Marketing Management Problems Exam 1

Please list and briefly describe the three key principles of a marketing plan.

The marketing plan should be... *Actionable:* Include a course of action aimed at achieving a certain goal. *Clear:* Very clear in detailing the essence of the proposed action and set goal. *Succinct:* Shorter plans are often better than longer ones. Most managers lack the time/desire to read long documents. Don't contribute to info clutter.

Please list and briefly describe the two main aspects of the situation overview.

*Company Overview:* Provides info about the company, including... *Goals and current performance:* Outlines the company's long term vision, strategic goals, and it's progress towards its goals. *Strategic analysis:* Evaluating the company's competitive advantages and disadvantages. *Market Overview:* Outlines the key aspects of the market (the 4 C's) *Customers:* *Collaborators:* *Competitors:* *Context:*

Based on their focus, goals vary in their level of generality, some more fundamental than others. Marketing objectives delineate specific changes in the behavior of the relevant market factors - the 5Cs - that will enable the company to achieve its ultimate goal. Please list and briefly describe three of the five types of market objectives.

*Customer objectives:* Aim to elicit changes in the behavior of target customers that will enable the company to achieve its ultimate goal. *Collaborator objectives:* Aim to elicit changes in the behavior of collaborators, such as greater promotional support, better pricing terms, etc. *Company objectives:* Aim to elicit changes in the company's own actions, such as improving quality, reducing costs, etc.

The market in which a company competes is defined by five key factors, please list and briefly describe the 5Cs.

*Customers:* Potential buyers. Typically, defined by their needs, which the company aims to fulfill with its offering(s). *Company:* The organization managing the offering. *Collaborators:* The entities that work with the company to create value for the target customers. *Competitor:* Entities with offerings that target the same customers and aim to fulfill the same need. *Context:* Involves the relevant aspects of the environment in which the company operates.

According to Chernev, the marketing plan can be thought of as comprising four key components. Please list and briefly describe these components.

*Executive Summary:* Overview of the company's goal and proposed course of action. *Situation Overview:* Provide managers with the necessary info to understand the logic of the proposed course of action. *Action Plan:* Follows the G-STIC framework *Exhibits:* Help streamline the logic of the marketing plan by separating less important/technical aspects into a distinct section of tables, charts, etc.

Determining and setting goals for their marketing plan companies must focus on two critical decisions, Goal Focus and Performance Benchmarks. Please list and briefly describe these criterion.

*Goal Focus:* 2 types of goals can be distinguished... *Monetary Goals:* Involve monetary outcomes like maximizing NI, EPS, and ROI *Strategic Goals:* Involve non-monetary outcomes that are of strategic importance. *Performance Benchmarks:* *Quantitative:* Define the specific milestones to be achieved by the company in respect to its goal. *Temporal:* Identify the time frame for achieving a particular milestone.

What is the G-STIC Framework? List and briefly describe the key components of the G-STIC Framework.

*Goal:* Identifies the ultimate creation for success. Setting a goal involves 2 decisions: identifying the *focus* of the companies actions, and defining specific quantitative and temporal performance *benchmarks*. *Strategy:* Outlines the logic of the company's value-creation model. Defining strategy involves 2 decisions: identifying the *target market*, and developing of the *value proposition*. *Tactics:* Employed to execute a strategy. The 7 tactics include: *product, service, brand, price, incentives, communication, and distribution*. *Implementation:* Outlines the logistics of executing the strategy and tactics. Involves 3 aspects: defining the *business infrastructure*, designing *business processes*, and setting the *implementation schedule*. *Control:* Involves 2 key processes: *performance evaluation* of the company's progress towards its goal, and *analysis of the environment* in which the company operates.

The target customers section of the marketing plan defines the buyers for whom the company will tailor its offering. Please list and briefly describe the two aspects involved in identifying target customers. Provide an example of each.

*ID customer value:* Identifying the customer needs that the company aims to fulfill with its offering, and the value it aims to receive from the customer. *ID customer profile:* Identifying observable characteristics that will help the company to reach these customers in a cost efficient manner.

Please list and briefly describe the five main components that comprise an executive summary.

*Introduction:* Succinct summary of the marketing plan that facilitates the understanding of the specifics of the plan. *Situation Overview:* Identifies a promising opportunity, an impending threat, and/or a gap in the companies performance. *Goal:* Outlines the ultimate goal of the proposed course of action and its qualitative and temporal benchmarks. *Action Overview:* Outlines the most important aspects of the proposed course of action. *Conclusion:* Short summary of the key aspects of the marketing plan.

Five different frames of reference for a customer-focused positioning statement can be distinguished. Please list and briefly describe each.

*Need-based:* Relates the benefits of the offering to a particular customer need. *User-based:* Relates the offering to a particular type of buyer. *Category-based:* Defines the offering through its membership in a particular product category. *Competitive:* Defines the offering by comparing it to the competition. *Product-line:* Defines the offering by comparing it to the other offerings in the company's product-line.

Please list and briefly describe the multiple entities playing different roles who are involved in writing a marketing plan.

*Project leader:* In charge of managing the offering and the planning process. Typically a Brand, Product, or Product line manager. *Management team:* Works with project leader to develop and manage the offering. Cross-functional, Comprising experts from different areas. *Influencers:* Affect the marking plan by sharing preferences and providing recommendations. *Gatekeepers:* Must approve of the plan before it's put into action. Ensure that a specific aspect of the plan conforms to a set of policies. *Endorsers:* Give final approval of the plan. Have the responsibility/power to give the final "go ahead"

What are the three key questions that the 3-V Optimal Value Proposition implies must be answered in order to evaluate the market potential of an offering?

Does the offering create *superior value for target customers* relative to competitive offerings? Does the offering create *superior value for Collaborators* relative to competitive offerings? Does the offering create *superior value for the company* relative to other options the company must forgo in order to pursue this offering? The ability to create superior value for customers, collaborators, and the company is the ultimate creation for achieving success.

Once developed, marketing plans need updating in order to remain relevant. Please list and briefly describe three of the common reasons Chernev argues companies use to consider updating the marketing plan.

Performance Gaps: Disparity between a company's desired an actual performance. Typically stem from 3 main sources... *Inaccurate information/assumptions:* Managers rarely have all of the necessary info at their fingertips when creating the marketing plan. They fill the info gaps by making assumptions. *Logic flaws:* in the design of the marketing plan. For example, the proposed strategy might be inconsistent with the set goal. *Implementation errors:* Poor execution of an otherwise viable marketing plan. Occurs when managers do not adhere to actions prescribed by the marketing plan. Changes in the target market involve changes in one or more of the 5Cs: Target Customers, Company, Collaborators, Competition, Context.

How is the situation overview different from the marketing plan?

SO aims to "set the stage" for the MP by providing the relevant background necessary for understanding the proposed course of action. Readers of the MP may not be familiar with the specifics of the market or might not relate their prior knowledge to the problem at hand. The SO discusses the market in general including those the company will target as well as markets that it will ignore.

How is the positioning statement different from the brand slogan or communications tagline?

While all three capture certain aspects of the offering's strategy, they differ on several important dimensions including their primary focus, structure, and target audience. The positioning statement summarizes the offering's overall marketing strategy. Brand slogans and communication/advertising tag-lines focus on specific aspects - branding and communication - of the offering's marketing strategy. *PS:* BMW is the best vehicle for drivers who care about performance because it is the ultimate driving machine. *BS:* The Ultimate Driving Machine *Ad T:* BMW: We Make Only One Thing: The Ultimate Driving Machine