Marketing, Branding and Retail Promotion
Marketing fundamentals
Candidates should understand positioning, target audience, brand identity, marketing mix, digital channels, content planning, promotions, loyalty programmes, referrals, retail merchandising, and measuring return on marketing spend. Know the difference between brand awareness, acquisition and retention campaigns. Understand compliance in advertising, including truthful claims, consent for client images, and disclosure of paid partnerships.
Traps in questions
A common trap is discounting as the default answer. Discounts can train clients to wait for offers and erode margin. Another trap is confusing reach with engagement and conversion. Questions may also blur retail sales with service upgrades; both raise average ticket but require different skills. Watch for consent issues when posting before-and-after images, and for claims about results that cannot be substantiated.
Worked example
A promotion costs $600 and generates 20 new clients with an average first-visit spend of $80. Revenue is $1,600, so the return is 1,600 ÷ 600 ≈ 2.7 times spend. But if only 4 clients return, judge the campaign on lifetime value, not first visit alone.
Rule of thumb
Every campaign needs a goal, audience, offer, channel, budget and measure. If you cannot state the measure, do not run the campaign.