4.2 Marketing planning

Question 1

What is a marketing plan?

Answer 1

A marketing plan refers to the document outlining a firm’s marketing objectives and strategies for a specified time period.

Question 2

What does the typical marketing planning process involve?

Answer 2

Marketing audit - examination fo the current climate
Marketing objectives 
Marketing strategies
Monitoring and review
Evaluation

Question 3

What are the benefits and limitations of marketing weaknesses, opportunities and threats planning?

Answer 3

Benefit: improves a firm’s chance of success.
Limitations:
Some firms do not have the time and resources or expertise to plan their marketing in a systematic way.
Can be outdated quickly

Question 4

What is the marketing mix?

Answer 4

The marketing mix is the combination of various elements needed to successfully market a product; it contains: product, price, promotion and place.

Question 5

What are the different elements of a marketing mix?

Answer 5

Product
Price
Place
Promotion

Question 6

Product

Answer 6

a physical good or an intangible service

Question 7

What are the two types of products?

Answer 7

Producer products are industrial products sold to other businesses to further the production process.
Consumer products are sold to the end user, i.e. private individuals.

Question 8

Price

Answer 8

the amount that customers pay for a particular

good or service.

Question 9

What are the factors that the pricing decision depend on?

Answer 9

DRASTIC
Demand
Rivalry
Aims
Supply
Time
Image
Costs of production

Question 10

Place

Answer 10

the methods of distributing products to customers

Question 11

Promotion

Answer 11

the strategies used to attract customers to buy a firms products.

Question 12

Distinguish between above the line and below the line promotion.

Answer 12

ATL promotion uses paid-for mass media, e.g. television, radio and newspapers. BTL promotion refers to all other promotion, e.g. packaging, sponsorship and viral marketing

Question 13

What are marketing objectives?

Answer 13

the targets that the marketing department wishes to achieve.

Question 14

Why is setting marketing objectives important?

Answer 14

• Provide a sense of purpose, direction and motivation for the marketing department.
• Allow progress to be monitored and success to be measured.
• Help in the planning and development of an appropriate `marketing mix and marketing strategies.

Question 15

What are marketing strategies?

Answer 15

tactics/plans of action that are used to achieve the firm’s marketing objectives

Question 16

What are the factors that affect the effectiveness of any marketing strategy?

Answer 16

finance
costs of production
the size and status of the firm
social issues
time lags
actions and reactions of competitors
state of the economy
political and legal environment

Question 17

What is market segment?

Answer 17

a distinct group of customers with similar characteristics (such as age or gender) and similar wants or needs.

Question 18

What is targeting?

Answer 18

Targeting refers to each distinctive market segment having its own specific marketing mix.

Question 19

What are consumer profiles?

Answer 19

the demographic and psychographic characteristics of consumers in different markets, e.g. their age, gender, occupation, income level, religion, marital status and purchasing habits.

Question 20

Why do businesses segment their markets?

Answer 20

better understanding of customers
higher sales
growth opportunities
support for product differentiation

Question 21

What are the three types of business segmentation?

Answer 21

by demographics (age, gender, race and ethnicity etc.) 
by geographic factors (location, climate) 
psychographic factors (hobbies and interests, values, religions)

Question 22

Niche marketing

Answer 22

targets a specific and well-defined market segment.

Question 23

Mass marketing

Answer 23

refers to undifferentiated marketing, i.e. a strategy that ignores targeting individual market segments.

Question 24

Ads + disads of niche marketing

Answer 24

better marketing focus
less competition
highly specialised

limits the number of potential customers
few opportunities to exploit economies of scale
attract new entrants due to success

Question 25

Ads + disads of mass marketing

Answer 25

economies of scale
no need to modify marketing strategies
bigger customer base

high entry barriers for mass production
high competition
lack of focus - wasteful

Question 26

What is a product position map (perception map)?

Answer 26

a visual tool that reveals customer perceptions of a product or brand in relation to others in the market.

Question 27

Draw a perception map. (HINT: Quality vs. Price)

Answer 27

premium
bargain
cowboy
economy

Question 28

What is the purpose of position map? What are their ads + disads?

Answer 28

allow a business to identify any gaps in its product portfolio
+ simple
+ quick and easy to interpret
- unrealistic for a business to aim to be good at everything

Question 29

What is a unique selling point?

Answer 29

any aspect of a business, product or brand that makes it stand out from those offered by competitors

Question 30

What is ‘differentiation’?

Answer 30

the act of distinguishing a business or its products from rivals in the industry.

Question 31

What are the ads + disads of differentiation?

Answer 31

\+ price advantages
\+ brand recognition and loyalty 
\+ distribution advantages 
- expensive to differentiate 
- economies of scale
- excessive differentiation