MARKETING MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS AND

ANSWERS FOR FINAL PLACEMENT

PROF. DR. SUMAN KUMAR DAWN

Question 1. What Is Marketing Management?

Answer : Marketing Management is a skill of managing the market and consumers. It is a kind of
activity in which product is supplied to the consumers and also making new consumers in the
market. A marketing manager uses different techniques in order to increasing the sales and
promotion of a goods and services. There are different steps by which a marketing manager has
to go in order to achieve success.

Question 2. What Importance Do You Attach To Market Research In Your Profession?

Answer : Market research considered key aspect in this role and researching is all important for a
marketing manager. Based on research, the manager decides on strategies, marketing tactics,
campaigns, pricing and promotion policies. Market research allows identifying new product
trends, which allows introducing new services or products into the company product line. It also
allows following recent developments and competitors.

Question 3. How Is the Marketing Managers Related To Product Development?

Answer : The marketing manager evaluates the financial aspect of development. He adjusts
development with company’s financial goals and means (budget). He also assesses the relevance
of the product to the current market. If necessary, the marketing manager suggests changes to
product development in order to optimize its success among current customers.

Question 4. What Are Your Qualifications As A Marketing Manager?

Answer : List some key qualifications and add a brief example from your professional career.
Marketing Managers are multitaskers. They are independent problem solvers and initiative
researchers. But they are also great team players, coordinating their activities with other
departments, senior management, customers, market leaders and suppliers.

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Question 5. What is the importance Of Team Work In Marketing Management?
Answer : Teamwork is important as the marketing managers does his research and makes his
strategic decisions based on external resources as well as cross company personnel. He brings his
team work to perfection resulting in product development, marketing initiatives, promotion, and
advertising. He must know how to explain, lead and instruct. S/he must be able to understand the
goals and means of the organization in order to adapt his own decisions for optimal effect.

Question 6. What Is Marketing?

Answer : Marketing is a medium through which the producers anticipates the demand of the
consumers and sell the required product or service to satisfy their want. It is a broader platform
where activities like brand management, brand promotion, and sales are all clubbed towards
reaching the ultimate object of creating and retaining a market.

Question 7. Describe Niche Market.

Answer :Niche Market is a specific part of the market that a seller is focusing. This market is
normal overlooked or ignored by the larger section of the producers. The small sellers may try to
tap the potential of this niche market but normally fail due to cost factor. Niche market is
concerned about customizing the service or product to meet the specific need of the consumer.
As such the cost factor may at times go up.

Question 8. What Is The Difference Between Marketing And Sales?

Answer :“Marketing is the promotion of the products and services in the defined market to a set
of target audience. Marketing plans the approach and the strategy required to be implemented. It
uses both the traditional and modern promotional vehicles. Marketing includes activities like
brand promotion, brand awareness and sales.”
“Sales are a part of the marketing activities. It is the process through which a product is sold to
the defined target audience. Sales are the final stage in the marketing process. A product or
service may be sold to the end user or in case of a B2B model it may be sold to another
business.”

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Question 9. What Is Online Marketing?
Answer : Online marketing is a new platform for producers and service providers to sell or
market their products and services through the virtual medium of internet. It is also called
internet marketing, web marketing and website marketing. This virtual platform enables the
seller to directly or indirectly interact with end users. Some of the strategies used are SEO, Email
marketing and also online promotions.

Question 10. Develop A Marketing Plan?

Answer : Let us say a product ‘X’ is being produced. It is in the line of FMGC. The planning will
be done on the following parameters:
a. Purpose of manufacturing the product
b. Market scope
c. Target audience
d. Existing competitors
e. Pricing of the product
f. Brand creation
g. Packaging
h. Promotion channel
i. Feedback compilation
j. Evaluation of the feedback

Question 11. Which of Our Products/services Most Appeals to You and Why?
Answer :This is one of the crucial things to do before you appear for the interview. The question
is common in the marketing interview. You should visit the profile of the company and collect
the necessary information about the products and services. Give a crisp answer highlighting the
existing policies of marketing for the particular product you would like to talk about. It would
also be ideal to share your inputs on how the marketing mechanism may be strengthened. “The
product ‘X’, I believe, has one of the most interesting marketing strategies. The product is being
nicely promoted by the use of traditional and digital media. This has also increased the
penetration rate of the product…”

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Question 12. Which Environmental Variables Impact A Marketing Plan?
Answer : The environmental variables that impact a marketing plan are governmental,
economical, technological, legal, cultural, ecological and stakeholders.

Question 13. What Is Marketing According To You?

Answer :Marketing is the exchange of product or service between the producer and consumer. It
is anticipating the consumer requirements and identifying the potential market to exchange a
product or service against a pre-determined value. Marketing involves a number of strategies and
market players. The process is not only vital in creating a market but also in retaining the market.

Question 14. How Will You Sell A Refrigerator to An Eskimo?

Answer :This is one of the common questions in a marketing interview. The interviewer(s) is
likely to evaluate your presence of mind and also how good salesperson you are. You may go for
the following lines to sale the product:
“The only temperature you can regulate to keep things fresh is that of the refrigerator.”
“The only thing that saves beers from freezing and meat from tuning into ice is refrigerator.
Manages temperature and almost everything.”

Question 15. Are You Willing To Travel?

Answer : “I have no reservations in respect to traveling but would like to know the frequency
and duration of travel.”

Question 16. What Factors Do You Consider The Most Important when attempting to influence
Consumer Behavior?

Answer : In your marketing manager interview answer show how cultural factors, social factors,
personal and psychological factors all impact on consumer behavior. Provide an example of a

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marketing campaign or project you developed and how you utilized these four key factors to
develop and optimize your project.

Question 17. What Are The Biggest Challenges a Marketing Manager Faces Today?
Answer: Customers have more power than ever and marketing initiatives have to meet these new
customer demands and give the customer what they want. There is enormous accountability for
marketing managers to ensure that the marketing operation is efficient and cost-effective and to
show how marketing spend translates into growth and profitability for the company. In such a
highly competitive market standing out from other organizations is an ongoing challenge.
Additionally there is the pressure to keep up with technology and how to use it optimally for
marketing activity. Relate your personal experience of the challenges you have encountered and
discuss how you handled them.

Question 18. What Are The Most Important Values And Ethics You Demonstrate As A Leader?
Give Me An Example Of These In Practice.

Answer : Integrity- being truthful and trustworthy and having conviction - is an essential
leadership competency. The effective leader demonstrates values and ethics in personal behavior
and integrates these values and ethics into organizational practices and activities. A good leader
acts with the courage of his/her convictions. While leaders are open with their employees and
model honesty, transparency and fairness, they do not violate confidences or divulge potentially
harmful information.

Question 19. What do you think are the Most Important Skills In Succeeding In Sales?

Answer : Competencies and abilities that every successful salesperson needs, such as:
a. the ability to adjust your approach to different people and situations
b. the ability to ask the right questions and listen careful
c. the ability to deal with disappointment and rejection

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 d. the ability to stay motivated with a high energy level
e. the ability to plan and prepare
f. the ability to influence and persuade
g. the ability to negotiate and reach agreement
Question 20. What Is Your Psychology Of Selling?
Answer : Prepare a concise sales interview answer that highlights your knowledge of how to
communicate and build rapport with a client, ask the right questions, identify and understanding
the client's values, motives and needs, offer the appropriate solutions, handle objections and
close the sale. Include adapting to different personality types and using persuasive
communication skills.

Question 21. What do you like And dislike About The Sales Process?

Answer : This question is asked to explore the candidate's self-awareness and motivation. Know
your strengths in the sales process as these will translate into what you like. Your "likes" and
strengths should correspond to the main priorities of this sales position.
For example, if your strength is negotiating, describe how you enjoy this aspect of sales and your
satisfaction at coming up with win-win solutions. Highlight how this has resulted in both
satisfied customers and increased sales which is what this position is looking for.
When responding to the "dislikes" go carefully! The best approach is to choose a characteristic of
your present or previous company such as its poor delivery on the sales you made or its lack of
flexibility when it came to negotiating sales solutions. Answer in a positive manner as someone
who is able to take these sorts of problems in their stride and constructively improve on them.
For example if the delivery of company products was slow and resulted in angry customers,
discuss how you instituted a follow-up process that accelerated delivery.

Question 22. What Do You Consider The Key Skills In Closing?

Answer : Key points to keep in mind when answering this sales interview question are:
a. recognizing buying signals both verbal and non verbal
b. not attempting to close too early
c. familiarity with different closing techniques such as the alternate choice method

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 d. allowing the buyer the appropriate time and silence to respond to the close
e. to stop selling once the sale is made
Question 23. In The Current Sales Environment, what is the Process You Go Through To
Qualify Prospects?
Answer : This question is designed to evaluate your ability to assess what is a solid prospect and
not waste your efforts on poor prospects. In tough economic conditions sales people can waste
precious resources chasing every lead that comes their way. Focus on the characteristics of a
good prospect including the actual needs of the customer, the customer's budget and the real
authority of the customer to make the buying decision.

Question 24. When Evaluating An Employee Or Team Member's Performance What Factors Are
Most Important To You?
Answer : This question is designed to assess your performance standards. Show how you set
high work standards for yourself and your subordinates, how you communicate your
expectations and how you monitor performance.

Question 25. Describe a time you had to introduce important Change In Your Last Job.
Answer :You ability to persuade and influence your employees or team members to accept
change is key. Show how you were able to gain support and commitment from them by using the
appropriate communication style, by listening and responding to concerns and questions, by
asking for their help and commitment and by providing support.

Question 26. How Do You Motivate Your Employees/team Members?

Answer :The more your employees or team members understand about their jobs and
accountabilities the more motivated they are. Show how you ensure each subordinate has clarity
about his or her role and responsibilities. Discuss how you set clear, specific and realistic targets
that are agreed on rather than dictated. Focus on how you involve employees by asking for
suggestions, ideas and feedback.

Question 27. What do you consider the most important qualities for A Supervisor?

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Answer : Include these key competencies or skills that apply to all supervisor jobs. Planning and
organizing, problem-solving, decision-making, delegating, motivating, influencing,
communicating and managing conflict.

Question 28. What was the most Significant Change you brought about in an Organization?
Answer : Leaders can recognize new opportunities and anticipate long term opportunities. They
determine new business directions for the organization. They are able to create enthusiasm and
acceptance of the new vision or change and use the appropriate leadership style to inspire and
guide employees to embrace change.

Thinks about what the concept of leadership means to you when preparing for leadership
interview questions. Look back over your experiences and select insightful examples of how you
have demonstrated the competencies associated with leadership.

Question 29. Why is Marketing Research important?

Answer : Marketing research is important simply because we need such information to make our
marketing decisions. The more accurate the information we have, the less likely we are to make
mistakes in our decisions.

Question 30. Can you provide examples where research was Critical For Success?
Answer : Yes! In our recent Online Competitive Advantage study, we tried to understand what
contributes most to the success of a web business. We have used a sophisticated research design
to identify the “Key Drivers” of the success.
Suppose you are planning a web business. With a limited budget and time, you certainly need to
focus your marketing efforts on the most important areas. Without such marketing research
information, you are more likely to focus on what you are familiar with if you are a tech guy,
you may put most of your time and money to improve Internet development techniques on your
web site. On the other hand, if you worked in the ad industry, you are more likely to focus on
web site promotions.

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Question 31. What Are The Web Marketing Questions That Every Web Site Should Think
About?
Answer : I believe these questions are currently the most important questions for every web
marketer:
a. Who will be my potential customers?
b. Why do they shop online?
c. What are their shopping habits on the Street?
d. How do they choose a company or a brand?
e. How many segments are there in a certain market?
f Is there a niche market that’s best for my Web business?
g. What are the winning strategies?

Question 32. What results can be expected From Telemarketing?

Answer : Telemarketing is not an instant short term fix or solution for solving business revenue
problems and all results vary according to the product or service. We always offer our advice and
recommendations to ensure that any project is formulated to produce the best results. This may
be concentrated phoning in a very short period or short periods of phoning, but a longer project
and will depend on project strategy. We recommend what we believe is the best way of
achieving results.

Question 33. What Is The Difference Between Telemarketing And Telesales?

Answer : Telesales is the use of the telephone for selling and promoting products or services to a
business or consumer base. The modem use of the word “Telemarketing” refers to anything
related with the use of the telephone, including Telesales. For example research, event
confirmation or database building and cleaning.

Question 34. What Is Search Engine Marketing?

Answer : Search engine marketing is an umbrella term referring to all activities utilized to
generate visibility in search engine results in order to increase revenue. Common strategies and
tactics include search engine optimization (SEO), search engine and directory submission, link
development, pay-per-click (PPC) management, shopping feeds, affiliate marketing and online

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public relations (promotion via blogs, engines, threaded forums, newsgroups, discussion lists and
chat).

Question 35. Why Should I Care About Search Engine Marketing?

Answer : Research indicates that a high percentage of the de eloped world is online, so the odds
your potential customers, partners, employees and shareholders are also online is very high. Not
only is search engine marketing one of the fastest growing and popular new marketing channels
available, it’s also the most cost-effective (as compared with both online and offline channels
like email, direct mail and broadcast). Search engine marketing both an excellent avenue for
brand-building and cost-effective at generating leads and online sales. if your company doesn’t
currently have a search engine marketing strategy, you’re behind the curve. Do a search for your
own company, competitors and industry terms and see for yourself

Question 36. How do I determine If Search Engine Marketing Is Right For My Company?
Answer : Unless your company is headquartered in a cave and your customers are other
cavemen, it’s very likely that your company will benefit from some aspect of search engine
marketing, whether it be search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
Regardless of whether you are interested in generating awareness, new recruits, strategic
partners, investors, leads or sales, search engine marketing offers an opportunity to improve your
bottom line. A quick assessment by professionals (like Anvil) will help clarify the need and fit.

Question 37. How do we measure the success of search engine marketing Efforts?
Answer : Search engine marketing efforts are highly measurable. If your objective is to generate
awareness, you can track "impressions” and “clicks” on organic and paid search engine listings.
If your objective is to measure brand preference or performance of text ad creative, you can
measure “click through” and “conversion” rates. if your objective is to generate qualified leads,
you can track online registrations (for newsletters, events or white papers), downloads (trials or
demos) or email inquiries. If your objective is sales, you can track ecommerce sales or offline
sales via printable coupons or phone call tracking.

Question 38. What Is The Search Engine Optimization?

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Answer :
Search engine optimization (SEO) is designing, writing, and coding (in HTML) your entire web
site so that there is a good chance that your web pages will appear at the top of search engine
queries for your selected keywords and key phrases.

Question 39. What Does A Search Engine Optimization Campaign Involve?

Answer : There are 3 essential components of a search engine campaign:
1. Text component: A web site must contain the words that your target audience is typing into
search queries.
2. Link component: Placing keywords on a web page is useless if the search engines do not have
a means to index that text. Therefore, your site design must be “spider friendly.”
3. Popularity component: All of the major search engines measure popularity. Therefore, before
beginning a search engine campaign, we often have a corresponding directory submission and
link development campaign as well to assist with popularity.

Question 40.. Who Should Read Search Engine Visibility?

Answer : Search Engine Visibility is a must have book for people to read before they begin
designing or redesigning a web site. Search engine marketers and web site designers can learn
how to design and promote web sites in a non-spam manner, i.e. in a way that the search engines
and directories approve.
Advertising agencies, who often outsource search engine marketing, need to have a basic
understanding of how search engine marketing works, and what they should and should not
promise their clients. All too often, ad agencies confuse search engine optimization with search
engine advertising. This book will help them with any confusion they may have.

Question 41. What Is The Difference Between Email Marketing And Search Engine Marketing?
Answer : Email marketing is used much differently than search marketing. Email can be used for
demand creation, and as a friendly notification of the products and services you provide. Search
marketing is more efficient for acquiring visitors, and is based on the premise that the visitor is
looking for what you offer.

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Question 42. What Is the Difference Between Pay-per-click (ppc) And Pay-for-inclusion (pfi)?
Answer : PPC is much like advertising, and are those links that come up when you enter a
keyword in a search field. Also known as sponsored links or recommended links, the advertiser
pays a fee to the search engine every time it is clicked on. PFI is more like paying for a web site
to immediately be considered for indexing. Using PPC and PFI can significantly increase the
number of visitor you get. You can help you with both.

Question 43. What is the Return on Investment (rol) Justification?

Answer : When using professional consultants, the justification is abundantly clear - without
properly executed online marketing, your web site will only be a marketing expense rather than a
marketing weapon. With professional online marketing services, we have seen return on
investment payback in as little as 3-6 months.

Question 44. Why i Search Engine Optimization And Marketing So Important?

Answer : For return on investment, search engine optimization and marketing is unsurpassed - it
will deliver much Larger numbers of new, qualified and targeted traffic to your website over the
long term than any other marketing strategy. You can expect traffic to grow anywhere from 50%
to 1000% after an implementation. One thing is for sure - without it done right, expect little
traffic except from spiders attempting to index your pages

Question 45. What Exactly Is Search Engine Optimization?

Ansr : Search engine optimization is the practice of guiding the development or redevelopment
of a website so that it will naturally attract visitors by winning top ranking on the major search
engines for selected search terms and phrases.

Question 46. What are the 9 P’s of marketing?

Ans. The 9 P’s of marketing are – product, place, price, promotion, process, physical evidence,
people, presentation and partners.

Question 47 What is B2B or B2C?

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Ans
B2C Marketing
B2B Marketing
Large scale market and bigger target audience Niche markets and smaller target audience
Generally, the target audience is driven by emotions Most of the times the target audience is
rationally-driven

Question 48. Name 5 essential elements of a marketing campaign.

Ans. The five essential elements of a successful marketing campaign are:
a. Target
b. Value proposition
c. Call-to-action message
d. Delivery method
e. Follow-up

Question 49. Why do you need to create a customer journey map?

Ans. This is an important marketing interview question that is based on your experience as a
professional. In marketing, the customer journey map highlights how the user buys the product.
For marketers, creating a customer journey involves understanding the buyer persona, his/her
needs from a product/service, potential pain points while buying a product, etc. After creating
this map, marketers can resolve any issues and make customers trust the product/service.

Question 50. Can you give us a customer trend that is happening in our industry right now?
Ans. This shows how prepared you are for the interview. Before going for the interview, go
through the industry news and understand what are the current trends and customer insights.

Question 51. What can be the best approach to increase website traffic?
Ans. We can achieve this in various ways –
Ensuring good user experience
Building referral traffic
Performing on-page SEO

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Targeting long-tail keywords
Using landing pages

Question 52. What are some useful digital marketing tools?

Ans. There are a range of free and paid digital marketing tools available to streamline the
everyday management of a website, including –
Google Analytics
Google Keyword Planner
Google Search Console
Alexa
Rank Watch

Question 53. What are the limitations of online marketing?

Ans. There are certain limitations of online marketing. Some of the common ones are below.
a. Online marketing requires money
b. Chances of cyberattacks prevail
c. Requires time to generate results, especially with SEO

Q54. What is Google AdWords Remarketing?

Ans. Google AdWords Remarketing is a Google service, allowing companies and brands to
target an audience that has already visited the given website. This is a methodology to drive
traffic to the website and convert visitors into consumers.

Q55. How do you use social media for marketing?

Ans. Well, social media can be used very smartly to drive traffic and expose brands on social
platforms. We may attract more users to our brand by posting quality posts, images, videos, and
other stuff. Besides, paid marketing is another approach that can help to attract users to the
website. However, this involves money, but the results can be attractive, with increased page
links and improved website visits.

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Q56. Can you take up social media marketing for B2B businesses?
Ans. Yes, but the approach will be different for B2B marketing. In B2C, businesses may take
this liberty to share humorous as well as informative posts, but for B2B, only valuable industry
content can be shared.

Q57. What is Content Marketing?

Ans. Content marketing is a strategy to create and share valuable content across different
platforms. It aligns business and consumers, and quality content can attract and convert a visitor
into the consumer.

Q58. Are keywords important in Content Marketing?

Ans. Keywords play the most important role in drawing traffic to a particular website. Without
keywords, one cannot get the desired ranking and traffic. The usage of keywords should be
optimal and in the right place. SEO and content marketing are impossible without keywords.

Q 59. How will you boost Facebook’s reach?

Ans. There are various ways to improve Facebook reach, some of the most popular are –
a. Optimizing the content to attract users and improve engagement
b. Building organic traction by allowing the ads to performs for up to 24 hours organically
c. Prioritizing audience engagement by replying to posts or on users’ queries
d. Amplifying the organic reach with paid ads or posts

Q60. How is service marketing different from product marketing?

Ans. Marketing a product and marketing a service both needs a different approach. While selling
a product, we use the 4Ps of marketing, i.e. Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. But, when a
service is to be offered, apart from the 4P’s, 3 more Ps are to be taken care of, i.e. People,
Process, and Physical evidence. Thus, both require different forms of strategies to promote the
overall sale.

Q61. What is the marketing plan?

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Ans. Basically, a marketing plan is a compiled report outlining the mix of strategies that a
company shall execute in the upcoming quarter/year.

Q62. What do you mean by the AIDA model in marketing?

Ans. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. These are the four stages through
which a company can turn a prospect into a customer. For attracting the audience’s attention, we
primarily use social media. Attractive product page and home page help in generating the interest
of a customer. To stimulate desire, content marketing, and email marketing are the most
powerful weapons. Finally, to convert a customer’s desire into action, landing pages and pricing
pages do the job.

Q63 What do you know about Ambush Marketing?

Ans. Ambush or coat-tail marketing is a form of tactics in which an advertiser takes advantage of
a significant event or campaign to promote their products without actually paying for the event
fee or participating in the sponsorships. This is meant for free promotions and at the same time,
competing with those participants who have actually paid for the event.

Q64. What do you mean by inbound marketing?

Ans. Inbound marketing involves a strategy to pull the audience close to the products/services
and create brand awareness. Some of the popular elements of inbound marketing are – blogs,
events, SEO blogs, social media posts, video content, influencer outreach, and public speaking.
Inbound marketing helps a brand to educate prospects about the products/services they offer, and
at the same time, it helps in establishing the trust and credibility of the brand.

Q65. What is real-time marketing? Does this form of marketing help?

Ans. Real-time marketing is a strategy to take advantage of live events, news, topics, or
situations to market/promote the product. Most of the brands use social media channels,
popularly Twitter to share a post related to the real-time situation. Yes, if done in the right way
and at the right time, these tactics help in brand recall.

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Q66. What do you mean by USP and what makes your business unique?
Ans. USP stands for Unique Selling Point, which defines the unique attribute of your business
and outlines the ways in which your business or the product or service differs from your
competitors and why the prospects should choose your offerings over others.

Along with the key strength of the product, this is the role of a marketer to ensure that your
marketing and branding message clearly defines the key USP of your business and it must be
aligned with the business goals. Also, a clear and precise USP helps in establishing brand recall.

Q67. Which are the different ways to reach out to your target audience?
Ans. Reaching out to the target audience is a collective result of the following activities
i. Advertising
ii. Packaging
iii. Public relations
iv. Direct sales
v. Internet/Digital marketing
vi. Social media marketing
vii. Sales promotions
viii. Marketing materials
ix. PR activities

Q68. How is Google Analytics different from Google Ads?

Ans. Google Analytics is a metrics tracking tool. Google Ads is a PPC (pay-per-click) platform.

Q69. Are display ads useful? Can you name some types?
Ans. Google has its own Google Display Network that reaches 90% of internet users worldwide.
Companies can use display ads for a targeted audience only which won’t be shown to users who
are not interested in a product.

Display ads are not limited to demographics but also extend to interest targeting.

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Q70. Why is offline media also important for digital marketing? Which offline channels will you
use today?
Ans. Offline media expands the reach of digital marketing. While using online mediums is cost-
effective, there are many benefits of using both online and offline channels when it comes to
expanding the reach and driving more ROI. Another reason to use offline marketing is when a
brand is exploring different local markets. Offline marketing is also beneficial when it comes to
converting customers from offline to online. Some of the important offline channels are radio,
TV, electronic billboards, etc.

Q71. What are the main steps to build trust among consumers?
Ans. For this marketing interview question, you can mention the following steps that go hand-in-
hand with building a brand identity.
a. The business should have a vision, that can range from increasing environmental
sustainability or social awareness
b. A logo that adheres to the brand’s voice makes customers identify with it
c. Driving campaigns for reaching out to prospects
d. Gain the trust of consumers by using user-generated content
e. Creating a website that enhances user-experience
f. Timely customer service
g. Encouraging constant feedback among consumers
h. Engaging prospects through email marketing

Q72. Why is sustainability important in marketing?

Ans. Sustainability is an important concern that marketers and stakeholders cannot ignore today.
If sustainability practices are presented honestly, people who relate to such core values are more
likely to become loyal customers. But it is important for brands to maintain transparency
regarding sustainability practices otherwise, the audience can sense it is not real.

Q73. Name the different types of customers, based on your experience.

Ans. Some of the main types of customers to know in marketing are

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New Customers – The ones who have made the first purchase
Impulse Customers – The ones who make a purchase at the spur of the moment
Referral Customers – These are those who purchase products after a recommendation from a
loyal customer
Loyal Customers – The ones who choose to purchase products from one brand and refer their
peers through word-of-mouth, user-generated content, etc

Q74. Which are the common types of customer needs across all industries?
Ans. Customer needs are described by the motivations that lead them to make a purchase. Some
of the common types of customer needs can be broadly categorized into
Functional – Whether the product is able to resolve the pain points of the customer.
Social – How the product helps the customer in the eyes of their peers
Emotional – How the customer wants to experience the product

Q75. What do you understand by customer touchpoints?

Ans. A customer touchpoint refers to any kind of interaction an individual has with a business.
Website blog visit, social media like or follow, etc can be considered examples of customer
touchpoints.

Q76. While launching a direct mail campaign, what activities or elements will you consider
beforehand?
Ans. If I have to lead a direct mail campaign, I will ensure to consider the following elements:
a. Clarify the objective of the campaign
b. Enlist the target audience
c. Determine the budget
d. Plan the template of the email and discuss the design with the design team
e. Construct the message and mail copy
f. Shoot the mail and track the result
g. Communicate the results to the team

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Q77. What do you think of word of mouth? And if required, how will you maximize the word-
of-mouth marketing?
Ans. Word of mouth promotion is a very essential and powerful business technique that helps
both small and large scale businesses.
a. Work on offering excellent customer service
b. Know more about your client’s preferences
c. Communicate well with your clients
d. Ask for feedback after every service
e. Ask for referrals
f. Reach out to influencers for communicating with your clients

Q78. According to you, which marketing strategies work well for expanding a start-up?
Ans. To scale up a small business the following strategies can work:
Increase focus on recapturing existing clients. Here using promotional offers can work.
a. Asking for referrals is also an effective strategy
b. Using email and social media as a channel can increase the existing client base
c. Targeting new demographic works well
d. Promoting additional usage of current products can help in increasing the target audience
e. Product diversification and adding related products increases the sales numbers
f. Additionally you can give examples of Swiggy, Zomato and other such startup brands
that became recently popular. refer to Swiggy digital marketing strategy and Zomato
digital marketing strategy

Q79. How will you evaluate a new business promotion idea?

Ans. For this marketing interview question for the experienced, mention the following practices.
a. Identify the target audience and their needs
b. Check out competitions’ current marketing activities
c. Evaluate the idea based on budget and expected ROI
d. Discuss it with the other team to get a fresh perspective

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Q80. If we are planning to launch a new product, how will you help us in deciding the right
target audience?
Ans. Picking the right target audience is most essential as the entire marketing plan and strategies
will depend upon it. To decide the target audience for a new product depends upon factors like
existing target audience, product type, product usage, prospective buyers, competition analyses,
price of the product, psychographics of the audience we want to reach, and all such factors.

Q81. How would you describe the importance of a sales funnel?

Ans. A sales funnel consists of steps that a potential customer takes, right from brand awareness
to buying. It provides a framework for businesses to know why the potential customer does not
convert into a buyer. With it, marketing teams are able to build a buyer persona that converts.

Q82. If you get an opportunity to market a product in any sports event, for example, IPL, what
things will you keep in mind?
Ans. Taking advantage of popular live events is an excellent opportunity for any company. But
as we know that to advertise in such circumstances requires huge funds, hence the planning and
objective should be precise. Thus, the promotional message should be clear, crisp, and engaging.

Q83. If there is an internal conflict about the design of the website homepage, how will you help
us to pick one?
Ans. A well-designed home page gives the first impression of your business to your audience;
hence, it should be bright and appealing depending upon the business. You can pick the
homepage that you like and back your answer with the right justification. You can say that this
homepage has elements like a clear call-to-action button, an appealing brand message, excellent
visual branding, trustable, social media buttons, proper sitemap, etc.

Q84. If a customer leaves a negative review on a website or an online platform, how will you
respond to the customer?
Ans. When a customer leaves any negative review, the best way to respond is to make the
customer feel important by addressing the problems he faced. This will, automatically, make the

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customer feel connected and will be delighted by the support he received, leading to positive
feedback.

Q85. You have a marketing funnel of 10000 potential customers, 1000 leads, and 50
conversions, out of which only 10 are new customers. How will you plan your marketing
campaigns and focus on which part of the marketing funnel?
Ans. The best marketing interview answer would be to focus on getting new customers, the
second important part of your marketing campaigning would be getting more leads and if you
could afford more resources, you can focus on improving the conversion process.

Q86. Gives us an example of a successful campaign you ran and how you did it?
Ans. Explain a campaign that has performed extremely well due to your innovativeness and the
techniques you used to achieve it.

Q87. If you are tasked with the branding campaign of a new product, how will you do it?
Ans. This marketing interview question is to gauge your previous experience. Tell the
interviewer how you have handled such campaigns before and what are the ways you did like
creating a new tagline, a logo, and how you connected with the targeted audience.

Q88. How will you market a product if your budget was reduced to half?
Ans. Explain to the interviewer how you will try innovative ideas and focus on the best ways to
increase the efficiency of your marketing campaigns.

Q89. What are the aspects you look at while launching a product?
Ans. Launching a product is all about timing, market, and creating a vibe. This interview
question gauges exactly that. There should be a good build-up to promoting the product before
its launch so that the interest in the market is captured. Also, the timing should be perfect so that
it does not have to compete with a newly-launched similar product.

Q90. Have you ever changed a customer’s perspective of a product that you marketed?

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Ans. For this experience-based marketing interview question, tell the interviewers about any of
your marketing campaigns that changed the way customers viewed the product and helped in
improving the sales.

Q91. How do you deal with team resistance to a new content direction that you know is
necessary for your future company’s growth?
Ans. Typically, future employer wants to know how good you are with your problem-solving
skills.
A good response would be that you took steps to understand the actual reason why your former
team members did not agree with an idea. You should also specify how you found ways to help
your team members overcome their doubts and whether your tactics made them comfortable with
your vision.

Q92. Why do you think you are suitable for a digital marketing role?
Ans. Answering this marketing interview question would determine whether you are suitable
enough for the company’s work environment and that you are ready to take on the responsibility.
So, be frank and completely personal about why you are a good fit.

Q93. How important is networking in a marketing job?

Ans. The employer is trying to check your people’s skills by asking such questions, as it is one of
the essential skills that a marketing professional should possess. So, you can narrate an incident
when your networking helped in marketing. You can give an example of an influencer marketing
campaign that was only possible because of your relationship-building efforts.

Q94. Have you taken any marketing courses, certifications, or training in your career?
Ans. Ideally, you should mention every detail about the courses you have taken in your CV.
Also, you must talk about your learning in particular to the recruiting manager. This gives
positive feedback and makes you more employable.

Q95. What is the best thing you love about marketing?

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Ans. Doing a job without loving it is not a healthy thing. Through this question, the interviewer
checks how passionate you are about marketing and the value that you can add to the
organization.

Q96. What type of management style do you prefer?

Ans. Marketing is usually a combination of creative and analytical skills. Your preference should
be such that it gives enough room for creativity while being diplomatic in certain situations.

Q97. How has your role evolved in your current organization?

Ans. Through this question, the interviewer wants to know how much you have learned in your
current role, and if you are someone who is eager to learn new skills.

Q98. How important do you feel to communicate with the sales or product team?
Ans. Communication is a prominent aspect of marketing. You should not only communicate
effectively with your customers but also within your organization, with the product and sales
team. This way, you will gain a better knowledge of the product and also understand how your
marketing campaigns are working for sales.

Q99. What is your significant achievement till now?

Ans. Talk about only the achievements related to the marketing field and your profile in order to
show that you will bring the same success to the organization you are interviewing for.

Q100. What are your salary expectations?

Ans. You should do complete market research before appearing for the interview. Suggest a
figure that goes correctly with your experience, the job profile, and your current salary. You can
also offer a salary range and leave room for negotiation, but never bargain. You need to
understand your market worth and shouldn’t settle for the number you are not happy with.

Q101. Tell me something about you that are not mentioned on your resume.
Ans. Therefore, it’s time for you to relax and gear up for a not-too-formal conversation with the
interviewer. Reply smartly; do not get indulged in family talks with your interviewer. The best

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way you can reply to this question is by citing some of your personal achievements or something
that is related to your work profile. You can share about strength, or you can talk about things
that motivate you. You can also share a story that reveals something great about your
accomplishments.

Q102. Which skills you have learned as a marketing professional that you would utilize in this
position?
Ans. Some of the must-have skills that interviewers lookout in their potential marketers are –
a. They have the ability to drive revenues
b. They understand the market and know their customers
c. They can ensure an excellent customer experience
d. They believe in experimentation and think out of the box
e. They never stop learning
f. They are pro at using data to make decisions
g. They have the ability to manage people and can work in big teams
h. They have consistently delivered identifiable results

Q103. How do you handle negative feedback from your superior?

Ans. You should know that your potential employer is looking out for those who have the ability
to accept their mistakes, learn and adapt. Your ideal response should be that you don’t harp on it
and rather, demonstrate an eagerness to learn.

Q104. How would you handle marketing our product or service?

In a reply to such marketing interview questions, you can share your accomplishments on a given
project. To be more precise, you can take the help of the below pointers and answer as per the
marketing style of the company –

Q105.What is the importance of marketing management?

Ans. Marketing management occupies the most important place in any business organization. Its
main reason is that the ultimate aim of every business unit is to earn profit by selling goods and
services to the customers. And the main function of marketing management is to obtain

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customers for the business. It provides the necessary incentive to business to produce goods. It
helps is matching the markets with products of good quality. In order words, matching products
with market means determining the wants and needs of potential customers and supplying
products which meet those demands.

Q106. Define product!

Ans. A product is any want-satisfying attribute a consumer receives in exchange. Product is a
broad term, and includes goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties,
organisations, information and ideas. Basically, a product is a problem-solver – it solves the
customer’s problems. A product is defined in terms of customer benefits – a drill machine’s job
is to make holes.
Thus, a customer is buying a device to make holes. Another device tomorrow may replace the
drill machine, say a pocket laser. The product benefits could be physical as well as
psychological. Formerly, products were what the factories made. These days products are what
the consumer wants. The marketers are engineering-oriented and neglect the psychological
benefits the product offers.

Q.107. Why to advertise in terms of a campaign?

Ans. Buyers are forgetful of erratically appearing ads. Often due to a clutter of larger number of
advertising messages, they overlook several of them. It is, therefore, better to approach them in
the form of a campaign which is a sustained advertising effort.

Q.107.What is meant by product levels?

Ans. A product consists of five levels, and each level adds to the value of the product. The layers
thus constitute a hierarchy of value. The most basic level is the core benefit. A customer buys
shelter to rest and sleep while hiring a room of a hotel. The hotel room which gives the core
benefit of rest and sleep’ can be converted into a room with further amenities like bed, bathroom
and linen. At the third level, a desired product can be created, say a room with room service,
welcome drink, airport transfer, fresh towels, tea/coffee making machine, refrigerator, wardrobe,
safe and good ambience. The next level of augmented product goes beyond customer’s
expectations. It is that level which distinguishes a marketer’s product from that of his

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competitors. Augmentation considers the total consumption system of the buyer, e.g. computer
hardware is sold with training packages of software, maintenance services and customised
software.

Q.108. What is meant by product hierarchy?

Ans. Products are related to each other. A product hierarchy ranges from a core need to a specific
product item. Let us take the example of Honda Activa scooter to understand this concept. The
basic need to be satisfied is transport. Product family consists of all two, three and four-wheelers
motorised and non-motorised vehicles. Product class is a group within the product family having
functional harmony, e.g., motorised two- wheelers. Product line is a broad group products.
Within a product class that are closely related, cater to the same market segment and distributed
through the same marketing channel, e.g., scooters. Product type are items within the product-
line, e.g., non-geared automatic scooters. Product brand is a name assigned to a group of items in
the product-line, e.g., Honda Activa. Product item is a disk net unit within a brand or product-
line that differentiates it in terms of quality, price, appearance, size or some such attribute e.g.,
Honda Activa Model II.

Q.109. Define price.

Ans. “Price is the only element in the marketing mix that creates sales revenue the other
elements as costs”. – Philip Kotler Price is the value offered in exchange of products in terms of
money. Prices cover costs of manufacturing a product, cost of distribution and cost of promotion.
It also includes a mark-up over costs called profit. Price is used as a promotional tool in a price
sensitive market like India. Price and quality are inter-related.
A premium product is high priced and a high quality product. Pricing strategies can be skimming
or penetrative. In skimming strategy, we charge a high price initially to cover our product
development costs.

Q.110.What are the challenges and opportunities of advertising?

Ans. Advertising has changed in terms of technology, media options, and target audience.
Advertisers use segmentation techniques and micro-marketing techniques to target their

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messages. Point-of-sale terminals and databases provide detailed information about the
consumers and their preferences.
Globalisation has led to international advertising messages, with some adaptation to local
conditions. Technology has been employed to break the clutter. There is little distinction
between advertis-ing and entertainment. Technology has advanced to the extent of personalizing
an individual message in the name of the reader.

Q.111.What is the meaning of industrial goods?

Ans. Industrial or business goods are distinguished by their nature or by the use to which they are
put. American Marketing Association defined industrial goods as “all products which are
destined to be sold primarily for use in producing other goods or rendering services as contrasted
with goods destined to be sold primarily for consumption to the ultimate consumer.” Goods used
in the home and for personal satisfaction are, of course, consumer goods.
Industrial products are all goods and services sold to business and institutional buyers and which
are used by the purchasers in their own manufacturing or other business activities- i.e., they are
reprocessed and absorbed into or used by purchasers’ products or services. Industrial goods are
also called producers’ goods, i.e., produced means of production. Industrial goods are products
used for further production of other goods—industrial goods or consumer goods.

Q.112. Define distribution!

Ans. The movement of products from the producer to the customer is called distribution.
Distribution is made possible by using a marketing channel say, a product produced by a
manufacturer is sold to the wholesaler who in turn sells it to the retailer who ultimately sells it to
the customer. Physical distribution involves transportation, warehousing and inventory
management.

Q.113.Define organized market!

Ans. The organised market represents a public market mechanism or organisation consisting of
buyers, sellers, producers, processors, dealers etc., dealing in one or more commodities which
constitute the articles of trade in the market.

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It is a private voluntary association of dealers and professional traders of one or more
commodities. It is a central convenient market place where members meet and conduct
buying/selling ope-rations on the trading floor/pit/ring on behalf of their clients.

It only registers the prices, reflecting minute forces of demand and supply. The prices are
determined by free competition between the forces or demand and supply. Members, i.e. dealers,
act on their own responsibility.

Q.114.What is meant by promotion?

Ans. Promotion, as we are aware, is a technique of communication. Advertising is used along
with personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, and sales promotion. Personal selling is
a face-to-face communication. Here, a salesman tries to persuade a prospect to buy a product.
Public relations is the relationship between an organisation and its public like employ-ees,
shareholders, customers, distributors, media and the community at large.

Q.115.What are the tasks of marketing manager?

Ans. The modern Marketing manager has to discharge his function for attaining the following
objectives:
(a) Creation of demand for new products.
(b) Identify market potential for existing products.
(c) Develop latent potential and revitalize marketing effort.
(d) Smooth out uneven demand by adopting suitable marketing strategies.
(e) Meeting the excess demand situation.
(f) Correlating the product demand with production capacity and reduce excess demand.

Q.116.What is the features of convenience goods?

a. Standardised and branded goods,
b. Non-durable goods,
c. Daily necessaries of life,
d. Conventional and numerous outlets,
e. Minimum shopping effort,

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 f. Repeat purchases at frequent intervals,
g. Low-priced and light-weight goods,
h. Mass-production and mass-distribution through usual wholesaler-retailer channels.
i. Very keen competition in sales demanding considerable promo-tion,
j. No postponement in purchasing.

Q.117.What is the functions of advertising?

Ans. Advertising has to perform a number of functions.
Some of these are:
1. Advertising informs the buyers about the existence of the product, its features, its benefits, and
its availabil-ity.
2. Advertising offers an incentive to buy by making several direct offers like price-offs or
exchange of an old TV on buying a new TV.
3. Advertising provokes us to try the product and once tried reminds us about its benefits so that
we can buy it time and again.
4. Advertising builds brands, gives an image and personality to the brand and distinguishes them
from com-petitive brands.
5. Advertising helps us to choose out of several brands available. It provides us reasons to buy a
particular brand. It thus contributes to our brand preference and brand loyalty.
6. Advertising, being mass communication, is the most cost-effective way to reach our
consumers. In absolute terms, the cost of a full page ad in a magazine is very high. But when we
divide the cost by the number of readers reached the per reader cost is very low. It is hardly a
few paise. Advertising thus, reduces selling costs.
7. Advertising persuades people to act.

Q.118.What is the components of advertising world?

Ans. Advertising world consists of organizations who put the advertising messages through
advertising agencies in differ-ent media. The organizations who advertise are called advertisers.

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They have their own advertising departments who interact with the advertising agencies which
conceive and executes a campaign on their behalf. The advertising agency’s creative department
prepares the ad in collaboration with the production department.

The production department may be provided different services by outsiders – freelance

individuals or supplier firms. They provide services like video production, photography and print
production.

Q.119.What are the features of shopping goods?

Ans. 1. Durable and high-priced goods,
2. Shopping around, search efforts and special visits to central markets necessary,
3. Comparison and evaluation neces-sary to secure best quality, price and performance,
4. Considerable time and effort necessary in their purchases,
5. Occasional purchases,
6. Fewer retail outlets,
7. Branding unimportant in shopping goods,
8. Purchases can be postponed,
9. Every retailer not keeping all rival shopping goods.

Q.120.What are the benefits of an ad message?

Ans. An ad message creates awareness, conveys information about benefits, attributes or
features, builds a brand image and personality, vests the brand with certain feelings, links the
brand with group norms and peers/experts and induces purchase behaviour.
Exposure to an ad can initiate any of these processes. These five effects create an attitude in us
towards the brand, which if favourable leads to a purchasing action. In addition, certain ads just
remind us about the product or brand or lead an assault on those reasons which prevent a
consumer from buying or using the brand. It is a direct inducement to action.

Q.121.Why buyers buy?

Ans: Buying motives are those influences or considerations which induce or compel the purchase
of certain goods from particular firms. Buying habits refer to how, when and where consumers

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buy. Buying motives explain why they buy. Buying habits are the basis for classification of
goods into three categories- convenience, shopping and specialty goods (indicating how, when
and where they buy.

Q.122.What are the features of specialty goods?

Ans. 1. Occasional purchases,
2. High-priced articles,
3. Special effort to visit certain shop dealing in that article,
4. Article of unique characteristics or article enjoying brand loyalty,
5. No shopping around necessary
6. Product differentiation maximum through branding and adver-tising,
7. Well-informed buyers.

Q.123.What are the characteristics of manufactured consumer goods market?

Ans. The manufacturers in a wider market have no direct or personal interaction with their
numerous customers and mostly the consumers are unknown to the manu-facturer embarking
upon mass production in anticipation of demand. Many a time, there is a communication gap
between manufacturers and consumers—due to very large number of buyers and long dis-tances
between manufacturers and their markets. Let us now point out the most important
characteristics of the consumer goods market.

Q.124.What is meant by buying habits?

Ans. Marketers must know their customers’ buying motives as well as buying habits. Consumer
buying habits indicate how, when and where consumers buy. Marketers should consider the
buying problem from buyer’s point of view and on the basis of this know­ledge of buying habits,
they should prepare their process of marketing and distribution. This will also honour the modern
marketing concept, viz., customer-oriented marketing approach and it will offer adequate
consumer satisfaction.

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Q.125.What is the meaning of storage?
Ans. Storage, like transport, is a very important function of physical distribution. Storage is the
process of holding and preserving goods from the time of production to the time of use or
consumption.
If transport and communication define the length and breadth of the market area (i.e. place-wise
distribution), then storage and its accompanying function of finance give depth (i.e. time-wise
distribu-tion) to the market—depth is understood in terms of time through which goods are
carried prior to sale or consumption. Thus storage creates time utility, whereas transport creates
place utility. Both are related to physical distribution of goods.

Q.126.What is meant by warehousing system?

Ans. The word storage means holding the stock of goods for a longer period as the goods are not
immediately in demand. Ware-housing involves more than storage. Warehouses perform many
functions of wholesalers, e.g., breaking of bulk, dispatch of small parcels to retailers, holding
stocks for retailers, regulating the flow of goods to retailers, providing market information and
many other merchandising services.

Q.127.What is meant by standardisation and grading?

Ans. These are inseparable and closely inter-dependent marketing functions always going hand-
in-hand. Mere standardisation becomes useless when it is not followed by grading. Grading
without standardisation is impossible. Standardisation is the basis for grading and it must precede
grading and make grading stable (till the standards have to be modified or revised).
Basic limits to an article for the purpose of classification or assortment are set by standardisation
and standardisation is merely a mental process. In the light of prescribed norms or standards,
classification or sorting, i.e., grading can take place. Hence, grading is a mental process or
action.

Q.128.Define marketing co-operatives.

Ans. An agricultural co-operative marketing society is a form of business organisation (run on
co-operative principles) set up for the purpose of selling the agricultural produce and returning to
the farmer members their full share of the money paid for the products by consumers. Farmers

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come together and form co-operative marketing organisations chiefly to get more for their
produce than they are paid by private buyers such as traders, dealers and mercan-tile agents—
buying for resale at a profit.

In India, farmers are usually indebted to traders-cum-money- lenders who control production,
finance, marketing, transport and storage. The cooperative structure must replace these existing
monopolists in agricultural marketing and perform all their functions more economically and
efficiently. Integrated co-operation is the best solution to our agricultural problems.

Q.129.What is standardisation?
Ans. To standardise is to determine basic limits to classes of products. Standardisation is a
marketing function. It is the process of setting up or prescribing certain standards or
specifications of a product and maintaining those standards during the period for which they are
effective. It is based on the consolidated results of science, technology and experience.

Q.130.What is grading?
Ans. On the basis of prescribed standards or norms of physical and other qualities of products,
the stock of a commodity can be divided or sorted out into a number of lots or groups and each
lot or a group represents one grade. In each grade or a group, we have goods having uniform or
common qualities.
Grading is the process of dividing goods into lots which have same or similar characteristics as
to type, size, shape, weight, quality, performance etc. A grade indicates a certain standard of
quality or performance.

Q.131.What is the meaning of sales promotion?

Ans. Sales promotion is an important instrument in marketing to lubricate the marketing efforts.
Today, sales promotion is a necessity and not merely a luxury or a fashion. It is not an
expenditure, it is an investment which can pay rich dividends. It is an integral part of the
marketing effort.

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Sales promotion is referred to activities other than personal salesmanship, advertising and
publicity, which stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness, e.g., displays,
exhibitions and showrooms, demonstrations, free samples, coupons, premiums and various other
non-recurrent selling efforts not in the ordinary routine. It is a plus ingredient in the marketing
mix, whereas advertising and personal salesmanship are essential and basic ingredients in the
marketing mix.

Q.132.What are the advantages of market segmentation?

Ans. Following are the advantages of market segmentation:
(a) Helps in better understanding of the customers’ needs and wants.
(b) Better targeting and position of the product.
(c) Encourages two-way communication among the potential buyer and the organization.
(d) Maintaining effective relationship with the customers.
(e) Retaining the existing customers and attracting new ones.
(f) Improving service delivery standards.
(g) Reducing cost/expenses on various marketing activities and increases market share; resulting
in higher profits.

Q.133.Define marketing planning!

Ans. Marketing planning represents functional planning activity in the area of marketing.
Naturally a marketing plan is based upon the overall corporate or master plan and marketing
budget is a part of the corporate or master budget. Similarly, marketing objectives will be the
means to achieve overall corporate objectives for the entire enterprise.
Marketing planning involves two steps:
1. The selection of particular markets, i.e., identification of customers and customer needs to be
met) in those markets. This is done through market segmentation or subdivision on the basis of
age, sex, education, income, location, social class, life style, and so on. The most favourable
market segment will be approached with tailor-made marketing-mix.
2. Evolution of right marketing-mix or blending of the marketing ingredients in such a way that
we can meet fully the customer needs and desires of a particular market segment or sub-division.
For each market segment, we will have an appropriate marketing-mix.

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Q.134.Define local marketing!
Ans. Tailoring brands and promotions to the needs and wants of local customer group’s viz.
cities, neighborhoods, and even specific stores is called as local marketing. In local marketing,
though both traditional and web-based marketing strategies can be used, the main objective is to
attract local customers to brick and mortar business or stores.
The local market customers are located within the region where the products or services are
being offered. Local market is being given importance today since companies have realized that
products which are successful at one place might be a complete disaster in some other markets
due difference in taste and preferences.

Q.135. Define market segmentation!

Ans. Segmentation means subdivision of the entire market. Each segment consists of a group of
buyers who have identical or similar unmet wants and needs. Thus emphasis is given on the
demand side of the market. Segmentation is an answer to the question, “To whom should we sell
our products, and what should we sell them?” It is a plan to do right things and not to do things
rightly.
Segmentation implies bending of supply to the will or trend of consumer demand as far as
feasible and desirable. It recognises that there are several demand schedules and not necessarily a
single demand schedule or curve. For instance, we have a youth market, an adult market,
children’s market, and so on.

Q.136.What are the advantages of market segmentation for a firm?

Ans. Over the years, many companies have realized the importance of segmentation as the
consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their needs and are demanding products that
match their needs exactly. In automobile industry, consumers are showing their interest in fuel
efficient and eco-friendly vehicles.
The companies started providing a vehicle or mode of transportation with higher fuel-efficiency,
power, style, design, and such many other attributes. The increased preferences of customers
paved the way for flooding the market with many different varieties and brands of vehicles
catering to the needs of different segments.

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Q.137..Define mass marketing!
Ans. Mass marketing focuses on high sales and low prices. According to Kotler, in mass
marketing, the seller engages himself in the mass production, mass distribution, and mass
promotion of a single product for all buyers. It creates largest potential market leading to lowest
costs and thus higher margins. However, due to loss of focus, many of the customers can remain
unsatisfied.
In mass marketing the firm ignores differences in tastes and preferences of consumers in the
market; instead it comes up with single offer or single marketing strategy for the whole market.
The main concept behind this is to ensure that the message communicated reaches large number
of customers thus resulting in maximum exposure of the product. Usually, traditional media such
as radio, television, and newspapers are used by the marketer in order to reach large number of
audience.

Q.138.What is the characteristics of niche marketing?

Ans. An attractive niche will have the following characteristics:
i. Customers of niche markets have distinct set of needs.
ii. They are willing to pay a premium price to the firms that best satisfies their needs.
iii. The niche is not attractive to competitors.
iv. The niche marketer gains more economies of scale through specialization.
v. The niche has adequate size, profitability, and growth potential.

Q.139.What are the advantages of mass marketing?

Ans. i. Wide audience – Due to large target audience, number of hits are high despite of low turn
up.
ii. Less risky – If the offering leads to failure still then the eventual losses will be less as
compared to a loss in the focused area approach.
iii. Low production cost – Since a single production is run for homogeneous product the
production cost per unit decreases.
iv. Relatively lower market research cost and advertising cost.
v. Higher sales volume potential.

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Q.140.Define integrated marketing!
Ans. Marketing is considered a total integrated process rather than a fragmented assortment of
various elements like product, price, place and promotion. Every marketer should develop an
integrated marketing program that will actually deliver the intended value to the target
customers. Such a program uses the tools of marketing mix, known as 4Ps, namely, product,
price, place and promotion.
To start with, product is designed to cater to the needs and wants of target customers. Product
may be differentiated to cater to the requirements of different segments of the market. Price of
the product is determined keeping into account the cost of production, prices of competitive
products, buying capacity of the target customers, etc.

Q.141.What are the various forms of advocacy advertising?

Ans. Advocacy advertising consists of following forms:
i. Ideological advertisement which is principle-oriented and attempts to highlight the ethics of an
institution.
ii. Defense advertisement which argues to protect the image of the institution against
contemporary controversies.
iii. Reply bound advertisements seeking responses to the issues highlighted in the advertisement.
iv. Position taking advertisement emphasizing the viewpoint of an institute of issue thereof with
strong argument to seek public acceptance or referendum.
Advocacy advertising has an advantage of exhibiting message under controlled situation of
advertiser which helps in dealing with complex issues through corporate focus. An institution
can plan a series of advertisements as campaign supporting its views and building image
simultaneously among the clientele group. Institutional advertisements are generally released on
multi-media and cover substantially larger segment of target audience.

Q.142.What is the requirements for effective market segmentation?

Ans. There are several factors that are considered before a particular segmentation strategy is
adopted.
Following are the requirements that are to be fulfilled for segmentation:

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1. Substantiality:It signifies the importance of the number of people in a particular segment. If
the number of people is less in a segment then it would not be economical to select that particular
segment as a target segment. Thus, a selected segment should be large enough to gain profit.
2. Measurability: It measures the market segment in terms of size, requirement, income level,
and the purchasing power of customers. The data for measuring the market segment can be
obtained by various techniques, such as customer surveys and interviews.
3. Accessibility: It implies that the target segment should be easily reachable. The selected mode
of communication should be cost effective and message should be delivered on time to the
targeted customers.
4. Differentiability: It deals with understanding the need of distinctiveness between two
segments. The segmentation cannot be effective if there are dissimilarities in the needs and wants
of customers within the same segment.

Q.143.What is the objective of pricing?

Ans. Pricing is a very critical decision that needs to be taken in marketing management. The
main objective of the firm, that is, to earn a profit very much depends upon the correct price
decision. After meeting all the costs involved, the sales revenue generated must yield a surplus
before there can be profits.

Q.144.What is an advertising campaign?

Ans. This is adopted by advertisers when the merchan­dise or service has to be ‘gate­crashed’ in
the market and marketed with horizontal expansion policy. Campaign advertising is primarily
con-cerned with achieving quick sales response in target markets through clearance advertising
and regular price-line advertising.
Such campaigns are of short duration but possess similarity in copy writing and continuity in
releasing exposures. Hence, campaign is a series of advertisements exposed in a given time at
regular intervals in the same media, or medium. The advertising campaigns are of natural and
local level and have institutional patronage. The advertising campaigns are planned in advance
and are orderly set.

Q.145.Explain institutional advertising!

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Ans. It is a form of public relations performed through communicating message to the target
audience directly related with the institution. It is not necessary that an institution developing
advertising message should strictly be of commercial nature. The strategy for institutional
advertising needs to be selected matching the objective of institution and clientele.
There are various type of institutional advertising practices observed, of which some major kinds
are released through the following messages:
i. Social awareness about civil rights, health, population, etc.
ii. Promotion of a public service.
iii. Generating awareness about innovation, achievement, new facts of development.
iv. Improved or added market value of products.
v. Employees welfare and image of institution.
vi. Placement advertisements with profile of company’s achievements.
vii. Opening debate on controversial issues.

Q.146.How long should a advertising campaign be?

Ans. Campaigns are of varied length — say a seasonal campaign of cough syrup or Vicks
VapoRub or woolen garments or it may last the whole year. The logic behind yearly campaigns
is that they coincide with accounting year, at the end of which sales and profits are computed.
There are several advertisers who keep a campaign running without any change for two or even
for three years.
All of you are familiar with the Lux soap campaign where it is promoted as a beauty soap of
cinema stars, and coheres the present queen bee of Hindi films. The factors which affect the
duration of campaign are the type of product offered, the nature of advertiser’s marketing
programme, seasonality of sales, media policies and the competitor’s advertising.

Q.147.What are the different types of image advertising?

Ans. Image advertising is done in four types and they are:
i. Institution identification advertisements.
ii. Goodwill advertisements.
iii. Civil rights and responsibilities advertisements.

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iv. Public service advertisements.

Q.148.Define repositioning!
Ans. Sometimes, a company may also need to change its positioning, if it is not working or if the
market scenario has changed. In this case, it may need to reposition itself.

Q.149. Explain advertising appropriation!

Ans. Advertising appropriation is an essential management approach to control the advertising
expenditure and gain optimum response at reasonable level of investment. The common method
of appropriation will be on the basis of the net sales per annum. The advertising appropriation
can also be done on the change of turnover of the company over the previous year.
The advertising activity can be appropriated on the basis of developing an advertisement,
campaign, direct advertising, buyer-seller relationship and image building. The advertising
budget, which is the principal tool of appropriation, consists of the expenditure related to the
selected category of goods and services and media for advertising.

The advertising expenditure needs to be appropriated also in reference to different sales regions
as emphasis on advertising in respect of goods and services, media and consumer preference.
The expenditure variable in production of advertising include the insertion charges of the
commissioned media, art work, mechanical production, talent, non-media promotion expenditure
like point of purchase sale promotion, displays, exhibits, etc.

Q.150. What is meant by marketing research?

Ans. The success of the marketing strategy depends a lot on the marketing research. It deals with
specific issues relating to marketing product and services.

According to American Marketing Association- ‘Marketing Research is the function that links
the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information used to identify and
define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions;
monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.
Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method

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for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the
results, and communicates the findings and their implications.’

Q.151.Define depositioning!
Ans. On the other hand, sometimes a company may go for de-positioning to change the identity
of competing products, relative to the identity of your own product, in the minds of the
customers. Tata Motors generally compare its cars with the leading player in the segment like
Vista with Swift and now Manza with Amaze. In the ad, Tata Manza is trying to compete head
on with Honda’s bestseller Amaze, by talking about its big space with ‘Bigger is better’ headline.
To break the growing clout of low cost carriers in India especially Indigo, Kingfisher ran an ad
campaign with tagline, ‘Why fly low cost carriers, Fly Kingfisher’.

Q.152.What are the functions of an advertising manager?

Ans. Functions of an Advertising Manager:
1. He plans the advertising campaign and prepares an advertising budget.
2. In smaller organisations, he creates and produces advertisements. In larger organisations, he
interacts with the account executive of an advertising agency. He also prepares sales promotional
materials.
3. He handles administration of his department.
4. He coordinates with operations and the marketing department to facilitate the working of the
sales department.
5. He has to carry-out promotional efforts in such a way that they further the goals of the
organisation as a whole. He supervises the promotional activity and evaluates the results.

Q.153.Why market segmentation?

Ans. Market segmentations offers innumerable benefits to a firm:
(I) It is able to find out and compare the market potential of its products in various market
segments.
(II)The firm can carry out a SWOT analysis, find its own strengths in comparison to others in
each segment.

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(III) By focusing sharply on each of the different customer groups within a market, market
segmentation would make the marketing effort more economical.
(IV) The firm can explore and create new markets for its products.
(V) Segmentation forces rivals to face each other head on: offer their best products to customer
at competitive prices and innovate continually to stay in the business.

Q.154.How to segment a market?

Ans. Segmentation can be done using several bases.
In consumer marketing, there are four major segmentation variables:
1. Geographic Segmentation,
2. Demographic Segmentation,
3. Psychographic Segmentation and
4. Benefit Segmentation.
1. Geographic Segmentation:
In geographic segmentation, the market is divided into different geographical units such as
nations, states, regions, cities etc. Fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s and Burger King use
information on population size and population density to help them select restaurant locations.
2. Demographic Segmentation:
In demographic segmentation, the market is classified into groups based on age, sex, family size,
income, education, occupation, religion, race and nationality. In fact many products are designed
for groups based on the basis of sex (clothes, cosmetics); age (toys) or income (automobiles).
3. Psychographic Segmentation:
In psychographic segmentation, the market is divided into different groups based on social class,
life style or personality characteristics.
4. Benefit Segmentation:
In benefit segmentation, consumers are grouped into markets on the basis of different benefits
sought from the product. For example, the toothpaste market can be divided into four groups,
based on benefit segmentation. The sensory segment would require flavour, product appearance
(children demanding spearmint toothpaste). The sociable segment would need bright, sparking
teeth (outgoing, active youth market), the worrier segment would demand decay prevention

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(large families using toothpaste heavily); and the independent segment would require low prices
and usually prefer sale brands .

Q.155.How to target market segments?

Ans. Market targeting is the act of selecting one of more market segments to enter.
While doing so, the firm should look into three things:
(a) Segment size and growth,
(b) Segment structural attractiveness and
(c) Firms objectives and resources
(a) Segment Size and Growth:
Segment size and its growth potential may not always be the criterion, especially in the case of
smaller firms not having requisite funds. Again, such fastest-growing segments may be highly
competitive. Hence, such firms may go after smaller segments and serve the same with a unique
marketing mix. However, if the firm has a competitive advantage that cannot be easily copied, it
will always try to exploit the larger market segments successfully.
(b) Segment Structural Attractiveness:
The firm also needs to examine the structural factors that affect long-term profit potential of the
segments. This, according to porter, depends on: whether there are strong and aggressive
competitors; whether there are entry barriers to new players; availability of substitute products,
presence of powerful buyers who will try to force prices down and the existence of powerful
suppliers who can join hands to reduce price/quality/demand collectively,
(c) Firms Objectives and Resources:
Again, the selection of target markets has a lot to do with the firm’s objectives and capabilities.
Generally speaking a firm should enter segments only in which it can offer superior value and
gain competitive advantage over competitors.

Q.156.What are the approaches to market segmentation?

Ans. There are two approaches to segmentation — divide the total market into homogeneous
subgroups called segments. It is a breaking down of an entire market. Alternatively, the second
segmentation approach starts with individual customers. Then, the potential customers are
identified with similar characteristics.

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When sufficient number of such customers are identified, we have built-up a segment. It should
be appreciated that though segmentation divides the market in segments, in reality, it is a
consolidation process in which potential customers are put together on the basis of their common
characteristics.

Q.157.What is cause-related marketing?

Ans. Cause-related marketing involves the social welfare activities carried out by an
organization. It is also known as cause marketing and can be done in both profit and non-profit
organizations. In cause-related marketing, at least one objective of the organization should be
non-economical in nature. The activities of cause-related marketing help the society at large.
Charity and corporate giving are tax deductible; whereas, cause-marketing is not tax deductible.
Cause-related marketing is a promotional strategy of an organization. It is linked to the sales of
products and services of the organization as customers prefer to contribute for social welfare by
purchasing cause-related; products. A fixed percentage of sales revenue is spent for social cause,
such as awareness campaign and medical treatment for the poor.
Several organizations, such as CRY, P&G, and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. have made cause-related
marketing the cornerstone of their marketing plans. The program called DeshkoArpan by Tata
Chemicals Ltd. donated 10 paise for every kilogram of salt sold in the market. Nike and Cadbury
also used cause-related marketing to differentiate their images from their respective competitors.
The cause-related marketing efforts provide tangible benefits, which are as follows:
i. Increase in Sales – Refers to the purchase of a product by new customers.
ii. Increase in Customer Loyalty – Indicates the association of customers with the brand.
iii. Enhance the Organization’s Image – Refers to the improved perception of customers about
the brand due to cause-related marketing.

Q.158.What is the concept of marketing myopia?

Ans. This term is coined by Professor Theodore Levitt. Myopia means shortsightedness.
Marketing myopia can be defined as the inability of companies to define their businesses, predict
the future growth based on the customer needs and preferences, and their failure to adapt

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accordingly. Levitt was of the opinion that most of the companies fail because of their
shortsightedness and not due to low market demand or market saturation.

Q.159.What are the causes of marketing myopia?

Ans. (i) Wrong understanding and definition of one’s business
(ii) At times companies are so over-obsessed with product development, manufacturing, and
selling that they forget to understand customers’ needs, due to which they fail.
(iii) Some companies falsely believe that there is no substitute to their product in the market and
thus no competition. Over-obsession with one’s product leads to market failure.

Q.160.What is the elements of marketing mix?

Ans. Products have many tangible elements that exist in both time and space. In the context of a
specific product and market segment we can identify 4Ps of marketing viz. product, price, place
and promotion as summarized below-
Product – Stands for the firm’s tangible offer to the market, including the product quality, design,
features, branding and packaging.
Price – The amount of money that customers have to pay for the product.
Place – Stands for the various activities the company undertakes to make the product accessible
and available to target customers.
Promotion – Stands for the various activities the company undertakes to communicate and
promote its products to the target market.
A differential advantage can be achieved by manipulating one or more elements of the marketing
mix.
This mix consists of the functional elements of marketing which are often referred to as four ‘Ps’
as listed below:
(a) The product stands for the firm’s tangible offer to the market, including:
i. Product quality
ii. Product design
iii. Product features
iv. Branding
v. Packaging

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(b) The price of a product is a crucial marketing-mix tool, since price is the amount of money
that the customers have to pay for the product.
It includes:
i. Pricing strategies
ii. Discounts
iii. Pricing objectives
(c) The place is another key marketing-mix tool, stands for various activities the company
undertakes to make the product accessible and available to target customers.
It includes:
i. Channels of distribution
ii. Logistics/Physical distribution
iii. Customer service
iv. Marketing research
v. Market intelligence
(d) The promotion of product stands for the various activities the company undertakes to
communicate and promote its products to the target market.
It includes:
i. Advertising
ii. Sales promotion
iii. Public relations
iv. Personal selling
v. Merchandising

Q.161.What are the reasons for inaccuracy of marketing cost?

Ans. Much of the cost data for marketing cost analysis is inaccurate for the following reasons as:
(a) Marketing costs may be allocated to individual products, sales areas, customer groups etc. on
the basis of sales value or sales volume, but this involves circular reasoning. Costs should be
allocated in relation to causal factors, and it is marketing expenditures that cause sales to be
made.
(b) General overheads and administrative costs are arbitrarily (and erroneously) allocated to
segments on the basis of sales volume.

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(c) Many marketing costs are not allocated at all as marketing costs as they are not identified as
such but are classified as manufacturing, general or administrative costs instead.
(d) If costs are inappropriately allocated to products, then some products will be overpriced and
some underpriced.
(e) Some important marketing costs are hidden in manufacturing costs or in general and
administrative costs, including finished goods inventory costs in the former and order-processing
costs in the latter.
(f) Useful computations of marketing costs and profit contribution in the multi-product company
require the adoption of analytical techniques that are not difficult in principle but which are not
widely adopted in accounting.
(g) Marketing budgets for individual products are too small and increasing returns would result
from an increase in expenditure.
(h) The marketing mix is inefficient, with an incorrect balance and incorrect amounts being spent
on the constituent elements such as too much on advertising and insufficient on direct selling
activities.

Q.162.What are the approaches in marketing cost analysis?

Ans. There are basically two approaches adopted in practice:
1. Full-Cost Approach:
In this approach, all costs are allocated to products, customers, or other categories, including
fixed and common costs. With all costs allocated, profitability can be easily determined by
subtracting costs from sales. This assumes that costs have been allocated correctly. However, the
allocation of marketing costs is not an easy task in practice.
2. Contribution-Margin Approach:
In this approach, not all costs are allocated in all situations. This approach focuses on variable
costs and allocates them, leaving fixed costs unallocated. It helps managers avoid conflict over
the allocation of fixed costs.

Q.163.What are the integration of the marketing function?

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Ans. If the top management of a business has accepted the marketing concept, its implementation
for maximum success results from the integration of the marketing function. By integration is
meant the combining of all activities related to the effective carrying out of the marketing
function under the responsibility and authority of a single executive.
Typically, such activities include:
1. Field sales and sales management.
2. Product service.
3. Sales administration (order handling and so on).
4. Marketing personnel (recruiting, sales training).
5. Marketing research.
6. Advertising and promotion.
7. Product planning.
8. Dealer relations and distribution planning.
9. Customer or consumer relations.
10. Public relations.
11. Production scheduling.

Q.164.What are the advantages of total marketing concept?

Ans. Adoption of the total marketing concept can have a fundamental effect on the course of
business as follows:
1. The executives and key personnel have a much better team attitude and understanding of the
importance of marketing to the entire business.
2. There is a broader orientation to customer wants throughout the organisation, including the
Board of Directors.
3. Decisions are made more promptly, and there are fewer costly errors since the application of
marketing concept throughout the business.
4. Product and profit planning is vastly improved.
5. A better balance to marketing programme can be set up. It becomes easier to determine the
proper roles (and budgets) for selling, advertising and promotion, market research, and physical
distribution as well as customer service.

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6. The marketing concept helps the entire executive group to understand the need for good
planning, and the elimination of snap judgments which very often prove very costly.
Despite so many benefits which follow the adoption of marketing concept, it should not be
regarded as a panacea for all corporate problems. Yet, when applied in conjunction with other
good management principles and techniques, it can be a force of great benefit to both the short
and long-term success of a business.

Q.165.What are the functions of advertising agencies?

Ans. Positioned between advertiser and media, advertising agencies are hired by advertisers on
commission or fee basis to plan and execute successful advertising for the product.
Agencies develop advertising messages, negotiate with media for the purpose of buying media
time and space and also offer some specialized supporting services concerning market research
and other marketing and advertising decisions. Advertising agencies perform various functions
pertaining to planning, preparing, and placement of advertisement where the range and depth of
these functions vary considerably from agency to agency.
The various functions which an advertising agency performs either entirely or partially in the
advertising process relate to:
i. Undertaking of various types of researches.
ii. Creation of advertisements.
iii. Media buying and placement of ad.
iv. Providing ad-on- services.

Q.166.Explain the concept of distribution channels?

Ans. The movement of goods and services between the point of production and the point of
consumption through organization that performs a variety of marketing activities is called as the
marketing distribution channel. The major participants in the distribution channel are the
producers, the intermediaries and the consumers.
Distribution channel or marketing channel or trade channel is the path between producers and
users that goods & services follow. For marketing of services the channel is direct as they are
intangible. A marketing channel therefore requires minimum a seller and a buyer.

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The buyer may be an ultimate consumer or an industrial consumer. Typically, a marketing
channel includes, besides buyers and sellers, various middlemen. Middlemen may be
wholesalers, dealers, distributors or retailers.

Q.167.What are the characteristics of good marketing information?

Ans. The value and usefulness of the gathered marketing information will depend on the extent
to which it possesses the essential characteristics of good marketing information,
A fairly exhaustive list of such characteristics is given below:
i. Relevance (for decision making)
ii. Clarity
iii. Completeness
iv. Confidentiality
v. Precision, economy
vi. Reliability (from genuine source)
vii. Accuracy
viii. timeliness, objectivity
ix. Authenticity
x. Strategic value

Q.168.What is the role of marketing information?

Ans. Good marketing decisions are not made in a vacuum. They are made with a full awareness
of market conditions, competition, and above all with adequate knowledge of market demand,
i.e., consumer needs and desires. Marketing decisions can be no better than the facts upon which
they are based. If the information is better, more complete, more reliable, understandable and
timely, it is easier for the marketer to make a sound decision.

Marketing information includes all facts, estimates, opinions and other information used in
making decisions that affect the mar-keting of goods and services. Marketers need essential
information regarding products, prices, market conditions of demand and supply, consumer
needs and desires, market competition, middleman, selling methods, information regarding

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physical flow of goods (transporta-tion, warehousing and inventory) and information regarding
other elements of marketing mix.

Q.169.What is the role of market research executive?

Ans. The role of the marketing research executive is not an easy one, for he must often present
findings and recommendations which are contrary to management’s own experience, opinions or
beliefs. Lack of knowledge and, in some cases, suspicion and misunder-standing of research
techniques inhibit acceptance of research findings, particularly in firms where marketing
research is an innovation.
The effective use of marketing research is only possible in an atmosphere of mutual co-operation
and understanding between top management and the marketing research depart-ment. Top
management must put itself out to give marketing research a chance to prove its value. It should
divest itself of any prejudices and preconceptions, and approach research with open- mindedness.
It should clearly define the problems on which it expects research help and guidance and
pinpoint the information needed to take decisions.

Q.170.What is packaging?
Ans. Package means a case, container, wrapper or other receptacle for packing goods. It can be
made of metals, plastics, wood, paper, glass, laminates, polyester or HDPE.
Packaging is the designing and producing of the container or wrapper for a product in order to
prepare the goods for transport, sale, and usage.
There are two parts of this definition:
(i) Physical transportation and sale for ultimate usage of the product and
(ii) The science and technology as well as art part of the package.
The science and technology refers to functional part of the product. For example, Dettol liquid
comes in a package that facilitates easy pressing of the top portion by thumb and ultimate release
of the liquid. If this function cannot be performed, the package would be useless for the
consumer. Thus, properly designed package would enhance the value of the product contained in
it.

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Q.171.What does the AIDAS formula denotes?
Ans. The “AIDAS” formula denotes five essential factors to be considered while taking
packaging decisions. “A” stands for attention, for interest, “D” for desire and “S” for satisfaction.
In simple terms, the idea behind this formula is that the marketer, while designing the packages,
should adopt the AIDAS formula for getting “Attention”, Holding “Interest”, creating “Desire”,
compelling “Action” and giving full customer “Satisfaction”. The competitors’ strategy can be
considered with regard to packaging decisions.

172. Reasons for Product Failure:

Any product which does not live up to the expectations of the consumer is said to be a failed
product, meaning that the product is not moving or not making profit at the level expected by the
marketer.
According to William J. Stanton, following are the reasons for product failure:
a. Poor marketing research.
b. Poor performance of the product due to technological problems and product design.
c. Improper timing of product introduction.
d. High cost of production and distribution.
e. Poor marketing management, and,
f. Competition from competitors.

Q.173.What are the qualities for product success?

Ans. 1. The product should satisfy one or more market needs. For example- Daiken air
conditioners have some more additional features than existing products in the market.
2. It should be technologically superior and should enjoy a competitive cost advantage. For
example- Kenstar states that its water purifiers are cheaper and technologically superior as
compared to Aqua guard water purifiers.
3. The product should be suited to the internal organizational arrangement of the firm, such as
production, distribution, etc. For example- MTR ice – creams became an instant success, since
they perfectly suited the production and distribution network of other food products from MTR.

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4. The management should make a long term commitment to the new product. They should take
all possible steps to capture the market. For example- when Milkmaid introduced its Kulfi
readymade mix, they gave free samples to promote the product. Similarly, lucky draws and other
contests are also done to promote the product in its initial stages.
5. A well-defined product strategy is essential. For example- Deccan Herald always does road
shows for better circulation. Similarly, for fairs, tests, seminars and conferences they distribute
free copies of the newspaper.
6. Finally, an effective and efficient organizational structure is essential for product success.

Q.174.What is physical distribution management?

Ans. Physical Distribution Management (PDM) is concerned with ensuring that the individual
efforts that go to make up the distributive function are optimized so that a common objective is
realized. This is called the ‘systems approach’ to distribution management and a major feature of
PDM is that these functions be integrated.
There are two central themes that should be taken into account:
(i) The success of an efficient distribution system relies on integration of effort. An overall
service objective can be achieved, even though it may appear that some individual components
of the system are not performing at maximum efficiency.
(ii) It is never possible to provide maximum service at a minimum cost. The higher the level of
service required by the customer, the higher the cost. Having decided on the necessary level of
service, a company must then consider ways of minimizing costs, which should never be at the
expense of or result in, a reduction of the predetermined service level.

Q.175.What are the alternative structures of industrial channels?

Ans. The industrial goods have more or less fixed pattern. Naturally the channels available are
also less complicated.
Major channels recognized in industrial markets are:
(a) Producer-Industrial User:
This is the most commonly used channel, manufacturers of machinery prefer to adopt this
channel to avoid unnecessary expenditure or transportation.
(b) Producer-Industrial Distributor Users:

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This channel is used in the distribution of accessory equipment which is required by users. The
user cannot always approach the manufacturers for their requirements.
(c) Producer-Agent User:
Small sized manufacturers who do not have their own marketing departments find it convenient
to have agents at different selling points.
(d) Producer-Agent Industrial Distributor User:
It is a combination of the above two channels adapted to suit varying conditions on the basis of
geographical factors.

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