Top Three Course Takeaways
- How to create more effective communications strategies based on internal or psychological influences that impact consumer decision-making.
- How to create more effective communications strategies based on external or sociological influences that impact consumer decision-making.
- An appreciation for the importance of ethnography as a research method to better understand consumers and the ability to create an ethnography proposal.
Course Topics
- Buying, Having and Being / Consumer and Social Well-Being / Practical Ethnography and Theory
- Perception / Learning and Memory / Ethical Ethnography
- Motivation and Affect / The Self / Managing Private-Sector Ethnography and Clients
- Personality / Lifestyles and Values / Attitudes and Persuasive Communications / Ethnographic Tools and Reporting
- Decision Making / Buying, Using and Disposing / Ethnographic Sampling and Fieldwork
- Groups and Social Media / Income and Social Class / Ethnographic Analysis and Beyond
- Subcultures / Cultures
WORKLOAD: (8-10 hours per week)
Take an in-depth look at consumer behavior and its role in IMC. Examine consumer behavior in terms of internal influences, external influences, the consumer decision-making process and consumers and culture.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Describe the importance of audience insight and understanding of consumer behavior on developing an integrated marketing communications strategy.
- Examine ethnographic research practices, ethical considerations of conducting ethnographic research, and the components of an ethnographic report.
- Analyze the role emotional branding plays in designing persuasive marketing messages and how a consumer’s values and cultural characteristics influence their decision-making process.
- Illustrate how each aspect of the buying experience affects the consumer decision-making process and explain the theories related to influencing consumer attitudes toward a product or service.
- Create a comprehensive proposal for a private-sector ethnography research project.
