We have an image of ourselves in other words which we are; this is what we refer as self-concept. A social identity is the specific people are classified as; this is where we are perceived as members of a particular group. A company’s brand image is also part of its identity; it drives relations, connections and in calculated into the mind of the clients, shareholders and even observers. This takes place when the marketing of their goods and services, for example, some companies have pride in making eco-friendly products. Some people want to be associated and affiliated with this product. Making alliances or joining professional associations can also signal social identity, for example being listed into the stock exchange market can also be used to prove a country’s legitimacy and in other words social identity. There are certain behaviors we portray that makes us be classified in a specific group. For instance, members of a gym rather than being physically fit they describe certain behaviors like taking of Gatorade. This shows that apart from being physically fit they are also fitness conscious. Our social status helps us to understand how we behave in a particular manner this enhances our distinctiveness and our condition.
Businesses and public institutions have considered diversity so that a particular clique of people does not feel betrayed. In an example home washing companies do what their clients like, companies have to keep these clients and make them appreciated by the company. On getting customers the following feedback was obtained on their washers ‘like their washer not having up-front purchase costs, less energy consumption, upgrading of machines at no charges and repairmen taking fast and more accurately. To accept a diversity of clients on their products it is important to listen to customer’s feedback. This would enhance product being accepted by broader society, and every member would feel like that product satisfies their needs and there would be no exclusion. Many marketers take such caution to present to the market products that they are readily accepted with the market instead of coming up of a product that will not be bought by a specific group of people.
People belong to various religious groups like Christian, Jew, Hindu, and Islam these social groups are very delicate. Places like hotels have to offer meals that these social groups take as per their religious groups, for example, Muslims don’t take pork. Hindus don’t make beef since they view cows as their gods it is essential to respect their tradition and their religion. Social identities are crucial to marketers since they know such people’s desires. Learning of these behaviors will bolster to a specific group this is important for a group to feel respected and appreciated. In athletics, athletes prefer certain tracksuit or even shoes, and it is up to the organizers to ask athletes what they prefer. This will prevent athletes from complaining and also getting satisfied.
On a bus it is important to know if the passengers like a particular genre of music. Some of them prefer smooth, and others prefer something else prefer going while reading. Passengers will feel offended if the bus company puts something that they don’t like and would not want to be associated with that company. Customer’s identity cannot be easily being captured on surveys; simple changes can change what group we can identify with at any instant. In the example of a washing machine company cannot get answers from studies; consumers try to judge the proposed service disappointedly and with a no open mind. They may hide things like middle class don’t rent washing machines as compared to low-income houses. It is better taking customer’s feedback compared to feedbacks.
In another example to prove survey cannot reveal consumers indent it has been shown for instance reasons why people put a solar panel. Studies only reveal that people like solar to save on energy costs however this may be somehow true. What they don’t tell us is that individual homes like to be associated with neighbors who have solar panels. Neighborhood carries a profound message to show a powerful social identity, and you want to be related to these people. This further makes people change their properties according to their neighbors, like when they turn their houses ‘roof to bring in tiles they also want to look similar to these neighbors.
When a family goes shopping some are triggered to do confident shopping being influenced by a specific person, for example, kids tend to compete to buy better toys compared to their siblings. We have seen when a child is purchasing a toy gun the other tend to buy a bigger gun, these are being triggered by being influenced by specific hosts. In another example, women who go to the same workplace tend to compete and being influenced by another one’s hair clothing, hair, shoes, and even perfume. Women tend to go shopping to look better than the other lady in the workplace.
The results for markets it’s very obvious if social identity helps to make individual decisions; then marketers should encourage customers to help them know what makes them behave in a specific behavior. Giving feedback helps a lot for the company to make an all-sided product for the market. The marketing crew should encourage customers to know why they tend to behave in a certain way like why they visit certain websites, going into individual stores, buying specific product and services this will help in designing a better product.
Marketers must shift from a traditional focus on an altitude to focus on someone’s social self. When you turn, it becomes easier to recognize consumer’s identities-why the consumer might be selecting a particular brand. To note these marketers have to observe them over time, tagging them along their journeys or through technology. In certain sectors they looking into social media activities and they can learn a lot from careful analysis. Another good approach is real-time experience tracing the consumer asked to report if they encounter a specific brand.
Uniliver at one time made real-time tracing as marketing strategy of its products the deodorant Axe. Its advertisement attracted young men compared to women. The marketing crew was baffled why the outcome was not successful in Italy compared to the other nations where the product had been introduced. It was discovered that young men were still living with their parents and they could see the product advertisement compared to the working elder me. This made them change their strategy and to come up with a billboard strategy in the evening. Young ladies gave feedback that the product would fit in gentlemen compared to ladies. This was seen as a social identity since the product was associated with men compared to women hence it is harder for women to accept the outcome.
In other times consumers tend to be associated to like products that broadcast their membership. In 2014 Toyota introduced its hybrid model Prius into the American market. It was seen that half of the hybrids were sold in the US seven times greater than its closest competitor Honda civic. The principal difference is that Toyota came up with the car that looked very different from their other models. However, in the case of Honda, it was not much welcomed in the market since it seemed similar to its other models. This could also be influenced by the factor that Honda likes to produce environment-friendly cars hence targeting specific groups that love environment-friendly vehicles.
In some cases, we see that a company may communicate indirectly that hence taking a particular product may be associated with certain groups. This must be told indirectly like fixing their message to frame it in a way it does not offend some people. For example, Nescafe was introduced in 1958; the product was targeted to be a time saver product, it would reduce the time people waste brewing their coffee. The reason why it was successful it was a time-saving factor that is associated with women- they felt in those decades that they were being pressured by their husbands to become perfect home markers for hard-working husbands. The company changed its approach and indirectly caught the eye of the market. The company advertised that the product would reduce the time it took them to make their husbands coffee and it would leave extra time for him. This may sound offensive in this decade, but this made their sales soar, it was a very successful sales triple during the decade and increased by 12 fold in the 1970s.
Some identities cannot be associated with one behavior but a collection of a variety of practices — for example, Jeep which gives their consumers cars that can go to places hard to reach. They have a slogan that goes by respect, protect and enjoy outdoors they also urge the driver to drive responsibly leaving no traces in the wilderness. This has been seen as Jeep organizes off-road skills at the jeep weekends which are popular and attended by jeep enthusiastic owners and fans. In this way, jeep has been associated by a social group that likes protecting the environment and pointed members to behaviors within a line to its goal. The training is conducted, but more experienced consumers on a voluntary basis and these factors reside status of the group. Old drivers engage with the new drivers they are given training and adapt to the practices of the group embedded in the members of the group. With a very minimum expenditure, it pays very well since the brand becomes very popular, appreciated and sales significantly increase.
Sometimes the marketers are left puzzled when the market has adopted a social identity that promotes behavior odds with product’s value proportion. For example, in Asia Unilever makes fabric conditioner that helps in saving global water usage. Mostly in water-stressed parts of Asia like India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The team neither saw neither changes in the expected sales nor changes in water consumption. It was further shocking that customers were still using a tremendous amount of water. Unilever made a somewhat very strategic approach toward women in the region. The came up with a brand name ‘smart, savvy homemaker,’ one would share ideas on tips on how to save money and time. Another strategy would provide a variety of education sessions to local women who are doing their laundry outside. They did also advertise focusing on the formulation of the product and women to do their laundry together to save on water. These efforts have gained momentum and sales have increased 66 percent in over the past three years.
Sometimes consumers using a particular good not are fully tuned to a specific group. Or the group may be defined by a negative influence for example airplane companies are represented by this negative influence. Most travelers suffer from this experience rather than having fun traveling becomes boring; even at a relative class like business class the experience is still the same. Delta innovation plan tunes customer into a different and sharper identity. It targets budding entrepreneurs a chance to win to seats next to the business if they travel with Delta. It transforms expectations when flying with this planes; it is no longer a trip it’s an experience that many will love. Social identities are similar to lens since they understand customers’ needs from his/her behavior. Modern marketers try to create new characters to deepen the relationships with customers and the company.
Conclusion
When marketers want to get customers identity with a product, they are merely building a community- along term relationship to these people. They invest heavily in showing their commitment to these people with social identities-this is a very valuable strategy to attract customers; it’s not a surprise that these consumers switch identities and become new ones. Social characters are images that an organization or company’s image of consumers, suppliers and even shareholders. This group that a person is affiliated to or even the way it is structured enables the company to have the impact and how also these groups perceive it.
Works Cited
Brown, Rupert, and Dora Capozza, eds. Social identities: Motivational, emotional, cultural influences. Psychology Press, 2016.
Hockey, Jennifer Lorna, and Allison James. Social Identities Aross Life Course. Macmillan International Higher Education, 2017.
Tiggemann, Marika. "Considerations of positive body image across various social identities and special populations." Body Image
14 (2015): 168-176.
Wynne, Brian. "Misunderstood misunderstanding: Social identities and public uptake of science." Public understanding of science (2016).
