Discussion Questions - Assignment Example

Marketing Discussion Questions Relationship Management relationship management is a form of technology that helps organizations track and influence customer interaction so as to be able to maximize their revenue as well as increase customer loyalty. CRM also aids organizations to intensify their operations through programing routine tasks and standardizing best practices (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). This eventually enables the organization to effectively obtain, manage serve and excerpt value from their customers while improving the efficiency of their operations at the same time.

This may be achieved through focusing on the existing customers, making the most of revenue opportunities, optimizing the IT sales and reducing the costs of operation among other strategies (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). Due to CRM being applied in organizations, marketing managers can then have immediate access to customer data when they need it. This is because CRM enables a company have all the business data in a single location (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). They can therefore come up with a strategy to develop efficient programmed process that can help improve the overall business processes.

Potential sources of product differentiation Carnival cruise airlines- Differentiate the price with that of other airlines. Sears crafts man tools-Differentiate the design Avon-Differentiate the timing and location Lowe Home Improvement-Differentiate the quality The producers can however settle on advertising and branding differentiation for all these. This is because it will cover large areas and many people will be reached. A difference in the way they advertise these products will attract customers into trying the improved products (Marshall & Johnson, 2010).

Product Experience Product experience refers to the interaction that exists between a product and the consumer of that particular product. Producers should therefore ensure that the product will be able to satisfy the essential needs of the customers so as to achieve effective product experience (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). They should ensure that the core product as well as supporting services to the core product are well presented so as to create an experience that will be fascinating to the customer.

In cases where the core product as well as auxiliary services are well defined it will create an enhanced product that will attract more customers as a result of the satisfaction that they derive from the product (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). As a marketing manager for aqua fresh extreme toothpaste, I would communicate the customer requirements to all the units of production such as packaging, sales, packaging among others so as to ensure that we offer proper customer experience so as to attract customers into buying our products (Marshall & Johnson, 2010).

Advantages of competitor based pricing By setting its price close to that of their competitors, a company does not risk losing its market share to its competitors. This is because the prices of the company in question will differ by a small margin or in some instances it may even fail to differ with that of their competitors (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). This may then make the company attract customers the same way just as their competitors. In the long run they may then end up sharing the market share since their competitors do not have any advantage over them.

Disadvantages of competitor based pricing The main challenge associated with this approach is that at times when companies offer their product at a relatively cheaper price as compared to their competitors, customers may tend to ignore their product as there are those customers who associate cheap products with low value. This can then make this customers go for the products being offered at relatively higher prices (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). Competitor based pricing does not take into account the cost of production a company encounters.

This may put the company at risk since they may be offering prices that are below the total costs they incurred in production just because its competitors are offering their products at the same range (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). This may make the company to eventually operate on losses that may make it be fished out of from the business world. Examples of industries that can apply the competitor pricing approach Industries that are dealing in the producing homogenous product can effectively put into consideration the competitor-based pricing approach when developing a pricing strategy.

Companies that engage in the production of products such as bread and butter can compare their prices with that of their competitors and set theirs at the same level (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). This will help them be at per with their competitors thus making their business resilient against competition. Advantages of cutting down middlemen in business operations Presence of intermediaries makes businesses to incur extra costs that is usually inflicted on customers in form of pricing products highly so that companies can gain from involving intermediaries in their operations.

When these intermediaries are done away with, it means that the costs have been cut down which is to the advantage of the down channel buyers (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). This is because they will now obtain these products at a relatively cheaper price as compared to the time when intermediaries were present. This is because of the reduced costs that manufacturer’s experience (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). Advantages of outsourcing marketing As a marketing manager, outsourcing my marketing plans will help improve my field of concentration despite others fearing that this may be the start of my downfall.

This is because outsourcing enables one save on time and money since experts are readily available and can be accessed easily with little struggle (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). This will therefore provide me with proper recommendations on ways of improving the business marketing plans. Outsourcing will also increase the range of experiences (Marshall & Johnson, 2010). This is because this firms may have experts who may have been in the field for quite some time. Their experience may help in making marketing plans as they will advise on which strategies will best suite my company thus helping me achieve the best (Marshall & Johnson, 2010).

I would therefore ensure that I cooperate with the agency so as to maintain a productive relationship with the agency for the benefit of my company. Reference Marshall, G., & Johnson, M. (2010). Marketing Mnanagement. New York: Mc Graw Hill.