As CMI states in its cornerstone article on content marketing, and I have emphasized in my article titled content marketing in less than 300 steps, one of the primary intentions of content marketing is to change or enhance the consumer behavior.
So, would be helpful to take a closer look at the concept of consumer behavior.
As Kardes notes in his book on consumer behavior, this term has a traditional, short and brief definition for years:
Consumer behavior (or buyer behavior) involves the study of how consumers decide to buy products.
Although this definition is accurate, it’s not so helpful and inspiring for a content marketer who tries to influence consumer behavior using content marketing.
Kardes proposes a more detailed definition of consumer behavior:
Consumer behavior entails all consumer activities associated with the purchase, use, and disposal of goods and services, including the consumer’s emotional, mental, and behavioral responses that precede, determine, or follow these activities.
Sure it’s a helpful definition of consumer behavior if you are going to pass a marketing exam at the university. But still a content marketer needs a more practical definition of the consumer behavior concept.
Here’s the definition I found it more practical for the content marketing:
The above diagram shows the parameters that every content marketer tries to influence or enhance.
A book like The click moment is solely centered around the “Whether or not question” over a very short timespan.
Some other books, like Hooked, are trying to offer a model for influencing consumer behavior in the long run.
So as a content marketer, it’s recommended to take a look at the above diagram before starting to devise a content marketing program or devising a content marketing campaign. It’s important to know which components of the consumer behavior are supposed to be changed or enhanced with our action.
