Lavidge and Steiner Hierarchy of Effects Model

The Hierarchy of Effects Model was created in 1961 by Robert J Lavidge and Gary A Steiner. This marketing communication model, suggests that there are six steps from viewing a product advertisement (advert) to product purchase. The job of the advertiser is to encourage the customer to go through the six steps and purchase the product. The six steps are as follows: Awareness: The customer becomes aware of the product through advertising. This is a challenging step, there is no guarantee that the customer will be aware of the product brand after they view the advert. Customers see many adverts each day but will only remember the brand of a tiny fraction of products. Knowledge: The customer begins to gain knowledge about the product for example through the internet, retail advisors and product packaging. In today's digital world this step has become more important as consumers expect to gather product knowledge at the click of a button. Consumers will quickly move to competitor brands if they do not get the information they want. The advertiser's job is to ensure product information is easily available. Liking: As the title states, this step is about ensuring that the customer likes your product. As an advertiser what features can you promote to encourage the customer to like your product? Preference: Consumers may like more than one product brand and could end up buying any one of them. At this stage advertisers will want the consumer to disconnect from rival products and focus on their particular product. Advertisers will want to highlight their brand's benefits and unique selling points so that the consumer can differentiate it from competitor brands. Conviction: This stage is about creating the customer's desire to purchase the product. Advertisers may encourage conviction by allowing consumers to test or sample the product. Examples of this are inviting consumers to take a car for a test drive or offering consumers a free sample of a food product. This reassures consumers that the purchase will be a safe one. Purchase: Having proceeded through the above stages, the advertiser wants the customer to purchase their product. This stage needs to be simple and easy, otherwise the customer will get fed up and walk away without a purchase. For example a variety of payment options encourages purchase whilst a complicated and slow website discourages purchases.

Lavidge and Steiner suggested that the six steps can be split into three stages of consumer behaviour: cognitive, affective and conative. The job of the advertiser is to promote the three behaviours.

Cognitive (thinking) so that the consumer becomes product aware and gathers product knowledge Affective (feeling) so that the consumer likes the product brand and has conviction in it Conative (behaviour) so that the consumer buys the product brand

This model is known as a "hierarchy" because the number of consumers moving from one stage to the next reduces, as you move through the model. There may be a lot of consumers that see the product advert but not everyone will make a purchase.

Among advertising theories, the hierarchy-of-effects model is predominant. It shows clear steps of how advertising works. Hierarchy of effects Model can be explained with the help of a pyramid. First the lower level objectives such as awareness, knowledge or comprehension are accomplished. Subsequent objectives may focus on moving prospects to higher levels in the pyramid to elicit desired behavioural responses such as associating feelings with the brand, trial, or regular use etc. it is easier to accomplish ad objectives located at the base of the pyramid than the ones towards the top. The percentage of prospective customers will decline as they move up the pyramid towards more action oriented objectives, such as regular brand use. Many marketers know the Hierarchy of Effects (one of several theoretical frameworks that is useful in developing an advertisement for an advertising campaign), but usually by a different name. Some call it AIDA, others the demand

chain, still more the purchase funnel. Whatever the name, it invariably begins with the total potential market for your brand. This pool of potential customers then progress through a series of stages that can include awareness, preference, purchase and, hopefully, loyalty.

WHY IS IT A HIERARCHY?

It is a hierarchy because we lose people as they move through the sequence.

WHY IS IT A HIERARCHY OF EFFECTS?

It is a hierarchy of effects because at each stage marketers must achieve different communication goals. They might be encouraging trial, rewarding loyalty, or communicating brand associations, depending on the stage the target customer has reached.

THE SIX STAGES INVOLVED

Awareness: If most of the target audience is unaware of the object, the communicators task is to build awareness, perhaps just name recognition, with simple messages repeating the product name. Consumers must become aware of the brand. This isnt as straightforward as it seems. Capturing someones attention doesnt mean they will notice the brand name. Thus, the brand name needs to be made focal to get consumers to become aware. Magazines are full of ads that will capture your attention, but youll have trouble easily seeing the brand name. Knowledge: The target audience might have product awareness but not know much more; hence this stage involves creating brand knowledge. This is where comprehension of the brand name and what it stands for become important. What are the brands specific appeals, its benefits? In what way is it different than competitors brands? Who is the target market? These are the types of questions that must be answered if consumers are to achieve the step of brand knowledge.

Liking: If target members know the product, how do they feel about it? If the audience looks unfavourably towards the product to communicator has to find out why. If the unfavorable view is based on real problems, a communication campaigns alone cannot do the job. For product problem it is necessary to first fix the problem and

only then can you communicate its renewed quality.

Preference: The target audience might like the product but not prefer it to others. In this case, the communicator must try to build consumer preference by promoting quality, value, performance and other features. The communicator can check the campaigns success by measuring audience preference before and after the campaign.

Conviction: A target audience might prefer a particular product but not develop a conviction about buying it. The communicators job is to build conviction among the target audience.

Purchase: Finally, some members of the target audience might have conviction but not quite get around to making the purchase. They may wait for more information or plan to act later. The communicator must need these consumers to take the final step, perhaps by offering the product at a low price, offering a premium, or letting consumers tried out. This is where consumers make a move to actually search out information or purchase. Thus advertising is thought to work and follow a certain sequence whereby the prospect is moved through a series of stages in succession from unawareness to the purchase of the product.

HIERARCHY OF EFFECTS MODEL AND CONSUMER ATTITUDES

The Cognitive Stage (To think, to understand and remember. A persons mental images, understanding, and interpretations of the person, object, or issue)

Awareness Knowledge

The Affective Stage (To feel, to experience):

Liking Preference Conviction

The Conative or behavioural Stage (Take action or do something. An individuals intentions, actions, or behaviour):

The actual purchase

Factors in setting the Marketing communication mix Marketing communication mix

The specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, events and experience public relations and direct selling is called marketing communication mix. Characteristics of Marketing communication mix Advertising.

Eg: Print, Broadcast, Outdoor Sales promotion.

Eg: Premium, Discounts Public relations and publicity. Experiences.

Eg: Nestomalt Personal selling.

Eg: Sales presentation, Trade shows Direct marketing.

Eg: Catalogues, telemarketing, Internet 1. Type of product market Communications mix allocations vary between consumer and business markets. Consumer marketers tend to spend comparatively more on sales promotion and advertising; business marketers tend to spend comparatively more on personal selling. 2. Buyer readiness stage Communication mix tools vary cost effectiveness at different stages of buyers readiness. There are 5 stages in the buyers readiness. Awareness Comprehension Conviction Order Reorder

3. Product life-cycle stage Communication mix tools also vary in cost effectiveness at different stages of the product life cycle. There are 4 stages in the product life cycle.

Introduction stage Growth stage Maturity stage Decline stage

Introduction : Heavy use of advertising, publicity for awareness, events and experience for trial Growth : Public relations and personal selling for distribution Maturity : Advertising decreases, events and experience and personal selling grow more important, Decline : Advertising and public relations decrease, sales promotion continues strong