1. Identify how you can conduct surveys to assess customer satisfaction. Discuss the various pieces of information that can be discovered through surveys and the guidelines for survey questions.
Customer satisfaction is the primary objective of any business and surveys is one of the most relevant research tools to gauge the results. To be able to get the quality responses that can help in understanding the customer’s mood, it is imperative to create questions that can access, the consumers from a behavioral and psychological perspective.
It is better to pretest the survey that will help in rechecking some questions that are unclear or needs to probe more to get the answers, and this will help a lot, it is important to keep the questions limited and avoid survey fatigue (Beadell, 2016).
The customer satisfaction from a survey can only be gauged if the survey type and the questions asked satisfies the consumers and most importantly the type of format of questions, that needs to be using simple language, breaking big questions into MCQ’s, specific, avoiding leading questions, and most importantly picking moments to ask questions is also important as no one would want to give time over the weekends (Beadell, 2016).
2. Identify the quantitative and qualitative marketing research techniques discussed in the text and what information can be gathered from them.
The research techniques for quantitative methods, involves, structured data, and the results are numerical, that are achieved by analyzing data that is raw and, utilize statistical tools such as SPSS and Excel sheets, and is popularly known as Primary Data.
This quantitative method involves, research processes such as, Surveys, Interviews, Focus Groups, Trials and Experiments, which is in essence intends to get answers that can be numerically constructed to achieve the objectives of the research (Zinchiak, 2014).
The qualitative methods, also referred to as secondary research, involves, exploration in terms of researching data that is already available through various resources, i.e. books, journals, websites, and the extension of the has been broadened by the social media channels, using Blogs, influencers articles, and the extensive availability of Big Data as a new phenomenon (Zinchiak, 2014).
It is important to understand that the responses acquired through quantitative methods also have unstructured data, i.e., comments and observations, not having any numerical input, is considered unstructured (Creswel, 2014).
3. Explain the difference in how a company should approach stars, dogs, question marks, and cash cows.
The main premise of a company is to be able to identify products and services that generate revenue and helps in increasing the market share and elevating the company image by the increased brand or product equity.
A company’s Star generates the most cash and have a high market share, however, they sustainability in terms of quality and promotion, to be able to keep the buzz alive, so they can sustain the success and eventually becoming the cash cows for the company (Arline, 2015).
The Cash Cows are the leaders, and as opposed to the Stars, they consume less cash on maintenance than they generate. The growth on the product life cycle (PLC) is maturity and eventual decline; the revenues earned help companies create new cash cows by investing in question marks.
The company should not try to minimize the presence of Dogs, since they tie up cash, breaking even and have low prospects of growth.
The Question Marks, requires investment and company’s should do ample research, before pumping cash, since the prospects of growth is high, but with low market share and the potential is there to be an eventual Star (Arline, 2015).
4. Companies can be referred to as leaders or followers. Explain the ways companies can become leaders or followers.
The leading companies are the ones that offer the world, new products, services and initiatives, that brings about behavioral, psychological and societal changes, case in point being Apple as a company brought new innovations that changed the face of the technological side of the business forever and brought about lifestyle changes in consumers (Agard, 2011).
The followers are the ones, who follow the trend and carve a business niche as per their capacity and requirement, Samsung is a great example of a company that followed Apple in the mobile category, and with persistence has been able to compete with Apple, and possibly overtake in terms of profitability and becoming the new leaders.
A company needs to understand their capacity and act accordingly, as it is unwise and disastrous to follow a leading company, with limited resources; similarly, being a leader has their own cons, with defending market share constantly and prone to environmental issues, such as recession in a more direct manner.
5. List and explain the four classes of market share and market growth portrayed in a portfolio analysis.
The strategic planning with regards to portfolio analysis that classifies the market share and market growth matrix of a company and classifying the products in four classes is done through Boston Consulting Group’s matrix.
The four classes famously classify the products as cash cows, stars, problem child or question marks and dogs.
The classifications, helps in relating the product’s portfolio positioning, in the market, with regards to the market share and growth pattern.
The cash cows are the bread winners of a company’s product portfolio with large market share and small growth rate. Star status is achieved when a high market share is combined with above average growth rate.
The question marks have a small market share and a high growth rate, and finally, dogs who have little impact on the company’s portfolio, given that, the market share is small and a below average growth rate (Mankiw et al, 2016).
6. Marketing strategy links goals and tactics. Explain all of the questions that should be posed regarding the basic goal of making more money.
The main aim of the marketing strategy is to create an awareness, engagement, interactivity and eventual sales of the product/service. The breakdown starts with setting the goals that include; creating a brand image, to create positioning that will result in the generating a brand loyal segment and constant revenue streams helping the business in sustaining and growing.
The company’s objective of maximizing the profitability is heavily dependent on the execution of the strategic goals, in need of a plan of action that is achieved through tactics; that helps in fortifying the company’s position.
Thus, the questions that need to be answered sequentially is done through a process, i.e. goal sets the tone to make the business a category leader in sales in 1 year, this will initiate with the strategy of communication to persuade buyers, with an objective of capturing a % of the market and finally, making money with the execution tactics (Belicove, 2013).
7. List and define the purpose of the five main components of a marketing plan.
The main components of a marketing plan are the five P’s (Roberts, 1996):
Product (Service)
Price
Place (Location)
People
Positioning
The purposes of five Ps are to plug the gaps in the marketing plan. The product or service should be able to fulfill the need in a unique manner, with a presentation in terms of packaging that attracts.
Depending on the product or service and the target segment, the price should be set, in lieu with the competition and the profitability objective of the business.
Selecting the locations, i.e. Placement of the product is the key to be able to create maximum visibility, i.e., retail, outlets and online presence.
People are very important, as segmenting the right target market is half the battle won in marketing, and will be selected based on the product features, demographics, psychographic and motivations.
Lastly, the positioning will showcase the name of the company, and the unique selling proposition (USP) of the product or service, that will entice the people, through using communication channels of advertising, PR, Brand Activation and Digital media.
8. Define the questions that need to be addressed in a marketing plan regarding the macro environmental context.
The macro environment is of prime significance in the success and failure of a marketing plan, in view of the fact that the factors are uncontrollable, and the questions that are addressed is in lieu with the Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal, known as the PESTEL analysis.
The analysis helps the marketing plan to strategize, in view of the PESTEL factors, and since the factors are not under the direct control of marketers, a contingency plan needs to be ready in order to minimize and adverse impact and maximize any positive impacts due to the factors, on the market, competition, suppliers, and customers (Ashford et al, 2007).
Political regulations on conducting the business, economic situation affecting the pricing, social factors creating an emotive connect with the customers; technology helping the business, environmental regulations and legal factors in lieu with the production and human resource issues needs to be addressed.
9. Define how and why customers are segmented as part of a marketing plan.
Customer Segmentation helps in making the marketing plan, precise and targeted with regards to the operational implementation of the five Ps, the product is developed once the segment is selected.
Every sector has their own targeted segment such as, fast food of different varieties, FMCG products, mobiles, Cars, Clothes to name a few, and the current age customers expect the companies to tailor the product according to their needs and wants (Hartline et al, 2014).
The marketing communication will be most effective if the segmentation is done in an effective manner, since, the message will have touch points that will tick the consumers, in relation to the marketing mix.
The demographic, psychographics in terms of motivation and needs, gender as the communication for a unisex product and male or female product will be totally different and the socio-economic groups, in terms of pricing and communication channel selection, are some of the relevant reasons for the segmentation’s importance.
10. In developing a marketing plan, after segmentation and targeting, marketing managers begin to craft the position of their product using the 4Ps. Identify the 4Ps and the questions that should be addressed for each component of the marketing plan.
As key elements of the marketing plan, the 4 Ps, also known as the marketing mix, are important since the key to getting the plan right in terms of the impact it creates, the 4 Ps needs to strike the right balance.
The key question for the product starts with is the packaging attractive, is it satisfying the needs, and is it credible and how it competes with the other products in the market.
The place questions, relates to the where the customers prefer to buy. What are the channels used. The price questions should identify the competition prices, any USP that may help in increasing the price and is the cost of the production dictate price, it is important since, pricing difference does tilt consumer’s mindset (Ferrell et al, 2014).
The Promotion should look into the customer’s lifestyle and use copy and visual that relates, functional attributes separating the product from the competition, and marketing tactics to carve a niche in the minds of the consumers.
References
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