Basic Marketing Chapter 3 and 4

Your company is planning to increase its political influencing activities in the next fiscal year in an attempt to shape an upcoming, key legislation in your favor. You want to garner the attention of seasoned, non-nonsense politicians.

Hire a public relations firm to help create a more youthful image for your company.

Marketing research activities provide a special arena for examining issues of ethics in business practices. Some activities have become routine, such as the establishment of customer databases and the selling of address lists, both e-mail and street locations. In the Internet age, the ease with which information can be collected becomes apparent when individuals conduct an online search of their names. A surprising amount of information can be viewed—not all of it correct. Fill in the blanks with the word(s) from the drop-down list that would best complete the passage.

A critical issue in marketing research is the invasion of personal privacy. A popular marketing research effort rewards people for information that can be sold to direct marketers. A federal agency that offers assistance to Internet consumers is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). A nonprofit agency that helps people get their names removed from marketers' lists is the Direct Marketing Association. A way that businesses can safeguard data is to use encryption software programs to prevent theft of information.

Which of the following statements is true about the ethical and legal issues associated with social media marketing?

Confidentiality is an ongoing concern for marketers.

Marketing ethics is an important consideration in the world of business, especially because mistakes that have been made have been widely reported. One way to get a useful overview of marketing ethics is to tie specific topics to one of the four elements of the marketing mix: product strategy, distribution, promotion, and pricing. Which of the following topics is(are) correctly tied to an element of the marketing mix?

Pollution is tied to product strategy. Honesty in advertising is tied to promotion. Sales territorial decisions are tied to distribution.

refers to the number of conversations about the company versus competitors and the overall market. Timeliness and are vital approaches for a firm involved in managing a potential social media crisis. Monitoring and measuring help marketers understand what their customers . The process of tracking and measuring a firm's social media marketing initiatives is called . help marketers track and interpret data related to social media initiatives.

Share of voice Transparency Need and want Social media monitoring social media analytics

Although the monopoly is one of the four major market structures that theoretically exists in a free market capitalist system, the reality is there are very few true monopolies in the economy. This is the result of many federal laws and regulations that have been passed to limit the creation and power of monopolies.

Sherman Act of 1890

Scenario: You are reviewing the preliminary social media marketing (SMM) plan that your staff put together for your approval. Once you approve the plan, it can be finalized for presentation to the executive management team. You previously instructed your staff to follow the common format for the SMM plan and make sure it contains clear wording that covers the salient points and answers any anticipated questions about the initiative. Based on your review, you listed a number of critiques of the plan and how it deviates from the common format that you were expecting. Select all your critiques of the SMM plan that are valid based on the common format and content of a SMM plan.

The plan should examine competitors' presence in social media, including which platforms and tools they select and an evaluation of their effectiveness The executive summary of the plan should explain the who, what, when, where, how and why of the plan. The plan should articulate how the success of the social media initiative will be measured and monitored.

Like traditional marketing plans, the social media marketing plan requires a for implementation. Every communication in the social media marketing campaign should focus on the . Good are those the targeted audience will likely search with when looking for information about goods and services. Marketers who use social media to reach their targeted audience are entering into with customers. Social media strategists advise organizations unflattering comments posted on their social media sites.

Timeline Brand Keywords Conversations Not to delete

and transparency are vital approaches for a firm involved in managing a potential social media crisis. Firms calculate the of their social media marketing initiatives, using reach and frequency. refers to the percentage of people in a target market who are exposed to the marketing effort at least once. offers solutions that monitor its business customers' reputations online.

Timelines Return on investment Reach Brandwatch

In which of the following statements are social media marketing and traditional marketing described correctly?

Traditional marketing may or may not require audience trust. Social media marketing contains three essential features.

You work for an investment-banking firm that wants to demonstrate its social responsibility to the small family-owned businesses in the area and the communities in which it has offices. Which of the following steps should they be least likely to take to show their commitment?

Invest in corporate firms in the area

The impact of technological forces on consumer behaviors has been broad and significant. Which one of the following statements is correct regarding the impact of technological forces on consumers and marketing?

Technology has significantly changed the way that products are built and delivered to consumers.

The following statements describe two types of economic reports available to marketers. Fill in the blanks with the words from the drop-down list that would best complete the statements.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis report is issued by a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce to track personal income and discretionary income in America. A gross domestic product (GDP) report states the sum of all goods and services produced by a nation in a year.

An overview of a technological environment provides a good review of its past effects to better predict its possible future effects. While technology has added to the quality of lives in some instances, concerns have been raised about the instances where technology can infringe upon our daily lives. Fill in the blanks with the word(s) from the drop-down list that would best complete the passage.

The technological environment is based on discoveries in science, inventions, and innovations. Using the latest technology can reduce consumer prices for goods and services through cost-efficient production and distribution. Tracking human location has stirred great controversy due to concerns about privacy.

Indicate which of the following characteristics of social media content is(are) correct.

Use promotions in exchange for participation

Fill in the blanks with the word(s) from the drop-down list that would best complete the passage:

Well-written social media policies are linked to other relevant company policies. Both reach and frequency are used to calculate return on investment of social media marketing initiatives. social media analytics is(are) used to track and interpret SMM data. social media policies explain why employees should take or avoid certain steps.

Your startup company has a mission to make significant environmental changes using the latest technology. Your organization plans to make significant contributions about human effects on the planet such as climate change.

"Uber (ride sharing service) to Fight Ban in Berlin" "A Startup Provides a Picture of Our Shape-Shifting Planet"

Which of the following social media terms and concepts is(are) described correctly?

A SMM plan begins with goal-setting. Media sharing sites allow people to upload and share photos and video. QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that can be read by some mobile phones with cameras.

Scenario: You are the marketing manager for a B2B company in North Carolina. You recently put in a budget request for funding to support a social media marketing strategy that you developed for the firm. Most of the management committee that decides on funding requests is older and not in tune with the trends in social media. So, you expect to have to make an in-person appeal to get your request approved. You start gathering information that will support your claim that social media marketing can be just as effective for B2B firms as it is for B2C firms. Which of the following statements is true and would support your claim about social media marketing and B2B firms?

A majority of B2B firms have been able to form new business partnerships via their social media activities.

You have just been hired by a public relations firm that has achieved great success in its niche of launching demarketing campaigns for a variety of customers, from public utilities to restaurants, from Chambers of Commerce to automobile manufacturers.

A successful demarketing campaign will eliminate consumer demand.

Scenario: You are head of the IT department for a kitchen appliance distributor. You are meeting with the head of customer service to explore ways to allow customers to request customer service calls more efficiently and at a lower cost to the firm. The current process requires customers to call a toll-free number and speak to a customer service representative to schedule an appointment. This process often leads to customer complaints when they can't get through to a representative without waiting for long periods of time. The customer service head tells you that she would like to implement a process using social media that would allow customers to do the following: Communicate their need for service without needing to speak to a representative over the phone. The customer would be prompted for all the relevant information about their appliance and the service issue they have. Check available appointment times for service calls in their area over the Internet or on their mobile phones. The customers can then choose a day and time that they would like to have a service call. The customer's service request would then be automatically routed to the closest available technician in their area. The service technician would accept the service call and send a confirmation to the customer. You acknowledge to the customer service head that what she is asking for can be accomplished with social media tools, but the right tool must be selected. Which of the following social media tools would you recommend using to address the objectives the customer service head has articulated?

An app would be the most effective social media tool to address these objectives.

Organizations, like individual people, can be accused of criminal behavior. The four most common wrongs that businesses have been found to commit are fraud, environmental waste discharge, tax offenses, and antitrust offenses. The U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations were developed in 1991. The approach used combines positive reinforcement— a "carrot"—and negative reinforcement—a "stick."

An effectively functioning ethics program can reduce the fines if the business is found guilty, serving as the "carrot."

Scenario: You are considering adding an analyst to your marketing team to focus on analyzing and maintaining certain elements of your social media platform and tools. You are debating on whether this analyst should be dedicated to maximizing your firm's search engine rankings or maintaining your firm's various social media sites. Your decision will depend on which of the two social media elements is most influential in consumers' buying decision-making process. You are leaning towards having the analyst focus on the firm's search engine rankings because you believe it is more influential in the consumer buying decision process than social media sites and platforms. Select all the statements that are true and would support your belief in the influence of search engines on the consumers' buying decision process.

At a ratio of 2-to-1, consumers rate the quality and depth of product information better in search engines than on social media sites. More consumers start with search engine queries when gathering information for their purchasing decisions versus using social media sites. Search engines are not effective at helping consumers with comparison shopping.

Which of the following factors should a firm consider when measuring the success of a social media marketing plan?

The reach and frequency

The U.S. economy constantly cycles through periods of expansion and contraction based on financial, political, and geopolitical dynamics. During expansionary periods, economic performance is robust and consumer spending increases. During contractionary periods, economic performance is lackluster or negative and consumer spending decreases.

Declining new housing starts Rising consumer prices Rising claims for unemployment

A typical social media marketing campaign is developed using a process that includes six phases. The different phases are designed to ensure the marketer adequately addresses all the key elements required for an effective social media marketing campaign. In which of the following phases will the marketer address the question: "How do we engage the audience in a conversation?"

Developing strategies and choosing tactics

Scenario: You are representing the marketing department in the annual operating budget meeting. As in past years, the purpose of the meeting is to review actual operating expenses from the last year, and to budget for next year's expenses. Each department head must make a case for whatever funds are to be allocated to the business that he represents. You are making a strong case for why social media marketing is going to be a major part of your department's marketing initiatives next year, and how the firm will benefit from these initiatives. You believe social media marketing can significantly influence the buying decision process for most consumers, so it makes sense for your firm to invest in this concept. To support your case, you quote some findings from a recent survey that indicates social media posts are having a significant influence on consumers' buying decisions. Which of the following statements is true and supports your claim about the influence of social media posts on consumers' buying decisions?

Eighty-one percent of the survey respondents said their friends' social media posts influenced their buying decision.

In the following descriptions of appropriate social media marketing rules, fill in the blanks with the word(s) from the drop-down list that would best complete each description.

Engagement rules remind marketers to ask, "What could go wrong with this message?" According to content rules, marketers should choose good keywords that are most likely to be searched by the customers. According to implementation rules, marketers should create separate schedules for each rollout onto each social media platform. According to engagement rules, marketers should not try to sidestep strict rules about advertising on the social media platform.

Scenario: You were just hired as executive director for a major non-profit organization that works on environmental causes. You are having an operating budget discussion with the board of directors, and you are pushing hard for an increase in funds allocated to social media marketing. Since most of the board members are not active users of social media they are not keen to the ways that it can be used for marketing in general, and especially not for non-profits. The general consensus among the board members is that a social media marketing strategy for this non-profit would be a waste of time and money. Their message to you is your budget request is denied unless you can give them one good reason why a non-profit organization would benefit from using a social media marketing strategy. Which of the following statements would you make to the board to demonstrate how social media marketing can be useful to a non-profit organization?

It can be used to encourage and showcase our organization's partnerships with other profit and non-profit organizations.

Fill in the blanks with the word(s) from the drop-down list that would best complete the passage:

Monitoring and measuring help marketers understand what their customers need and want, ultimately making adjustments to SMM or product offerings to satisfy those customers Frequency refers to the number of times an individual is exposed to the marketing material during the campaign. The effects of social media exposure can also turn against a company quickly. Measuring the success of a social media marketing plan includes such factors as popularity among target audience members. Effective monitoring gives marketers a clearer picture of an organization's influence via social media.

Your company makes highly sophisticated components for military equipment. The U.S. Department of Defense is your largest customer. In recent years, you have expanded your customer base to include the militaries of all the major countries in the world. The following headlines appeared in the Sunday NYC Times newspaper recently: "The Federal Reserve Board Chairman Sees Economic Growth Accelerating in the Third Quarter." "Congressional Republicans and Democrats Fail to Reach Compromise on the New Immigration Bill." "The Average Teen Spends Two Hours Per Day on Social Media Sites." "State Department Considers Imposing New Sanctions on Exports of Sensitive Military Technology." "Unemployment Rate Falls to 6.2%." Which one of the following statements is true regarding these headlines?

NOT Headline #5 should be categorized as a sociocultural force in the company's marketing environment.

As a newly hired Marketing Director for a smoothie chain, you are charged with revitalizing the company's image and reach.The company has been largely successful in the past, but it has seen a decline in sales over the last few years. Your first task is to determine what environmental changes affected the business and come up with a plan to address these changes. After conducting preliminary market environmental scanning, you find that there is a large proportion of the local population that suffers from obesity and diabetes, and customers are becoming wary of making food purchases without knowing the nutritional content. Here are the various steps you decided to take: Step A - Reformulate our smoothie recipes with all natural/organic ingredients. Step B -- Partner with the Obesity Action Coalition and the American Diabetes Association. Step C -- Learn more about the ingredients our company uses in smoothies and see how they affect diabetes and obesity. Step D -- Revamp company signage to attract customer interest. Step E -- Update the menu to include nutritional value of each smoothie. In what order should you take these steps?

NOT E, D, A, B, C

A competitive strategy will be tailored to the type of competition that a company faces. The marketing director of Pitter Patter, a high-end children's shoe and apparel store, knows that the shared strip mall includes both direct and indirect competitors. Her boss is particularly concerned about indirect competition. Which of the following vendors fall into that category?

PriceRite Pharmacy, a drug store with cards, grocery items, sundries Buy 4/$1 which sells a variety of toys, candy, and trinkets TTechno Joe which sells the latest electronic gadgets

The U.S. government has implemented a number of laws over the years to ensure the U.S. economy remains fair, competitive, and free of monopolies. One such law has the following characteristics: It is also a criminal law, and individuals and businesses that violate it may be prosecuted by the Department of Justice. It imposes criminal penalties of up to $100 million for a corporation and $1 million for an individual. It doesn't clearly prohibit mergers or interlocking directorates. It outlaws "every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade." Which of the following laws has all of these characteristics?

The Sherman Act

No business can have its marketing function fail to take government regulations into account. For every strategic decision that the business takes, it must consider how the decision will affect and be affected by these constraints. There are multiple U.S. government agencies charged with enforcing business regulations. Which of the following agencies' potential enforcement actions is correctly defined?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture may require recall of unsafe food The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may require recall of defective trucks. The Consumer Product Safety Commission may require recall of business products.

Your company's sales and operations are primarily concentrated in the Second Federal Reserve Bank District, which is under the supervision of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed just issued its economic analysis of the Second District. The following are some of the key points articulated in the analysis:

The company should consider intensifying your distribution and promotion efforts because of the expected increased demand.

You work for a local restaurant whose wait staff have been protesting for several weeks because they are unsatisfied with their wages. The restaurant owner feels that because staff are getting minimum wage, he's fulfilling his end of the employer-employee agreement. Moreover, his staff are entitled to all of the tips they earn. Despite the fact that the wait staff are unhappy, the restaurant manager does not think he is doing anything wrong.

The legal stage because his staff receives minimum wages

When measuring the success of a social media marketing plan, a firm should consider which of the following factors?

The level of influence created by the plan.

A social media marketing (SMM) marketing plan contains many of the same elements of a traditional marketing plan. Marketers should be sure to draft a plan that clearly articulates the goals and strategies for the social media marketing initiative. They should be sure to include clear and concise wording that covers all the key points and answers all the anticipated questions about the initiative. Select all the statements that accurately describe the elements of or the considerations for developing an effective social media marketing (SMM) plan.

The plan should include an analysis of the competition. The plan should have an executive summary.

Scenario: You are meeting with your team of marketing analysts to discuss their preliminary draft of the social media marketing plan (SMM) that you assigned to them. After listening to the team present a summary of their draft plan, you are concerned that they are not developing the plan in accordance with the six phases of a social media marketing campaign. You give the team some guidance on what questions their plan should answer in each of the six phases. You tell them to go back and review the structure of the plan to make sure it is consistent with the six phases. More specifically, they should make sure their plan provides answers to all the relevant questions in each phase of the social media marketing campaign process. Which of the following questions do you tell them they should answer first in their plan?

What do we want to accomplish through this campaign?

Social media marketing allows marketers to customize their approach to targeted audiences more so than traditional marketing. However, marketers must still take steps to ensure they are reaching the right audience based on their social media marketing goals. In order to effectively deliver their social media marketing message, marketers must gather which of the following bits of information about their target audience?

What the target audience wants or needs.

Scenario: You are a sales and marketing team leader for a car manufacturer. Over the last year, you have watched while many of your major competitors have reaped huge benefits from their social media marketing strategies. You are determined to outdo all of them and position your firm as the company with the most effective social media marketing strategy in the industry. To that end, you are leading a brainstorming session with your team to identify the specific social media platforms and tools that will support your strategy best. To start the discussion, you outline the following goals and objectives you would like to achieve with the strategy: You want to stream demonstration videos of your cars on your social media platform. You want your customers and potential customers to be able to communicate directly with designated members of the firm to discuss products. You want your customers to be able to rate their satisfaction with your products. You want to be able to quickly distribute product updates and other relevant information to your customers and potential customers. The purpose of your brainstorming session is to determine which social media platforms and tools can be used to accomplish your goals and objectives. Select all the statements that are accurate.

You could use YouTube to stream your demonstration videos of your firm's cars. You can setup a Facebook page where customers can "like" your cars. A blogging site would allow you to achieve some of your stated goals and objectives.

Scenario: You are the head of social media IT services at your firm. You recently received a request from your in-house marketing group to assist it withbuilding out the company's social media presence online. The group is not exactly sure what social media platform and tools are needed but they do know what they want to accomplish. They sent you the following list of user requirements for the social media presence they desire: Users should be able to share media with each other. Users should be able to post information and opinions about any topics they desire and have other users respond to their posts. Based on these user requirements, which of the following combinations of social media platform and tools should you recommend?

You should recommend a media sharing tool and a blogging platform.