Marketing | NawDai

Semester Summer 2020
Assessment date 10.09.2020
Course Internship
Course Code MKT 400
Section U1
Assessment Individual Assignment 2
Assessment weight 30%
Faculty Name Nermain Al-Issa

To be completed by the student
Student Name : Student ID :

Grading Scheme
Question Earned Points Max. Points Question Earned Points Max. Points
25% 25%
25%
25%

Total Earned Points Total Available Points Instructor Signature
100

1. Introduction

Customers have more access to information, reviews, and competitive products than ever before. A good marketing plan frequently uses the process of reviewing some form of the four Ps—product, place, price, promotion to enhance the marketing mix. Considering each aspect of the four Ps will help you better define your options and ultimately make better marketing decisions. Understanding the four Ps helps business owners and entrepreneurs really speak to the right audience with the right message to solve the right problem and reach them in the right way.

Why This Matters: Consider an analogy of shopping for the perfect outfit for a major interview at a company that you really want to work with. Do you want to wear your own favorite outfit because you like it, or do you look for an outfit that captures the company’s values and style and also expresses your strong points? Your best customers are looking for that “outfit” (product) to express their values and style in a unique way. You owe it to your customers to design the outfit that truly fits them in your special style.

Many experts define marketing as the activities involved in creating an exchange. Specifically, the process of building relationships is what determines whether that buyer/client will trust you, your company, and your product enough to find value from interacting with you. Understanding each component of the four Ps will inform you on the best method for developing and improving the relationship you have with your current and future clients.

Your Task: Review the following Sample Case. After reviewing the Sample Case, read the Practice Case and answer the questions. Answer the questions following the scenario.

2. Practice Case

Marketing in 5 Part Harmony by CYL, Inc.

“The Marketing in 5 Part Harmony” is a boutique style social marketing and change management agency offered by CYL, Inc. since 2008. The agency’s focus is on providing entrepreneurs, small business owners, and educators who are influencers of social change an active approach to understanding and leading positive change through a healthy change methodology.

The company services include Interactive Consulting, Keynotes, and Professional Development Seminars. These are available in both online (virtual) and live formats along with a wide variety of free educational resources. They have relied primarily on referrals and presenting at industry conferences for acquiring new customers.

The leadership of Marketing in 5 Part Harmony realized they needed to make some changes to their marketing mix (four Ps) in order to develop a more relevant and clarified marketing plan for customizing the client experience and increasing the perceived value of the product. They conducted extensive marketing research to better understand the current industry and segment needs.

Product
From the research they learned that their ideal target segment includes social change business owners and entrepreneurs with more unique needs than typical business owners. They found that these owners have tremendous knowledge and skills related to their own area of expertise, and a deep personal commitment to help others. Despite the skills and dedication to social change, these owners/entrepreneurs frequently had a gap in knowledge when marketing their own services, and typically felt a disconnect when promoting themselves. As a result, Marketing in 5 Part Harmony found a need to redesign a product that would provide educational and actionable aspects related to social, healthy change and entrepreneur marketing. The product would need to be more interactive to overcome the knowledge-to-action gap found in the segment. An “edutainment” style Certificate product was re-purposed to meet the increasing needs of this segment. The certificate training was tested and refined with a local focus group and then created digitally.

Place
Previously, the Marketing in 5 Part Harmony team used location-oriented channels to reach a broad audience. The primary channel focused on presenting at various industry conferences. Another portion of clients came from a word-of-mouth channel resulting from networking activities with subject matter experts. The company’s market research recently determined that the ideal market segment had been seeking information more from industry resources online and from fellow owners/practitioners indicating a need for digital versions of the educational product as well as more workshop style programs to fill in the knowledge gap.

Promotion
The Marketing in 5 Part Harmony team has traditionally emphasized more in the direct contact with the target segment, from the thought that to “get what we do, you need to experience our product.” The current social change business owner/entrepreneur is more involved in the digital marketing arena so the team found a need to feature the lifestyle and healthy behavior change aspects and direction of its target market. To increase brand awareness and visibility in the digital marketing realm, the team developed an “edutainment” style campaign to highlight the unique nature of impacting healthy behavior change. The edutainment campaign would be geared toward emphasizing the social and healthy change aspect in the promotions to connect with the specific needs of the segment.

Price
To ensure effective strategies for value pricing that factor in the product’s actual cost in relation to the perceived value of the product, the team would need to find a price point that makes the product appealing to the segment, as well as profitable for the Harmony team. The price would need to reflect similar costs already being incurred by this segment for similar products and how it will meet their needs. Since the product will address the segment’s lack of marketing expertise and personnel, as well as their potential misconception of marketing as an effective activity for them the price needs to reflect a stronger value for the money.

Research further information about the company you are assigned and explain the following requirements regarding 4P.

Product
• Describe at least two the organizations’ products/ services and identify the types of the products/service
• Choose one product/service and explain the three level of that product/ service
Price
• Describe which pricing approach or approaches are currently being used from the company (i.e. cost-based, value-based, competition-based )
• Choose one product/service and explain why the mentioned pricing approach was used.
Place
• Describe the distribution channels that are being used by the company
• Identify and describe the functions performed by the intermediary/ retailer/ wholesaler.
Promotions
• Identify and shortly explain the promotion elements used by the company
• Choose and explain two promotion mix elements used more frequently by the company and provide illustrations.