Marketing 101NT
 
Course Project Topical Outline
 
Week One
 
1– Marketing concept—Ch 1
 
What are you really marketing?
 
Explain your consumer orientation
 
2- Social responsibility—Ch 1
 
How are you practicing corporate-level and brand-level social responsibility?
 
Does your marketing program have a “green theme”? Are your customers turning “green”? If so, how are you reacting?
 
3- Target market—Ch 2
 
Who, exactly, is your target market?
 
Explain the geographics of your product’s prime user.
 
Explain the psychographics (i.e.- AIO’s activities, interests and opinions) of your target    consumer.
 
How do you or might you change your marketing effort depending on the culture or subculture you are attempting to reach?
 
Week 2
 
4– Marketing environment—Ch 3
 
Which environmental influences‑culture, subculture or social class- affect the purchase of
your product?
 
Does your product’s sales have a seasonal component?
 
How might changes in economic conditions affect your marketing effort?
 
How might changes in the political/legal environment affect your marketing effort?
 
5- Competition—Ch 3
 
Describe the level and intensity of competition in your industry
 
Name your industry’s market leader. At which market segments does it aim?
Who or what is your direct competition?
 
6– Demographic profile—Ch 3
 
Explain the demographics of your product’s prime user (age, gender, income, ethnicity, etc.)
 
Have changing demographics affected your marketing effort? Will they do so in the future?   How?
 
What is the family life cycle or household life cycle position of your target consumer?
Explain.
 
Does one’s occupation play a role in the purchase and use of your product? Explain.
 
 
7– Market segmentation—Ch 4
 
How have you segmented the market?
 
How many distinct market segments do you identify?
Explain how market segmentation affects your product varieties, your different methods of promotion and distribution, and your different prices (if any).
 
Are you aiming at the market majority or a market minority?
 
8– Positioning—Ch 4
 
How have you positioned your product?
 
Is your desired position based on the customer you serve, the benefits you offer, or both?
 
How might you reposition your product? Why might you want to do this?
 
Week 3
 
9– Target market behavior—Ch 5
 
Explain your typical purchaser’s search process?
Is the decision to buy your product made by someone other than the purchaser? Are multiple buying influences involved?
 
Where does your product fall on a “wife‑husband” continuum in terms of who is more
dominant in the purchase decision?
 
What buying motives are relevant to your product? Are they rational, emotional, or both?
Does your product fulfill multiple needs? Explain.
Are the motives associated with your product brand‑related, product‑related, or both?
Explain.
 
What is your major appeal? What other appeals do or might you use?
How loyal to your brand is your typical consumer? What factors account for this loyalty?
 
10– Marketing research—Ch 7
 
All sound marketing decisions are based on research, therefore:
 

1. Which research methods would work well for you? Which would not?

 

1. Which type of sample would be the most suitable? Why?

 

1. Which type of survey would be best? Why?

 

1. What are the two most important questions research could answer for you?

 
Do or could you use telephone recall tests, mall intercept research, or focus groups?
List the components of your marketing information system (ex. ‑ returned warranty cards, credit applications, etc.)
 
What might be the focus of one of your upcoming marketing research activities? Examples could include measuring market potentials, short‑run sales forecasting, market share analysis, and packaging research.
 
Explain the situational analysis/informal investigation stage of this research effort.
What could contaminate a marketing research experiment you might conduct? How will
you minimize or eliminate the chances of this happening?
 
If you were planning to introduce a new product, how might you conduct a test market?
 
Week 4
 
11– Product component—Ch 8
 
Is your product a convenience, specialty, shopping, or unsought good?
 
What products or services might compliment your present offerings?
 
Does fashion play a role in your product’s purchase and use? If it does:

1. Explain your product’s fashion velocity? What factors account for it?
2. How do you predict fashion trends relevant to your product?

 
Is your product purchased on impulse? Why or why not?
 
To what sources might you turn for new product ideas?
What might you hope to accomplish during the business analysis/concept testing stage of
your product development process?
 
Draw an outline of your product mix. Include all lines and the items within them.
 
Does your product have a fashion component? Explain?
Analyze the following elements of the product component of your marketing mix. What       strengths or weaknesses do you see them as having? If some of these don’t presently exist (ex. slogan, trade character), create your own or discuss how you would go about doing it.
 

1. Name B. Trademark              C. Package      D. Label
2. Slogan       F. Design                     G. Size            H. Color
3. Shape/form                                     J. Quality         K. Trade Character
4. Warranty   M. Servicing (delivery, installation)

 
What types of packaging do you use?
 
Explain the functions, purposes and benefits of your product’s packaging. What, if any, are its unique aspects?
 
Do or could you use family branding, family packaging, or multiple packaging?
 
Do you or could you use portion packaging?
Does your product come in different quality levels? If so, explain
 
How do you encourage impulse buying?
How is color used in your marketing effort? Explain the psychological overtones associated with it.
 
Explain the various aspects of your product’s warranty.
Do you or could you offer an extended service contract to purchasers?
12- Product life cycle stage—Ch 9
 
Which life cycle stage is your product presently in? How do you know this?
 
How rapidly has your product progressed through its life cycle, or how rapidly do you expect it to do so?
 
Week 5
 
13– Distribution component—Ch 10
 
Do you use a selective, intensive or exclusive distribution strategy?
 
How do company, product, and market considerations affect the length of your channels
of distribution?
 
Draw an outline of the various channels of distribution you use.
 
Is your product sold on a self‑service basis or does it require full‑service? Explain.
 
Is your product sold through specialty or general merchandise catalogs’? Could it be? Why or why not?
 
How might your firm vertically or horizontally integrate with other firms?
 
Do you or could you use direct distribution? Explain.
Do you or could you use multiple channels of distribution? Explain?
 
14– Use of intermediaries—Ch 12
 
Is your product conducive to a retailer’s use of scrambled merchandising? Why or why not?
 
Who is your retailers’ direct and indirect competition?
Give several examples of non‑price competition your retailers offer.
What training materials (if any) do your intermediaries require?
 
What is the image of the retail store in which your product is most likely to be sold?
 
What factors account for this image?
 
Do you use full‑service or limited‑function wholesalers? Explain?
Do you use manufacturers representatives, selling agents, food or merchandise brokers, rack jobbers, or drop shippers? If so, how?
 
If you use or decided to use a selective or exclusive distributional strategy, what do or would you look for when evaluating potential retailers?
 
Do you use authorized dealers? Why or why not? If not, how is your warranty work handled?
 
 
Week 6
 
15– Promotion component—Ch 13 & 16
 
Are you most interested in generating primary or selective demand? Explain.
 
Do you use a push, a pull, or push‑pull promotional strategy? Explain.
 
What point‑of‑purchase materials (sales aids) do you supply to your intermediaries?
 
Discuss an advertising specialty that does or would bear a direct relationship to your product, service or marketing effort.
What does or would work well for you as a premium? Is it or would it be free or self-liquidating? How will it be distributed?
 
How do or might you use contests or sweepstakes as a promotional tool? Name a contest idea that would stimulate consumer interest in your product?
 
Explain the various aspects of your public relations effort.
Explain the aspects of your in‑store merchandise promotion, displays, and signage.
Where in a retail store would your product be displayed? Be specific.
What types of in‑store display devices does your product require?
How do or could you use coupons or product samples?
How important is advertising as opposed to other forms of promotion you do or could use?
 
16– Advertising media and strategies—Ch 15
 
Will you use a local, national or selective advertising plan? Why? How will this affect your media selection?
Give an example of how you coordinate media advertising with in‑store promotion?
Which advertising medium is your primary medium? Explain.
Taking each of the other advertising media separately, explain, using examples, how they
would reinforce your primary medium.
 
How important is audience selectivity in your advertising?
 
Why does or doesn’t your advertising stress price?
 
Why would or wouldn’t television work well for you as an advertising medium? On which  advantages or disadvantages of television do you base your answer?
 
Select three current T.V. shows (network or local) and explain why they would make good  choices for your advertising.
 
Why would or wouldn’t radio work well for you as an advertising medium? On which
advantages or disadvantages of radio do you base your answer?
 
Select several local radio stations (or, for that matter, particular radio shows) and explain
why they would make good choices for your advertising.
 
What is the best radio time classification for you to use in your advertising?
 
Why would or wouldn’t newspapers work well for you as an advertising medium. On which advantages or disadvantages of newspapers do you base your answer?
 
Is your situation conducive to the use of cooperative advertising?
 
Why would or wouldn’t magazines work well for you as an advertising medium? On which advantages or disadvantages of magazines do you base your answer?
 
Select three well‑known magazines and explain why they would make good choices for your magazine advertising.
 
What would you occupy the center of focus of a magazine advertisement for your product?
 
What type of person compromises the primary circulation of the magazines you have selected?
 
Why would or wouldn’t outdoor/transit advertising work well for you? On which advantages of outdoor/transit do you base you answer?
 
What would you emphasize on an outdoor or transit sign? How will this sign or billboard read?
 
How will you find (or create) opinion leaders for your product?
 
17– Advertising campaign objective—Ch 15
 
What is or would be an important advertising objective for your product or company at the present time?
 
Does your advertising effort call for a pioneering, competitive, retentive or new pioneering campaign? Explain.
 
How do you plan to achieve reach through your advertising effort?
How do you plan to achieve frequency through your advertising effort?
 
Week 7
 
18- Pricing objective—Ch 17
 
Do you use a target-return, profit-maximizing, or sales-oriented pricing objective?
 
Do you offer any form of non-price competition? Explain.
 
19– Pricing policy—Ch 17
 
Do you use a skimming, penetration or competitive pricing strategy?
 
Do you use a one‑price or a variable‑price policy?
 
What discounts do you or could you offer to intermediaries?
 
20- Pricing techniques—Ch 18
 
How do or could you use dealer promotions or consumer or trade deals?
How does the use of credit affect your marketing effort?
 
Explain how each of the following affect the price you charge.
 

A.  Image                                                                           G.  Value perceptions

1. Seasonality    Customer psychology
2. Fashion component     Luxury/ necessity
3. Price lining strategies                 Limited customer loyalty
4. Customer expectations                Prices of competing    products
5. Prices of other products in your line

 
How elastic or inelastic is the demand for your product? How do you know or would you find out?