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Multiple Choice Questions
How is the marketing mix (4Ps) important to companies? Illustrate your answer with examples.
The marketing mix made up of the 4Ps, which are product, price, place, and promotion, have several importances to companies when it comes to business. Firstly, the marketing mix is essential to companies, whereby it helps them understand what their products or services can offer or give to their existing customers. Additionally, marketing is essential to companies as it helps them successfully plan for their product offering. Secondly, a marketing mix is also essential as it helps companies in the planning, developing, and carrying out effective marketing strategies such as they promote their products and acquire new customers in the market (Aghazadeh, 125). The marketing mix also enables companies to utilize their strengths and monitor either weaknesses in avoiding unnecessary costs when it comes to business. For example, a company may decide to run a system checkup on its marketing strategy to determine its effectiveness and where improvement is needed. Thirdly, the marketing mix is essential to companies in a way that allows them to learn the right time and way of promoting their products and services to the customers. Consequently, customer needs often come first to any given company, and thus the marketing mix is essentially essential in helping the companies identify and understand the needs of their customers.
Outline several, key characteristics of the micro-marketing environment, and briefly describe the main implications of the micro-environment to companies.
There are several key characteristics of a micro-marketing environment: competitors, suppliers, customers, public, and marketing intermediaries, such as workers and their unions. Competitors include the competitive environment containing a variety of basic things that the companies need to consider. For example, competitors may be products from other companies such as laptop manufacturing companies producing almost similar products. Customers comprise the essential aspect of any given company as they are the main stakeholders and the reason for the companies’ existence (Deepak, Kanthiah & Jeyakumar, 15). Suppliers are essential in the business environment as they provide the companies with the commodities or products used in serving customers. The main implications of the micro-environment factors are that they often have a direct impact on the companies as they are very close to the business, affecting the companies’ operations and success. As mentioned earlier, each micro-environment factor has a significant part of companies’ operations. Other than the discussed factors and their implication to a company’s operations, employees also play a pivotal role in the companies’ development and achieving set competitive goals. One the other hand, trade unions are closely related to employees and lay an essential role in the market since trade unions form part of the modern business backbone.
What are the key reasons for companies to undertake market segmentation? Illustrate your answer with examples.
Market segmentation is primarily a subgroup of people or given organizations that possess one or more characteristics, making them have similar product needs. There are several key reasons as to why companies should undertake market segmentation. Firstly, companies should undertake market segmentation to identify their natural spaces, among other aspects, such as potential white spots in the market (Aghazadeh, 128). For instance, once the companies have identified the white spots, they can eventually determine the segments in which they are the leading and are highly competitive regarding the segments that they have to defend against any given form of competition. Secondly, companies should undertake market segmentation to have a better overview of their competitors’ strengths and weaknesses to help prevent price wars. For example, companies need to know their leading competitors regarding their competitive strengths and the segments in which they would have the most significant impact or influence. Thirdly, companies should undertake market segmentation to decide on the appropriate action for each given market segment. For example, one of the most significant market segmentation outcomes is that companies know where and where not to compete. Ultimately, this is often one of the toughest and challenging decisions to be made in a management meeting.
What are the key differences between core, actual, and augmented products? Illustrate your answer with examples.
There are three levels of products ranging from the core, actual to augmented, each existing as different from the other. The key difference between the three levels of product is that the core product is not a tangible physical product as it can not be touched. However, the core product is instead the benefit of the product that significantly makes it valuable. Ultimately, taking a car, for example, its benefit is convenient where one can travel anywhere whenever they like. Conversely to core product, the actual product is the physical or somewhat tangible product which a consumer or customer buys to get the core benefits that it brings (Chernev, 26). For instance, when the core benefit that a customer or consumer wants is travelling and convenience, then a car is the actual product in hand. Therefore, when manufacturers come up with any given actual product, they often keep the core benefits in mind.
On the other hand, the augmented product is essentially the none physical part of any given product. An augmented product often consists of many of the added value in which one has both the chance of paying or paying a premium. For example, when one buys a computer, part of the augmented product would be aspects such as the warranty, customer service support, and the after-sale service support offered with the product.
What is a brand? Describe and explain the key benefits of brands. Illustrate your answer with examples.
A brand is an identifying symbol, logo, mark, name, or even a sentence that business companies often use to differentiate their products from others (Deepak, Kanthiah & Jeyakumar, 28). Examples of brands include Coca Cola, Samsung, Nike, and Apple, among other significant brands. A strong brand’s key benefits include better access to distribution in which retailers, sellers, and other distributors often stock their top-selling brand. For example, sellers, retailers, and distributors are most likely to stock on strong brands such as Amazon and other more prominent brands instead of small ones. Additionally, successful and effective branding ensures maximum profitability as they add values that customers and consumers are ready to purchase and pay for.
Consequently, another benefit of brands is that they are essential in inspiring customer loyalty, which leads to repeat sales and further recommendations in the market. Brands are also crucial to the owners, whereby they can charge an extra coin if their brand is the best in the market. As mentioned earlier, by definition, a brand is essentially important when it comes to differentiating or distinguishing given services and products from the products and services of their competitors. For example, Nike brands are different from Adidas despite both selling shoes.
What is the promotion mix? How can companies’ property use the promotion mix efficiently and effectively? Illustrate your answer with examples.
In marketing, a promotion mix refers to a blend or set of different marketing strategies and approaches that marketers often develop to optimize given promotional effects toward reaching a broader audience. Therefore, the marketer often has to find the right promotion mix for any given brand. Companies’ properties can use the promotion mix effectively and efficiently by finding the right ways to reach customers (Chernev, 38). Therefore, to effectively and efficiently reach the customers, the companies’ properties should deliver a clearer and more compelling message. For example, if the target marketing customer puts a lot of consideration into money, then the properties’ message should stress how the given aspect will happen.
Additionally, companies’ properties can use the promotion mix efficiently and effectively by choosing the most appropriate promotion method. For example, to effectively convey a given message, companies need to understand the most suitable way of reaching the target market. Consequently, when companies’ key customers are manufacturers, and the company supplies specialized equipment, the most effective way to communicate is through an advertisement. Moreover, if the companies’ property decides to put general interest in consumer magazines, it would essentially be a waste of both time and money.
Work Cited
Aghazadeh, Hashem. “Strategic marketing management: Achieving superior business performance through intelligent marketing strategy.” Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 207 (2015): 125-134.
Chernev, Alexander. Strategic marketing management. Cerebellum Press, 2018.
Deepak, R. Kanthiah Alias, and S. Jeyakumar. Marketing management. Educreation Publishing, 2019.