Introduction
Advertising is a form of communication that gives viewers information and encourages them to decide to buy a product or service. It is regarded as a crucial and necessary component for the economic development of marketers and businesses (Ryans, 1996). Advertising is typically a form of exposure or promotion that is paid for by a sponsor and spreads through a variety of modern and traditional media, including blogs, websites, and text messages, as well as traditional media like television, newspapers, commercial radio, magazine mail, and outdoor advertising.
When it comes to developing new advertisements, marketers have always adjusted to shifting commercial demands. With the expansion of the supply of manufactured goods brought on by industrialization, the use of advertisements has significantly increased in the 20th century. However, advertising was not widely used by businesses at the time. Late 1980s advertisements were primarily found in newspapers, radio, television, and billboards. Businesses are increasingly focusing on digital advertising in the modern era. Businesses are putting so much effort into their social media and mobile marketing strategies that they may soon overtake television advertising. The trend of digital marketing is just beginning to take off in Bangladesh. The majority of big, local and international corporations are now actively engaging in digital marketing.
The primary goal of advertising is to influence consumer behavior, but this influence on brand perception is frequently altered or strengthened by people's memories. Assemblies connected to the brand name in the consumer's mind help to create memories of the product (Khan, Siddiqui, Shah & Hunjra, 2012). These brands continuously affect consumers' decisions, assessments, and ultimately purchases (Romaniuk & Sharp, 2004). The literature study of the impact of advertising regarding its effectiveness has always placed a great deal of emphasis on and space for consumer purchasing behavior (Ajzen, 2002). The majority of the time, consumer purchasing behavior is influenced by how the consumer feels about the product advertisement (Smith et al., 2006). A quality advertisement is more likely to persuade consumers to purchase the product than a subpar advertisement.
Consumer Buying Behaviour
Consumer buying behavior describes the processes used when individuals or groups select, acquire, use, or discard goods, concepts, or experiences in accordance with their needs and preferences (Solomon, 1995). a practice that customers engage in when they look for, purchase, use, assess, and discard goods and services they believe will meet their needs (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007). Three social science disciplines—individual psychology, societal psychology, and cultural anthropology—have come together to form this field (Ramachander, 1988). It is particularly important to study the topic of consumer buying behavior as it enables businesses to plan and implement superior business strategies (Green, 1992). A theory that explains what, why, how, when, and where an individual makes purchases .
We will look for factors that influence consumer purchasing behavior in this study. Certain factors were discovered to have an effect on consumers in earlier studies. Below, we briefly touch on this:
People can access an endless supply of advertisements today. They do, however, like novel, entertaining, and attention-grabbing things. Advertising that is dull won't stick in consumers' minds for very long. As a result, entertainment has been referred to as a crucial advertising strategy for boosting advertising effectiveness and pleading with consumers to buy.
Another significant element influencing consumer purchasing behavior is brand familiarity brought about by advertising. A study with consumers was conducted by Macinnis and Park in 1991 to look into how well-known songs affect advertising and consumer behavior. In their study, consumers expressed satisfaction for products that featured well-known songs, and it was confirmed that there is a significant link between the advertising's amiability and the familiarity of the songs used.
Ads have an impact on people's lifestyles and how much they try to present themselves in a way that is socially acceptable, as shown by social roles and images. Ads market lifestyle and image in addition to goods and services. Advertisements inform consumers about new life styles, images, and trends (Pollay & Mittal, 1993; Burns, 2003). Through depicting the ideal consumer in that position and encouraging social action toward the purchase of that product, advertising promotes social messages and a certain way of living.
Spending on advertising also leaves consumers with a favorable impression of a brand. Advertising and perceived quality are found to be positively correlated by Aaker and Jacobson (1994). Therefore, spending on advertising is positively correlated with perceived quality, which increases the amount of purchases made from that brand because consumers typically prefer to buy from a well-known brand to avoid quality disappointments.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND ADVERTISEMENT RELATION
Consumer behavior and advertising are closely related. According to the marketing and advertising objectives, the purpose of advertising is to affect consumer decisions at all stages of the decision-making process.
To reach consumers at different times, advertisers employ various channels. To appeal to the public, they can use printed materials as well as social media, broadcast media, radio, television, and newspapers. Depending on the demographics and traits of the consumers, each channel may have a different impact on their behavior. Depending on the consumer's stage of the decision-making process, these various channels also have a variety of effects.
In order to reach consumers and get their feedback on the products they are buying, advertisers also examine consumer behavior. Understanding these responses will help advertisers develop more persuasive advertising for upcoming campaigns, as well as more effective consumer targeting and messaging.
ADVERTISEMENT TYPES
Depending on how they want to approach the consumer or potential consumer, advertisers use a variety of advertising strategies. All of these strategies have as their primary objective convincing potential customers to purchase a product and persuading existing customers of the advantages their current purchase has over competing products. Additionally, the advertisers make an effort to persuade their current clients to make additional purchases from them or to renew a service agreement. Rational and irrational advertising are two categories that are frequently used to categorize advertisements. Irrational advertising, on the other hand, places a greater emphasis on the emotions and social factors than rational advertising does.
INFORMATIONAL COMMERCIALS
One of the logical advertising strategies is the informational advertisement. The informational advertisement promotes a particular product. It concentrates more on showcasing a product's features. This strategy assumes that customers are aware of the products they want to purchase and can connect the advertised product's features to their wants, needs, and advantages.
TRANSFORMATIVE MARKETING
Advertising that promotes transformation is regarded as irrational advertising. The consumer is given more attention than the product. This type of advertising aims to give each customer a special experience by showing them an advertisement that speaks to their needs and desires. The goal of transformational advertising is to demonstrate to consumers how a product or service can make their lives better. Additionally, this kind of marketing aims to connect the experience a customer would have after purchasing a good or service with the experience of the brand. An illustration of this type of advertisement is when Nike or Apple release new products and the marketers attempt to connect the product's experience with the brand name.
EFFECT OF ADVERTISING ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Advertising's main goal is to persuade customers to buy a product in the first place. To be able to affect consumers' decisions, advertisers keep tabs on consumer behavior. Because of this, marketers must target each stage of the consumer decision-making process differently. A consumer is looking for information, and an advertiser is someone who provides them with all the information they need, but only in relation to a particular product. The function of advertising in each stage of the consumer decision-making process will then be discussed.
THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON PROBLEM RECOGNITION
Consumers realize their needs and seek ways to satisfy them during the problem recognition phase of the decision-making process. Food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, education, and healthcare are among the basic human needs3 that can be linked to the issue that causes the need and desire. When a consumer is unhappy with how any of their basic needs are being met at the moment, they typically realize they have a problem. The issue might also result from a desire for luxury items that would provide a higher level of satisfaction.
Advertisers discovered that generating needs and wants is very helpful, particularly when marketing new and innovative products. The role of advertising in transferring the idea of using a car as a mode of transportation to be a better life need and a sign of social level is an example of the advertisement in need and want creation. The advertisers use both irrational and rational advertising at this stage. The irrational advertisement helps more in creating wants than the rational advertisement does in creating needs for the advertised product.
THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISEMENT IN INFORMATION SEARCH
Once a problem is noticed, a consumer begins their information search. The consumer's objective during this stage is to gather all the data needed to assist in resolving his issue. To help consumers understand how the advertised products are solving their problems, advertisers concentrate on rational advertising during this phase. Because there are so many options available to them at this point, consumers are perplexed and find it difficult to compare them all in order to make the best decision. In order to create a direct route to certain products, advertisers target consumers through informative advertisements. Television, radio, newspapers, other printed materials, and social media platforms can all run advertisements.
THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING IN EVALUATING OPTIONS
Before making a purchase decision, consumers continually move between the stages of evaluating alternatives and information search in a continuous cycle. The consumer does more than simply compare how well a product satisfies his need in comparison to 5 other products during the evaluating alternatives phase of decision-making. Consumers typically compare products based on additional factors, such as brand recognition or how the product will affect their social standing. Irrational advertising frequently targets psychological factors. An advertiser will be able to form values other than the fundamental real value of a good or service through irrational advertising. A pair of Nike shoes can simply serve to protect your feet.
THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON BUYING DECISIONS
A consumer should have a clear idea of the exact product he wants to purchase before making a decision. If the customer encounters unfavorable reviews on social media or from a friend who has used the product, this stage may be cut short. Advertisers concentrate more on rational advertising at this stage in order to present the core value and persuade and sway the consumer's purchasing decision. They can also use this instance of irrational advertising to make wants take precedence over needs. Depending on the message the advertiser wants to convey, this stage can make use of both transformational and informative advertisements.
ROLE OF ADVERTISEMENT IN POST-PURCHASE
Post-purchase marketing aims to foster a bond and a sense of loyalty between a customer and a business. This advertisement may only serve to highlight new, pertinent products, provide the consumer with product care information, or show them more information about a product they have already purchased. The purpose of advertising during this stage is also to gather customer feedback on a sold product in order to improve communication, message targeting, and customer experience. In this stage, informational advertising can be used to promote new products or customer service. The use of transformational advertising can help retain customers' loyalty to the product they purchased for a longer period of time and increase their appeal to it.
THE WAY OF THE FUTURE: ONLINE FIRST
Online advertising 7 first is no longer a myth. Phil Gaughran, U.S. chief integration officer of agency McGarryBowen, made predictions about the future of advertising during the Adobe Think Tank Panel8 discussion at advertising week 2017. He predicted that by 2022, automation will account for 80% of advertising, with the remaining 20% representing brand values, storytelling, and novel advertising techniques.
The most important question that needs to be addressed is how that can relate to consumers. Consumers can purchase anything today online. This made it possible for marketers to track, observe, and record consumer behavior. This increases the likelihood that Phil Gaughran's prediction will come true.
Such automation for advertising will demand a lot of consumer data, which almost certainly results in a more tailored advertisement. That would improve the caliber of the advertising. According to Rocket Fuel's Consumer Perceptions of AI9 Survey, as the amount of goods and services offered online rises, more information about those goods and services is also provided by users. That translates to better consumer understanding and behavior analysis, both of which will result in future advertisements that are more individualized.
CONCLUSION
Advertising has a significant impact on how consumers make decisions. It happens at every stage of the consumer's decision to buy something, and it even has the power to create the needs and wants of the consumer. You can find numerous advertisements in the IT sector for new equipment, software, and even hardware that will satisfy your needs. Consumers now have more motivation to consume more than they did in the past due to these new needs. Advertising that is based on the two main types of behavior—rational and irrational—has a psychological impact on consumers' choices. Today, Google, the second-largest company10 in terms of value, relies primarily on advertising as a source of income. That demonstrates how advertisements have developed into a crucial tool for businesses to influence customers.
In the period following a purchase, advertising is extremely important because it aims to boost consumer loyalty to a particular brand or item. As a result, the purpose of advertising in the first and last stages is somewhat different from that of the middle three stages. The purpose of advertising during the three middle stages is to persuade the consumer to choose a specific product to meet his or her immediate need or desire. The first stage of advertising, however, aims to generate needs and wants. While the final stage of advertising is more focused on staying in touch with customers about new goods or services.