Marketing Questions 1.

Captive Product Pricing Item made specifically for use with another item, usually from the same manufacturer. Forexample, shaving blades for a razor, parts for a machine, software for a computer operating system. Pricing of captive product is often based on a productmix pricing strategy where a low mark-up is set for the companion main product (such as a razor operating system) with a high mark-up for the supplies(such as blades or application software).
2. Characteristic Line

A line formed using regression analysis that summarizes a particular security or portfolio's systematic risk and rate of return. The rate of return is dependent on the standard deviation of the asset's returns and the slope of the characteristic line, which is represented by the asset's beta.

3. Difference between Service Market and Manufacturing Market

Manufacturing Industries engaged in the production of goods (finished products) that have value in the marketplace. Service Industries include those industries that do not produce goods, but provide certain services. The peculiarity of these industries is that often the consumption of the service takes place while it is in the generation. Typically, this sector includes hospitality, advertising, banking, insurance, consultancy, logistics, etc. The significant difference between the various types of industries is observed when we analyze the manufacturing or service environment in which they operate. Elements of the manufacturing environment include external environmental forces, corporate strategy, business unit strategy, other functional strategies (marketing, engineering, finance, etc.), product selection, product/process design, product/process technology and management of competencies.
4. Franchising

Franchising is a business model in which many different owners share a single brand name. A parent company allows entrepreneurs to use the company's strategies and trademarks; in exchange, the franchisee pays an initial fee and royalties based on revenues. The parent company also provides the franchisee with support, including advertising and training, as part of the franchising agreement.

5. Market Entry Strategies Common Market Entry Strategies The most common market entry strategies: ACQUISITIONS: purchasing an existing company LICENSING: a contractual arrangement whereby a company transfers via a license, the right to distribute or manufacture a product or service. JOINT VENTURES: a cooperative between two or more organizations that share a common interest in a business enterprise. EXPORTING: selling a product or service directly to a foreign firm. Levels Of Products Kotler suggested that a product should be viewed in three levels. Level 1: Core Product. What is the core benefit your product offers?. Customers who purchase a camera are buying more then just a camera they are purchasing memories. Level 2 Actual Product: All cameras capture memories. The aim is to ensure that your potential customers purchase your one. The strategy at this level involves organizations branding, adding features and benefits to ensure that their product offers a differential advantage from their competitors. Level 3: Augmented product: What additional non-tangible benefits can you offer? Competition at this level is based around after sales service, warranties, delivery and so on. John Lewis a retail departmental store offers free five year guarantee on purchases of their Television sets, this gives their `customers the additional benefit of piece of mind over the five years should their purchase develop a fault. Licensing means renting or leasing of an intangible asset. Examples of intangible assets include a song (Somewhere Over The Rainbow), a character (Donald Duck), a name (Michael Jordan) or a brand (The Ritz-Carlton). An arrangement to license a brand requires a licensing agreement. A licensing agreement authorizes a company which markets a product or service (a licensee) to lease or rent a brand from a brand owner who operates a licensing program (a licensor).[1]

What is Licensing? Licensing is the marketing tool whereby the owner ("licensor") of a patent, trademark, copyright or technology ("intellectual property") grants a company ("licensee") the use of such intellectual property on a product or service marketed by the licensee in exchange for payment, usually royalties. Marketing concept
Management philosophy according to which a firm's goals can be best achieved through identification and satisfaction of the customers' stated and unstated needs and wants.

Product Concept Companies which are guided by the product concept philosophy believe that : == customers favors product that are highly engineered == == customers favors products that are of the highest quality == == customers are interested in innovative products == Selling (Sales) Concept In Marketing Selling is the act of persuading or influencing a customer to buy (actually exchange something of value for) a product or service.

Marketing activities support sales efforts. In fact, they are usually the most significant force in stimulating sales. Oftentimes, marketing activities (like the production of marketing materials and catchy packaging) must occur before a sale can be made; they sometimes follow the sale as well, to pave the way for future sales and referrals. Production Concept

Production marketing concept assumes that buyers want a product that is available to them on many places, with other words they want to be easily accessible. They also want it to be as cheap as possible. So we have two focuses in production concept in marketing: 1. Price 2. Avaliability Marketing myopia
A short-sighted and inward looking approach to marketing that focuses on the needs of the company instead of defining the company and its products in terms of the customers' needs and wants. It results in the failure to see and adjust to the rapid changes in their markets.

Micromarketing Designing, creating, and manufacturing products, marketing strategies, and advertising campaigns for the benefit of a very specific group of customers.

Niche Marketing

A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact. Personal Selling

Personal selling occurs where an individual salesperson sells a product, service or solution to a client. Salespeople match the benefits of their offering to the specific needs of a client. Today, personal selling involves the development of longstanding client relationships. Product life cycle management (or PLCM) is the succession of strategies used by business management as a product goes through its life cycle. The conditions in which a product is sold (advertising, saturation) changes over time and must be managed as it moves through its succession of stages. Developing a positioning strategy

Developing a positioning strategy depends much on how competitors position themselves. Do organisations want to develop a me too strategy and position themselves close to their competitors so consumers can make a direct comparison when they purchase? Or does the organisation want to develop a strategy which positions themselves away from their competitors? Offering a benefit which is superior depends much on the marketing mix strategy the organisation adopts. The pricing strategy must reflect the benefit offered and the promotion strategy must communicate this benefit. Ultimately positioning is about how you want consumers to perceive your products and services and what strategies you would adopt to reach this perceptual goal. In helping you develop a market positioning strategy for your product or service, perceptual maps or positioning maps as they are sometimes referred to, are often used to help the organisation identify a positioning strategy. When plotting a peceptual map two dimensions are commonly used. Below is a very basic perceptual map. If we plot the UK chocolate market we can identify those brands which are high price and high quality. Belgium chocolates are plotted as high quality and high price, and twix is plotted one low quality low price brand. Once completed the perceptual map could help identify

where an organisation could launch a new brand pherhaps at the medium price and quality range. In our basic map, you can see there is not much competition within that particular area. We must remember that perceptual maps are plotted on the basis of someones perception and what maybe a quality product to one person, may not be percieved as quality to another. Product marketing deals with the first of the "7P"'s of marketing, which are Product, Pricing, Place, and Promotion, Packaging, Positioning & People.

Product marketing, as opposed to product management, deals with more outbound marketing tasks. For example, product management deals with the nuts and bolts of product development within a firm, whereas product marketing deals with marketing the product to prospects,customers, and others. Product marketing, as a job function within a firm, also differs from other marketing jobs such as marketing communications ("marcom"), online marketing, advertising, marketing strategy, public relations, etc. A Product market is something that is referred to when pitching a new product to the general public. The people you are trying to make your product appeal to is your consumer market. For example: If you were pitching a new video game console game to the public, your consumer market would probably be the adult male Video Game market (depending on the type of game). Thus you would carry out market research to find out how best to release the game. Likewise, a massage chair would probably not appeal to younger children, so you would market your product to an older generation.

Promotion or Promotion Tool is one of the four elements of marketing mix (product, price, promotion, place). It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision.[1]

The following are two types of promotion: Above the line promotion: Promotion in mass media (e.g. TV, radio, newspapers, internet, mobile phones, and, historically, illustrated songs) in which the advertiser pays an advertising agency to place the advertisement
1.

Below the line promotion: All other promotion. Much of this is intended to be subtle enough for the consumer to be unaware that promotion is taking place. E.g. sponsorship, product placement, testimonials, sales promotion, merchandising, direct mail, personal selling, public relations, trade shows
2.

The specification of five elements creates a promotional mix or promotional plan. These elements are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity.[2] A promotional

mix specifies how much attention to pay to each of the five subcategories, and how much money to budget for each. A promotional plan can have a wide range of objectives, including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning, competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image. Fundamentally, however there are three basic objectives of promotion. These are:[3] 1. 2. 3. To present information to consumers as well as others To increase demand To differentiate a product.

There are different ways to promote a product in different areas of media. Promoters use internet advertisement, special events, endorsements, and newspapers to advertise their product. Many times with the purchase of a product there is an incentive like discounts, free items, or a contest. This is to increase the sales of a given product. Categories of Consumer Products

In addition to categorizing by type of offering, most products intended for consumer use can be further categorized by how frequently and where they are purchased.
Convenience Products

These are products that appeal to a very large market segment. They are generally consumed regularly and purchased frequently. Examples include most household items such as food, cleaning products, and personal care products. Because of the high purchase volume, pricing per item tends to be relatively low and consumers often see little value in shopping around since additional effort yields minimal savings. From the marketers perspective the low price of convenience products means that profit per unit sold is very low. In order to make high profits marketers must sell in large volume. Consequently, marketers attempt to distribute these products in mass through as many retail outlets as possible. Shopping Products These are products consumers purchase and consume on a less frequent schedule compared to convenience products. Consumers are willing to spend more time locating these products since they are relatively more expensive than convenience products and because these may possess additional psychological benefits for the purchaser, such as raising their perceived status level within their social group. Examples include many clothing products, personal services, electronic products, and household furnishings. Because consumers are purchasing less frequently and are willing to shop to locate these products, the target market is much smaller than that of convenience goods. Consequently, marketers often are more selective when choosing distribution outlets to sell their products.

 Specialty

Products These are products that tend to carry a high price tag relative to convenience and shopping products. Consumption may occur at about the same rate as shopping products but consumers are much more selective. In fact, in many cases consumers know in advance which product they prefer and will not shop to compare products. But they may shop at retailers that provide the best value. Examples include high-end luxury automobiles, expensive champagne, and celebrity hair care experts. The target markets are generally very small and outlets selling the products are very limited to the point of being exclusive. In addition to the three main categories above, products are classified in at least two additional ways:
Emergency

Products These are products a customer seeks due to sudden events and for which pre-purchase planning is not considered. Often the decision is one of convenience (e.g., whatever works to fix a problem) or personal fulfillment (e.g., perceived to improve purchasers image). Unsought Products These are products whose purchase is unplanned by the consumer but occur as a result of marketers actions. Such purchase decisions are made when the customer is exposed to promotional activity, such as a salespersons persuasion or purchase incentives like special discounts offered to certain online shoppers. These promotional activities often lead customers to engage inImpulse Purchasing

Branding Branding involves decisions that establish an identity for a product with the goal of distinguishing it from competitors offerings. In markets where competition is fierce and where customers may select from among many competitive products, creating an identity through branding is essential. It is particularly important in helping position the product (see discussion of product position) in the minds of the products target market.

Brand Names and Brand Marks

At a very basic level branding is achieved through the use of unique brand names and brand marks. The brand name, which may be either the individual product name or a name applied to a group or family of products, is important for many reasons including suggesting what the product is or does (e.g., Mop-and-Glow). The name is also what we utter when we discuss the product (i.e., word-ofmouth marketing). The brand mark is a design element, such as a symbol (e.g., Nike swoosh ), logo (e.g., Yahoo! graphic), a character (e.g., Keebler elves) or even a sound (e.g., Intel inside sound), that provides visual or auditory recognition for the product.

Characteristics of a good Brand Name Short, sweet and easily pronounced The ideal name for customers to remember, and for you to use to cut through the industry noise, is probably short and sweet and easily pronounced. This means it will have two or three syllables (or even one), and it will work on the phone or internet even if people have never seen or heard it before. If they have to be told how to spell it once, that is OK (and may even help with recall). But if they have to be told a second time, that is a problem. One of the sticky consonants (k,q,x,z) can help with recall. 2 Unique within its industry Your name doesn't need to be weird or clunky, but it does need to not sound like all the rest of your direct competitors. HotJobs.com, BAJobs.com, Careers.com, CareerJunction.com, LocalJobs.com are all easily lost in the crowd. But Monster.com stands out dramatically - even though it does not describe what they do! In practice, it has become brand shorthand for job searches, just like Starbucks has become shorthand for coffee.

Legally available and defensible Your lawyers think this should be item one of course. Regardless, what is the point of starting any company or marketing campaign if you cannot have full rights in the name? Your best defense is always a magic - which only can be issued by the USPTO (or equivalent agency in other countries). If the USPTO won't issue a registration certificate because they judge it to be generic, then you have problem (2) above anyway. Common law trademark searches are also critically important.

Good alliteration, especially if a longer name Sometimes a longer name does have a place in marketing. After all, the most famous brand in the world, Coca Cola, is four syllables. But notice how smoothly it rolls off the tongue. Linguists will tell you it has good alliteration.

Does not lend itself to abbreviations 5 If you have a long descriptive name, people will abbreviate it quickly. OK, we know it worked for IBM, AT&T, CBS etc., but how many years and how

many branding dollars do you have? For a small company, this means you quickly become YASI (Yet Another Set of Initials) and drown in the initial bit bucket. At least make sure the trademark part (brand part) of your tradename is a name and not initials. E.g. Ford is the trademark for Ford Motor Car Company. Leave FMCC etc. to the legal documents only. But who or what are AMA, CCI, etc.?

Flexible and expandable Too many people try to describe their company rather than name it. Copyland, Copydata, Copyshop, QuickCopy all define what they do - and are barely distinguishable from one another. But Kinkos stands out dramatically and did not pigeonhole them into only copy services. Today, of course, they are Fedex Kinkos, and can offer a raft of services without needing to update their name, unlike Texas Instruments that doesn't even make instruments.

Linguistically clean What are the root origins of the name? How is it pronounced by a Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese or French native speaker? What does it mean in these languages? You need to support these languages just to do business in North America nowadays, especially in the populous areas of California, New York, Texas, Illinois, Florida and Canada.

Will not age quickly Is your name hip and topical? If you are in the fashion trend business this might be fine. But otherwise, be very careful of "in" words or expressions. They will be superseded sooner or later. They may also not play well across all demographics. Many markets have their own "industry-speak" and slang. The worst of these are in "geekdom"! Names with classical roots tend to endure more easily.

Embraces company personality Two competitors, entering the same market at the same time with directly competing products, will pick different names because every company and management team has its own personality. This means the executives must be involved in the decision making process. Your agency can tell you if the name

fits, not if you are comfortable with it. 10 Fits within company's brand portfolio The company name, division names and product names are all part of your brand portfolio. Do these sound like they all come from the same family? While this is a specific problem with merged companies, everyone's naming architecture needs to be properly managed to maximize your brand power and intellectual property portfolio.

Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the samebrand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this strategy to increase and leverage brand equity (definition: the net worth and long-term sustainability just from the renowned name). An example of a brand extension is Jello-gelatin creating Jello pudding pops. It increases awareness of the brand name and increases profitability from offerings in more than one product category. Media Vehicle Specific print or electronic medium employed in an advertising campaign.

Going Concern Concept

The 'going concern' concept in accounting is an assumption that the business will continue to exist for the foreseeable future. Accountants adopt the 'going concern' concept so they can prepare realistic financial reports. Without the 'going concern' concept, accountants would have to write off all assets in the current period including long term assets that still have an economic benefit for future periods. Service Marketing Mix The service marketing mix is also known as an extended marketing mix and is an integral part of a service blueprint design. The service marketing mix consists of 7 Ps as compared to the 4 Ps of a product marketing mix. Simply said, the service marketing mix assumes the service as a product itself. However it adds 3 more Ps which are required for optimum service delivery. They are people, process and physical evidence. People An essential ingredient to any service provision is the use of appropriate staff and people. Recruiting the right staff and training them appropriately in the delivery of their service is essential if the organisation wants to obtain a form of competitive advantage. Consumers make judgments and deliver perceptions of the service based on the employees they interact with. Staff should have the appropriate interpersonal skills, aptititude, and service knowledge to provide the service that consumers are paying for. Process Refers to the systems used to assist the organisation in delivering the service. Imagine you walk into Burger King and you order a Whopper Meal and you get it delivered within 2 minutes. What was the process that allowed you to obtain an efficient service delivery? Banks that send out Credit Cards automatically when their customers old one has expired again require an efficient process to identify expiry dates and renewal. An efficient service that replaces old credit cards will foster consumer loyalty and confidence in the company. Physical Evidence Where is the service being delivered? Physical Evidence is the element of the service mix which allows the consumer again to make judgments on the organisation. If you walk into a restaurant your expectations are of a clean, friendly environment. On an aircraft if you travel first class you expect enough room to be able to lay down! Physical evidence is an essential ingredient of the service mix, consumers will make perceptions based on their sight of the service provision which will have an impact on the organisations perceptual plan of the service. 7Ps of Services

The 7 P's are often criticised for looking at things from an organisation's point-of-view, rather than the customer's point-of-view. A number of people therefore have tried to "convert" the 7 P's into the customer-orientated 7 C's. Here's my approach: Product: Choice Place: Convenience Price: Cost (to the customer) Promotion: Communication People: Consideration Process: Consistency Physical Evidence: Confirmation