How does motivation and perception influence consumer behavior?

In today's challenging world of business, one must create something that will gain strong attraction from buyers. A lot of marketing strategies were developed and implemented by business man just to increase consumer patronage of their products and services. But not all marketing activities results to positive business outcomes. Others spent million of cash just to have the best marketing program but in the end failed to meet their desired position in the market scene. These failures are due primarily when marketers failed to distinguish what factors can really influence their consumer behavior.

It is a known fact that consumers differ in personality and it is quite difficult to know their individual need. But knowing what influence them to behave the way they are in purchasing a particular product can be of big help. Usually, it is the person's perception that can influence his behavior towards a particularly product. But one or more motives within a person trigger behavior toward a goal that is expected to bring satisfaction.

As marketer, we are trying to understand why consumer behaves as they do. But sometimes, we failed to ask why that person acts at all. Motivation is simply the answer to this question. Every person's behavior begins with motivation. To define it, motivation or motive serves as a drive that stimulates need that an individual seek to satisfy. But take note that it requires to have intense stimulation or aroused before it becomes a motive. Let say for example, every person needs food as one of his basic need. But it requires that person to feel hunger before he will start looking for something to eat. In this example, the feeling of hunger is the drive or motive and the act of looking for food is the behavior.

These motives are categorized as biogenic and psychogenic needs. My example falls for the biogenic needs together with need for drinks, sex, and bodily comfort. Although both type of motives requires to be given focus by marketers, psychological needs requires special treatment. This is for the reason that by nature, man is destined to buy and satisfy his biogenic needs in order to survive. But other products that are not much important biologically call for extra effort to win the customer's purchase. It is in this phase where perception is given much emphasis in marketing.

Perception is defined as what we see, hear, smell, feel and taste. Basically, anything that can be acquired through our five senses. It is commonly shaped by three sets of influences such as the physical characteristics of the stimuli, the relation of stimuli to their surroundings and the conditions within us. As we perceived the shape, color, sound, feel, smell and taste of stimuli, our behavior is then influenced by these physical perceptions. Let's go back again to my example. The delicious aroma of the food, the positive comments of the people eating in a restaurant that we hear, the yummy spoonful manner of eating of the customers, and the aching call of our stomach serves as the perception that will make us decide to buy food to eat.