Lesson 2.4
Primary Marketing Functions
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
 Pricing
 Distribution
 Promotion
 Financing
 Selling
 Information-Management
 Product and Service Management
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
1. Pricing: Assigning a value to products and
services
--Price is determined on the basis of supply & demand
Examples:
Tickets to the Super Bowl are very expensive because
demand is high.
In 2013, the New York Jets lowered season ticket prices
because of low demand
(in some cases dropping prices from $700 to $255)
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Examples:
Disney prices went up, no discounts to residents…
the majority of Disney parks enjoyed attendance
increases.
Was this wise of Disney?
Tickets for the 2014 men's ice hockey gold medal game at
the Sochi Olympics were unavailable within a half hour
of going on sale online.
-Max purchase of 4 tickets ($233 and $1,132 per ticket).
High or Low demand?
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What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Companies must implement strategies
to help identify the best price points to
match demand.
Solution=“dynamic pricing” structure
-higher demand games cost more
-lower demand games cost less
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
2. Distribution: Determining how best to get products
and services to consumers
Examples:
EA Sports sells their video game products at
Target and Best Buy stores, knowing that
consumers shop at those stores for video games
and entertainment
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What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
On Demand and streaming services have become
prevalent options for consumers in today’s
marketplace
As Apple tries to hold on to
market share, they are
constantly adding new
streaming content for their
Apple TV product (such as
HBO Go, ESPN) to appeal to
a broader base of
customers
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What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Strategy?
Whatever will make most $$$
--mass distribution in as many outlets as
possible?
--partnerships with individual retailers to
create exclusivity and drive demand?
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What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Mass Distribution Example:
Taylor Swift’s album release
Red
-available at nontraditional
retail outlets
-Starbucks, Target, Papa
John’s Pizza and Walgreens
-Sold over 1.2 million copies in
its first week
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Example of Exclusivity:
-Jay-Z inked an exclusive (and lucrative) partnership
with Samsung
-Magna Carta Holy Grail album release
-provided free copies of the album to 1 million
Samsung cell phone and tablet owners before it was
available for sale.
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What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
-Exclusive distribution doesn’t always guarantee
success however
-Sears’ “Kardashian Kollection”
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
3. Promotion: Communicating information about
products and services to consumers
-GameFly, Inc., an online video game rental
subscription service
-National summer-long promotion with Six Flags last
summer
-Six Flags guests given “free” trials of their subscription
-Provided 1 million gift cards available for giveaway at
toll booth exits at each park
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
4. Financing – money matters
Examples:
 Creating a budget for a company’s marketing
plan
 Analyzing the cost effectiveness of existing or
past marketing efforts
 Providing customers with flexibility in purchasing
company products or services
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
In July of 2014, Under
Armour bumped its annual
forecast for sales for the
second time, citing
"increased confidence" in
its footwear and
international businesses.
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What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Budgets and projections/forecasts are never an
exact science.
The 2013 summer release of the film Star
Trek Into Darkness
-production budget= $200 million
-forecast= $100+ million barrier
-actual= $84 million
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
The US Army ended it’s NASCAR sponsorship after
the Air National Guard spent $650,000 to sponsor a
2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup race
Result = 439 recruitment leads, none of which
ended up joining the Army
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
5. Selling: Communicating with consumers to assess
and fill their needs, as well as anticipating future needs

Cultivating prospective buyers (or leads) in a
market segment

Conveying the features, advantages and benefits
of a product or service to the prospective buyer

Closing the sale
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
6. Marketing Information-Management: Gathering
and using information about customers to improve
business decision making
Professional sports teams began offering smaller
ticket packages (half-season, quarter-season,
five-game packages)
-customer research based
-full season ticket plans were often too costly
and/or time consuming for many fans
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What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
As visitors pass through the turnstiles at Disneyland in
California, guests are randomly selected to answer
interview questions
Questions asked:
-where they are from
-how many are in their group
-how many times they have visited the theme park in
the past.
Who cares?
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
7. Product/Service Management:
Designing, developing, maintaining,
improving, and acquiring products or
services so they meet customer needs
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What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
“Nike Field Tester Program”
-selected applicants wore Nike shoes for typically 48 weeks
-Testers keep a daily written account of information
relating to the product
-Testers are required log the number of hours the
shoes were worn each day, the surfaces shoes were
worn on, observations regarding the shoe’s fit,
performance and durability.
… and they got free shoes
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Executives from professional sports teams are always
working to improve their product, recognizing the
importance of fielding a competitive team to meet the
demands of consumers (fans)
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Following the App trend…
Microsoft announced that the
release of its Xbox One
gaming console would allow
developers to create their
own games
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC