Marketing Management and Sales
What this domain tests
Marketing mix decisions for a small firm, the difference between marketing and selling, and simple pricing and channel reasoning.
Core concepts
- Marketing starts with the customer's need and works back to the product; selling pushes whatever has been produced. Marketing is broader and long-term.
- 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. For services, 7Ps adds People, Process and Physical evidence.
- STP: segmentation (grouping buyers by need, income, age, location), targeting (choosing a segment), positioning (the place you want in the customer's mind).
- Product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, decline - with different pricing and promotion at each stage.
- Pricing methods: cost-plus, penetration (low entry price), skimming (high initial price), competitive, value-based.
- Channels: direct to customer, retailer, wholesaler–retailer, agent, e-commerce marketplace.
- Promotion mix: advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity/public relations, digital and social media.
- Branding, packaging, labelling must carry mandatory information such as quantity, MRP, manufacturer and date of packing.
Worked example
A new juice corner near a school faces a competitor selling at ₹20 a glass; its own full cost is ₹8 a glass. For the first three months it charges ₹15 as penetration pricing, runs a "buy 5 get 1 free" card, and puts a board outside at the school dispersal time; after demand settles it moves to ₹18. Reasoning: the low entry price buys trial against an established rival, the loyalty card builds repeat visits, and the later rise recovers margin without losing the habit.
Traps that cost marks
- Defining marketing as advertising or as selling.
- Confusing penetration (low to enter) with skimming (high to skim early adopters).
- Forgetting People, Process and Physical evidence when the question says the business is a service such as a salon.