Consumer behavior analysis is an important element in relationship marketing that focuses on examining the role of the customer across various aspects. This element basically emphasizes on effective reaching out of customers and potential markets. Consumer behavior analysis is regarded as a data-centered marketing technique that is used to directly reach out to individuals with customer data assessment that help in improving an organization's business profits. Consequently, one of the major ways of enhancing an organization's bottom line is through knowing how to effectively perform customer behavior analysis. As the marketing manager of a company that is seeking to launch a new product line of personal care goods in the U.S. market, consumer behavior analysis will play a crucial role in the marketing process. The proposed target market for the company will be males between 18 and 35 years and price points will incorporate lower to mid-level income ranges. Advertising Message:

As previously mentioned, the organization seeks to introduce a new line of personal care products in the United States market. The company will mainly target males between 18 and 35 years and price points across lower to mid-level income ranges. The distribution of the new line of personal care products is planned to be carried out in drug stores, grocery stores, and stores like Wal-Mart and Target. Notably, the primary retailer that will carry the complete product line of the organization's complete product line will be drug stores.

One of the major steps in conducting a consumer behavior analysis to help in making marketing decisions is developing a type of message appeal to be used in advertising. The development of this type of advertising message requires an analysis of the most commonly used appeals for similar products in the current market. According to Gayatri (2008), advertising practitioners use different kinds of emotional appeals to gain the attention of the target audience including sex, humor, music, guilt, and fear appeals (p.1). The most suitable type of message appeal to be used in the advertising of the new line of personal care products fear appeal, which usually demonstrates the dangers associated with failure to use certain products and/or service.

Fear appeal seems to be the most suitable for these kinds of products because it will create consumer perception that encourages the target audience to purchase these products. While the best suited medium for the use of fear appeal is not clearly defined, it will be a suitable type because it generates an appropriate consumers' perception towards the message communicated in the adverts and the product or service being advertised. This type of appeal would also be appropriate by focusing on clear demonstration of the need for these personal care products among the target market.

Cultures Likely to be attracted to the Product:

In the marketing process of the new line of personal care products in the U.S. market, different cultures are likely to be attracted to the products. The product will appeal to varying cultures because of the respective issues that every culture undergoes and its probable benefits to customers from the specific culture. In the past few years, the male personal care products market in the United States has grown tremendously because of changing perception towards these products. Actually, the growth in this industry is attributed to the consideration of such products and treatments as perfectly acceptable.

The different cultures that the new line of male personal products will appeal to in the United States markets include Asian-American, Latino, African-American, and Hispanic cultures. The main reason for the appeal of these products to the different cultures is mainly attributed to the ever-changing customers' perceptions regarding the use and benefits of these items. Men from different cultures in the United States are increasingly approving personal care products because they are embracing better grooming as an essential part of everyday life.

While the product will appeal to different cultures in the U.S. market, the organization will enhance its bottom line and profits by targeting three major cultures. One of the three best cultural choices would be Latino men who not only constitute a sizeable portion of the target market but are also increasingly likely to enjoy using the products. Latino men consider these products as essential items that help in maintaining good appearance in the workplace. They would be an ideal choice because of their size and spending, which make them a perfect marketing target. The other best cultural choices would be Asian-American and Hispanic men who are more likely to purchase the products because of its potential health benefits such as preventing sunburns.

Microcultures and Additional Demographics:

However, this trend and dynamic has changed significantly in the recent past as men have started to take care of their bodies because of perceptions of the new masculine generation and social liberalization of homosexuals (Moungkhem & Surakiatpinyo, 2010). Generally, men have become increasingly conscious of their look well into their old age as compared to women. This change has contributed to the increased development of personal care products for men by various companies.
While it is important for this company to target the various cultures in the men personal care products in the U.S. market, the target audience should be expanded to cover other microcultures and additional demographics. Men's increased focus on their looks well into old ages provides a wider target and opportunity for the company to increase its bottom line and profits by reaching a wider target audience and market. One of the major microcultures that the organization should target is homosexuals who continue to use personal care and grooming products. Homosexuals are more interested in these products because they fancy a youthful look at their places of work, dating, meeting, and social life. As compared to other cultures, these individuals pay more attention to look after themselves, especially through taking care of their skin, hair, and novelties.

In addition to this microculture, the organization should develop specific products for individuals within the range of 18 to 25 years. This is primarily because men in this age bracket tend to have higher interests in personal care products than other males. Actually, men tend to decrease their interest in these products slowly when age increases though they still use them. The other demographic that should be targeted are men beyond 35 years because recent statistics have shown that men are more concerned about their looks well into their old age. However, products for men above 35 years should mainly focus on enhancing their skin in order to make their appearance become more healthy, impressive, youthful, and attractive. During this period, men are more concerned about their appearance i.e. skin than any other body parts.

Group Influence in Marketing the Product:

Bearden & Etzel (2001) state that social scientists have recently acknowledged that group membership is a determinant of behavior (p.183). In essence, people tend to act based on a model of reference generated by the groups they belong to. Consequently, marketers have increasingly recognized the reference group construct as a significant factor in some kinds of consumer decision making. Therefore, group influence will play a major role in marketing the new line of personal care products in the men's personal care market in the United States through various ways.

One of the major ways group influence can be utilized in the marketing of these products is through social influence marketing. This would involve creating favorable attitudes among the targeted male customers in order for the consumers to influence consumers by getting involved in marketing the product. The favorable attitude can be created by ensuring that the product is strong and meets the desires of customers in order to enhance customer satisfaction. The second approach towards utilizing group influence in the marketing of the product is taking advantage of the proliferation of social technologies and social networks. The organization should use social media to create platforms through which customers can interact with the company and learn more about the benefits and significance of the products. In this case, the organization will create an online community where peers influence each other following their interactions with the firm and the benefits of the product. The third way of using group influence in the marketing of the product line is through the use of a reference group to endorse the products. The reference groups such as renowned celebrities endorse the products by either using them or making statements about them to influence purchase decisions.

Addressing Need Recognition, Search Behavior, and Customers' Consideration:

Apart from the previously discussed aspects of consumer behavior analysis, the creation of a plan to address need recognition, search behavior, and getting the products into the consumers' consideration set is an important element in marketing male personal care products. The importance of these components is primarily because customers make their purchase decisions after recognizing a problem, looking for information, evaluation and choosing alternatives, implementing the purchase decision, and conducting post-purchase assessment of the product.

For this organization, addressing need recognition would be geared…