Marketing Management

Answer 1
Introduction:
The range of goods and/or services offered by company is referred as its product mix, also
known as its product assortment or product portfolio. Product lines, which are connected
goods that consumer often use together or perceive as related goods or services, make up a
product mix. Understanding a company's product mix is important as it has a great impact on
the company's brand image. A product risk is varied and its reliance on just one product or
product line is reduced by keeping a high product width and depth. A product mix strategy is
a marketing idea that gauges the company's current product offerings before allocating
resources and efforts to different product lines and particular products in order to best
commercialise them to a particular market or audience and thereby accelerate the company's
expansion and target share.

Product mix strategies

Concept and Application:

In the urban market, M/s Herbal Life distributes a range of FMCG items, including
toothpaste, multivitamin ayurvedic pills, chia seeds, tulsi tea, herbal soap, shampoo, etc. The
several forms of Product Mix Pricing and Price Adjustment Strategies are listed below to aid
the business in making pricing decisions.

The following are the four main product mix strategies:

● Expansion: When a business adds more product lines, some of which may even be
different from the current line of business. This is done when a business believes its
current portfolio won't be enough to compete in the market
● Contraction: When a business discontinues some product lines or specific goods that
are not profitable enough, or simplifies the remaining products. In this situation, a
business chooses to concentrate just on the most profitable models or lines instead of
discontinuing or getting rid of one or more product lines or product items
 ● Alteration of existing products: When a business enhances current items' features,
quality, or efficiency instead of creating new products. In comparison to starting a
new business, this approach is less risky
● Product differentiation: When a business starts to market its product as being better
than its competitors without changing its features, qualities, or cost. In this case, a
business uses persuasive marketing skills, effective marketing initiatives, and smart
promotion strategies to persuade its target audience that their product delivers better
functionality or greater quality

There are seven types of price adjustment strategies, and they are as follows:
 Discount & Allowance pricing:
Most businesses change their base price offering discounts to consumers who make
timely payments of their bills, purchase in bulk, or buy outside of peak season.
Pricing with discounts and allowances can have a variety of forms. A reduction in
price may be offered to customers who pay their invoices on time in cash
 Segmented pricing:
The term "segmented pricing" refers to the practice of offering a product at two or
more price points depending on cost variations. It can be of several forms. Different
clients pay different prices for the same goods or services with customer segment
pricing. In location-based pricing, a company sets different rates for various areas
while incurring the same costs to provide each location.
 Psychological pricing:
Pricing is said to be influenced by the psychology of the price that buyers are willing
to pay. This primarily serves to comment on the product. Many consumers rely on
their opinion of a product's quality on how much it costs. When purchasing any
fragrant goods, cheap cost items are thought to be of bad quality.
 Promotional pricing:
In order to promote immediate sales, promotion pricing requires temporarily selling
things below the list price and occasionally even below cost. Companies create a
strategy to create a sense of urgency and excitement around the purchase. Discounts
from regular prices might be used as promotional pricing to boost sales and lower
inventory. Promotional pricing may also include low-interest credit, extended
warranties, or upkeep that is free.
 Geographical pricing:
Geographical pricing is the technique by which producers set their prices for clients
who are based all over the world. Pricing must be properly calculated for clients who
reside in various regions of the world.
 Dynamic pricing:
Dynamic pricing is the practice of continuously changing prices to accommodate the
specific traits and demands of various clients and circumstances. When you consider
the past, pricing was often negotiated between buyers and sellers. Dynamic pricing
begins precisely at that point. Instead of having set pricing, prices are changed daily
 or even hourly, taking into account a variety of factors such as the current demand,
stocks, and expenses.
 International pricing:
International pricing is the final key price adjustment strategy. Companies that sell
their goods globally must choose the pricing to charge in the various markets where
they do business. The cost that a business should charge in a nation can vary
depending on a number of factors, including the economy, market competition, rules
and regulations, and the evolution of the system of wholesale and retail sales.
Additionally, the business could have different marketing goals in various areas,
which can call for adjustments to the price approach.

Conclusion:

Therefore, from the above-discussed strategies, we can conclude that these strategies will
help the FMCG organisation to quote the best price of the products for the target audience.
The company would be successful if careful consideration is taken before choosing a strategy
for its product for the growth and sale of the company’s goods.

Answer 2

Introduction:

Promotion is a marketing approach used to interact amongst vendors and buyers. The
merchant uses this to influence and persuade customers to purchase their items or services.
This helps in getting data regarding the commodity, services, or an organisation. Promotional
activities assist a company to convey its offering and its features to customers and generating
their interest for the intended behavior. Generally, the promotional mix is just one component
of a bigger marketing mix. It involves the unification of many promotional tactics used by
businesses to establish, sustain, and expand demand for goods and services. The 4th
component of the 4 P's of Marketing Mix is promotion, which focuses on creating awareness
and encouraging customers to make a purchase. The Promotion Mix refers to the many
methods that aid in a company's promotion purpose. Advertising, personal selling, sales
promotion, public relations, and direct marketing are all part of the Promotion Mix. In order
to achieve a well-balanced combination of various promotional techniques, marketers must
think about the following issues. The main objective of the promotion mix strategies is to
transform herbal life products into household products like Patanjali or Dabur.

Concept and Application:

The promotion mix is the collection of all promotional factors used by a company to develop,
maintain, and enhance demand for its brands or goods. A promotional mix is considered
effective if you are able to present a clear, appealing message while utilising the most
effective advertising strategy. The promotional mix usually involves 5 elements and they are
as follows:
● Personal selling:
Personal selling is a component of the promotional mix that requires one-on-one
connection between buyers and customers. Because it is one-on-one communication,
it creates a direct interaction with prospects and consumers. It entails personalised
dialogues and promotional demonstrations by the salesman after studying the
demands and desires of the target audience to whom they advertise.
● Advertising:
Advertising is an important component of the promotional mix that adds to brand
building and how the market views the organisation. Considering the massive reach of
advertising and the message that you can deliver to your present and future
consumers; it is always a crucial element of the promotional mix. This promotional
mix component uses paid media channels such as TV, radio, newspapers, billboards,
and sometimes even digital advertising channels such as social media platforms and
search engines. Good advertising may help a firm establish a strong brand image. On
the other side, poor advertising with the incorrect message can lead to the failure of a
brand or product.
● Direct marketing:
Direct marketing is a promotion method in which the brand contacts the target
customers directly rather than through an intermediary such as a store or wholesaler.
It's an excellent promotional method that enables the business to engage directly with
potential customer. However, direct marketing is not the same as personal selling.
Despite the fact that it involves direct interaction in between brand and the client, it
does not often require truly customised sales presentations
 Sales promotions:
Sales promotions are one of the most commom sorts of company promotions. Their
primary goal is to increase purchase and sales of the goods and services. While it has
the ability to boost sales, it is also useful to inform the prospects about new items in
the market or just recapture former or lost clients. Short-term incentives are often used
to encourage new items in the market, promote remaining stock, draw in more
customers, and increase sales.
● Public relations:
Public relations include connecting with and attracting the target audience through
earned media channels such as news, the word of mouth, government
pronouncements, and so on. In simple words, public relations is a planned process of
publicising organization-related data to the general audience through reliable channels
such as news in order to boost the brand's positive reputation.

Conclusion:

We can that the Herbal Life should take advantage of promotion mix aspects in order to plan,
create, and implement an efficient marketing campaign. Additionally, it enables businesses to
capitalise on their strengths and avoid needless expenses, as well as to demonstrate to the
target audience of Herbal Life goods the benefits, features, and values of the items or services
you provide. This distinguishes you from competitors such as Patanjali and Dabur and drives
sales.

Answer 3A

Introduction:

The consumer choice process, also known as the buyer’s decision process, helps market in
determining how consumers progress from learning about a product to making a purchase.
Recognising the buyer's purchasing process is vital factor in marketing and sales. The
customer’s or buyer’s choice process will allow them to create a marketing plan that will
influence the consumers to acquire the product or service in order to solve the consumer's
dilemma.

Mr. Raj has to go through various steps to make a decision on buying a new phone with the
latest features. Below is the diagrammatic representation of the consumer decision making
process.

Concept and Application:

It is vital to understand the buyer’s journey, purchasing cycle, buyer’s funnel, and consumer
purchase decision process are all terms for the consumer decision making process. The
consumer decision making process is a five-step procedure that analyses customer behaviour
prior to a purchase:
● Need Recognition:
The purchasing process begins with the recognition of a need. Recognising customers'
requirements requires recognising their internal and external sources of need
development. Internal factors include hunger, thirst, or a house, whereas external ones
 include human influence and/or advertising. A marketing executive should examine
and analyse these causes at this stage of the purchase process to determine their
requirements and challenges.

● Information Search:
The search for information is the second stage of the purchase process. Once the need
is identified, the customer is motivated to seek more information and enters the
information seeking stage. Buyers and customers can obtain knowledge about things
from a variety of sources, including personal sources, commercial sources, public
sources, and experiential sources.

● Alternative Evaluation:
The third stage of the purchasing process is the evaluation of alternatives. Various
customers employ different criteria when assessing goods and services. To pick
appropriately, buyers often analyse the alternatives based on product qualities, degree
of significance, brand image, contentment, and so on. Consumer income threshold,
expertise, understanding, intuition, information availability, data analysing capacity,
and so on all impact alternative evaluation.

● Purchase Decision:
The consumer has now decided what to buy and where to buy it from based on the
information obtained. At this point, a consumer has either examined all of the
information and reached a reasonable end, made a choice based on psychological
connectness, or surrendered to advertising/marketing efforts, or a mix of all of the
above.

● Post-Purchase Behaviour:
Consumers reflect on their most recent purchase at this step. The marketers consider
how consumers feel about it, whether or not it was a smart investment, and, most
importantly, whether or not they will return to the brand for future orders and suggest
it to family and acquaintances.

Conclusion:

Therefore, we can conclude that Mr. Raj will go through various steps mentioned above in
his decision-making process to make a purchase decision on buying a new phone. Through
the organisation of relevant data and the identification of alternatives, the process aids in your
ability to make more careful and considered decision.

Answer 3B

Introduction:
Online marketing is also referred to as digital marketing or Internet marketing. Online
advertising refers to any marketing message that appears on the Internet. Accordingly, it may
show up in an internet browser, a search engine, social networking platforms, a smart phone,
and even an email. It is very affordable, reaches to a large audience, can be monitored to
determine success (or failure), and may be adapted to a particular demographic. Marketers
are increasingly using this feature to contact customers.

Concept and Application:

Global Stock, being an online app for the purchase of stocks from the international Market
should use the following ways mentioned below.

Online advertising is a type of marketing that uses the Internet as a tool to drive visitors to
websites and target and communicate with potential consumers. It aims to define markets
through special and practical uses. There are different ways through which the app can be
promoted online, they are as follows:

● Social Media Advertising:

Social media networks, like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, are flooded with
marketing messages. Promoting on social media is an excellent platform for marketers
to connect with their audience. This includes Facebook advertisements, sponsored
tweets, and adverts that appear between YouTube videos.

● Content Marketing or SEO:

Its main objective is to improve a website's organic traffic through SEO; but, once a
plan and content are in place, it may expand the content's reach and engagement by
sales. In other words, without publicity, the production expenses might frequently
exceed the potential return. Paid advertising can help to boost the ROI of content
marketing.

● Email Marketing:
Since e-mail advertising is such a usual type of web marketing, many customers don't
even consider them to be classified ad. Opening the e-mail will probably reveal
adverts for the product or service. Email advertisements can once in a while take the
form of newsletters or discounts.

● Search Engine Advertising:

The Search Engine Marketing goal is to make the website more visible on search
engine results pages (SERP) by paying to be seen on search engines like Google. It
shouldn't be confused with SEO (search engine optimization), which is the practise
boosting your ranking on the SERP without spending money to do so. SEM is
sometimes referred to as PPC (pay per click), and it can be used on Microsoft Bing
 Ads or Google Adwords, for instance. CPC (cost per click) or CPI (cost per
impression) are typically used to gauge how beneficial an investment was.

● Display Advertising:
Display advertisements, which is the most conventional type of internet advertising,
can take the form of anything from banners of all sizes and forms to text ads that are
relevant to the page's content. This form of advertising includes placing your
advertisement, which is often composed of branded images, videos, graphics, or rich
media content, on other websites so that when a person clicks on it, they are
redirected to your website.

● Mobile Advertising:
People spend a major portion of the day browsing through their mobile. It seems
sense that businesses are choosing mobile advertising to connect with consumers.
However, it should be used with precaution as this approach of marketing goods and
services is getting more and more restricted. Advertising using mobile applications,
push notifications, SMS/text messaging, and MMS are just a few examples of mobile-
specific marketing strategies.

Conclusion:

Therefore, we can conclude that Global Stock can make use of the above approaches and
methods to promote the app online. Promoting online gives them the ability to send the
brand’s message to a large audience that requires the services while focusing on a very
specialised vertical or speciality.