Revo Island

For some purpose, marketers find it useful to categorize her by age, gender, income, or occupation.

These are descriptive characteristics of the population or demographics. In other cases, marketers prefer to know about Gail's interests in clothing, music or her leisure style. Knowledge of consumer characteristics plays an extremely important role in many marketing applications, such as when a manufacturer defines a market for a product, or when an advertising agency decides to adopt appropriate technology for a particular consumer group. Gail's sorority membership had a big influence on her buying decision. Our conversations with others convey a great deal of product information and advice on using or avoiding specific brands;

This content often has more impact than what we see in TV ads, magazines or billboards. The growth of the Web has created thousands of online consumer communities where members share opinions and suggestions on everything from Barbie dolls to fantasy baseball lineups to iPhone apps. Gail bonded with the rest of the team because they used the same product. Each group member is under pressure to buy what is approved by the group. Consumers can pay a high price in the form of group exclusion or embarrassment when they do not conform to other people's concepts of good and bad, "in" and "out." As members of a large society, such as in the United States, people have shared cultural values or strong beliefs about how the world should work. Members of a subculture or smaller groups within that culture also share values;

Brands often have clearly defined images or "personalities" that advertising, packaging, branding and other marketing elements help to shape. Even choosing a favorite website is largely a lifestyle statement: it says a lot about a person's interests and who he or she wants to be. People often buy a product because they like its image, or because they feel its "personality" fits them in some way. This was true even when they judged others; After all, each of us is, to some extent, a "brand" that others like or dislike -- hence the popularity of dating apps like Tinder that allow people to quickly choose between competing options!

In addition, a consumer may believe that if he or she buys and uses the product or service, its desirable qualities will "magically" rub off on him or her. When a product or service meets our specific needs or desires, we may reward it with years of brand loyalty, a bond between product and consumer that is hard for competitors to break.