Assessment Task 1

Knowledge Test - 1

Question - 1

Identify and explain five (5) ways you evaluate marketing opportunities to address
organisational objectives? Answer in 350-400 words.

Answer :

Pursuing too many development initiatives can turn out to be a risk factor for any
business.
As an official group's priority list develops, the organization's income in truth
declines comparative with its peers.But small set of promising initiatives can lead to
above-average revenue growth. Following the below five ways to assess the allure of
another market opportunity and start organizing the business growth opportunities.

1.Understand the business environment factors.

2.Explore adjacent opportunities.
3.Research your customers and competition.
4.Get a high-level view of the market.
5.Find the market research you need fast.

Elaboration :

Understand the business environment factors:

One of the key areas to identify in the overall business environment, which can have
a significant impact on any organizational market performance and the ways
industries operate.

The business environment includes factors such as:

 Technological developments
 Government regulations
 Geopolitical shifts
 Economic indicators
 Trade policies
 Social and cultural norms

Explore adjacent opportunities:

Following an adjacent opportunity pattern can be a winning strategy for the market
growth. Market researchers analyzed the growth and performance of considerable
corporations. They found that the companies with the most sustained profitable
growth had used a systematic, disciplined approach to expand the boundaries of
their core business into an adjacent space. Some companies expanded from one
geographic market to another, while others applied an existing business model to
adjacent segment.

Take Procter & Gamble’s Crest toothpaste brand as an example. In the late 1990s,
Crest was floundering, but Procter & Gamble revitalized the brand by moving into
two other categories — teeth whitening and brushing — with the introduction of
Crest Whitestrips and SpinBrush.
The company used the same channels to reach the same customers with the same
marketing framework and added more than $200 million of new sales for each new
brand in one year.
Keeping your finger on the pulse of a market will help you to maintain a proactive
approach and profitably outgrow your rivals by finding ways to expand outside your
core business.

Research your customers and competition:

Use market research to analyze your customers and competitors on multiple levels.
This will help you evaluate whether the demand for a product/service is real, and
whether expanding into a potential new market is worthwhile for your company.

Get a high-level view of the market:

However, assessing your customers and competitors is not enough. You also need to
obtain a broader understanding of the market as a whole and what the potential of
success is in the market.
Otherwise, your organization could be trapped into thinking that a few percentage
points increase is enough, where there is actually much more potential. Market
researchers are experts at providing the overall objective picture and can help you
step away from intra-company thinking.

When analyzing a market, these high-level questions come into play:

 What is the market size?

 How quickly is the market expanding or contracting?
 How many buyers are there?
 What are the barriers to entry?
 What is the bargaining power of suppliers?

Find the market research you need fast:

Assembling and integrating data pretty much every one of these classifications can
take huge time, exertion, and mastery, yet statistical surveying reports can give you
an accommodating advantage.

"Off-the-rack" reports, for example, those accessible on MarketResearch.com, can

supply you with a significant part of the data you requirement for a thorough
comprehension of the client, rivalry, industry, and business condition.

Question - 2

What are five (5) steps required to develop marketing strategies that will meet the
strengths and opportunities of the organisation’s expected capabilities and
resources? Write your answer in 100-150 words.

Answer :

1. Define Your Business Goals

A sound marketing strategy aligned with your highest-level business goals and
objectives helps you create awareness for your company and its products and
services, drive website traffic and leads, and generate new sales opportunities that
meet your company’s target audience profile.
With your goals and objectives in place, you have more insight into what you need
to build a marketing strategy, develop an action plan, and define how to measure
results.
When developing goals (at the business level or otherwise), write them in the
SMART format that ensures accountability. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound and represents business goals such as:

 Increase product line revenue by 30 percent to $2 million in the next 12

months
 Double revenue through distributors in the next two years
 Increase profitability from 25 to 30 percent by the end of the year
2. Conduct a Marketing SWOT and Set Goals & Budget

Ultimately, you want marketing that provides a consistent flow of high-quality leads
to help fuel new sales opportunities and drive growth. You want your technical
target audiences and customers to be happy to hear from you and not dread it. And
you have a limited budget and tight bandwidth.
The way to achieve all of this is to use a smart marketing approach that builds a
marketing strategy and execution plan aligned to your business goals and starts
with:
  A SWOT of your current marketing program - strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats in terms of your competitive position, target
markets, target audiences, current positioning/messaging, the maturity of
your offerings, channel partners, etc.
 Up to 5 SMART goals for the next 12 months, such as
o Grow leads by 10 percent on a flat budget by shifting marketing
dollars from outbound to inbound channels
o Increase the number of qualified opportunities passed to sales by
15 percent
o Triple the number of published customer case studies in the top three
segments

3.Define your Targets Clearly

The initial phase in making your purchaser personas is to conceptualize who they
could be. When you have your full rundown, distinguish the ones who have
comparative needs or jobs and think about blending them. From here, organize your
rundown of personas by thinking about their effect on the last buy choice, their
relationship to your organization, and the size of the crowd persona gathering.
When you've got done with conceptualizing, make your real personas.

4.Create your execution plan

With limited time and budget, a campaign approach gives you the big picture before
you get into the weeds of which new video you will produce, which white paper you
will write and promote, etc.
Campaigns can run the gamut in scope. They can be anything from a major product
launch to building thought leadership in a particular segment to increasing web
traffic and leads

5. Organise and Measure

As a last step, you need to define marketing team roles, determine the time frame in
which you want to achieve results, and document the expected return of time and
dollars invested. The organizational structure, pace, and outcomes should be part of
your marketing plan, and you should review this plan quarterly and annually to
ensure optimal use of limited resources for maximum output.

Question - 3

Describe five (5) steps to you can use to develop feasible marketing strategies. Write
your answer in 250-300 words.

Answer :
1: Determine Competitive Positioning

The challenge: Many small businesses falter because they try to do too much for
too many people. They want to carve out a big niche, thinking it will invite big
things. Remember that you can always expand in the future. In the beginning, the
narrower your niche is, the better.

The steps involved:

 Researching the size and scope of your market;

 Separating potential market segments into groups, based on the similar
problems they face or their similar needs and wants;
 Evaluating your competitors for their strengths and weaknesses.
2.Develop a Brand Strategy

The challenge: Your brand is the sum-total experience your customers will
associate with your company. So many elements factor into a brand that it might be
simpler to list what people may not associate with a brand. For starters, think in
terms of your company's image and personality, the promises you make, what you
stand for, how and how often you communicate, the causes you choose to embrace
and how your employees interact with customers. In the early days, you may be
judged by mostly visible elements, such as your company colors, tagline and logo.
They matter too.

The steps involved:

 The features of your product or service;

 The benefits of your product or service;
 Which features and benefits resonate most with your target market; and
 What you want people to associate with your brand. It could be a word
("quality") or a feeling ("I fit in").
3: Select Distribution Channels

The challenge: The internet has upended the onetime "slam dunk" of the strategic
marketing process. And it's received a helpful assist from social media. The addition
of one distribution channel holds the potential of transforming a business.

The steps involved:

 Direct sales;
 Internet sales;
 Retail sales; and
 Wholesaler/distributor sales.
4: Nail Down Pricing

The challenge: Often the most difficult step in the process for small-business
owners, pricing is an issue that deserves a second look from your financial advisory,
accountant and anyone else whose financial opinion you value. Get a jump on these
consultations by:

 Reflecting on the real (not perceived) value of your product or service;

 Determining what people would be willing to pay for it, even if it exceeds the
price of your competitors;
 Aligning a target price with your financial goals; and
5: Setting a Marketing Budget and Identifying Potential Marketing Tactics

In the early days, many small-business owners have no choice but to allocate only
small sums of money to marketing. But how do you even try to set a budget for, say,
a direct mailing, email campaign, trade show appearance, print and radio ads, and
banner ads or anything else, without finding out what they cost - before setting your
priorities?

Question - 4

Answer the following questions:

a.Define the alignment of strategies? Write your answer in 50-100 words

b.Explain the following types of strategic alignment that an organisation can use to
support its direction. Write your answer in 50-100 words for each.
Vertical Alignment
Horizontal Alignment
Operational Alignment

Answer :

a) The process of aligning an organization’s decisions and actions such that they
support the achievement of strategic goals.
Note that the definition talks about decision-making and actions. Actions typically
follow decisions so if your organization doesn’t have the ability to make well-aligned
decisions, they really can’t take well-aligned actions.
Note also that, implicit in the definition, is the fact that strategic alignment involves
NOT DOING some of the things that you might currently be doing… things that do
not support the realization of strategic goals.

b) Vertical Alignment
A company's goals and objectives will drive its strategies. Vertical alignment of
strategies will ensure that strategies are related directly to goals which are related
directly to the organization's mission, vision and values. Strategies are developed to
indicate "how" a company will achieve its goals and objectives. Companies generally
have several strategies that they put in place to meet multiple goals and objectives.
Importantly, these strategies must be aligned to ensure that resources are used
effectively and that success can be achieved.

Horizontal Alignment
Horizontal alignment of strategies ensures that all strategies work together and are
not in competition. A health care organization with one strategy to "decrease length
of hospital stays" and another to "reduce the number of hospital re-admissions"
might have strategies that are in competition with each other. When establishing
business strategies, companies need to look at the big picture to ensure that
strategies in one part of the organization are not inadvertently and inappropriately
impacting the ability to achieve strategies in another part of the organization.

Operational Alignment
Operational alignment of strategies ensures that the work will actually be done.
While strategies indicate how goals and objectives will be accomplished, tactics
indicate specifically what needs to be done to accomplish them. Many companies
have scarce resources and, because of this, it is important that strategies are
carefully designed and aligned to ensure the effective use of those resources.
Operational alignment is the point at which the planning team will determine who
will do the work, when, how and with what required resources

Question - 5

Answer the following questions:

a. Why should you develop a marketing performance review strategy? Write your
answer in 250-300 words
b. Identify and explain the 6 (six) key marketing metrics you can use to evaluate the
organisational performance against marketing objectives? Explain this in 300-350
words

Answer:

a) Importance of Marketing performance Review Strategy

 Marketing strategy provides an organization an edge over it’s competitors.

 Strategy helps in developing goods and services with best profit making
potential.
 Marketing strategy helps in discovering the areas affected by organizational
growth and thereby helps in creating an organizational plan to cater to the
customer needs.
 It helps in fixing the right price for organization’s goods and services based
on information collected by market research.
  Strategy ensures effective departmental co-ordination.
 It helps an organization to make optimum utilization of its resources so as to
provide a sales message to it’s target market.
 A marketing strategy helps to fix the advertising budget in advance, and it
also develops a method which determines the scope of the plan, i.e., it
determines the revenue generated by the advertising plan.
In short, a marketing strategy clearly explains how an organization reaches it’s
predetermined objectives.

b) To measure and, ultimately, improve your content marketing efforts, you need to
know which metrics to track and analyze, and how to do so. The best place to start is
by gathering some data from your company’s website, including your:

1. Unique visitors: The best indication of your site’s overall traffic, unique visitors
refers to the number of individuals who visit your website during a given period of
time, where each visitor is only counted once. This number will vary dramatically
depending on the size of your company, your industry and, of course, the amount of
content you’re producing.

2. Page views: The cumulative number of individual pages that your visitors click
on during a given period of time. If your page views are higher than your unique
visitors, that may be an indication that your audience is finding your content
engaging because individuals are clicking around to multiple pages.

3. Search engine traffic: The amount of traffic being referred to your site through
search engines, such as Google or Bing. This number will give you a clear indication
of how effective of a job you are doing at optimizing your content for search.

4. Bounce rate: The percentage of visitors who come to your site and then
immediately “bounce” or leave before clicking on any other pages. A bounce rate of
less than 40 percent is considered good. If it is any higher, it may be an indication
that visitors to your site don’t like what they find there.

5. Conversion rate: The percentage of visitors to your site who take a specific
action that your content encourages them to, such as signing up for your newsletter.
Conversion rates vary considerably based on industry, but tend to hover around 2
and 3 percent on average. That said, aim for a conversion rate of approximately 5
percent, or even higher if you are creating specific landing pages for specific
audiences.

6. Inbound links: The number of external links to your site, an indication that other
people have found your content important enough to link to it. Importantly, the
more high-quality inbound links you have, the higher your content will rank on
search engines.
Question- 6

Answer the following questions:

a.What is strategic marketing? Write your answer in 100-150 words.
b.What is tactical marketing? Write your answer in 100-150 words.
c.Provide an example of how you would implement a marketing strategy using
marketing tactics. Write your answer in 250-300 words.

Answer :

a) Strategic Marketing

To increase a focused edge in advertising for assembling, you need an exhaustive

comprehension of your objective client's socioeconomics and purchasing
propensities. To choose what your business objectives are, you should be forward-
thinking on industry patterns and your focused position. When you've planned your
objectives, you have to build up a system to accomplish those objectives.
Vital arranging includes perceiving the dangers and openings introduced by the
business. What are the qualities and shortcomings in assembling? Does your
organization have the quality and budgetary capacity to handle those threats and
grab those chances?
Your strategy shouldn’t be all things at once. Focus on an element where you can fill
the gap and where you can gain a competitive advantage. Fulfilling the needs of this
industry problem becomes your goal – your strategy.
Strategic marketing considers the long-term goals of your company such as
expanding your business, exploring new demographics, or creating a new brand.
Therefore, it needs the insight of your financial department who can analyze if you
have adequate funds to realize your goals.

b) Tactical Marketing
While strategic marketing looks at the goals of the company, tactical marketing
focuses on the details to achieve that goal. With a strategy in place, the actions or
tactics needed to reach your goal can be set into motion.
Creating tactics to support your marketing strategies involve detailed profiles of
your customers. Only by knowing your target demographic can you choose the right
advertising media and determine which marketing channel is most effective.
Tactical marketing often involves generating leads, building websites, placing ads,
and following up. It includes advertising, sales promotions, and other activities that
directly support your strategic marketing plan. And because your strategic
marketing plan included establishing a budget, tactical planning preparation should
take into account its financial limitations in carrying out these activities.
Strategic marketing and tactical marketing are interdependent and employed in
combination. Your marketing plan starts with a strategy and followed by detailed
tactics. The presence of both forms of marketing is essential to the success of your
marketing.
c) One of the best marketing strategy examples that works for nearly all businesses
is blogging. Blogging involves writing and publishing content online on topics that
are relevant to your business. Blogging helps businesses generate more leads
because it improves their visibility online while also providing quality information
that helps customers make smarter purchasing decisions.

It is a very important marketing tactic for search engine optimization (SEO). The
more quality and relevant content you have on your website, the more pages that
search engines like Google can index. This means that you have more opportunities
to appear in online searches that are relevant to your brand.
Once a target buyer searches for a relevant keyword on Google, they may come
across your brand’s blog post on the topic. When they click on the link, they are lead
to your site, which exposes the customer to your brand. It also gives you the
opportunity to educate and build trust with the customer through the educational
content you provide.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is another one of the best marketing strategy examples for
businesses of all sizes. Many consumers are using social media channels on a daily
basis to communicate with friends, stay current on what’s happening in the world,
and even get news and updates from their favorite brands. If your business is not on
social media, you’re missing out on a powerful opportunity to reach your target
customers.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is an effective way to reach and engage your customers wherever
they are. Not only do most consumers have an email address, but many actually
enjoy hearing from businesses through email content.

Question - 7
Identify and explain five (5) methods for coordinating and monitoring scheduled
activities in a marketing plan. Explain in 250-300 words.

Answer :

1.Efficient monitoring of a marketing plan ensures that your investment is not

wasted; without knowing how effective each strategy is, you may be throwing away
money on useless efforts. As you plan and execute a marketing plan, build in
monitoring tools from the beginning and be ruthless in eliminating strategies that
are not worth the time and money you spend creating them. With a regular program
of evaluation, you can end up with a streamlined, powerful marketing system.
2.Choose tracking tools that are appropriate for each strategy in your marketing
plan. List each marketing effort that is planned for the coming year and find tools
that will help you monitor its effectiveness. For web-based initiatives, look into
website analytics programs like Google Analytics; for discounts, you can use coupon
codes that are different for each publication in which you advertise.

3.Build in monitoring systems at the beginning of each marketing effort. Before you
launch a new campaign, implement your monitoring tools. Put a tracking code into
your website HTML code, for example, or set up a spreadsheet to monitor sales
progress. Treat evaluation and tracking as an integral part of the marketing process
and assign one of your marketing staff to monitoring duties.

4.Track the response of sales before and after the launch of a marketing campaign.
Because the end goal of marketing is often to boost sales, keep an eye on how each
effort impacts your sales. Ask sales staff for specific feedback on the number of
qualified leads that come in after a new promotion, and request that they ask
customers how they came to your company for more detailed results.

5.Talk to your customers. For marketing efforts that are difficult to monitor
quantitatively, such as awareness-building, survey customers and members of your
target audience. Send out simple email on your social media profiles, and post one
on your website. Design questions that will get you specific information that relates
to the success of your marketing campaign: customer knowledge of new features or
awareness of environmental efforts, for example.

6.Eliminate ineffective marketing strategies. To make your monitoring efforts

worthwhile and to streamline the marketing plan, cut programs that do not achieve
their initial goals. Pay particular attention to strategies that cost a large amount of
money to make sure that the return on investment is worthwhile. Pare down your
marketing plan so that it contains only the most effective activities, which will make
room for new efforts.

Question - 8

How do you ensure marketing tactics meet legal and ethical requirements? Identify
and explain five (5) ways you can manage this. Write your answer in 350-400
words.

Answer :

A marketing strategy subtleties how a business can offer items and administrations
to fulfill the necessities of individuals from an objective market. Moral promoting
guarantees that the requirements are genuine and that the items and
administrations address those issues. Over the long haul, a moral promoting
technique is powerful on the grounds that clients infer the advantages they
anticipate from utilizing the items or administrations your organization offers.
Safety
An ethical marketing strategy does not encourage or advertise unsafe applications
for a product. If your company offers products that are hazardous under certain
conditions, an ethical marketing strategy highlights the dangers and gives clear
instructions on how to avoid them. Over time, such a strategy collects data on the
use of the product and takes steps to reduce or eliminate the hazards to the
consumer. An ethical strategy that supports marketing objectives would emphasize
both the dangers and the steps taken to reduce them.

Deception
Deceptive marketing practices are unethical. They include claiming qualities for a
product that the product doesn't have, advertising lifestyles that a product doesn't
support and claiming a product satisfies a particular need when the product is
unrelated to it. Ethical marketing presents a product honestly and clearly, highlights
the qualities that appeal to a particular market segment and makes it convenient for
members of that segment to purchase the product at a price they are willing to pay.

Market Manipulation
A company employing an ethical market strategy does not engage in manipulation
of the markets. An ethical strategy analyzes the target markets for information on
how many items customers are likely to buy and makes sure there is an adequate
supply. Creating artificial shortages as a tool for driving demand is unethical.

Pricing
Pricing signals for an ethical marketing strategy are derived from studies that
indicate what customers in a target market are willing to pay and the costs of
manufacturing and distributing a product. It is unethical to set prices above an
appropriate level to increase profits beyond the strategic plan or below such a level
to drive competitors out of the market.

Privacy
Companies engaged in marketing activities collect data on individuals in their target
markets and use this data to influence product design and pricing. An ethical
approach requires that the company obtains such information with the consent of
the individual and keeps it safe, respecting the individual's privacy. Collecting
private information without the knowledge or consent of the individual and selling
the information to third parties is unethical.

Question - 9

Answer the following questions:

a.Why is stakeholder’s feedback important regarding a marketing plan? Write your
answer in 50-100 words
b.How can you obtain feedback from key stakeholders? Write your answer in 50-
100 words
c.How can you use this feedback to adjust and communicate the marketing plan?
Write your answer in 150-200 words

Answer :

a) The benefits of stakeholder consultation are clear, with some of the most
significant reasons listed below:

 Enable more informed decision making

 Lead to greater stakeholder satisfaction
 Improves chances of project/initiative success
 Promote open, two-way communication

b)

 Collect feedback from key staff on the progress of the intervention, possibly
via one-to-one sessions or larger, formal meetings
 Consult stakeholders and other staff outside your organisation who may be
affected by the intervention
 With more complex, multi-faceted interventions which involve many players,
gather and analyse stakeholder feedback at key points during delivery
c) Through presentation -

The “presentation” stage is where the data gathered is analyzed and reported on.
The aims of this stage are to ensure the data is an accurate representation of the
stakeholder views, and to prepare the report ready for presentation. The report is
typically presented to the process owners, such as the company itself or policy
makers. However, feedback will also be provided to those who took part in the
process.
As understanding stakeholders becomes more and more important for businesses,
stakeholder consultation will become a vital process to maximize success.
Stakeholder consultation can be used to evaluate reactions and to track the
perceptions of a company’s activities, and ensure collaboration and partnership
with all stakeholders. The long-term effectiveness of an organization can depend on
its relationships with stakeholders, ensuring commitment and buy-in to any future
strategies and challenges. This makes for a more informed organization that is
responsive to the needs of all its users and stakeholders.

Question - 10

Identify and explain the thirteen (13) legal obligations that should be considered
when preparing a marketing plan? Write your answer in 400-450 words.

Answer :
Business structure
You must keep all registrations for your business structure up to date. For example,
your business name must be renewed when due and you must lodge annual returns
if you operate a company.
The corporations Act details requirements relating to companies and financial
products and services.
Taxation requirements of businesses include GST and PAYG
If you go into a partnership, your solicitor should draw up a written contract before
you begin trading or make any financial commitments.

Leasing premises
Retail shop leases must comply with the Retail Shop Leases Act, your solicitor
should read any lease before you sign to ensure the terms and conditions are
appropriate and you understand your obligations before you sign.
If you operate a home business, our local council may limit the number of people
who can work there.

Intellectual property
Protecting your intellectual property (IP) lives you the legal entitlement to that IP.
You can protect your IP using trademarks, patents and designs. You will need to
review and, if appropriate, renew IP protection regularly (e.g. trademarks must be
renewed every 10 years). IP issues are complex and you should seek specialist
advice.

Employment
Legally, when you employ staff you must meet certain employer obligations. You
must select the right person for your business in line with the job description and
selection criteria you have specified. Read how to recruit and intervaff.
You should make offers of employment in writing, including conditions of awards,
agreements and the employment contract.

Supplier agreements
Getting your agreements with suppliers with writing will minimize
misunderstandings and disagreements. Agreements may include creditor terms,
supply conditions and any marketing and promotion support.
Risk management

Privacy and information

Safeguard your customers privacy by complying with state and national privacy
laws.

Contracts
Contract law is complex. Your solicitor can develop standard agreements for your
business to reduce confusion and costs.
All parties must have the legal capacity to enter into a contract.
A contract of sale involves an exchange of goods, services, or property from the
seller to the buyer for an agreed amount. It refers to a specific type of legal contract.

Question - 11.

How do you ensure that the marketing plan addresses all the required marketing
approaches? Explain in 150-200 words.

Answer :
1. Do a situation analysis

Many companies start with a SWOT analysis,looking at their firm's strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This involves identifying your competitors,
understanding exactly how they operate and becoming familiar with their strengths
and weaknesses.

2. Develop a target market profile

Your profile should include basic demographic portraits that paint a clear profile of
your clients. Look at characteristics such as age, sex, profession or career, income
level, level of educational attainment and geographic location.

You'll want to provide research that shows the estimated demand for your product
or service as well as the rate at which that demand is expected to grow. This builds
confidence within financial institutions that your business has growth potential.

3. Set clear marketing objectives

Here you describe the desired outcome of your marketing plan with attainable and
realistic objectives, targets and a clear time frame. The most common approach is to
use marketing metrics.

4. Determine your marketing strategy

Once you’ve determined your objectives and targets, it’s time to look at how you’ll
promote your business to prospective customers.

Strategies typically cover the Four Ps of marketing:

product
price
place
promotion

Your choice of marketing vehicles will be governed by the profile of your target
market, so you need to understand how different vehicles reach different audiences.
Don’t always assume you have to spend money on costly advertising. If you have a
niche audience, for example, you can take advantage of low-cost marketing
strategies such as e-mail.

5. Create your financial plan

A marketing plan without financials has little clout. Financials can also be included
in a general business plan. One document you’ll need to produce is a budget and
sales forecast. This doesn’t have to be complex; in fact, it’s wise to keep it simple.

Question- 12

How can you ensure the marketing plan supports the choice of strategies and
tactics? Write your answer in 200-250 words.

Answer :

We can ensure that our marketing plan supports the choice of strategies and tactics
by listing our targets and devise a set of strategies and tactics to attract and retain
the marketing planAn example goal could be to increase young people's awareness
of your products. Your corresponding strategies could be to increase your online
social media presence by posting regular updates about your product on Twitter
and Facebook; advertising in local magazines targeted to young people; and offering
discounts for students.

Also, Identifying your tactical marketing mix using the 7 P’s of Marketing If you can
choose the right combination of marketing across product, price, promotion, place,
people, process and physical evidence, your marketing strategy is more likely to be a
success. In deciding your tactics, do some online research, test some ideas and
approaches on your customers and your staff, and review what works. You will need
to choose a number of tactics in order to meet your customers' needs, reach the
customers within your target market and improve your sales results.

Question – 13

Answer the following questions:

a. What are organizational capabilities? Write your answer in 50-100 words

b. How do organizational capabilities relate to strategic planning? Write your

answer in 100-150.
C .How do you develop strategies to increase organizational expertise and
resources? Write your answer in 200-250 words.

Answer :

a) An organizational capability is a company's ability to manage resources, such as

employees, effectively to gain an advantage over competitors. The company's
organizational capabilities must focus on the business's ability to meet customer
demand. In addition, organizational capabilities must be unique to the organization
to prevent replication by competitors. Organizational capabilities are anything a
company does well that improves business and differentiates the business in the
market. Developing and cultivating organizational capabilities can help small
business owners gain an advantage in a competitive environment by focusing on the
areas where they excel.

b) Market based organizational learning has been identified as an important source

of sustainable competitive advantage. Market driven business units developed
higher level of six vital marketing capabilities (in the area of market research,
pricing, product development, channels, promotions and market management) than
their less market driven rival business units on the four measures of organizational
performance viz. growth, profitability, customer satisfaction and
adaptability.Companies with high adaptive capability seemingly perform better than
low adapters, despite the implication of high cost and inefficiency. Short product life
cycle in fashion retailing present number of marketing challenges for retail firms. In
order to survive in this industry, it is vital for participant to develop and leverage
core marketing capabilities. The most distinctive features of market-driven
organizations are their mastery of the market sensing and customer linking
capabilities. In order to understand capabilities, one needs also to understand the
processes of interaction and inter organizational learning. Capabilities of a dynamic
nature, aside from being a source of new resources for the company, provide a solid
instrument for the organization's strategists. These capabilities allow the activation
and redirection of the complex framework of economic and organizational factors.
Dynamic capabilities are key factors in optimizing the strategic course of the
company's future

c) Use Technology

Technological tools play an essential role in the efficiency and effectiveness of a

company. Make use of computers, tablets or smartphones to improve the efficiency
of the company. Use software or sharing tools to keep different members of a team
up-to-date with the state of a project, even when they are not actively working on a
specific portion of the project.

Work on Quality Services or Products

Although clients play a role in the effectiveness of a company, a business must also
identify an appropriate level of quality for the products or services provided. The
key is focusing on a balance of quality with cost effective solutions. The goal of any
business is improving the products without exceeding a set budget or price range.

Keep the Customers in Mind

Organizational effectiveness only works well when evaluating the needs and
interests of the customers. Quality management is just as important as the overall
efficiency of the company. If a professional does not provide a quality product or
service, then customers look for alternatives for their needs and goals.

Focus on Education and Growth

Organizational leadership requires active measures to work with different groups

and individuals. A leader must understand the strengths and weaknesses of
different professionals before making a plan of action to improve the effectiveness
of the organization.

Question – 14

What is meant by organizational structure, products and services in term of

marketing? Explain the process in 100-150 words.

Answer :

Organizational Structure: The organizational structure of the marketing department

of a company can vary according to the individual company. Small companies may
consist of one or two marketing employees, and larger organizations may have
dozens of marketing employees on staff. Overall, putting an organizational structure
in place helps marketing employees and other employees of the company to
understand what the role of each person is in the marketing department.

Products and Services : A product is a tangible item that is put on the market for
acquisition, attention, or consumption while a service is an intangible item, which
arises from the output of one or more individuals. Although it seems like the main
distinction between the two concepts is founded on their tangibility, it is not always
the case. In most cases, services are intangible, but products are not always tangible.

Question – 15

Provide an outline/explanation of the common marketing opportunity options listed

in the table below. Write your answer in 50-100 words for each opportunity.
 Common Marketing Outline/Explanation
Opportunity
1 Strategic alliances A strategic alliance is an agreement between two or
and cooperative more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives
business models needed while remaining independent organizations. A
strategic alliance will usually fall short of a legal
partnership entity, agency, or corporate affiliate
relationship..
A cooperative, or co-op, is an organization owned and
controlled by the people who use the products or
services the business produces. Cooperatives differ
from other forms of businesses because they operate
more for the benefit of members, rather than to earn
profits for investors.

2 New products or
services to target Regardless of the product or service you sell, you need
specific markets to describe your target market to find potential
customers and clients. Your target market is that
group of consumers that best fits what you offer. Hone
in on the right target market, and you’ll see sales and
profits rise. Miss the mark, and it could be the death
knell for your company
3 Greater penetration
with existing Greater market penetration strategies include quick
products or services diffusion and adoption of your product in the
marketplace, incentives to be efficient,
discouragement of competition, and creation of
goodwill. Disadvantages include lower profit margins,
possible harm to your company's image, and the risk
of a pricing war.
4 Take-overs A takeover occurs when one company makes a bid to
assume control of or acquire another, often by
purchasing a majority stake in the target firm. In the
takeover process, the company making the bid is the
acquirer while the company it wishes to take control
of is called the target.
Takeovers are typically initiated by a larger company
for a smaller one. They can be voluntary, meaning
they are the result of a mutual decision between the
two companies. In other cases, they may be
unwelcome, in which case the larger company goes
after the target without its knowledge.
5 New business and Business opportunities (aka biz opps) and franchises
franchising are two ways to start a business without having to
 start from scratch. While they are similar, and have
many overlapping features, they have differences that
must be acknowledged. Figuring out which kind of
entrepreneurial venture is right for your personal
needs and goals is an important part of the research
process that should precede other decisions.
Business Opportunities
A business opportunity is defined as the sale or lease
of any product, service, equipment, etc. that will
enable the purchaser to begin a business.
Franchises
A franchise is defined as the right or license granted
by a company (franchisor) to an individual or group
(franchisee) to market its products or services in a
specific territory.
6 Other options we need to define a framework to help search for
relevant to the opportunities. To do this, it is necessary to understand
organisation your company’s business direction and to have
knowledge of the resources, strengths and capabilities
of your company.
Once you have a good understanding of company
goals and areas of expertise, the next step is to analyse
the market, assessing consumer needs and how they
are being met by companies today. In order to identify
market opportunities, the business model as a whole
must be evaluated by identifying consumers and
companies and other factors such as brand value
propositions, direct and indirect competitors, supply
chains, existing regulations and the general
environment.
Question – 16

What is the difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing approach?

Write your answer in 150-200 words.

Answer:

The key differences between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan:

Purpose
The purpose of a marketing strategy is to capture the marketing goals — what needs
to happen for your product or service to reach the right customers and do well in
market. Strategy keeps the team aligned around those shared goals by helping
everyone understand who will get the most value from your offerings (the target
audience), the value proposition, and how you will reach your ideal customer.

The purpose of a marketing plan is to describe and visualize for the team when and
how you will accomplish those goals. Plans establish the timeline and themes of
your work — your campaigns and programs — and allow you to prioritize
the activities within each based on your strategy. This makes it clear how every
activity connects to both the marketing goals and overall business goals.

Timing
A marketing strategy should be created before you do any actual work. It lays the
foundation for all your campaigns and activities

A marketing plan should be created once you have an established marketing

stratedy — a clear understanding of why you are doing the work

Components
The marketing strategy usually contains the following:

 Company vision and goals

 Marketing goals
 Initiatives
 Positioning
 Brand essence
 Buyer personas
 Competitive landscape
The marketing plan usually contains the following:

 Campaign goals
 Timeline with key milestones
 Channels to be used
 Budget
 Activities
 Dependencies
Question – 17

Answer the following questions:

a. What is ethical marketing? Write your answer in 50-100 words.

b. Identify the eight (8) principles of ethical marketing. Write your answer in 50-
100 words

c. How do you develop and implement an ethical marketing plan? Write your
answer in 150-200 words
Answer :

a) Ethical Marketing : Ethical marketing is less of a marketing strategy and more of a

philosophy that informs all marketing efforts. It seeks to promote honesty, fairness,
and responsibility in all advertising. Ethics is a notoriously difficult subject because
everyone has subjective judgments about what is “right” and what is “wrong.” For
this reason, ethical marketing is not a hard and fast list of rules, but a general set of
guidelines to assist companies as they evaluate new marketing strategies.

b) Be Transparent

Protect Consumer Data And Privacy

Commit To Sustainability And Human Rights

Respond Meaningfully To Consumer Concerns

Maximise Benefits And Minimise Risks

Don’t Make False Comparisons

Don’t Make Unverified Claims

Don’t Exploit Emotions

c) While ethics and social responsibility are sometimes used interchangeably, there
is a difference between the two terms. Ethics tends to focus on the individual or
marketing group decision, while social responsibility takes into consideration the
total effect of marketing practices on society. In order to foster an ethical and
socially responsible behavior pattern among marketers while achieving company
objectives, special care must be taken to monitor trends and shifts in society’s
values and beliefs. Next, marketers should forecast the long-term effects of the
decisions that pertain to those changes. Bearing in mind that a company cannot
satisfy the needs of an entire society, it best serves marketers to focus their most
costly efforts on their target market, while being aware of the values of society as a
whole. Five simple steps every marketer can take to create a sustainable socially
responsible market plan are:

1. Define what is ethical marketing for your firm.

2. Decide which branch of ethics your marketers will apply.
3. Determine how the ethical approach to marketing will be implemented.
4. Discuss areas of the firm’s operations that ethical marketing will be included
as part of the program.
5. Analyse and assess how much ethical marketing will cost the company and
compare this against the benefits of ethical marketing in the long run.
Question – 18

What is the best method to present a marketing plan for approval from senior
management in any organisation? Explain the process in 50-100 words.

Answer :

When proposing a new marketing plan, a marketing manager must communicate

key considerations: the business case, the budget and potential ROI. But human
influence also plays a significant role.

While you should expect an iterative process, it’s important to get support from
your team about the plan’s direction and goals.

Few key aspects to be noted are:

Enable co-operation
Start with why

Encourage support of your ideas

Communication isn't about speaking, it's about listening
Achieve approval from your management team