A Membership Reference Group Is Defined As

Question: How does a group differ from a reference group?
Answer: A group is two or more individuals who share a set of norms, values, and beliefs and have certain
implicitly or explicitly defined relations to one another such that their behavior is interdependent.

A reference group is that group whose presumed perspectives or values are being used by an
individual as the basis for his or her current behavior.
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Question: What criteria are used by marketers to classify groups?
Answer: (1) membership
(2) strength of social tie
(3) type of contact, and
(4) attraction
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Question: What is a dissociative reference group? In what way can dissociative reference groups influence consumer behavior?
Answer: A group that serves as a negative (unattractive) reference point. The degree of desirability of group membership is negative.

They influence behavior by the negative association they give to products
and activities they embrace. That is, one tends to avoid products and activities used by dissociative
reference groups.
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Question: What is an aspiration reference group? How can an aspiration reference group influence behavior?
Answer: Nonmembership groups with a positive attraction.

They exert a strong influence on product
aspirations because ownership of products used by the aspiration reference group makes one more
like that group and may even be a prerequisite for membership.
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Question: What is a consumption-based group or a consumption subculture? What are the characteristics of such a group? How can marketers develop strategy based on consumption subcultures?
Answer: A consumption subculture is a distinctive subgroup of society that self-selects on the basis of a
shared commitment to a particular product class, brand, or consumption activity.

These subcultures characteristics are
(1) an identifiable, hierarchical social structure
(2) a set of shared beliefs or values
(3)unique jargons, rituals, and modes of symbolic expression.

Marketers can use this to develop strategies by paying attention to the subcultures and their rituals because this can offer marketing opportunities.
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Question: What is a brand community? What are the characteristics of such a group?
Answer: a non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relationships among owners of a brand and the psychological relationship they have with the brand
itself, the product in use, and the firm.

Brand communities are characterized by
(1) consciousness of kind
(2)shared rituals and traditions
(3)a sense of moral responsibility
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Question: How can a marketer foster a brand community?
Answer: These practices cluster around four categories, namely social networking, community
engagement, brand use, and impression management.

Building a brand community involves establishing relationships with the owner and helping owners establish relationships with each other both online and offline.
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Question: What types of group influence exist? Why must a marketing manager be aware of these separate types of group influence?
Answer: Informational influence
Identification influence
Normative influence

The manager needs to be aware of which conformity type exists because it will affect the marketing strategy required.
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Question: What five factors determine the strength of reference group influence in a situation?
Answer: Product or brand use visibility to the reference group

Necessity/non-necessity nature of the
product

Level of commitment to the group

Relevance of the behavior/product to the group

Individual's confidence in his/her ability to make a sound decision
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Question: What is the Asch phenomenon and how do marketers utilize it?
Answer: An example of the fact that people will conform to a group opinion even when there is clear, objective evidence that the group is wrong.
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Question: How can a marketer use knowledge of reference group influences to develop advertising strategies?
Answer: Marketers can and do use all three types of reference group influence (informational, identification, and normative) when developing ads.



Identification influence is used in ads to demonstrate that a given product is consistent with the group's, and therefore the individual's, beliefs.

Normative influence is not used in ads as often as in the past, due to ethical concerns of its use of implicit and explicit suggestions that using, or not using, the brand will result in members of a group you belong to or wish to join rewarding, or punishing, you.
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Question: What is an opinion leader? How does an opinion leader relate to the multistep flow of communication?
Answer: An opinion leader is the person who filters, interprets, or provides information on various subjects to the group members. The opinion leader acts as an information middleman between the marketer and the consumer (group member) in the multistep flow of communication.
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Question: What characterizes an opinion leader?
Answer: Opinion leaders have greater knowledge of and interest in the product category in question.

They are exposed to more mass media, and are more gregarious and outgoing.

However, they tend to have the same demographic characteristics as their followers.
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Question: What determines the likelihood that a consumer will seek information from an opinion leader?
Answer: (1) product/purchase involvement
(2) product knowledge
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Question: How does a market maven differ from an opinion leader?
Answer: The term market maven is used to describe individuals who are opinion leaders about the shopping process in general.

An opinion leader is a specialist who possesses a high level of knowledge for a given product or class of products.
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Question: Explain the role of enduring involvement in driving opinion leadership?
Answer: Opinion leaders possess the characteristic of having a greater long-term involvement with a given product category than others in the group (known as enduring involvement), which leads to enhanced knowledge about and experience with the product category or activity. This knowledge and experience makes opinion leadership possible.
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Question: How can marketing managers identify opinion leaders?
Answer: Offline, opinion leaders can be targeted through specialized media sources. For example, Nike could assume that many subscribers to Runner's World serve as opinion leaders for jogging and running shoes.

Online, opinion leaders such as high-profile bloggers can often be identified in terms of their
activity and influence in a given arena.
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Question: How can marketers utilize opinion leaders?
Answer: Opinion leaders can play an important role in word-of-mouth communication. Thus, to the degree that marketers can positively influence opinion leaders, they are indirectly influencing many other consumers.
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