Semi Final: M1

Question 1

are rival firms located near you and offer the same or very similar products/services as yours.

Answer 1

Direct competitors

Question 2

are competitors who offer a group of products/service that are substitutes to your product/service.

Answer 2

Indirect competitors

Question 3

Preparing the Marketing Mix
What are the 8(ps)?

Answer 3

Product
Place
Price
Promotion
People
Packaging
Positioning
Process

Question 4

This element of the marketing mix indicates a description of the product or service that you are selling.
But it is more than a mere description of their physical features.

Answer 4

Product (service)

Question 5

It refers to the where, how, and when you are going to deliver the product or service to target customers based on their needs and preferences. It involves your marketing strategies such as the choice for the location of your store or service area, the manner of delivering or transporting the product or service to your target customers, and the timing of product or service delivery.

Answer 5

Place

Question 6

Distribution channel

Answer 6

Producer>Wholesaler>Retailer>Consumer

Question 7

This pertains to decisions on the pricing strategy for your product or service. Before an entrepreneur sets the price, he or she needs to consider the three important elements

Answer 7

costs, margins, and markups.

Question 8

100%+100%=200%

Answer 8

Markups and margins

Net profit margin = Net income
/Revenue × 100

Question 9

a startup entrepreneur, you may consider some of the following pricing strategies to adopt:

Answer 9

Cost plus pricing - This is also called mark-up pricing. Here, you add a specific mark-up to the cost to determine the selling price. For example, you want to set a mark-up of 50% for every pastillas box you want sell. If the cost of each pastillas box is P100, you apply a 50% mark-up, which translates to ₽50 per box. Thus, your selling price for each pastillas box will be P100 +P50 or P150.

Competitive pricing - This is offering prices similar to your competitors; it is also called benchmark pricing.

Bundling - This is offering one or two products at a reduced price, for example, coffee plus a doughnut is sold at a reduced price. In choosing a pricing strategy, you consider the situation of your costumers and also the moves of your competitor. The most important rule is as follows: do not price your product or service below its cost.

Question 10

is the most a customerwill pay foryourproduct or service. This is the custoner’s percepion
of what you have to offer, and, often, this amount has been set by the competition. Through your conduct of market research, you will be able to determine this information. Business associations, trade magazines, and government agencies may provide marketing information on current prices of products and services.

Answer 10

Priceceling

Question 11

pertains to your assessment of how much it costs you to produce your product or service.
Although the cost of your product or service is not directly related to what the customer is willing to pay for it, you are fully aware that costs are important.

Answer 11

Price floor

Question 12

This element in the marketing mix enables the entrepreneur to inform potential consumers about the product’s availability, or to educate the consumer about the product. It uses advertising media.
Today’s internet technology enables entrepreneurs to create their websites or portals to advertise their company and products.

Answer 12

Promotion

Question 13

Promotion has three objectives.

Answer 13

First, provide basic information about the product or service the location or how the product/service can be actes, provariety of product offerings, etc.)

Second, persuade your target customers of the benefits of your procese o, service. Here, you describe the advantages or better features of your product (ease of use, durability, etc.

Third, encourage customers to take action at specific times (or example, try out the product or service sample, give feedback, etc.).

Question 14

This element in the marketing mix focuses on the role of human resources in propelling the growth of the business. As an entrepreneur, you need to ensure that your staff members are motivated and satisfied with their work to ensure that they will stay long in your company. If they are happy, they are likely to perform better in their jobs. As a result, more customers will be attracted to your business.

Answer 14

People

Question 15

are those staff members whose job involves directly interacting with customers. You need to ensure that your ___ look presentable and know how to deal with various types of clients they encounter.

Answer 15

Frontliners

Question 16

This element of the marketing mix considers the attributes of your product that may be affected as it goes through the distributions channels. If the product is perishable, bulky, or may easily be broken during transport to customers, you need to provide safe and suitable packaging materials.

Answer 16

Packaging

Question 17

In general, these are three questions in designing the packaging of a product:

Answer 17

a. What is the product?
The essential reces of information are how big is the product, what materials it is made of, and if itis delicate. These will determine, for example, if a delicate product will require more secure packaging, or a big product will require custom made boxes.
b. Who is buying the product?
This pertains to demographic and psychological characteristics of the buyers-whether they are men or women, young or old, sensitive to environmental consciousness or not, budget conscious or not, among other factors. The design and materials to be used for the packaging should cater to the customers’ background and preferences.
C. How are people buying the product?
You will have to think of important factors if the product is bought online. For example, online products or those that will have to be delivered to the costumer should have a type of packaging that is safe and durable to protect the items during transport.

Question 18

This marketing concept gives consideration to how your product or service offering is positioned in the minds of your target customers. For instance, your product or service might be positioned as more attractive, more durable, or more affordable based on what your target customers think. ___ as a marketing strategy is actually embedded right from the beginning when you describe your target market because, at that early marketing stage, you already identified the preferences of your target customers.

Answer 18

Positioning

Question 19

The five main strategies upon which businesses can base their positioning are the following:

Answer 19

a. Positioning based on product characteristics - This associates the brand with a certain characteristic that is beneficial to the community. For example, the SM chain of stores emphasizes that they have all the goods that people want to buy.
b. Positioning based on price - This aims to offer the cheapest or the most affordable product or service in the market. For example, Ever Bilena Cosmetics emphasizes quality cosmetics that are more affordable.
c. Positioning based on quality or luxury - This associates the brand with high quality or prestige such that the customer would desire it regardless of the price, An example is the Rolex brand for watches.
Positioning based on product use or application -This emphasizes the particular use of the product.
For example, meal replacement supplements target those who lack time to have a convenient meal.
e. Positioning based on competition- This uses the competition as a reference point for differentiating the uniqueness of one’s product or service. Or, it follows a similar benefits offered by the competitor with the aim of converting some customers of the competitor to one’s business. This can be observed in the way smartphone manufacturers (e.g., Apple vs. Samsung) position their latest gadget offerings.

Question 20

that is a perceptual map of how consumers see the comparative characteristics of dominant competitors (or brands) in your marketplace.

Answer 20

perceptual map

Question 21

refers to the standard procedures or systems involving internal marketing-related activities (back office support or marketing activities that are not seen by the customers) and external marketing-related activities (delivery, actual servicing of the customers).

Answer 21

Process

Question 22

Process improvement is an effort taken by entrepreneurs to make core business processes better, leading to improved work output. Ideally, process improvement should lead to effective and efficient workflows. To start your process improvement, you can refer to the following ways:

Answer 22

a. Eliminate waste - The Lean Principles call for teams to look for eight kinds of waste: defects, excess processing, overproduction, non-utilized talent, sitting inventory, products waiting for the next step, unnecessary moving of products, and inefficient movement of people. If you can eliminate waste in these areas, you can save time and produce quality results.
b. Reduce costs - You can also help eliminate waste and therefore increase efficiency by reducing costs. One way is to look for waste in the form of duplicate or unnecessary tasks. Another way is to look for opportunities to better allocate resources or automate manual tasks. Furthermore, you can review the order of the tasks within processes, and evaluate the materials used.
C.
Improve communication and collaboration - This approach focuses on you, as the entrepreneur and leader, and your relationships with people. Lack of communication among members in an organization could lead to potential misperceptions and misinterpretations that could result in work errors, delays, and procrastination.

Question 23

is the name or symbol associated with the product or service offerins that communicates nessages to target customer

Answer 23

A brand

Question 24

are the registered brand’s names, and they come in many forms.

Answer 24

Trademarks