1.

What does it take to be a good marketer - one of the requirements to be a successful marketing
manager - Capturing consumer insights

Understanding consumer behaviour

Understanding consumer needs

Good analysis

Customer centric

Ready to cook v/s ready to eat

Coffee v/s tea

2. Do marketers create needs? Concept of Needs, Wants and Demand

Needs are already there

No, they just manage need.

 Marketers identify it
 Make us realize it
 Only intensify the need to get it

The needs are already there & marketers just cater to them.

Need: Basic Requirement, Want: Choosing amongst various options to fulfil the need, Demand: Need
backed by purchasing power
3. Is it right to say that price leads to (dis)satisfaction? What actually matters?

Price is what the seller charges, Cost is the price the seller charges plus other kinds of intermediary
cost such as switching cost, information search cost

Value is worth of the product in the customer’s eyes.

Price does not lead to customer satisfaction, value does.

4. How to represent the relation between – Value, Cost, Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Delight
– in the form of equations

V>C: Delight

V=C: Satisfaction

V<C: Dissatisfaction
5. Is it right to say that marketing’s goal is to increase the demand of the company’s offering?

Marketing’s goal is to regulate demand. This is called demand management.

In India, mostly demand is regulated (demand management) because there is already a lot of
demand existing. This can be done by managing the 4Ps, 7Ps, negative marketing, demarketing.

Negative marketing: Reducing demand for competitor’s product (Making your competitors look bad)

Demarketing: Reducing your own demand. (Eg. Boards outside petrol pumps)

In the west, demand is less than supply and thus the aim is to increase the demand. Thus, companies
are completely customer centric.
6. What is ATL, BTL and TTL? What is the utility of each?

ATL: It is a generic form of marketing targeting the mass market.

BTL: Directly targeting the customers using customized and personalized form of marketing.

TTL: Through the line: Doing BTL through ATL

Eg. Slice- Buy the bottle and sms the code on the cap to get a chance to meet Katrina.

Ad reached all, people who messaged are now open to BTL

7. What is Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing? What is the utility of each

Inbound: The seller tries to seek the permission from the customer before marketing: Utility is to
undertake pull strategy

Outbound: One way communication where you try to push the product to the customer. (Don’t take
the permission)
8. Defining Marketing – Why is difficult?

Refer to marketing notes. Remember it is a philosophy where the marketer believes.

9. Journey of the Marketing Thought

10. Production Orientation / Concept; Pros, Cons and Suitability

The production philosophy is premised on the assumption that consumers will favour product that
are available and highly affordable. This required that businesses’ concentration were directed
toward product improvement and efficient distribution of goods.
Pros: Increase in demand

Cons: Need for variety sets in

Suitability: Today, such a business orientation may only make sense when the objective of the
company is to expand the market.

Eg. Chic shampoo, parle-g, nirma

11. Product Orientation / Concept; Pros, Cons and Suitability

The production orientation assumes that consumers will prefer product based on its quality,
performance and innovative features.

You try to develop the best product in the market. Focus is on improving the product.

Pros: Innovation, best product development

Cons: Cost of improvement, Imitator’s life, marketing myopia

Suitability: When goods are in short supply

Eg. Kevlar: Lighter than silk, stronger than steel

Some soap

Return on quality needs to be seen

12. Marketing Myopia

When the company has a love affair with the focus. They focus on the product so much that they
neglect the competitor and the customer itself.
13. Sales Orientation / Concept; Pros, Cons and Suitability

The philosophy where the marketer believes that customers won’t buy the product on their own.
The product thus continuously needs to be pushed in the market.

The emphasis of selling philosophy was to create a department to solely be responsible for the sale
of the company’s product; while the rest of the company could be left to concentrate on producing
the goods.

Pros: It increases sales, helps customer realize the utility of the product

Cons: Not caring about customer needs, focus only on sell

Suitability: Way to high competition, product surplus

Push type of products

Eg. Life insurance

14. Marketing Orientation / Concept; Pros, Cons and Suitability

The key assumption underlying the marketing philosophy is that “a market should make what it can
sell, instead of trying to sell what it has made” (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2009:15). The marketing
concept focuses on the needs and wants of the buyer rather than the needs of the seller and the
product.

Pros:
Cons:
Suitability:
`
15. Marketing versus Sales

Marketing Sales
Focuses on the needs of the customers Focuses on the needs of the sellers
Marketing is preoccupied with the idea of Selling is preoccupied with the seller’s need to
satisfying the needs of the customer by means convert his product into cash
of the product and the whole cluster of things
associated with creating, delivering and finally
consuming it.

Outside in Inside out

Is more focused on product pull
Is geared around understanding ad
communicating to the customer to design,
develop, deliver and determine the value in the
product offering
Activities to stimulate demand
Tends towards long term satisfaction of the
consumer
Tends to greater input into customer design of
offering (co-creation)
Emphasises on the process of product push
Is organized principally around enhancing the
distribution of the companies’ products once
the product offerings has already been
designed
Activities to stimulate supply
Tends towards short term satisfaction of the
customer needs
Tends to lesser input into customer design of
offering (co-creation)
16. Societal Orientation / Concept; Pros, Cons and Suitability

The concept assumes that there is a conflict between consumer short-term wants and
society’s long-run interest, and that organizations should focus on a practice that ensures long run
consumer and societal welfare.

Eg.: ITC electronic cigarettes

Pros: Helps the society

Cons: Additional cost, customer’s behaviour is not in sync with thoughts so they don’t appreciate it.
For eg: McDonalds Paper bags

17. Holistic Marketing – Integrated Marketing, Internal Marketing, Performance Marketing and
Relationship Marketing

The holistic marketing concept is a 21st century business thinking (Kotler and Keller, 2009).The
concept is based on the “development, design, and implementation of marketing programmes,
processes and activities that recognizes their breadth and interdependencies”.

Holistic marketing recognizes that “everything matter” in marketing.

Integrated Marketing: All 4 Ps in sync with the brand message that needs to be send out to
the customer

Internal Marketing: Motivating the employees to deliver brand promise to the customers.
(More for services)

Performance Marketing: A method of interactive advertising which pays on a “performance”

basis. RoI on every rupee spent. Advertisers and marketing companies (a.k.a, “affiliates” or
“publishers”) are paid when a specific action is completed; such as a sale, lead or click.

Relationship Marketing: Maintaining relationships with profitable and interested customers.

Emphasises on customer retention and satisfaction.

18. Experiential Marketing

A marketing strategy that directly engages consumers and invites and encourages consumers to
participate in the evolution of a brand.

Giving a whole new experience of buying to the customer. For eg: Nike Town made by Nike.
Also called “engagement marketing”, "event marketing", "on-ground marketing", "live marketing" or
"participation marketing."

19. Marketing today & tomorrow: Marketing v3 – Why is it required and How is it being done?
(Clue: The message in the advertisements of brands has been changing over time – in which
direction and why)

Earlier, advertisements were more focused on product attributes and utility. Now focus has shifted to
emotional connect.

Insecurity in the society. Apprehension, agitation amongst customers due to external factors. Thus
focus more on emotions. Company needs to tell the customers that we are with them throughout.

Reasons:

 Insecurity in the customers

 Customers are24*7 connected today
 People hate brands: They want anti-corporationalization
 Earlier it was company to many customers, now it is many to many customers

20. Marketing Environment - Internal, Micro and Macro Environment

Marketing Environment: Everything around the company that affects them and their marketing.

Important to scan the environment to recognise threats and opportunities

Should scan the internal, micro and macro environment

Internal factors: Factors within the organization

Philosophy of the top management, Company culture, financial muscle.

21. Marketing Environment Analysis Tools –

a. PESTLE

Studying the macro-economic factors plus demographics and their impact on the industry.
b. Stakeholder analysis

Porter’s 5 Forces+Media+Industry
c. Cross Impact Analysis

How the various factors impact each other

d. SWOT / TWOS

Maxi-Mini Strategies
22. Where to get information for marketing environment analysis –
a. Marketing Intelligence: The overall trends that the company and employees are noticing in the
market on a regular basis. Unfocussed. Done internally
b. Marketing Research: A complete focussed form of research, generally done by a third party, to
understand the market intricacies.

c. Marketing Information System: Using the marketing research along with marketing intelligence
and internal records in order to take informed marketing decisions.

23. What is the relation in a, b and c given above? When is each of these used?

A+B=C
24. What is the relation between Marketing Environment and Marketing Mix (Clue: Why are
marketing managers refer to as Chef?)

The environment for each company is more or less the same. Thus, to differentiate themselves, the
marketing managers need to play with the 4Ps to come up with some unique proposition.

25. The changing Indian consumer – what is changing and why?

 Money’s not a bad thing

 More educated and aware
 Very diverse needs, even in the same customer cluster (Eg. Different needs for the same
family)
  Believe in prosperity based on merit rather than based on status during birth
 Average age of the customers have declined drastically
 Shortage of semi-skilled labourers
 People have become more expressive
 More spending than saving
People earlier had more cerebral and intrinsic values (knowledge, moral values, restraint, patience,
savings etc.). These days, people have more of materialistic and extrinsic values (success,
celebration, spending, etc.)

26. Consumer versus customer

Consumer: Consumes it
Customer: Buys and pays for it

27. Why studying consumer behaviour is given so much importance in marketing?

Helps to understand the changing patterns and trends in the market.

One of the must qualities for a marketer.
If you fail here, entire brand can go for a toss.
For eg: MNCs when they first came to India. You can’t penetrate and gain the market without it.
Similarly currently it is happening with rural market in India.

28. What to study in consumer behaviour

10 Os
 Occupants-Who
 Objects-What
 Objectives-Why
 Operations-How
 Occasions-When
 Outlets-Where
 Organizations-By whom

 Opinion
 Options
  Obstacles

29. Consumer decision making process – 5 stages

Need Recognition – Information search – Evaluation – Purchase – Post Purchase

30. Need recognition – actual and desired state

Actual needs: Level of needs that are actually demanded by the consumer

31. Strategies to put customers in the state of need recognition

Strategies:

 Create a new desired state

o Telling the benefits of usage
o Telling the more the better
 Making trials easy
 Customizing the trial
 Informing the customer it’s time to change
 Make alternatives difficult
 Remind them of the need to change
 Hope that the customer will recognize the need on their own

32. Information search - depends on? Internal and External sources of information

Information search depends on:

 Level of confidence (Inner directed customer is confident, outer directed customer needs
approval)
 Frequency of purchase
 Rate of change
 Risk involved

33. Evoked, Inert and Inept Set of brands

Evoked set: Brands which come to mind in a particular situation (top of mind awareness) (Preferred)

Inert set: Brands about which the person is indifferent (Neutral)

Inept set: Brands considered unacceptable (Not preferred)

34. Evaluation of Alternatives = Perceived Risks vs Value (Types of risk and value)

Perceived Risks in Purchasing and Using Products and Services:

 Functional—unsatisfactory performance outcomes (Auto repair)
 Financial—monetary loss, unexpected extra costs (Tour package)
 Temporal (Time)—wasted time, delays leading to problems (Airline, Medical)
 Physical—personal injury, damage to possessions (Gym, Airline)
 Psychological—fears and negative emotions (coaching class)
 Sensory—unwanted impact on any of five senses (Salon, pest control service)
 Opportunity- opportunity cost involved in using a product/availing a service (travelling by
train v/s travelling by plane)

35. How the buying decision process would differ for high vs low involvement buying decisions

High involvement buying decisions are a marketer’s dream. These decisions are made in a slow
manner with many variables weighed. Consumers are more likely to spend time online researching
long before they make their purchases.

Low involvement decisions are made quickly in a traditional marketing environment. They rely more
on point of sale marketing to influence the consumer’s purchase. These buying decisions usually
satisfy lower segments on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs because they are easier to comprehend.

36. What is Cognitive Dissonance? Why does it matter to marketers and how marketers deal with
it?

Cognitive dissonance is when your words, thoughts, and/or deeds contradict your beliefs.

It is the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to

behavioural decisions and attitude change.

37. Impulse buying – why is it growing and what marketers can do about it?

Purchases made without planning or prior thought. Usually seen in super markets. Location is used
as a leverage.

38. Is the behaviour of business buyer different from that of individual consumers – How?

Business Buyer Individual Consumer

More planned purchases Less planned purchases
The decision maker, the customer and the
consumer may differ
Support contracts are often needed
History with the vendor is of extreme
significance
Usually, the decision is made by the consumer
itself or closely related to the consumer
Support contracts aren’t usually required
An individual consumer may switch vendors
easily

39. What is market segmentation?

Dividing a heterogeneous population into homogenous groups.

40. Why Segment the market?

Not all people will buy your product or avail your service.

It is easier to sell to a smaller segment willing to buy.

Higher return on investment (targeting the complete market is expensive)

41. Why is marketing (in general) moving from: fragmented marketing >> mass marketing >>
segmented / differentiated marketing >> micro-marketing?

Fragmented Marketing: Manufacture locally and sell it (Eg. The local lichi juice)

Mass Marketing: One product for all

Segmented/differentiated marketing: Different product varieties for different needs (Eg. Sunsilk
thick and long, hair fall defence, silky strong, etc.)

Niche: When the company focuses on a different target group to satisfy some particular need. (Eg.
ESPN for sports, Calcium sandos women and Kellogs K for women above a particular age)

A niche can be larger than a segment, although usually niches are a smaller group than segments.

Micro Marketing: When you change the product to sync it with the individual customer’s needs.

42. Basis of Market Segmentation:

i. Profile (who & where) based segmentation: Segmentation based on factors like age, gender,
income level, life stage, etc.

ii. Psychographic (why) based: Dividing your market into segments based upon different personality
traits, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles of consumers.

AIO: Activities, Interests and Opinions

iii. Behaviour (How and when etc) based segmentation: Behavioural segmentation divides the
market into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses and responses to the product.
Occasions: Groups individuals according to the occasions when they purchase, use or think of buying
a product.

43. Will market segmentation differ for B2B markets – How & Why?

B2B complexity requires different dimensions, which address markets, company, buyers, geography,
and product.

Better customer insights due to closer relations.

44. What is Multiple / Hybrid Segmentation? What is the utility?

Segmentation done on the basis of more than one factors.

Utility: One segment may not be the perfect target, so to reach the right set of people, segmentation
on the basis of multiple factors is done.

45. What is ‘Segment Profile’ and ‘Segment Descriptor’? What is the utility of each of these?

A segment profile is a detailed description of the market segment across a range of factors and
measures. It is designed to provide the organization with a good understanding of consumers within
each segment for comparison and strategy purposes.

Segment Descriptor: Name given to the customer segment.

46. On what basis we can evaluate the segments? Where will the data come from?

Segments need to be evaluated on the following basis:

 Distinguishable
 Measurable (potential)
 Accessible (Not a dreamland)
 Sizable (Preferably not too small)
 Growing (preferably)
 Profitable
 Compatible

47. What is the difference between a Product Category, Product Form and Brand?

Product Category/Class: All products catering to the same need, even in different form.
This level considers the macro market view for the general category of products that meet a general
need. Eg. Cars

Product form: This level looks at product groupings that fall within a product category. The product
form contains many different groupings that, taken together, make up the product category. These
groupings include products that not only satisfy the general need of the product category, but do so
by also offering additional benefits. Eg: Hybrid cars

Brand: This level concerns the life cycle of a specific brand within a product form.

A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services,
or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed. Eg. Nissan Altima, Toyota
Prius, etc.

48. What are the options with marketers when it comes to choosing the segment(s) to cater – a.
Single segment b. Selective segments c. Market aggregation d. Product Specialization e. Market
Specialization

49. What is positioning?

Positioning is a marketing strategy that aims to make a brand occupy a distinct position, relative to
competing brands, in the mind of the customer.

50. How is Brand Positioning different from Brand Image?

51. Positioning approaches

a. Product attributes : Eg. Tesla-electrical car

b. Product class: Promoting two products simultaneously Eg. Toothpaste+toothbrush

c. User: Using the product users to position the product

d. Price quality: Eg. Shoppers Stop

e. Product use / application: Eg. Fevicol, Eno, MSeal, FeviQuick

f. Competition: Positioning in the way your competitors position. Eg. Colgate Pepsodent

52. Positioning on value proposition

a. More for more: Apple

b. Less for much less: Basic model of micromax, videocon

c. Same for less: Low cost airlines (Ryanair)

d. More for same: LG TVs, Uncle Chips

e. Same for same:

f. More for less:

53. What is Perceptual Mapping and what is its utility?

Making positioning operational.

Is used to understand the customer’s perception of the brand (image in the minds of the consumers).

54. What are the 2 approaches commonly used to draw perceptual maps?

On the basis of parameters

On the basis of relative grading

55. From marketing point of view, how are services different from products?

Intangible

Moment of truth

Targeting Strategies:

1. Single segment strategy: One segment is targeted with one product.

2. Selective specialization strategy: One segment with product A, another with product B
3. Market aggregation strategy: 9 segments, 9 products, 1 for each segment
4. Product specialization strategy: Specialize in 1 product/service, tweak it and offer to
different segments who need it
5. Market/Customer specialized strategy: Understand one particular segment so offer
different products for that one segment

Differentiation can be achieved through:

 Product
 Service
 Personnel
 Image

Or a combination of these 4.
Trends that will shape Consumer Behaviour this year:

1. Multiplicity: We are increasingly expecting things to do more that involves interacting with
all our senses, offers us a range of touch points to play with, and involves us entirely in new
experiences.
Experiences are expected to offer more.
2. Hyper Efficiency: We are seeking and discovering ever-smarter and more efficient ways to
solve age old issues–such as keeping fit, lack of space and limited resources. The results are
sleeker, quicker and use things that have previously been ignored.
3. The New Industrial Revolution: Science is no longer a closed world, just for geeks. Digital
and technological advances are enabling us to create in new ways–leading to new creative
forms and helping us see a new appreciation of the digital as a thing of beauty.
4. Escape: In a world of austerity and grown up responsibility, we are seeing the increasing
desire to let go, to let loose and indulge in childlike freedom or sheer hedonistic joy.
5. Mindfulness: In a world full ofbuzz and surface interactions, people are seeking more depth
and meaning. They are craving time away from the stimulus of the internet, making their
leisure time more about self-development, and taking their own ethical responsibilities
seriously.
6. Super-personalization: Personalization has been taken out of the hands and tastes of
consumers. This is not just bespoke you select – it is also bespoke that selects you. Advances
in technology mean that products are able to read consumers and give them what they want
– sometimes without even being asked.