Summary
Thanks to a subtle understanding of psychology, successful marketers can control people’s behavior and push them to specific actions. Learning about the self-concept and its connection with consumer behavior helps determine what products customers need and how to attract their attention to the brand. By understanding this connection, you will be able to establish strong relationships with your target audience, gain their loyalty, and contribute to the well-being of both parties. Therefore, today, I suggest that you consider the ideas of the self-concept and track how they define consumer behavior.
Speech Main Body and Brief Conclusion
Various sales companies certainly think about what is behind the decision of consumers to purchase their goods. The study of consumer behavior deals with this issue to get the opportunity to sell the largest number of goods and services (Williams, 2021). Self-concept, the idea of how individuals see themselves, their emotions, and their body, plays an influential role in consumer behavior – (Davis, 2021). Self-concept has several components – self-image – how people see themselves, self-esteem – how they value themselves, and ideal self – what they want to be (Davis, 2021). These components form an identity, and purchases help support the self-concept and identity it creates.
Marketers can use this knowledge to increase sales by knowing how potential buyers see themselves. In particular, a brand representing the same values​ as an audience will have a better chance of success. Moreover, shopping can give a feeling of approaching the ideal self. When creating advertising, marketers pay attention to how their customers would like to see themselves, for example, successful, intelligent, or creative. They link these attributes to the product, and its consumption contributes to the support of the self-concept (Shrum and Rustagi, 2021). To summarise, the self-concept strongly influences consumer behavior, which justifies the need to understand it and make a corresponding study of a potential audience.
Examples
The connection between self-concept and consumer behavior is actively used in the creation of product advertising by various companies. For example, a 2020 Armani commercial advertising the fragrance MY WAY is aimed at women seeking self-confidence and self-sufficiency (Armani beauty, 2020). In the video, a beautiful young woman using perfume MY WAY actively travels around the world, learns many new ideas, communicates with exciting people, and receives many positive emotions (Armani beauty, 2020). In this way, the video appeals to an audience whose ideal self is a confident, curious, and happy woman with many opportunities. By identifying themselves with the video’s character, viewers form an emotional connection with the product, which pushes them to buy it. Moreover, the Armani brand is very famous globally and represents the high status of its consumers. For this reason, the characteristic that buyers want to support using this product is also success.
Modern brands also strive to be more humane and not suppress their customers with an excessive desire for an ideal self but to promote self-acceptance and self-esteem. For example, the retailer of special-size clothes, Lane Bryant 2015 and 2017, actively conducted the advertising campaign #ImNoAngel. Within its framework, models that do not meet the standards of thinness prevailing in the modeling industry advertise lingerie and demonstrate that women with various figures can be beautiful and confident (Lane Bryant’s # ImNoAngel, 2017). The company encourages women to appreciate themselves, and maintain their confidence, and appeals to self-esteem, self-perception, and the ideal self. Moreover, such a company corresponds to modern trends in body positivism and therefore establishes an additional connection with the identity of a potential audience.
Reference List
Armani beauty (2020) MY WAY, the feminine fragrance by Giorgio Armani – The film starring Adria Arjona. Web.
Davis, T. (2021). What is self-concept and why does it matter? Web.
Lane Bryant’s #ImNoAngel dares Hollywood to change its view of what is sexy (2017) Web.
Shrum, L.G. and Rustagi, N. (2020) Buying: the effect on self-worth feelings and consumer well-being. Web.
Williams, A. (2021) The influence of the self on consumer behavior. Web.