Top 20 Interview questions

1. MARKETING QUESTIONS
Made By:-
Deepshikha Gupta

2. Marketing ?
Marketing can be referred to as a form of communication with your customers, with the help of
marketing tools such as advertising, promotion, publicity, design aspects related to the look of
the product etc..

3. Selling has a product focus and mostly producer driven. It is the
action part of marketing only and has short – term goal of
achieving market share. The emphasis is on price variation for
closing the sale where the objective can be stated, as “I must
somehow sell the product”. This short – term focus does not
consider a prudential planning for building up the brand in the
market place and winning competitive advantage through a high
loyal set of customers. The end means of any sales activity is
maximizing profits through sales maximization.

4. 1. Product Oriented
2. Push the product to the Customer
3. It helps in volume generation
4. One way communication
5. Planning is short-run-oriented in
terms of today’s products and
markets
6. Cost determines Price
7. Selling views customer as a last
link in business
1. Customer Oriented
2. Pull the Customer towards Product.
3. It help in Value generation
4. Two Way communication
5. Planning is long-run-oriented in
today’s products and terms of new
products, tomorrow’s markets
and future growth
6. Consumer determine price, price
determines cost
7. Marketing views the customer last
link in business as the very purpose
of the business

5. Sales V/s Marketing

6. POSITIONING
"The Place A Product Occupies In Consumers
Minds Relative To Competing Products"
who and where are you ?

7. Why is Positioning important?
Positioning is like story telling. Done well it can engross
you. Done poorly and you stop reading. It is the most
important aspect of B2B technology marketing because it
is the foundation for everything you do in marketing.
Effectively done, positioning quickly tells the recipient of
your marketing message why they should care about your
product, solution, technology or company.
In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore writes,
“Positioning is the single largest influence on the buying
decision.” Moore describes a position as a buyer’s
shorthand for the best solution for a particular problem.
 Your positioning statement needs to be
unique. No competitor is making a similar
claim.
 It needs to be believable and important; it
addresses the target buyer’s No. 1 problem.
 It needs to be adaptable to others involved in
the buying process in case you need to
message to different audiences.
 It needs to be useable in all types of
marketing communications and sales
presentations; you can create sample
marketing materials (press release, e-mail
blast, web site content, etc.) to test for
usability

8. What are the Marketing 4P’s?
PRODUCT PRICE PLACE
PROMOTION

9. •Product – The first of the Four Ps of marketing is product. A product can be either a tangible good or an
intangible service that fulfills a need or want of consumers. Whether you sell custom pallets and wood products or
provide luxury accommodations, it’s imperative that you have a clear grasp of exactly what your product is and
what makes it unique before you can successfully market it.
•Price – Once a concrete understanding of the product offering is established we can start making some pricing
decisions. Price determinations will impact profit margins, supply, demand and marketing strategy. Similar (in
concept) products and brands may need to be positioned differently based on varying price points, while price
elasticity considerations may influence our next two Ps.
•Promotion – We’ve got a product and a price now it’s time to promote it. Promotion looks at the many ways
marketing agencies disseminate relevant product information to consumers and differentiate a particular product or
service. Promotion includes elements like: advertising, public relations, social media marketing, email marketing,
search engine marketing, video marketing and more. Each touch point must be supported by a well positioned
brand to truly maximize return on investment.
•Place – Often you will hear marketers saying that marketing is about putting the right product, at the right price, at
the right place, at the right time. It’s critical then, to evaluate what the ideal locations are to convert potential clients
into actual clients. Today, even in situations where the actual transaction doesn’t happen on the web, the initial
place potential clients are engaged and converted is online.

10. Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is
a marketing strategy which
involves dividing a broad target
market into subsets of consumers,
businesses, or countries that have,
or are perceived to have, common
needs, interests, and priorities, and
then designing and implementing
strategies to target them.

11. What is USP?
USP (Stands For Unique Selling Point) The factor or consideration
presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different
from and better than that of the competition .
For example, Charles Revson, founder of Revlon, always used to say he
sold hope, not makeup. Some airlines sell friendly service, while others sell
on-time service. Neiman Marcus sells luxury, while Wal-Mart sells bargains

12. What is CRM?
The generally accepted purpose of Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) is to enable organizations to better serve their customers through
the introduction of reliable processes and procedures for interacting with
those customers”. Which is as good a definition as any

13. What is the difference between a Customer and a Consumer?
 Customer is one who buy the product while consumer is who consume the
product.It may be same or either different
 Consumer is also known as end user of product
FOR EXAMPLE:- mother buy Maggi for her children . So there mother is the
customer and her children are consumer

14. What are the current approaches used for Marketing?
a. Relationship marketing: This approach basically deals with
customer satisfaction. The whole emphasis is done on the relationship
between the suppliers and customers.
b. Business Marketing: It does not focuses on consumer products
rather it focuses on industrial goods. All sort of marketing techniques are
like promotion, advertising, etc are used.
c. Social marketing: It focuses on marketing a product socially i.e.
online.

15. What is Brand Equity?
The commercial value that derives from consumer perception of
the brand name of a particular product or service, rather than
from the product or service itself.
Component of Brand Equity:-
• Brand Loyalty
• Brand Preference
• Brand recognition
• Brand Experience

16. What is the importance of Market Research?
 Identifying problem and opportunities in the market
 Formulating market strategies
 Determining consumer needs and wants
 Improving selling activities
 For sales forecasting
 To revitalize brands
 To facilitate smooth introduction of new products
 Determine export potentials
 Managerial decision-making

17. What is the difference between Qualitative research and
Quantitative research?

18. What is PLC?
The product life cycle is an
important concept in marketing.
It describes the stages
a product goes through from
when it was first thought of until
it finally is removed from the
market. Not all products reach
this final stage. Some continue
to grow and others rise and fall.

19. What is BCG Matrix and why is it used?
The Boston Consulting Group (BGC) growth share matrix is a planning tool
that uses graphical representations of a company’s products and services in
an effort to help the company decide what it should keep, sell or invest more
in. The BCG growth share matrix plots a company’s offerings in a four square
matrix, with the y-axis representing rate of market growth and the x-axis
representing market share.

20. What is Competitive Advantage?
Competitive advantages are conditions that allow a company or country to
produce a good or service at a lower price or in a more desirable fashion for
customers. These conditions allow the productive entity to generate more sales
or superior margins than its competition. Competitive advantages are attributed
to a variety of factors, including cost structure, brand, quality of
product offerings, distribution network, intellectual property and customer
support.

21. What is the role of a Marketing Manager?
 Market Segments: Depend on the products offer they segment
markets.
 Strategy:Once they know which market segment they represent, they
have to make sure that the team marketing strategy addresses the
needs of their segment. Each team member is responsible for sales in
her area, and the common strategy has to include facets that address
any particular needs
 Marketing Plan: developed the overall marketing strategy, each team
member is responsible for implementing a corresponding marketing
plan for the areas of his responsibility. These responsibilities include
deciding on the promotional material for his market segment and
pricing
 Outcomes: achieving the targets for his market segment.

22. What do you mean by sales promotion?
It is the part Marketing activities to boost the sales of product or service by targeting
the trade(Targeting the distributor, retailer and whole seller and giving them
incentives , schemes, discounts, freebies, commissions) or directly to the consumer(used
to create a pull for the product and are advertised in public media to attract
attention. Maximum schemes are floated in festival times, like Diwali or Christmas.)
For Example:
A typical trade scheme on soaps would be buy a case of 12 soaps, get 1 or 2 free
- or a 8% discount scheme (1/12=8%). Such schemes are common in FMCG and
pharma industries.
Examples for Consumer sales promotion are buy soap, get diamond free; buy
biscuits, collect runs.

23. What are the components of a Marketing Plan?
Marketing Plan
Market
research and
analysis
Marketing and
financial goals
and objectives
Marketing
Strategy
Marketing mix
Marketing
budget
Monitoring and
evaluating market
response
Marketing plan
checklist
Contingency
plan

24. 1. COMPANY PURPOSE
1.1 PRODUCT SOLUTION
1.2 MISSION
1.3 VISION
1.4 VALUE
1.5 GOALS
2. EXTERNAL/MACRO ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
2.1 MARKET ANALYSIS
2.2 COMPEITITION ANALYSIS
2.3 BUYER BEHAVIOUR
2.4 ISSUE & CHALLENGES
2.5 SWOT ANALYSIS

25. 5. MARKETING MIX TACTICS
5.1 PRODUCT
5.2 PLACE
5.3 PRICE
5.4 PROMOTION
6. GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY
6.1 SALES & DISTRIBUTION PLAN
6.2 PRODUCTION/SOURCING PLAN
6.3 LAUNCH PLAN
6.4 IMC CAMPAIGN PLAN
3. MARKETING & FINANCIAL
OBJECTIVE
3.1 MARKETING OBJECTIVES
3.2 SALES FORECAST
3.3 FINANCIAL FORECAST
3.4 FINANCIAL REQUIREMENT
3.5 RESOURSCE REQUIREMENTS
4. MARKETING STRATEGY
4.1 SEGMENTING
4.2 TARGETING
4.3 GAPANALYSIS & DIFFERENTIATION
4.4 POSITIONING & CVP