Exam 13: Marketing: Helping Buyers Buy

Mobile apps, like Rewards4You, engage users by combining the most basic elements of social media. These apps are a great benefit to both customers and businesses. Customers get a special deal while businesses are able to get their names out to the friends of users. This is an effective form of promotion.

One-to-one marketing refers to developing a unique mix of goods and services for each individual customer.

Marketing focuses on the pricing and distribution of want-satisfying products, as well as determining the best way to promote the products to consumers.

Government publications, such as the Statistical Abstract of the United States Survey of Current Business Census of Retail Trade, are sources of detailed primary data.

Marketers define a ________ as any physical good, service, or idea that satisfies a want or need.

Firms that adopt a relationship marketing strategy attempt to

The secondary data collected in the research process does not need to be carefully evaluated since it's always collected from reliable secondary sources.

Mini-Case Briana, a successful executive, is also a cardio queen. For years she worked out at Forever Fitness Gym, the only gym in her small hometown. However, she felt that the environment at Forever Fitness was too masculine, and discovered that her female friends agreed. They disliked the small, smelly locker room, and the limited selection of cardio equipment. Most of them eventually quit going to Forever Fitness. Briana talked to Jim Nasium, the owner of Forever Fitness, about things he could do to attract more women, but he had little interest in making any changes. "I've got all the business I can handle," he told Briana. "Why should I spend a bunch of money to redecorate and add extra equipment? Besides, lots of the guys who work out here tell me they like the simple, no-frills atmosphere." Frustrated by Jim's indifference, Briana began looking into the possibility of starting a gym to appeal to young, well-educated women. After visiting gyms in other towns and talking to several friends to get ideas, she came up with a detailed plan for her gym. She then described her ideas to women in the community to see how much interest there was in this type of facility. The extremely positive response encouraged her to go ahead with her plans. It took a while, but she ultimately obtained the financial backing to go into business. Briana calls her new health club ShapeUP. It offers a spacious and attractive locker room, better cardio equipment, a child care area so young mothers can have someone watch their toddlers while they work out, and exercise classes designed to appeal to young women. When a woman joins her club, Briana schedules a free session with a personal trainer who works with the new member to design a personalized workout program. Briana tries hard to keep close to her customers by maintaining a social media presence, sending them a monthly e-mail newsletter, and routinely sending surveys asking what they like and don't like about ShapeUP. She wants to please her existing customers and keep them coming back. In fact, now that ShapeUP has a strong membership base, Briana believes it is more important to keep existing customers loyal than to attract new customers. In addition to the comments from her own customers, Briana also spends a lot of time tracking economic, social, and competitive trends in the fitness industry, trying to identify factors that can affect the marketing success of her club. She subscribes to several journals and magazines that cover trends and report on research findings related to the business. She has found that these publications provide her with an inexpensive source of useful information. -Which of the following statements about Briana's marketing approach is most accurate?

A firm's marketing mix refers to the combination of

Consumer behavior is influenced by the attitudes, values, and ways of doing things that are passed from one generation to the next.

Sarah found success as an entrepreneur by employing a relationship marketing strategy. The goal of this strategy is to

Which of the following tasks would be included in the marketing mix?

Keepsake Collectibles focuses its marketing efforts on high-income buyers of unique collectible items. The firm realizes that the number of buyers in this segment of the collectible market is small. However, they are confident that this approach will be profitable since these buyers will pay premium prices for their unique products and superior customer service. Keepsake's approach is an example of:

The B2B market involves fewer trades and fewer dollars spent than the consumer market because there are so many more consumers than there are businesses.

Elise has completed a review of data her department has collected. The team contacted potential customers through phone interviews, online surveys, and focus groups. Elise is disappointed because the results strongly indicate the product idea she helped develop is unlikely to be popular. What should Elise do?

Marketing research helps determine what customers have purchased in the past, what situational changes have occurred to change consumer preferences, and what consumers are likely to want in the future.

Relationship marketing is rather easy to implement in the B2B market but almost impossible to use in the consumer market due to the sheer size of the consumer market.

Looking to increase its customer loyalty, management at Epic International has worked to create a personal dialogue with their customers. This dialogue will enable Epic to offer products that exactly meet their customers' needs and provide personalized service before and after the sale. What strategy does Epic International illustrate?

The sales team at the Good Life Appliances works hard to develop a close relationship with their customers and to provide satisfaction even after the sale. These efforts by Good Life's sales employees are part of the marketing process.

There is much more emphasis on personal selling in the consumer markets than in the B2B markets.