awareness and understanding of a culture by a business is essential in effective communication with customers in different regions and markets and more subtle ways. Through becoming both culturally sensitive and sharing more compelling messages, a company can easily tap into international markets with diversity in cultures. When a business is also able to understand how other cultures communicate, it can communicate the advertising campaign to the potential customers in a way that they easily understand and appreciate. A communication style can either be implicit or explicit. An explicit communicator like the US assumes that the listener usually is not aware of the background information and issues related to the topic and hence obtain it on their own (Frank, 1997). Japan encompasses of implicit communicators who often assume that the listener is sufficiently informed and thus minimizes the information shared with the listener. A business cannot introduce inherent communication style to a country like the US just the same way it cannot apply explicit communication to consumers from Japan.
Cultural Values and Norms in Advertising
When advertising across the border, a business needs to analyze the cultural values that underpin the target audience from a particular society. The religious values and perception of the people from a specific culture influence their choices in consumption. Companies should establish brands that respect the religious values of the people across cultures to be successful in advertising. Failure to respect the cultural values of the people can result in a ban or a decline in the consumption of the product by the people from a specific culture (Strasser, 2003). For example, Nike declined in performance in Chinese markets due to the symbol of Dragon that was used in its adverts. The people highly respect the Dragon in Chinese culture. A business must also focus on the country to determine if it is collectivist or individualist nations so that they can formulate the best advertising strategy. Advertising that focuses on h success of individuals or independence by stressing on the word “I” can be received negatively in certain nations where teamwork is a positive quality. Lack of respect for authority or rebelliousness should be avoided by business in hierarchical or family-oriented families like Italy. At the same time emotions of the people, are influenced by culture (Holt, 1998). In advertising, emotions drive engagement, the intention to purchase and brand recall. Understanding and conceptualizing culture in advertising is significant in defining emotional palette that can be used by a brand for a specific audience. A business that aims to tap into international markets characterized by different cultures should perform research on the emotions, cultural values and norms of the people in the country.
Generally, culture plays a significant role in advertising for a business that wishes to expand into international markets. Culture influences the consumer behaviours of people across cultures, and hence the message conveyed in advertising should promote positive behaviour among the consumers. Effective communication in connection to the culture of the people should be formulated by businesses that wish to expand into international markets. The cultural norms, values and attitudes of the people across cultures also influence the advertising of brands.