Second Year / Semester Two / 17BSB562 / The Marketing Mix / Essay Question Cue Card Plans

The product life cycle is more likely to mislead marketing management than provide useful insights. Discuss this statement supporting your answer with appropriate examples. (50 marks) (Sessions 1-3)

Limitations of the Product Life Cycle: *Fads and Classics* - do not follow S-Shaped Curve *Marketing Effects* - argument that it is simply a pattern of sales that reflects marketing activity. Using a PLC, critics argue, will lead to inappropriate action. *Unpredictability* - stages do not have a defined duration. Exception for this is when you have a model template of product in another market, for instance. Though treat with caution as contexts are different. *Misleading Objective and Strategy Prescriptions* - circumstances for each product are different

Why are brands so important to firms? Support your answer with current marketing examples. (20 marks) (Sessions 1-3)

Why strong brands are so important: Company Value - add value to the company. Financial position can be greatly enhanced. Customer Perceptions and Preferences - positively affect consumer perceptions of brands. Product may be similar but the brand strongly influences customer in purcase decisions. Barrier to Competition - the impact of the strong, positive perceptions held by consumers makes it difficult for new brands to compete. High Profits - Strong brands are rarely the cheapest = more profit for company. Base for Brand Extensions - a strong brand provides the foundation for leveraging positive perceptions and goodwill from the core brand to core extensions. E.g. Lucozade, Kellogs, Smirnoff Ice. Quality Certification - consumers gain because strong brands act as a form of quality certification and create trust (see below). Association of a brand with quality assures the customer that other products are of high quality. Trust - Customers tend to trust strong brands.

What are the main problems facing sales managers? (25 marks)

*Geographic Separation* - Separation between managers and the sales force causes problems of motivation, communication and control. *Repeated Rejections* - Repeated rejections when trying to close sales. May cause attrition to enthusiasm, attitudes and skills of sales force. Sales manager needs to provide support and renew motivation in such adverse circumstances. *The Sales person's personality vs the realities of the job* - over half a sales person's time is spent alone, which can cause frustration in people who enjoy the company of others. *Oversimplification of the task* - simply job to punishment and reward, when it is much more complex than that - sales function is important for whole business. Important people are motivated and that sales manager works in line with other functions.

Sales promotions are an overused mass marketing communications tool. Discuss. Use examples to support your answer. (50 marks) (Sessions 7 and 8)

- Define sales promotion. - Numerous tools for promotion: advertising, digital marketing, sales promotion, public relations. Yes They are Overused: No They are not Overused:

Identify the key promotion mix tools at the disposal of the marketer. (10 marks)

Advertising Personal Selling Direct Marketing Internet Promotion Sales Promotion Publicity

What are the different objectives of advertising and how do these relate to the strong and weak theories of advertising? Support your answer with relevant examples of advertising campaigns with different objectives. (50 marks) (Sessions 7 and 8)

Advertising is any paid form of non-personal communication of ideas or products in the prime media, i.e. television, the press, posters, cinema and radio, the internet and direct marketing

Briefly outline and compare the three main approaches to setting pricing strategies that organisations can use. (2015 - 25 Marks)

Approach 1: Cost-Oriented Pricing - full cost and direct (marginal) pricing. Approach 2: Competitor Based Pricing - focus on competitors rather than costs - can be either going-rate pricing or competitive bidding. Approach 3: Marketing Oriented Pricing - more difficult approach as it takes a wider range of factors into account. 10 factors need to be considered when adopting this approach: value to the customer, marketing strategy, price-quality relationships, explicability, competition e.t.c.

Illustrate four ethical issues in pricing and why firms should be concerned. (25 marks) (Sessions 4-6)

Business Ethics - the moral principles and values that guide a firm's behaviour. Price Fixing - agreement among competitors not to compete on price and set a fix price for the whole market. Predatory Pricing - where a firm cuts its prices with the aim of driving out the competition. The firm is content to incur losses with the intend that high profits will be generated through higher prices once the competition is eliminated. Bundling products can also drive out the competition e.g. Window's media player put massive barriers to entry in place for Netscape. Deceptive Pricing - incurs when customers are misled by price deals offered by companies. Artificially setting prices higher for a short time so 'lower prices' can be offered later. Penetration Pricing and Obesity: Question of the ethics of charging low prices for fatty food targeting young people. By doing so, critics claim that firms are encouraging obesity. Price Discrimination - Supplier offers a better price for the same product to one buyer and not to another, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage. Can only be justified when the cost of supplying different buyers actually varies. Product Dumping - Involves the export of products at much lower prices than charged in the domestic market, sometimes below the cost of production.

Which factors might drive the need for re-branding? Support your answer with current marketing examples. (20 marks). (Sessions 1-3)

Define Brand: A name, symbol, design or mark that enhances the value of a product beyond its functional purpose. Brand is a key factor to marketing success. Brands are used for 5 key reasons; distinguishing from competitors, helps ability to recognise and remember, used to establish reputation, creates associations to ease purchase decisions, creates an intangible asset. IMPROVES BRAND SALIENCE. Factors that drive the need for rebranding - declining sales, especially if promotional activity is high. Logo is no longer representative of the brand. Co-branding may require a new brand?

How can channel conflict be avoided and resolved? (20 marks)

Distribution definition - Physical flow of goods through channels 5 Key Channel Management Issues are: member selection and conflict management. Channel management is means of selection, motivation, training, evaluation and managing conflict. Issue occurs when channels start to undercut each other when they believe they are receiving unfair treatment.

To what extent does the marketing of services differ from the marketing of physical goods? Discuss this statement using examples to support your answer. (50 marks) (Sessions 4-6)

Have to consider the service's marketing mix: Price, promotion, place, product, people, physical evidence, process. Need for an extension due to the high degree of direct contact between the firm and the customer, the highly visible nature of the service assembly process, and the simultaneity of production and consumption.

Outline the key elements of the marketing mix (15 marks) (Sessions 1-3)

Product - *what to offer to whom.* Encompasses life cycles, portfolios, branding, innovation and services. Price - *monetary decisions* encompasses reovering costs, negociation, customer perceptions. Place/Distribution - *Where, how and by whom?* Encompasses channels, integration, selection, management/logistics Promotion - *Displaying of Brand* encompasses IMC, tools, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and sponsorship.

Explain the concept of Customer Based Brand Equity (CBBE) and how it captures the added value the brand gives an offering above it's objectively perceived value. (2015.- 20 Marks)

Strong brands are rich in a property called brand equity. It is a measure of the strength of a brand in the marketplace by adding tangible value to a company through the resulting sales and profits. two types: customer based and proprietary-based brand equity. CBBE - resides in the minds of consumers and consists of brand awareness and brand image.

How can firms improve their service quality? (2015 - 30 Marks)

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Why is service quality so important for creating satisfied service customers? (2015 - 20 Marks)

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