Marketing Semester Project
Name:
Chapter 1
1. If you could open a business, what kind of business would it be?
a. Service
b. Retail
c. Wholesale
d. Manufacturing
e. Other
2. What type of business will you have? (fitness center, game store, clothing store, hair salon, etc)
3. What does your typical customer look like demographically?
4. Would you say your business is directly involved with, indirectly involved with or removed from
marketing? Why?
5. Which of these activities will your business engage in? How?
a. Market planning
b. Product/service management
c. Distribution
d. Pricing
e. Promotion
f. Selling
g. Marketing-information management
h. Financing
i. Risk management
6. How will you know if you are satisfying customers’ needs/wants? Give at least 3 examples.
7. Before you decide which products/services to offer at your business, how will you gather
information to make sure you will be successful and that customers will visit your business? Give
at least 3 examples.
8. What are your 4 P’s of Marketing?
a. Product (specialty)
b. Place (independent building, shopping center, mall, big city, small town, off the
highway, etc)
c. Price – (specialize in low priced items, all price ranges, elite products with high prices,
etc)
d. Promotion – What do you think the best form of media would be to get the word out
about your business?
9. What kinds of things can your business do to engage in relationship marketing? Give three
examples.
Chapter 2 & 3
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1. Thinking about your business, what kinds of things might be impacted by the idea of scarcity?
Give 3 and examples to support them
2. Will you have much government interference with your type of business? Why or why not?
3. What do you think drives your customers to want your product/service? What can you appeal to
that makes your product/service a good or better fit for satisfying that want/need?
4. Who would be your biggest competition for your target market? List 3 and tell why for each.
5. Which type of Competition Economy will your business exist in? (Pure, Monopoly, Oligopoly,
Monopolistic) Why?
6. Thinking of your business as a whole (not individual products or services) what might you tweak
in each of the following utilities that could set you apart from your competition?
a. Form Utility
b. Time Utility
c. Place Utility
d. Possession Utility
Chapter 4
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1. Even the best business ideas sometimes fail. What are some pitfalls that you will have to keep
an eye out for with your business?
2. What will be your business’ strategy? Is your strategy based on fulfilling customer needs or your
own needs?
3. Some marketers appeal to the general needs of their customers as a whole, others appeal to
specific needs. Thinking of your business, give one example of each.
a. General needs of customers b. Needs that are specific to your target group -
4. Creating your marketing mix
a. Product/Service
i. Write a description of the kind(s) of products/services your business will offer
ii. How will you set your product/service apart from your competition (other than
price) – name 3 ways
b. Distribution
i. Where will your business be located
ii. What are some alternative ways your customers can locate/use your business
iii. How will you use distribution strategically to benefit your customers
c. Price
i. What price range of products/services will you offer (low price, average price,
high priced, a combination)
ii. What kind of financing or creative ways can you make the product/service
affordable to the customer
iii. How will you use and/or be affected by your competitions pricing strategies
d. Promotion
i. Name 3 different promotional idea you have to communicate your business
with the public
ii. Are these trackable promotions? Why/how or Why not?
iii. What do you hope to gain using each of these?
5. How can your business use the decision making stages to help customers? Give an example for
each stage
a. Recognize Need
b. Identify Alternatives
c. Evaluate Choices
d. Make a Decision
e. Assess Satisfaction
6. Will your business have producers, distributors, or other “middle men” that you will have to
deal with? Give examples.
Chapter 5
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Go to www.FedStats.gov and use it to answer some of the following questions.
1. Click on the Agencies tab. Look under the Agencies & Organizations section to find an industry
that your business will fall under or be affected by and look at what information is available.
Answer the following questions:
a. Which industry did you pick
b. What information is available?
c. What part of that information might be helpful for your type of business
d. What kinds of decisions can you make using the available information?
2. Go to http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html# , click on/select Illinois and use the
information to help answer the following questions:
a. What information might help you make decisions if your business be based in Illinois?
b. What stat is the most interesting or surprising to you and why?
c. Why does some of the information seem outdated?
d. Fill in the following information into the table for Illinois and then for two other states of
your choice
Illinois
State Population
% of Total Population
Median Household Income
3. Using the site from #2:
Answer the following questions about the data:
a. Is your target market gender specific or leans to one or the other?
b. What is the age group of your target market? (you cannot cover more than 3 categories of age
breakdowns).
c. How many people in the state of Illinois fall in your target market range?
d. Do you think this is a good number or would you need to adjust something to appeal to more or
fewer people?
Chapter 6
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1.
Will your business sell to final consumers or business consumers?
2.
Is your business/products filling a want or a need?
3.
How can you appeal to each level of Maslow’s Hierarchy with your business and/or product?
4.
How can your business appeal to your customers’ Emotional Motives?
5.
How can your business appeal to your customers’ Rational Motives?
6.
How can your business appeal to your customers’ Patronage Motives?
7.
What kind of Postpurchase Evaluation can you offer your customer?
8.
How can you use Personal Identity in your business to appeal to customers?
9.
What can you do at your business that will take into consideration Cultural interests of your
customers?
10.
How can you give your customers a social connection?
11.
Which kinds of decision making will consumers be doing in your store? Give examples.
a. Routine Decision Making
b. Limited Decision Making
c. Extensive Decision Making
12.
Will your customer have alternatives if you are out of a particular product? Explain.
13.
Will your business depend on brand loyalty of the products you sell? Explain
Chapter 7
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1. Breakdown the following Market Segments for your business. Be as specific as possible.
a. Geographic Segmentation
b. Demographic Segment
c. Psychographic Segment
d. Product Usage
e. Benefit Expectation
f. Do you have a Business Market? If so, explain it.
2. Using the information above, describe your ideal customer.
3. Do you think your criteria is too big, too small or just right? How would you change your market
segment if you need to?
4. Do you think mass marketing will work for your business? Why or Why Not?
5. Make a list of 5 (one or two words each) attributes of your business that you think would appeal
to your market segment based on your answer in #2. Describe why/how.
6. How could you use each of the positioning strategies? Circle the one you think would be most
effective for your business.
a. Attribute
b. Price/Quality
c. Use or Application
d. Product User
e. Product Classification
f. Competitor
7. List 3 Direct Competitors
8. List 6 Indirect Competitors
9. How will you be affected by price competition from your direct competitors?
10. When you can’t change the price, what factors of your marketing mix will you emphasize and pit
against your competition?
Chapter 8
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1. In your business, how will you use your website as a communication tool? What kinds of
information do you think should be listed on the home page? Be thorough? What links would
you provide?
2. How will you use your website to gather information about your customers?
a. List two ways you will get information directly from the customer
b. List two ways you will get information indirectly from or about the customer
3. What kind of operational problems might you have to deal with having to do with using the
internet as a marketing tool? List 3 and how you will overcome them.
4. The book lists 4 virtual marketing activities. Which of these will fit or could be changed to fit
your business and how will you use them?
5. If you are planning on selling items online, tell me the process you will go through to make sure
the order is received and processed and given to the customer.
6. If you are not planning on selling items online (perhaps you are a service business), what kinds
of things will you have to receive and organize from your web site in terms of customer
information and how will you make sure to take full advantage of this?
7. How can you use online advertising for your business? Think of a way you could use each of
these, then circle the ones you think would actually be effective for your business.
a. Online advertising
b. Web Sponsorship
c. Priority Placement
d. Information Web Sites
e. Business Blogs
8. Here is a list of things customers want from a shopping website. Take screen shots of a
competitors website that shows each of the following. If they don’t offer one or more, tell me
how you would incorporate it into your own business web site.
a. Close up images of products
b. Information on product availability
c. Product comparison guides
d. Easy-to-use search function
e. Toll-free customer service number
f. Consumer reviews and product evaluations
g. Easy-to-use “shopping cart” and check out feature
Chapter 9
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1. What is your Market? (All students who are graduating, Everyone who is concerned about
education. Should be a broad statement)
2. List 3 different segments within the market listed above. (Students who are graduating:
Elementary School, Middle School, High School. Segments should be general but they should be
distinct in that those who fall into one segment wouldn’t fall into another) Take into
consideration things like demographic characteristics, psychographic characteristics and/or
buying behavior.
3. Choose one of the segments from # 2 to be your Target Market. ________________________
a. The people in the target market must have common, important needs and must
respond in a similar way to marketing activities designed to satisfy those needs.
b. The people outside of the target market should have enough differences from those in
the market that they will not find the marketing mix satisfying
c. The company needs adequate information about the people in the target market so that
they can be identified and located.
d. The most important wants and needs of the target market and their buying behavior
must be understood well enough that an effective marketing mix can be developed.
4. You will not be able to start out with everything. Keeping your target market in mind, choose a
basic product and/or service you will offer as you base/essential item. It will be what the rest of
your business will be based on.
5. As your business gains popularity and you are able to add more, keep your target market into
consideration and list 10 features/services/additional products you will add to satisfy the
growing customer base within your target market.
6. Are there options you could offer that would be appealing to your target market specifically?
List 2 options and explain how they focus on your specific target market.
7. Are there associated services you can offer that will enhance your relationship with your
preferred target market? Name 2 and explain them.
8. What brands can you carry at your business that will appeal to your market? Name 3 and
explain why for each.
9. What kind of guarantee or warranty can you offer that will appeal to your target market
specifically? Why will it appeal to them?
10. Packaging comes in many forms from the box your product is in to the bags that you pack the
purchase in to how you group related products. Give two examples of how you can package that
will be useful specifically to your target market. Explain.
11. Distribution:
a. Where will the customer be best able to obtain your product?
b. Where will the customer use it?
c. Are there special requirements to transport, store, or display the product?
d. When should distribution occur?
e. Who should be responsible for each type of distribution activity?
12. Price:
a. Does the business want to increase sales, increase profits, or enhance the image of the
product?
b. Should price be based on cost, what customers are willing to pay, or what competitors
are charging?
c. Will there be one price for all customers?
d. Will customers be allowed to negotiate price? Will discounts or sales be used?
e. Will the price be clearly communicated through a price tag or catalog?
f.
Are there things that clearly satisfy the customer and make the product a better value
than alternatives?
13. Promotion:
a. Will promotions be directed at a general market or specific segments? Who is the
decision maker? Where are the customers in the decision-making process?
b. Is the specific goal of promotion to increase knowledge, to change attitudes, or to
influence behavior?
c. What specific information does the audience need to make a decision?
d. Will promotion be most effective through advertising, personal selling, sales promotion,
publicity, or some other form of communication?
e. What is the total amount of money needed for effective promotion? When should the
money be spent, on what activities, and for which media?
f.
When and how can feedback be obtained to determine if customers understood the
message?
14. Is your product/service a convenience good, shopping good or specialty good? If convenience or
shopping which specific good is it according to the book (pgs 252-255)
15. Who would consider your business/service to be an unsought good?
16. Based on your answer for #14, what is the most important part of your marketing mix (pgs 25257).
Chapter 11
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Many of you have businesses that combine product and service. This section is concentrating on the
service aspect of your business. Please answer the following questions about the services your
business offers and not the products.
1. What service(s) does your business offer?
2. How do the following situations apply to or have an effect on your business’s services?
a. Prosperity
b. Automation
c. Complexity
d. Foreign competition
3. Using the idea of being heterogeneous, how will your service be distinguished from others like
it?
4. What percentage of your services are equipment-based services and what percentage are
people-based services? Explain each.
5. How much customer contact will you and your employees have with customers directly?
6. Will the level of skill needed to complete your service play a role in pricing, availability, and/or
the credibility of your business? How or why?
7. How will you know if you are doing a good job with your service?
8. How do you think your customers will rate your service? Will they use quality, timing, location,
price, or another comparison to distinguish you from the competition?
9. How will you turn your intangible service into a tangible image to the customer?
10. How will you promote your services using the following ideas?
a. Endorsements
b. Word of mouth
c. Personal selling
11. Is there a way you can bundle you products to offer price discounts or to get customers to try
more of your service offerings?
12. Since distribution is one of the most important parts of a service business, because it can’t be
mailed or bought online, how will you use distribution to market your product?
Chapter 16
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1. What kind of image do you want your business to have? Write a full description of how you
want people to feel about your business.
2. If your business were to have a media plan, which types of media would fit your business best?
3. How long would you run each of the above advertisements?
4. Which media vehicles would you use for each of the above media types?
5. If you were to work in advertising, which of the Agency Positions would you like to have and
why?
6. The book mentions three advertising objectives: increasing sales, increasing awareness, or
communicating an idea. Which of the three do you think would be most helpful for your
business? Why?
7. The book mentions four ways to structure an advertising budget: What you can afford,
percentage of sales, competition matching, and objective and task. Which of these would you
use for your business and why?
8. Tell me which of the creative formats you would like to utilize to advertise your business. You
may choose as many as you like. Tell me why you think they would be good for your business.
9. What kinds of claims is your business at risk of making that could be deemed misleading or
dishonest? How can you avoid making these mistakes?
Chapter 19
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As a business owner, you will experience risk. Use this part of the project to explore your risk and make
decisions to reduce possible losses to your business.
1. List at least 5 risks you are taking by opening your own business.
2. List at least 5 opportunities that you gain by opening your own business.
3. How much will natural risk affect your business? Think outside the box but also be realistic.
4. What kind of human risk will you face with your business?
5. How will changes in economy affect your business?
6. How will your business be affected by pure risk? Explain.
7. Where is your greatest speculative risk? Explain.
8. List your controllable risks and tell me what actions you will take to avoid or reduce them. (at
least 10)
9. What insurable risk do you have? Explain.
10. What uninsurable risk do you have? Explain.
11. Are there things in your business that you will avoid due to the fact that you cannot control
them and the potential for loss is too great? Explain.
12. Where can you transfer risk in your business? What can you service-out or hire someone else to
do that will eliminate or reduce your amount of risk? Explain.
13. What risks will you have to assume? As part of your business, certain amounts of risks are
inevitable and part of the business. Give me examples of 10 and what policies you’ll put into
place to reduce them as much as possible.
14. What laws and regulations do you know of that might affect your business? What future laws
might have an effect on your business?
15. What risks will you have related to your Product?
16. What risks will you have related to your Distribution?
17. What risks will you have related to your Price?
18. What risks will you have related to your Promotion?
19. Where might liability play into your risks? What could happen that you would be responsible for
and need to take measures to avoid?