Promoting Low Involvement Products

The question remains, how do marketers promote brands regarded as "low involvement"? These are brands that are very difficult to promote such as milk, stationaries and motor oil to name a few. It is the responsibility of the marketer to create an image of the brand likely to be accepted by consumers in a target market.

The creativity and expertise of marketers in promoting a brand in a convincing way during advertisement messages has been regarded as very impressive. Slogans like "I got milk", "Liquid engineering" have succeeded in drawing consumer interest in those brands regarded as difficult to market. Creativity, a strong spokes person and carefull selection of media if harnessed very well can built a strong brand in markets where differentiation is difficult to achieve.

Advertisement are designed with messages targeting a specific audience. These messages far often than not are desirned to shape or change consumer attitudes, induce action either short term or long term and remembrance of the brand especially at the point of purchase. The choice of medium in which to channel the message is very important. Impersonal medium can reach far wider audience with alot of success, but may not lead to the desired result. Advertisers or rather marketers may have to use personal messages in communicating the positive side (added values) of the brand. 

MOTOR OIL AS A PRODUCT IN DEVELOPING MARKETS FROM B2B TO CONSUMER MARKETS AND ITS IMPACT TO ADVERTISING

MOTOR OIL AS A PRODUCT IN DEVELOPING MARKETS FROM B2B TO CONSUMER MARKETS AND ITS IMPACT TO ADVERTISING.

Motor oil regarded as low involvement products have continued to create consumer interest on the best choice for engine use in the now ever expanding developing economies. Economic, political, and regulatory forces are reshaping the dynamics of lubricants supply and demand throughout the world; hence opportunities to grow this business continue to emerge. Among the developing economies, South Asia, and India are regarded as a key growth market as well as a source of competitively priced lubricants that could eventually affect mature markets. Growing awareness of vehicle emissions as a source of air pollution is driving environmental regulation, which will force commercial fleets across the region to modernize. This in turn will create a small but growing market for higher-performance engine oils, . klinegroupThe use of modern cars with engines that have low carbon emission are constantly been put to use in these economies thereby the need for more improved motor oils to suet new technology.

The motor oil market is divided into three different parts, namely consumer automobile, commercial automobile and industrial automobile, Klinegroup . The passenger car market is subdivided into retail which includes high street accessory shops, forecourts, DIY and supermarkets and workshops which further splits into fast fit operations franchise and non franchise dealers. Each of these segments has a unique role in terms of consumption, consumer behaviour and the type of promotion strategy to apply in each case.

The global outcry for cleaner environment caused by vehicle emissions necessitates the need to improve on the poor fuel quality and vehicles. Vehicle and lubricant manufacturers are continuously improving the design of their engines and quality of their oil to meet these new challenges.

Product marketers within the marketing department must ensure that they meet consumer tastes either in the B2B market or the consumer market. Effective use of brand marketing will enable differentiation from other products and extend it from becoming a commodity.

It is widely believed brand equity plays a big role in customer loyalty due to the customer’s perception, on the contrary, studies have shown that it is brand image that leads to loyalty. The more customers regard a particular brand the better they will stick to it over a long period of time. Brand equity creates brand recognition over a long period of time. Brand equity is subdivided into categories such as brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand association, other proprietary brand associations and perceived quality. To differentiate a brand from competitors, a reliable and strong corporate brand needs to be developed. When customers judge a brand as unique, desirable and strong, they rate it as high brand equity.

Some might argue that advertising is deceptive and a waste of shareholders money, but studies have shown advertising can induce sales to a large extent especially in established brands. The need to beat competitors in a similar product line necessitates the need for advertising. Organisations undertake advertising mainly for brand maintenance, loyalty and ensure an existing level of sales.

A popular notion is that advertising persuades people to buy things such as the theory of awareness, interest, desire and desire (AIDA), this might seem true in new entry brands but it seems highly unlikely in established brands where consumers must have already used the brand before seeing the advert.

In any economy, whether developed or developing, product innovation has always been copied by competitors hence this always seems to be a cause of concern to manufacturers. However to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage advertising is used through branding and differentiation. Branding values are constantly promoted in the media distinguishing one product from another making it easier for consumers to distinguish differences between competitors.