MRKT 210 EXAM 4

Selling Process: Step 2 Qualifying Leads

-Lead qualification: determination of a sales prospect's (1) recognized need, (2) buying power, and (3) receptivity and accessibility (handled by prequalification systems) 1. Recognized need: preliminary questioning can often provide the salesperson with enough information to determine whether there is a need 2. Buying power: buying power involves both authorities to make the purchase decision and access to funds to pay for it 3. Receptivity and accessibility: the prospect must be willing to see the salesperson and be accessible to the salesperson

AIDA concept 4 Steps in the Purchase-Decision Process

(1) Attention: advertiser must first gain the attention of the target market. A firm cannot sell a product if the market does not know that the good or services exists (2) Interest: create interest in the product through bridging a connect between customers attention to their personal interests (3) Desire: show how product features will satisfy customer needs (4) Action: special offer or strong closing sales pitch may drive the consumer to purchase the product (or continued promotion of a product to the targeted market

Traits Sales Managers Look for in Applicants:

(1) Ego Strength -have a strong, healthy self-esteem and the ability to bounce back from rejection (2) Sense of Urgency and Competitiveness -push their sales to completion, as well as help them persuade people (3) Assertiveness -the ability to be firm in one-to-one negotiations, to lead the sales process, and to get their point across confidently without being overbearing or aggressive (4) Sociable: the ability to interact with others (5) Risk takers -willing to put yourself in less-than-assured situations, and in doing so, often are able to close unlikely sales (6) Capability to understand complex concepts -Quick thinking and comprehension allow salespeople to quickly grasp and sell new products or enter new sales areas (7) Creativity -Great salespeople develop client solutions increative ways (8) Empathy -ability to place oneself in someone else's shoes, enables salespeople ot understand the client

Steps in the Selling Process:

(1) Generating leads (2) Qualifying leads (3) Approaching the customer and probing needs (4) Developing and proposing solutions (5) Handling objections (6) Closing the sale (7) Following up

5 Steps to help Gauge the Effectiveness of a Social Media Effort

(1) Identify your key performance indicators (KPIs) (2) Align your social media goals with your business objectives (3) Set up Google Analytics to track conversions (4) Assign values to your KPIs (such as lifetime value or average sales) (5) Benchmark against your competitors

The two major categories of communications are:

(1) Interpersonal communication: direct, face-to-face communication between two or more people (allows for others to see each other's reactions and respond immediately) (2) Mass communication: the communication of a concept or message to a large audience through a mass medium (ex: television or newspapers)

6 Steps in Creating an Effective Social Media Plan

(1) Listen to customers: marketers must not only hear what is being said about the brand, the industry, the competition, and the customer, but they must also pay attention to who is saying what and act upon that information. (2) Set social media objectives: set objectives that can be specifically accomplished through social media, with special attention to how to measure the results. (3) Define strategies includes examining trends and best practices in the industry. (4) Identify the target audience: should line up with the target market defined in the marketing plan, but in the social media plan, pay special attention to how that audience participates and behaves online. (5) Select the tools and platforms: based on the result of Step 4, choose the social media tools and platforms that will be most relevant. These choices are based on the knowledge of where the target audience participates on social media (6) Implement and monitor the strategy: based on the observations, make changes as needed. It also becomes important, therefore, to go back to the listening stage to interpret how consumers are perceiving the social media campaign.

Social Media implications for marketers on ways to interact with customers

(1) Marketers must realize that they often don't control the content on social media sites (2) The ability to share experiences quickly and with such large numbers of people amplifies the impact of word of mouth in a way that can affect a company's bottom line (3) Social media allow marketers to listen (4) Social media provide more sophisticated methods of measuring how marketers meet and interact with consumers than traditional advertising does (5) Social media allow marketers to have much more direct and meaningful conversations with customers

Factors Affecting the Promotional Mix

(1) Nature of the Product: product is either a business or consumer product o Business products: -Often custom-tailored to the buyer's specifications -Often not suited to mass promotion -Producers rely more heavily on personal selling o Consumer products: -Generally, are not custom-made -Do not require the selling efforts of a company representative -Consumer goods are promoted mainly through advertising to create familiarity (2) Stages in Product Life Cycle: o Introduction stage: inform the target audience that the product is available o Growth stage: emphasize the product's differential advantage over the competition (adverting and public relations continue to be important) o Maturity stage: competition become fiercer, so persuasive and reminder advertising are emphasized o Decline stage: all promotion is reduced (3) Target Market Characteristics: o Widely scattered potential customers o Highly informed buyers o Brand loyal repeat purchases (4) Type of Buying Decision: o For routine consumer decisions, the most effective promotion calls attention to the brand -Advertising and sales promotion are the most productive promotion tools o Complex consumer decisions rely on large amounts of information to help them reach a purchase decision -Personal selling is effective in helping these consumers decide o decision is neither routine nor complex, advertising and public relations help establish awareness for the good or service (5) Available Funds: o When funds are available, firms will try to optimize their return on promotion dollars while minimizing the cost per contact, or the cost of reaching one member of the target market -Cost per contact is high for personal selling, public relations, and sales promotions -Cost per contact is low for national advertising since it reaches a large number of people -Cost per contact is the cost of reaching out to one more member of the target market (6) Push and Pull Strategies: o Push strategy: a marketing strategy that uses aggressive personal selling and trade advertising to convince a wholesaler or a retailer to carry and sell particular merchandise o Pull strategy: a marketing strategy which stimulates consumer demand to obtain product distribution

Major Public Relations Tools

(1) New-Product Publicity: helps advertisers about their new product by prompting free news or positive words (2) Product Placement: a public relations strategy that involves getting a product, service, or company name to appear in a movie, television show, radio program, magazine, newspaper, video game, video or audio clip, book, or commercial for another product; on the Internet; or at special events (3) Consumer Education: educated consumers are more loyal customers -Example: Financial planning firms may sponsor free seminars on money management, retirement planning, and investing (4) Sponsorship: a public relations strategy in which a company spends money to support an issue, cause, or event that is consistent with corporate objectives, such as improving brand awareness or enhancing corporate image (5) Experiential marketing: involves engaging with consumers in a way that enables them to feel the brand not just read about it (6) Company Websites: are used to introduce new products, provide information to the media, include social media news releases, promote existing products, obtain feedback, and communicate legislative and regulatory information

8 Types of Social Commerce

(1) Peer-to-Peer Sales Platforms (Ebay and Etsy) (2) Social Networking Websites driven by sales (Pinterest and Twitter) (3) Group Buying Platforms (Groupon and Social Living) (4) Peer Recommendation Sites (Yelp) (5) User-curated Shopping Sites (The Fancy and Lyst) (6) Participatory Commerce Platforms (Kickstarter) (7) Social Shopping Sites (Motilo and GoTryItOn) (8) Shoppable Videos (Burberry)

DAGMAR approach helps set objectives that defines

(1) Target audience (2) Desired % change in some specified measure of effectiveness (3) Time frame for the change · stands for: defining, advertising goals for measured advertising results

Tools for Trade Sales Promotion

(1) Trade allowance: a price reduction offered by manufacturers to intermediaries such as wholesalers and retailers -Given in exchange for doing something specific like allocating space for a new product (2) Push money: money offered to channel intermediaries to encourage them to "push" products or to encourage other members of the channel to sell the products (Often directed towards a retailer's salespeople) o (3) Training o (4) Free merchandise: used as payment for trade allowances and quantity discounts o (5) Store demonstrations o 6) Business meetings, conventions, and trade shows: used to allow manufacturers, distributors, and other vendors to display their goods or describe their services to potential customers -Can identify new prospects, serve current customers, introduce new products, enhance corporate image, test the market response to new products, enhance corporate morale, and gather competitive information

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales Process

- Customer Relationship Management: is the ultimate goal of a new trend in marketing that focuses on understanding customers as individuals instead of as part of a group - CRM 2 Key Points: § (1) Customers must take center stage in the organization. § (2) Business must manage the customer relationship across all points of customer contact throughout the organization. - Deeper Relationships and More Sales with Loyal Customers (in efficient manner) can occur by: § identifying customer relationships, uunderstanding the customer base, and capturing customer data

Online Gaming

- Massive multiplayer online (MMO) games (Call of Duty) - Competitive online games (League of Legends) - Online communities (or virtual worlds) (Minecraft)

Blog

- a publicly accessible web page that functions as an interactive journal, whereby readers can post comments on the author's entries o 3 Types: - Corporate blogs: blogs that are sponsored by a company or one of its brands and maintained by one or more of the company's employees - Noncorporate blogs: independent blogs that are not associated with the marketing efforts of any particular company or brand · Contains information not controlled by marketers - Microblog: blogs with strict post length Ex: Twitter, are effective for breaking news, sharing links, announcing events, promoting sales, etc.

Point-of-Sale Interactions

- a touch point in stores or information kiosks that uses software to enable customers to easily provide information about themselves without feeling violated

Touch points

- areas of a business where customers have contact with the company and data might be gathered (web-based or social CRM- social media) Include: customer registering for a service, customer communicating with customer service, customer completing and returning the warranty info for a product, or customer talking with sales, delivery, installer personnel

Campaign Management (Leverage Customer Information)

- developing product or service offerings customized for the appropriate customer segment and then pricing and communicating these offerings for the purpose of enhancing customer relationships - involves monitoring and leveraging customer interactions to sell a company's products and increase customer service - company has identified its best customers; it should make every effort to maintain and increase their loyalty (done through loyalty programs) - customers can be segmented into infrequent users, moderate users, and heavy users

Sales Training

-includes instruction on company policies and practices, selling techniques, product knowledge, industry and customer characteristics, and non-selling duties o Training can take place in a classroom environment, in the field, or using online modules

Sales Process (Sales Cycle):

-the set of steps a salesperson goes through in a particular organization to sell a particular product or service Selling Process Steps Depends on: -Features of the product or service -Characteristics of customer segments -Internal processes in place within the firm

Methods of Lead Generation

1. Cold calling: a form of lead generation in which the salesperson approaches potential buyers without any prior knowledge of the prospects' needs or financial status · Usually performed by an internal sales support person (not a top salesperson) 2. Referral: a recommendation from a customer or business associate · result in highly qualified leads, higher closing rates, larger initial transactions and shorter sales cycles 3. Networking: a process of finding out about potential clients from friends, business contacts, co-workers, acquaintances, and fellow members in professional and civic organizations to identify potential clients

Message Transmission

CHANNEL o a medium of communication—such as a voice, radio, or newspaper—for transmitting a message (facial expression or gesture can also be a channel) -reception occurs when the message is detected by the receiver and enters their frame of reference NOISE o anything that interferes with, distorts, or slows down the transmission of information

Selling Process: Step 1 Generating Leads

Lead Generation (Prospecting): Identification of those firms and people most likely to buy the seller's offerings sales leads in many different ways: · Advertising, Trade Shows/Conventions, Social media, Webinars, and Direct mail and Telemarketing programs

Crisis Management

a coordinated effort to handle all the effects of unfavorable publicity or another unexpected unfavorable event -Ensuring fast and accurate communication in times of emergency

Identifying Products Benefits

o "Sell the Sizzle, not the steak", meaning the goal is to sell the benefits of the product, not the attributes. -Attribute: is simply a feature of the product (ex: new lower price) -Benefit: is what consumers will receive or achieve by using the product (ex: convenience)

Sales Management

o "nothing happens until a sale is made" o stems from a success-oriented sales force that accomplishes its mission economically and efficiently Sales Managers Responsibilities and Decisions: (1) Defining sales goals and the sales process (2) Determining the sales force structure (3) Recruiting and training the sales force (4) Compensating and motivating the sales force (5) Evaluating the sales force -Effective sales management begins with a determination of sales goals -Sales force goals are usually in terms of dollar sales volume, market share, or profit level -Quota: a statement of the salesperson's sales goals, usually based on volume -Sales Departments are most often organized by geographic regions, product lines, marketing functions performed, markets, industries, individual clients, or accounts

Creating/Leveraging Social Media Campaign

o (1) Companies should start with a strategy - Start with a marketing or communications plan - Situation analysis, objectives, and evaluation are still essential o (2) Marketers can categorize media types into owned, earned, and paid media - Owned Media is used to develop deeper relationships with customers - Earned Media is through word-of-mouth or online buzz - Paid Media similar to marketing efforts that utilize traditional media o (3) To leverage all three types of media - Owned Media is by reaching out beyond their existing websites to create portfolios of digital touch points - Earned Media is reached by listening and responding to stakeholders (public relations do not translate) - Paid Media must serve as a catalyst to drive customer engagement and expand into emerging channels

Goal of Promotion (tasks Promotion is performed by)

o (1) Inform: seeks to convert and existing need into a want or to stimulate interest in a new product o (2) Persuade: stimulate a purchase or an action o (3) Remind: keep the product and brand name in the public's mind o (4) Connect: form relationships with customers

Considerations a Social Media Team should consider when creating objectives

o (1) Listen and learn - monitor what is being said about the brand and competitors, glean insights about audiences - If company has a listening strategy, this objective is accomplished o (2) Build relationships and awareness - engage in conversations and answer questions candidly o (3) Promote products and services - customers talking about products and services will translate to sales o (4) Manage your reputation - respond to comments and criticism that appear on blogs and forums o (5) Improve customer service - use social media to search out displeased customers and engage them directly to solve their issues

Six Major Advertising Media

o (1) Newspapers: -Advantages: geographic selectivity and flexibility, short term advertiser commitments, news value and immediacy, high individual market coverage, timeliness -Disadvantages: little demographic selectivity, limited color capabilities, low pass along rate, may be expensive -Cooperative advertising: an arrangement in which the manufacturer and the retailer split the costs of advertising the manufacturer's brand o (2) Magazines: -Advantages: good reproduction (with color0, demographic selectivity, regional selectivity, local market selectivity, long advertising cycle, high pass along rate -Disadvantages: long-term advertisers' commitments, slow audience buildup, lack of urgency, long lead time o (3) Radio: -Advantages: low cost, immediately of message, can be scheduled on short notice, relatively no seasonal change in audience, highly portable, short term advertiser commitments, entertainment carryover -Disadvantages: no visual treatment, short advertising life of message, high frequency required to generate comprehension and retention, distractions form background sound o (4) Television: -Advantages: ability to reach a wide, diverse audience, low cost per thousands, creative opportunities for demonstration, immediacy of messages, entertainment carryover -Disadvantages: short message, some consumer skepticism about claims, high campaign cost, little demographic selectivity with network stations, long-term advertiser commitments, long lead times for production o (5) Internet: -Advantages: Fastest growing medium, ability to reach a narrow target audience, short lead time required for creating, moderate cost, ability to measure ad effectiveness, ability to engage consumer through search engine marketing, social media, mobile marketing -Disadvantages: most ad exposures rely on click through from display ads, measurement for social media needs much improvement, no all -Infomercial: a 30-minute or longer advertisement that looks more like a television talk show than a sales pitch · They are the ideal way to present complicated messages to potential customers -Advergaming: placing advertising messages in web-based, mobile, console, or handheld video games to advertise or promote a product, service, organization, or issue o (6) Outdoor Media: -Advantage: repetition, moderate cost, flexibility, -Disadvantage: short message, lack of demographic selectivity, high "noise" level distracting audience

Common Advertising Appeals

o (1) Profit: let consumers know whether the product will save them money, make them money, or keep them from losing money o (2) Health: appeals to those who are body conscious or who want to be healthy o (3) Fear: can center around social embarrassment, growing old, or losing one's health o (4) Admiration: frequency highlights celebrity spokespeople o (5) Convenience: is often used for fast food restaurants and microwave foods o (6) Fun and Pleasure: are the keys to advertising vacations, beer, amusement parks, and more o (7) Vanity and Egotism: are used most often for expensive or conspicuous items such as cars clothing

Effects of Advertising on Consumers

o (1) effects peoples' daily lives, informing them about products and services and influencing their attitudes, beliefs, and, ultimately, their purchases o (2) helps change a consumer's negative attitude toward a product into a positive one o (3) reinforces positive attitudes toward brands (brand loyalty) o (4) can affect the way a consumer ranks a brand's attributes

Two Reasons why Brands (with small market shares) spend more on advertising

o Advertising response function: a phenomenon in which spending for advertising and sales promotion increases sales or market share to certain level but then produces diminishing returns o Requirement of a minimum level of exposure to measurably affect purchase habits

Social Media Metrics

o Buzz: volume of consumer-created buzz for a brand based on posts and impressions, by social channel, purchase channel, season, and time of day o Interest: number of "likes," fans, followers, and friends; growth rates; rate of virality or pass along; and change in pass along over time o Participation and Engagement: number of comments, ratings, social bookmarks, subscriptions, page views, uploads, downloads, retweets, posts, pins, and time spend with social media platform o Search Engine Ranks and Results: increases and decreases on searches and changes in key words o Influence: media mentions, influences of bloggers reached, influences of customers reached, and second-degree reach based on social graphs o Sentiment Analysis: positive, neutral, and negative sentiment; trends of sentiment; and volume of sentiment o Website Metrics: clicks, click-through rates, and percentage of traffic

Sales Environment

o Changes constantly as new competitors enter market and old competitors leave o Salespeople can be consumer-focused, or business focused o For companies to be successful at selling products/services, they need to be effective at personal selling, sales management, customer relationship management and technology

Tools for Consumer Sales Promotion

o Coupon: a certificate that entitles consumers to an immediate price reduction when the product is purchased -Encourage product trial and repurchases and likely to increase the amount of a product purchased o Rebate: a cash refund given for the purchase of a product during a specific period -must be mailed in along with a proof of purchase -offer price cuts to consumers directly and are more easily controlled o Premium: an extra item offered to the consumer, usually in exchange for some proof of purchase of the promoted product o Loyalty marketing program: a promotional program designed to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between a company and its key customers -Shoppers receive discounts, alerts on new products, and other types of enticing offers -Frequent buyer program: a loyalty program in which loyal consumers are rewarded for making multiple purchases of a particular good or service o Contests and Sweepstakes: -Contest: promotions in which participants use some skill or ability to compete for prizes -Sweepstakes: depends on chance and participate is free · Draw interest and publicity (not effective for long term sales) o Sampling: a promotional program that allows the consumer the opportunity to try a product or service for free -May be in store, mailed to customer, delivered door to door, or packaged o Point-of-purchase (POP) display: a promotional display set up at the retailer's location to build traffic, advertise the product, or induce impulse buying -Include signs attached to store shelves, shelf extenders, ads on grocery carts and bags, floor-stand displays, TV monitors at checkout counters, etc.

6 Categories of Social Media Users

o Creators: produce and share online content like blogs, websites, articles, and videos o Critics: post comments, ratings, and reviews of products and services on blogs and forums o Collectors: use RSS feeds to collect information and vote for websites online o Joiners: maintain a social networking profile and visit other sites ("rookies") o Spectators: read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos, and consume media o Inactives: no nothing o Conversationalists: people who post status updates

Identifying Customer Relationships

o Customer-Centric: a philosophy under which the company customizes its product and service offerings based on data generated through interactions between the customer and the company o Knowledge Management: the process by which customer information is centralized and shared in order to enhance the relationship between customers and the organization -Information includes experiential observations, comments, customer actions, and qualitative facts about the customer. o Interaction: the point at which a customer and a company representative exchange information and develop learning relationships -with CRM defined by customer and not organization

Selling Process Step 7 Following Up

o Follow-up: the final step of the selling process, in which the salesperson ensures delivery schedules are met, goods or services perform as promised, and the buyers' employees are properly trained to use the products -businesses depend on repeat sales (repeat sales occur when the salesperson follows up with the buyer) -today's customers are less loyal to brands and vendors (follow up is essential for building relationships)

Compensating and Motivating the Sales Force

o Good planning will ensure that compensation attracts, motivates, and retains good salespeople o Companies with low levels of compensation suffer higher turnover rates and higher costs o Compensation-based plans should be paired with rewards or incentives o Recognition and rewards can help increase overall sales volume, add new accounts, improve morale and goodwill, move slow items, and bolster slow sales -Managers need to be careful not to encourage unethical sales behavior

Promotional Mix (1) Advertising

o Impersonal, one-way mass communication about a product or organization that is paid for by a marketer -is beneficial because it allows marketers to communicate to a large # of people at one time, so cost per contact is low -traditional media- television, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, billboards, etc. -other media- blogs, websites, emails, videos, and social media

Why do Manufacturers prefer Rebates?

o It allows manufacturers to offer price cuts to consumer directly. o Manufacturers have more control over rebate promotions. o It can be used to build customer database. o Most consumers never bother to redeem it.

How Consumers Use Social Media

o It's important for marketers to understand which social media consumers are using and how they are using them - Young Adult Singles use Match.com, OkCupid, and Tinder - Teens use Snapchat, Instagram, Twitch, and Tumblr - Older Teens and Adults use Facebook - 3.77 billion internet users, 2.8 billion are active on social media - 8.047 billion mobile users, 2.55 billion are active on social media

Reasons for Recent Popularity in Mobile Marketing

o Low barrier to entry o Consumers acclimating to privacy and pricing policies o Effective at garnering consumer attention in real time o Measurable o In-store notification technology o Higher response rate than traditional media types

Role of Promotion in the Marketing Mix

o Marketing Mix: Product, Place, Promotion, Price o Promotional Mix: Advertising, Public Relations, Sales promotion, Personal selling, Social Media

Promotional Spending is divided into:

o Measured media: network and cable TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor, and the Internet o Unmeasured media: direct marketing, promotions, co-op, coupons, catalogs, product placement, and event marketing

Media Decisions in Advertising

o Medium: the channel used to convey a message to a target market -selection is determined by promotional objectives and the appeal and executional style of the advertising o Media planning: the series of decisions advertisers make regarding the selection and use of media, allowing the marketer to optimally and cost-effectively communicate the message to the target audience

Selling Process Step 6: Closing the Sale

o Negotiation: the process during which both the salesperson and the prospect offer special concessions in an attempt to arrive at a sales agreement -customers often give signals if they are ready to buy or not Effective Negotiators Avoid: -Using price as their negotiation tool and show increased value in their products or services instead -Giving unilateral concessions

Types of Media (in the Promotional Mix)

o Paid media: a category of promotional tactic based on the traditional advertising model, whereby a brand pays for media space Ex: tv, magazine, outdoor, radio, or newspaper advertising, pay-per-click advertising on search engines o Earned media: a category of promotional tactic based on a public relations or publicity model that gets customers talking about products or services Ex: word of mouth, electronic word of mouth, search engine optimization o Owned media: a new category of promotional tactic based on brands becoming publishers of their own content in order to maximize the brands' value to customers Ex: Company websites, Facebook page, blog, YouTube channels, Twitter

Evaluating the Sales Force

o Performance measures include sales volume, contribution-to-profit, calls per order, sales or profits per call, or percentage of calls achieving specific goals such as sales of products that the firm is heavily promoting -Performance info helps the sales manager monitor salesperson's progress through the sales cycle (even identify where breakdowns occur)

Selling Process Step 3 Approaching the Customer and Probing Needs

o Preapproach: a process that describes the "homework" that must be done by a salesperson before he or she contacts a prospect -such as visiting website, social media sites, and standard reference sources -determine if the client should be approached by a personal visit, a phone call, or a letter -approach is concluded by summarizing the prospect's need, problem, and interest o Needs assessment: a determination of the customer's specific needs and wants and the range of options the customer has for satisfying them Salesperson must know 4 things during the Needs Assessment: (1) Product or Service: product knowledge is the cornerstone for conducting a successful needs analysis (2) Customers and their needs: the professional salesperson brings each client business-building ideas and solutions to problems (3) Competition: the salesperson must know as much about the competitor's company and products as he or she knows about his or her own company (4) Industry: knowing the industry requires active research by the salesperson

Profit-Oriented Pricing Objectives

o Profit Maximization means setting prices so that total revenue is as large as possible relative to total cost o Satisfactory Profits are profits that are satisfactory to the stockholders and management o Return on investment (ROI): net profit after taxes divided by total assets - ROI = Net profits after taxes/Total assets - Firm seek ROIs in the 10-30% range

Profit

o Revenue - Expenses = Profit

Common Mobile Marketing Tools

o SMS (short message service): 160 character text messages sent to and from cell phones o MMS (multimedia messaging service): similar to SMS but allows attachment of images, videos, ringtones, and other multimedia to text messages o Mobile website (MOBI and WAP website): designed specifically for viewing and navigation on mobile devices o Mobile ads: visual advertisements integrated into text messages, applications, and mobile websites o Bluetooth marketing: signal sent to Bluetooth-enabled devices, allowing marketers to send targeted messages to users based on their geographic locations o Smartphone applications (apps): software designed specifically for mobile and tablet devices - Apps: perform platform-specific or convert existing content to mobile ready format generating buzz and customer engagement - Widgets: (gadgets) run within existing online platforms and allow customers to display company info on their own websites or phones screens (cheaper to develop)

Selling Process Step 4 Developing and proposing Solutions

o Sales proposal: a formal written document or professional presentation that outlines how the salesperson's product or service will meet or exceed the prospect's needs (the solutions to client's problems or needs) o Sales presentation: a meeting in which the salesperson presents the sales proposal to a prospective buyer -there is only one opportunity to present solutions and salespeople must be able to present the proposal and handle any customer objections confidently and professionally.

Status Quo Pricing Objectives

o Status quo pricing: a pricing objective that maintains existing prices or meets the competition's prices (requires little planning, passive policy) - leads to suboptimal pricing as it ignores customers' perceived value of the firm's goods or services and goods or services offered by the competitors - ignores demand and costs

Selling Process Step 5 Handling Objections

o Uncommon for a prospect to say "I'll buy it" right after a presentation o Potential buyer may insist that the price is too high or that the good or service will not satisfy the present need o Every salesperson learns that the objections to the product should not be taken personally as confrontations or insults -Good salesperson considers objections a legitimate part of the purchase decisions o To handle objections effectively the salespersons should anticipate specific objections; such as price concerns, fully investigate the objection with the customer, be aware of what the competition is offering and stay calm.

Unique Selling Proposition

o a desirable, exclusive, and believable advertising appeal selected as the theme for a campaign -commonly becomes part of the campaign's slogan

Institutional Advertising

o a form of advertising designed to enhance a company's image rather than promote a particular product -designed to establish, change, or promote the corporation's identity as a whole Advocacy Advertising: (type of Institutional advertising) a form of advertising in which an organization expresses its views on controversial issues or responds to media attacks -used to safeguard against negative consumer attitudes and to enhance the company's credibility among consumers who already favor its position

Product Advertising

o a form of advertising that touts the benefits of a specific good or service Types (1) Pioneering advertising: a form of advertising designed to stimulate primary demand for a new product or product category · Used in the introductory stage of the product life cycle · Offers consumers' in-depth information about the benefits of the product class · Intended to stimulate primary demand for a new product or product category (2) Competitive advertising: a form of advertising designed to influence demand for a specific brand · used when product enters its growth phase · goal is to Influence demand for a specific brand · promotion becomes less informative and appeals more to emotions (3) Comparative advertising: a form of advertising that compares two or more specifically named or shown competing brands on one or more specific attributes · Used when products experience slow growth or when competition in the market is strong

Promotion Strategy

o a plan for the optimal use of the elements of promotion: advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and social media -Main function is to convince target customers that the goods and services offered provide a competitive advantage

Promotional Mix (5) Personal Selling

o a purchase situation involving a personal, paid-for communication between two people in an attempt to influence each other -Attempts to persuade the buyer to accept a point of view

Advertising appeal

o a reason for a person to buy a product - must make a positive impression and be desirable to the target market - must be exclusive or unique

Advertising campaign

o a series of related advertisements focusing on a common theme, slogan, and set of advertising appeals -It extends for a defined period of time.

Advertising Objective

o a specific communication task that a campaign should accomplish for a specified target audience during a specified period

Listening System (social media campaign) -first action of a marketing team is to listen

o developing an effective listening system is necessary in understanding and engaging an online audience o Social media monitoring: the process of identifying and assessing what is being said about a company, individual, product, or brand - can include tax mining keywords on social networking websites, blogs, discussions forums - failing to respond to criticism leads to larger conflicts

Social Media and Integrated Marketing Communications

o marketers can use social media to have conversations with consumers, forge deeper relationships, and build brand loyalty o consumers use social media to connect with each other, share opinions and collaborate on new ideas according to interests - Crowdsourcing using consumers to develop and market products

Promotional Mix (4) Sales Promotion

o marketing activities—other than personal selling, advertising, and public relations—that stimulate consumer buying and dealer effectiveness -Tool used to stimulate immediate increases in demand -Used to improve the effectiveness of other promotional mixes -Greatest strength is in creating strong desire and purchase intent

Promotional Mix (3) Publicity

o public information about a company, product, service, or issue appearing in the mass media as a news item

Promotional Mix (2) Public relations

o the marketing function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies areas within the organization the public may be interested in, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance -helps an organization communicate with customers, suppliers, stockholders, government officials, employees, and the community in which it operates -resulting in maintaining a positive image and educates public -greatest impact is as a method of gaining attention for a company, good, or service

Marketing Communication

o the process by which we exchange or share meaning through a common set of symbols -When a company advertises, it does not know the consumers personally. The company cannot respond immediately to reactions to its messages -Marketing communication is a two-way process; marketers are both senders and receivers of messages

Review Sites

o websites that allow consumers to post, read, rate, and comment on opinions regarding all kinds of products and services - useful tools for local and national businesses - more than 70% of consumers seek opinions before buying, and 82% of Millennials - are important for marketers hoping to influence consumers in the early stages of the purchase cycle who don't yet have an established plan for what and how to purchase.

Social Netwroking Sites

o websites that allow individuals to connect or network with friends, peers, and business associates - can be brand-specific - LinkedIn is used primarily by professionals who wish to build their personal brands online and businesses that are recruiting employees

Social News Sites

o websites that allow users to decide which content is promoted on a given website by voting that content up or down - are useful for promoting campaigns, creating conversations around related issues, and building website traffic.

Media Sharing Sites

o websites that allow users to upload and distribute multimedia content like videos and photos - podcast is a digital audio or video file that is distributed serially for other people to listen to or watch.

Location-based Social Networking Sites

o websites that combine the fun of social networking with the utility of location-based GPS technology - location-based micro networking as a game: Users earn badges and special statuses based on their number of visits to particular locations

Factors of Media Mix

· Media Mix: the combination of media to be used for a promotional campaign (1) Cost per Contact (cost per thousand or CPM): the cost of reaching one member of the target market · allows for marketers to compare cost of different media vehicles (2) Cost per Click: the cost associated with a consumer clicking on a display or banner ad · pay for only "engaged" consumers (3) Reach: the number of target customers who are exposed to commercial at least once during a specific period, usually four weeks (4) Frequency: the number of times an individual is exposed to a given message during a specific period (5) Audience Selectivity: the ability to reach a precisely defined market (6) Flexibility: ability to change advertisement quickly (7) Noise Level: the level of distraction experienced by the target audience in a medium (8) Life Span: messages can either quickly fade or persist as tangible copy to be carefully studied (9) Media Fragmentation: resulting from proliferation of media

Types of Media Schedules

· Media Schedule: designation of the media, the specific publications or programs, and the insertion dates of advertising o Continuous Media Schedule: a media scheduling strategy in which advertising is run steadily throughout the advertising period; used for products in the later stages of the product life cycle (Ex: Charmin Toilet tissues) o Flighted Media Schedule: a media scheduling strategy in which ads are run heavily every other month or every two weeks to achieve a greater impact with an increased frequency and reach at those times (Ex: movie ads on wed. thurs. nights) o Pulsing Media Schedule: a media scheduling strategy in which that uses continuous scheduling throughout the year coupled with a flighted schedule during the best sales periods (Ex: Christmas and back to school) o Seasonal Media Schedule: a media scheduling strategy that runs advertising only during times of the year when the product is likely to be used (Ex: cold medication and sunscreen lotion)

Types of Sales Promotion

· Trade Sales Promotion: promotion activities directed to members of the marketing channel, such as wholesalers and retailers · Consumer sales promotion: promotion activities targeted to the ultimate consumer market

Relationship Selling (consultative selling)

· a sales practice that involves building, maintaining, and enhancing interactions with customers in order to develop long-term satisfaction through mutually beneficial partnerships (modern view on sales) o focus is on building mutual trust between the buyer and seller. (win-win) o relationship salespeople become consultants, partners, and problem solvers. o helps retain loyal customers who purchase from the company often with an increased share of purchase.

Social Commerce

· a subset of e-commerce that involves the interaction and user contribution aspects of social online media to assist online buying and selling of products and services o S-commerce sites include ratings and recommendations and help consumers make more informed decision on purchases

Social Media

· any tool or service that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations o offer a more one-to-one interaction with customers

Promotion

· communication by marketers that informs, persuades, and reminds potential buyers of a product in order to influence an opinion or elicit a response

Decoding

· interpretation of language and symbols sent by the source through a channel o Common understanding between communicators is required for effective communication o Although a message is received, it may not be properly decoded because of selective exposure, distortion, and retention -People can manipulate messages to reflect their biases, needs, experiences, and knowledge -Consumer comprehension increases through bright colors and bold graphics

Personal Selling

· is a purchase situation involving a personal, paid for communication between two people in an attempt to influence each other (win-loss) o more important as the # of potential customers decreases, complexity of the product increases, and value of the product grows Advantages: (1) Provides detailed explanation or demonstration of the product (2) Sales message can be varied according to motivations and interests of each prospective customer (3) Directed only to qualified prospects (4) Costs can be controlled by adjusting the size of the sales force in one-person increments (5) More effective in obtaining a sale and gaining a satisfied customer in comparison to other forms of promotion Disadvantages: (1) Cost per contact is greater than for mass forms of communication (2) If the sales force is not properly trained, the message provided can be inconsistent and inaccurate (continual sales force management and training are necessary) (3) Salespeople can convince customers to make unnecessary purchases

Advertising

· is impersonal, one-way mass communication about a product or organization that is paid for by a marketer (seen as an international endeavor) o Popular form of promotion, especially for consumers packaged goods and services o Utilized for maintaining brand awareness and market share

Sales Promotion

· marketing communication activities other than advertising, personal selling, and public relations, in which a short-term incentive motivates consumers or members of the distribution channel to purchase a good or service immediately, either by lowering the price or by adding value (has more effect on behavior) o goal is to give the consumer an incentive to make an immediate purchase o used to increase the effectiveness of other promotional efforts

Pricing Objectives

· need to be specific, attainable, and measurable o Categories include: Profit-Oriented, Sales-Oriented, and Status Quo

Competitive Advantage

· one or more unique aspects of an organization that cause target consumers to patronize that firm rather than competitor

AIDA Model

· stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action o AIDA concept: a model that outlines the process for achieving promotional goals in terms of stages of consumer involvement with the message; the acronym stands for attention, interest, desire, and action -model proposes that consumer respond to marketing messages in a cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling), and conative (doing) sequence

Price

· that which is given up in an exchange to acquire a good or service o consumer, the price is the cost of something o seller, price is the source of profits. o Are the key to revenues, are the key to profits o plays two roles in the evaluation of product alternatives: (1) as a measure of sacrifice and (2) as an information cue. - Sacrifice effect can be money sued to get a good/service or the time lost while waiting to acquire the good ("what is given up") - "Reasonable price" means "perceived reasonable value" at the time of the transaction

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

· the careful coordination of all promotional messages for a product or a service to ensure the consistency of messages at every contact point at which a company meets the consumer o Include traditional advertising, direct marketing, social media, interactive, public relations, sales promotion, personal selling, event marketing, etc. o Growth in IMC due to: -Proliferation of several media choices -Fragmentation of the mass market -Slash in advertising spending in favor of promotional techniques

Promotional Mix

· the combination of promotional tools—including advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and social media—used to reach the target market and fulfill the organization's overall goals o management believes will meet the needs of the target market and fulfill the organizations overall goals

Encoding

· the conversion of the sender's ideas and thoughts into a message, usually in the form of words or signs o What the source says is not what matters, but what the receiver hears

Public Relations

· the element in the promotional mix that evaluates public attitudes, identifies issues that may elicit public concern, and executes programs to gain public understanding and acceptance o campaigns fit into overall marketing plans and focus on targeted audiences o Publicity: the effort to capture media attention, often initiated through press releases that further a corporation's public relations plans

Sender

· the originator of the message in the communication process o advertisement, press release, or social media campaign, the company or organization is the sender o As senders, marketers attempt to inform, persuade, and remind the target market to take actions

Receiver

· the person who decode the message (can be multiple) o As receivers, marketers listen to the target market in order to develop the appropriate messages

Revenue

· the price charged to customers multiplied by the number of units sold o Price × Units = Revenue

Feedback

· the receiver's response to a message (mass communicators are from direct feedback) o may be verbal, as in saying "I agree" or "I do not like this new product" o may be nonverbal, as in nodding, smiling, frowning, or gesturing o Social media and Internet have impacted the communication model in 2 ways: (1) Consumers are now able to become senders (2) The communication model shows the feedback channel as primarily impersonal and numbers driven