YouTube is limitless for Advertising and Marketing. According to researchers, YouTube is the number one social media platform for discovering to measure the buyer’s behaviour and product conversions. YouTube outperforms all other social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest on regulating buyers behaviour.

According to Pawer (2016) customer behaviour is based on consumer buying behaviour, as they play all three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Consumer buying behaviour has become an integral part of strategic market planning. Therefore, with over 1 billion hours consumed every hour on this platform, brands should take full advantage of the available ad campaigns.

JAG 2018 states that YouTube is completely changing the consumer buying behaviour and making decisions to buy the products of the brands featured. An enormous 74% of product promotions are explained through video ad campaigns on YouTube. The positive impact of driving sales through the medium of online video campaigns can be observed. Hence, justify YouTube video ad campaigns as greatly influencing the consumers behaviour of buying.

Attitudes are learned from;
1. The initial shift from no attitude to some attitude towards a brand. User’s have the ability to learn about the advertised good and engage in the change of attitude, while YouTube reports the time spent watching the ad.
2. Favourable attitudes towards a brand can be the result of satisfaction from previous products that the brand has created. YouTube serves the video ads to match the targeted consumers, therefore the audience might show interest in watching the ad as it may be relevant to them due to previous audience intended content.
3. User’s form attitudes based upon their own knowledge and beliefs. Motivation, perception, beliefs, attitude, and learning known as psychological features drives audiences to be motivated to buy a product. Furthermore, YouTube marketers have the ability to understand the audiences values, hopes, manners, and conceptions where the consumer believes as a Cultural factor are learned by the environment and location they live.

The Fishbein Model

The Fishbein Model originated from the researcher aligning attributes together where the beliefs of an object in conjunction with the evaluation of each attributes lead towards the attitude of the object resulting into the behaviour of purchase.

The extended Fishbein model – theory of reasoned action
The theory of reasoned action has several important additions and according to Minaiard 1981, in his examination of the fishbein model, the model has been used in a variety of contexts that justifies good performance in predicting behavioural intentions.

In order for YouTube to gain a better understanding of the audience predicted behaviour, the marketers of ad campaigns must use the theory of reasoned action as it contains several important additions to the diagram above, including:
– Intentions vs behaviour
– Social pressure
– Attitude towards buying

Intentions vs behaviour
YouTuber’s who share their conviction in videos such as “try on hauls” is a great example of this. Brands team up with YouTube influencers who will purchase or receive a range clothing or accessories from a particular brand and will share them with their following. The brand will benefit from negotiation of price, showcasing the items, sizing and the styling.

Social pressure
YouTube Influencer marketing can easily increase both sales and ROI of a company. The Number of Videos views are the critical factors that drive more sales and conversation on YouTube. A great example of this is when beauty brands use known Youtube influencers to promote their brand and encourage consumers to purchase their product to “get the look”. For Example, YouTube star “Nikkie Tutorials” is known as one of the biggest beauty influencer. She has 11,933,202 YouTube followers and 1,052,791,777 views for her YouTube channel.

Attitude towards buying
From what used to start out as having to sit in front of a TV for commercials to change the consumers attitude towards buying has now changed in today’s advertising techniques. YouTube is readily available for a chosen product review or rating, thus, changing our attitude towards buying in seconds. How- to, unboxing and entertaining videos all have an impact on consumers purchasing decisions.
How-to videos: brands sometimes release how to videos promoting their range of products used while influencers dissect their video into reviewing and using new product in the market (like the video above).
Unboxing/review videos : influencers usually buy new, hyped products and go through the steps of unboxing the object and reviews it.

Entertaining videos: there are a number of different fields of entertaining videos that depend on the purchasing decision. For example, food related videos such as “epic meal time”.

References

Blog.scrunch.com. (2019). What Is A Try-On Haul And Why Should It Be In Your Influencer Marketing Strategy. [online] Available at: https://blog.scrunch.com/what-is-a-try-on-haul-and-what-are-the-benefits-to-your-influencer-strategy

JAG (2018). How YouTube Is Changing The Consumer Buying Behavior | Reelnreel. [online] ReelnReel. Available at: https://www.reelnreel.com/consumer-buying-behavior/

Miniard, P. and Cohen, J. (1981). An examination of the Fishbein-Ajzen behavioral-intentions model’s concepts and measures. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 17(3), pp.309-339.

Pawar, S. and Naranje, S. (2016). A Study on Factors Influencing on Buying Behaviour of Customers. Research Journal 2015- Institute of Science, Poona College of Computer Sciences, (2394-1774 Issue II), p.3.

Yang, K., Huang, C., Yang, C. and Yang, S. (2017). Consumer attitudes toward online video advertisement: YouTube as a platform. Kybernetes, 46(5), pp.840-853.

YOUTUBE AD CAMPAIGNS

Do you ever hover over the ‘skip ad’ button and count down the seconds until you’re able to skip? You’re not the only one. CNBC covered a study written by IPG stating that over 65% of viewers will hit the “skip ad” button as soon as it becomes available. Funnily enough, 76% of those people commit the action out of habit. This makes it overly obvious that consumers are accustomed to this because they are so frequently used and seen in everyday life through all forms of electronic advertising platforms. Platforms such as social media and music apps and YouTube in particular makes consumers build the habit of waiting for an ad to become skippable.

The Pavlovian model
The Pavlov theory was designed to describe how “conditioning” could be used as a model of learning. Rehman 2019, states that the classical theory is the process in which an automatic, conditioned response is paired with specific stimuli. In the case of YouTube ad campaigns our automatic conditioned response is paired with the skip ad button. This concept relates to the habit consumers have created, once we hear something not relating to our search, our immediate action is to see where we can find that skip ad button and move on to what you wanted to see or hear.

Involvement theory
Involvement theory revolves around consumer learning which depending on the purchase assumes consumers engage in a range of information processing activities from extensive to limited problem solving. Under the involvement theory the hemispherical theory deals with the dissection of the brain in which left side and right side process different kinds of information.

In YouTube video/TV ads the hemispherical lateralisation states that it has a low involvement medium which deals with the right hemisphere of the brain and results in passive learning. Krugman contributed a further Journal of Advertising Research article in 1977 in which he proposed that hemispherical lateralisation was behind video/TV effectiveness as a medium. Essentially, he believed that video/TV advertising communicated to the right hemisphere through its low involvement passive learning (Heath and Stipp, 2011).

Having 5-seconds to win over the consumers can be a little tricky and make you extremely time conscious. Thus, YouTube ads must utilise passive learning through repeated exposures to low involvement information. Therefore, Ducey 2018 created a two-step opportunity to improve the experience enough so that audiences feel both “engaged and interested in content being offered to them rather than annoyed”.

1. Make it relevant: keep it short and simple. The average viewer only watches the first 5.5 seconds of a 15 second pre-roll ad. Advertisers have to pack a lot into those couple of seconds, needing to effectively tell their story in an engaging way that keeps the audience’s’ attention and encourages them to interact with their brand.  
2. Make it engaging: catch their attention with easily recognisable symbols or “pictorial cues”. This will encourage consumers to recognise your brand quickly.

References
Ducey, S. (2018). How Advertisers Combat the “Skip Ad” Button | Digilant. [online] Digilant.com. Available at: https://digilant.com/how-advertisers-combat-the-skip-ad-button/

Heath, R. and Stipp, H. (2011). The Secret of Television’s Success: emotional Content or Rational Information?. Journal of Advertising Research, 51(1 50th Anniversary Supplement), pp.112-123.

Krugman, H. (1977). Memory without Recall, Exposure without Perception. Journal of Advertising Research, 40(6), pp.49-54.

Rehman, I., Mahabadi, N. and Rehman, C. (2019). Classical Conditioning. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470326/

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, thus if you are not taking advantage of this popular video promoting platform to attract potential customers and make them aware of your service/product, then you are most definitely missing out on big opportunities!

In a recent Youtube study, the following statistics were found;

• Over the last two years, the number of small-medium sized businesses advertising on YouTube has doubled
• In an average month, 18+ year olds in the United States spend more time watching YouTube than a regular television network
• On mobile alone, more 18-49 year olds watch YouTube during prime time in the United States than they do the top-ten prime time television shows combined

Principles of designing effective ads

• Attract attention
• Convey relevant information
• Convey emotions
• Build up brand knowledge

YouTube advertisements use the principle of designing effect ads as they encourage you to make your ad to be “awareness building, influence consideration, drive sales and grow your sales”. YouTube have a range of different types of advertisements within the site, such as;
1. Pre-roll video ads
2. In-stream ads
3. Bumper ads
4. In display ads
All 4 ads need to be critically time managed and have a powerful message that is clearly highlighted in a short amount of time.

Principles of perceptual organisation
Marketers tend to “group” together various stimuli that they are exposed to – individual stimuli are perceived as unified wholes. Generally there’s a hidden story behind a company’s logo which is also known as a figure ground reversal. One part of the stimulus will dominate (the figure) while other parts recede into the backdrop (the ground).

In 2017, the YouTube logo had a makeover, with the focus shifting from “Tube” to a “Play button” before the word. The symbol of the play button signals videos as YouTube is a video sharing site. The figure ground concept is therefore found in their freshened up logo and is not only well designed but has a meaning to it as well.

Gradual change in brand YouTube logo j.n.d

The new logo provides a more flexible design especially when it comes to being viewed on the app by a smartphone or small device. The logo used previously was the full name “YouTube” now a “play button” is the logo found on the app and fits in with other social media and online platforms.

References
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/youtube-changes-logo-updates-app-design-2017-8?r=US&IR=T
https://www.singlegrain.com/video-marketing/the-ultimate-guide-to-youtube-advertising-in-2018/
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/features/youtube-playbook/topic/advertising-strategy/

A crucial component of marketing is the way we as consumers are influenced in the decision making process. Decision making is the process of making choices based upon “identifying a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions” (Dartmouth, 2019) alternatively the five step process; need recognition, pre-purchase search and evaluation of alternatives.

Recently, I have been searching for the right phone as an upgrade is well and truly overdue. I have only ever previously owned Apple iPhone’s and haven’t looked at any further in brands for the reason of familiarity, quality and convenience. The five steps of my decision making as follows;

STEP 1: PROBLEM RECOGNITION
I need a new phone and I am due for an upgrade with my mobile carrier.
In this step a consumer develops the need or want for a good or service and ultimately be satisfied with their purchase.

STEP 2: INFORMATION SEARCH
The consumers can gather information from an array of different external sources before the final step such as; internet, visiting the store, salespeople, friends and family or independent product reviews etc. My initial approach was to ask the people around me what phone they were using and their opinions and recommendations. I spoke to two people that owned an X and one that owned an XR, I was able to use them and found I liked the XR because of the size but still wanted to research the other features the phone had. I researched what phone will be best suited for me which I had a feeling would in fact be an IPHONE… Purely because its convenient as it is compatible with my MacBook and because I am familiar with Apple’s iOS.


STEP 3: EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
Once the consumer has identified the good or service that will best suit them they go on to seek the best deal. Factors that can influence this step may be price or quality of the product.
After some research I discovered that the top three iPhones that will be best suit me is the iPhone X, iPhone XS or the iPhone XR.

STEP 4: PURCHASE
In this step consumers weigh out their alternatives and choose the final product that they are willing to purchase, considering all the risk on the way.
I decided to go with the iPhone XR as the screen was bigger and had an “advanced camera system”. I used to a plus sized iPhone and better operate with a larger screen. I am also going away later during the year and wanted a good quality camera system on my phone that allowed me to take quality photos instead of looking to buy a camera.

STEP 5: POST PURCHASE
Once the purchase has been made, consumers can answer “does the product satisfy your needs or wants? Are you happy with your purchase and does it meet your expectations?”
I haven’t yet received it as I am waiting for my carrier to send it out but I’m almost certain that I’ll make good use of my new phone especially the advanced camera system when I go on my holiday!

References
https://www.umassd.edu/fycm/decision-making/process/
https://www.apple.com/au/iphone/compare/
https://www.sparkyourbrand.co/blog/2018/10/25/secret-to-effective-marketing/

Market research is a vital component for any business to understand consumers needs and wants, have an insight into the market and existing competitors, determine market trends and analyse the consumer buying patterns (outsource2india).

THE MARKET RESEARCH PROBLEM

Men’s skincare market

The men’s skincare market has rapidly grown over the past 10-20 years. Men have become more in-touch and given close attention to their general health, well-being and appearance and are a growing interest to markets around the world (Rangkaputi, 2019).

The problem…

Entering the market and introducing new products to the targeted individuals can be difficult for most marketers. Therefore, the need for research and establishing an understanding of the market and segmentation should never be underestimated.

Some questions to think about before the introduction of a new product in men’s skincare

• Is there an existing market for these products? – Yes or no?
• What segment of the market would particularly buy this product? Can you identify characteristic such as age, lifestyle etc? – Studies show that the target market has been established for men’s skincare with detail on the two largest populations of men, according to the ‘SISinternationalresearch’, those aged 50’s to ealry 70’s and those aged 20-30 years.
• How would you position this new product to the market? – What message do you want your brand to have?
• How would you plan the package design and promotion? – Simple, elegent, basic, environmentally friendly or generic blue and white colour based?

FOR EXAMPLE: Ernest Supplies shaving cream
Studies found that men commonly seek products that are cheap, quick and convenient when it comes to skincare. The Ernest Supplies Group had to differentiate themselves and answer the following;
“how do we get men who generally buy generic shaving creams at a drugstore to consider buying our brand Earnest Supplies?”.
The promotion and benefits of the product seeks to replace 3 products providing connivence for those men who are happy to buy the one product instead of a pre-oil, shaving cream and moisturiser. The Ernest Supplies shaving cream was promoted as a 3-in1 product that will “lubricate, moisturise, fight redness and reduce razor clogs” (Ernest Supplies). This 3-in-1 product was targeted at men, not only to enjoy the convenience of having to buy just the one product but those who might have a travel based lifestyle that would prefer carrying 1 product around rather than 3. Furthermore, the brand was reasonably priced and available at common drugstores, target, amazon and other retailers that were easily accessible.

References

https://www.sisinternational.com/solutions/beauty-product-market-research/mens-skincare-market-research/
https://www.outsource2india.com/kpo/articles/market-research-importance.asp
https://epubs.scu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1559&context=theses