Part 1

1. Market Research

Name the six steps in the marketing research process as discussed in the Kotler text.

Why is it important to include all of these steps in the research process?

Why is the first step the most important?

2. Strategic Marketing Planning

Why is it important for a company to have a well written mission statement?

What key points do you think need to be included in the mission statement?

Should a mission statement also be a marketing tool?

Part 2

1. Consumer Buying Behavior

What are some of the factors that influence consumers' buying behavior?

Have the purchasing habits of your parents and/or grandparents influenced your buying behavior?

If you were to open your refrigerator and cupboards and compare the contents with those of your parents, would you find some brands in common?

2. Target Market Selection

What are some of the challenges faced by marketers as they attempt to define their target markets?

How necessary is it to fine-tune your Marketing Plan so that your target market is clearly defined and measurable?

Why is extensive research necessary?

Part 3

1. Branding

Procter & Gamble (P&G) perhaps epitomizes the ability to create highly successful brands and marketing efforts. Read the Breakthrough Marketing case study about Procter & Gamble on page 239 in chapter 9 of your e-text.

Given our study through the first three weeks, to what do you attribute P&G's success and its ability to continually grow its business? Were you to project into the future, what recommendations would you make to P&G marketing executives, especially as to where the company might be vulnerable?

2. Competitive Strategies

When developing a marketing plan, you can't stop with just identifying your competitors. You also need to clarify your position in the market compared to those competitors and outline an appropriate strategy for dealing with them.

Consider Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, two successful companies that compete with each other. Discuss some competitive strategies each company can adopt and some specific actions needed to support those strategies. Tie your comments to our Kotler textbook.

- Describe customer perceived value, total customer benefit, and total customer cost. How do the total customer benefit and the total customer cost affect the consumer's perception?

- What are some of the ways that a business can attract and retain customers?

- What are the five stages in the buying decision process? Briefly describe each.

- What is a niche market? What does an attractive niche market look like?

- What is a market segment? What are some of the factors that may be used to narrow the market down into segments?

- How would you describe a brand? What roles do brands play in the market?

- What is brand equity? Provide an example.

Part 4

1. Pricing Strategies

As part of the Marketing Mix, PRICE, P, is important to the marketer. Yet when we look at price, it is more than just a dollar figure. What does price represent to the consumer? What does price represent to the marketer?

2. Marketing of Services

How is the marketing of services different than the marketing of a product? What are the challenges of marketing a service? How is marketing shoes different from marketing shoe repair?

Part 5

1. Channels of Distribution

As part of the Marketing Mix, Place, or Channels of Distribution, is important to understand. What is the difference between Direct channels of distribution and Indirect channels of distribution?

It has been said that "channels of distribution may be the best opportunity for a sustained competitive advantage." Based on your Kotler text, would you agree or disagree? Why?

2. Retailing, Wholesaling, and Logistics

Describe Market Logistics. What are some of the steps necessary for market logistics planning? Please provide an example.

What is the difference between a push marketing strategy and a pull marketing strategy? Explain how each of these strategies work.

- Describe channel conflict and provide an example.

- What is a direct marketing channel? Please provide an example.

- What are the differences between exclusive distribution, selective distribution, and intensive distribution? Why would you choose one of these strategies over another?

- How would you describe retailing? What are the four levels of service?

- Why do intermediaries bother to sponsor their own brand? What is the role of private label brands in the market place?

- Describe wholesaling. Why do manufacturers not sell directly to retailers or final customers?

- Explain supply chain management and market logistics. Why are these efficient processes important to many industries?

Part 6

1. Marketing Communications

Describe Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Why is it so important in the 21st century for marketers to embrace this? What are some of the concerns of the marketer when it comes to creating an IMC approach via the promotional mix components of advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing, and personal selling?

2. Advertising Effectiveness

Select an advertisement to which you have recently been exposed. It can be in any paid communications medium, such as TV, radio, newspaper, or magazine. The ad that you select should be one to which others in the class can easily relate, such as Verizon's "Can you hear me now?" ads or the Aflac ad (with the white duck that squawks "AFFFFLAAAAAAAC!")

3. Evaluate the ad from a consumer perspective. Why do you feel the ad was created in the first place? What is the MESSAGE that the ad is attempting to communicate? What do you see as this ad's major strengths or weaknesses? Do you think the ad was a success?