Marketing and Sales Questions

Competition  occurs when two or more organisations act independently to supply their products to the same group of consumers.

There are mainly two cases when firms can compete. One is price where firms are selling identical or very similar products, they must compete on price with each firm trying to undercut the others. The other is differentiation. A non-price competition depends on making a product different from those of competitors and by giving it distinctive qualities that are valued by the target market. This might include branding, styling, special features or higher levels of customer service. Good competition provides more options to customers and also brings with it improved  customer services.

In direct marketing, there is a direct interaction of the customers with the seller without any intermediaries. Here, the role of the intermediaries is nil. The medium used is more direct using telephone, mail, internet where the seller can directly reach out to the consumer. Examples of such marketing include telemarketing, email, voicemail marketing, door-to-door selling etc. This kind of marketing is more time saving as the problem of distance which may otherwise exist between the buyer and seller is eliminated and is also cost effective as it minimizes commuting costs.

Inbound Marketing :

     Inbound marketing refers to marketing activities that bring visitors in, rather than marketers having to go out to get prospect's attention.

1. Communication is interactive and two-way.

2. Customers come to you via search engines, refferals and social media

3. Marketers provide value

4. Marketers seek to entertain and/or educate

5. It is a cheaper way of marketing

6. It is the new trend in marketing

7. People are more in control of what information they receive and how

Outbound Marketing

    In Outbound marketing the company contacts the customer through a message. It uses offline methods such as trade shows, mails to customers and calling customers.

1. Communication is one-way.

2. Customers are sought out via print, TV, radio, banner advertising and cold calls.

3. Marketers Provide little to no added value.

4. Marketers rarely seek to entertain or educate.

5. It is expensive compared to inbound marketing

6. It is one of the traditional methods of marketing.

7. In outbound marketing company is in control.

It is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of the other salespeople that they recruit. This recruited sales force is reffered to as the participant's 'downline' , and can provide multiple levels of compensation. Other terms used for MLM include pyramid selling, network marketing and refferal marketing. Most commonly, the salespeople are expected to sell products directly to consumers by means of relationship referrals and word-of-mouth marketing.

a.Understanding the customer profile : the tastes,preferences, habits of the customers may differ from person to person.

b.Determining the objective as to who would be the target market, whether the company wants to go for cost minimisation or not etc.

c.Type of channel members :Who all would be involved? Wholesalers, retailers?

d.The criteria on which the channel members would be evaluated and selected.

e.How many intermediaries will be involved in the overall distribution?

We can say that sales promotion is a cost effective technique by which an organisation can achieve its sales volume or the marketing objectives by providing value added product and not just an ordinary product to the end user or even the intermediaries. It is short term by nature and is suitable enough for generating sales within a short span of time. Sales promotion techniques are being increasingly used by retailing organisations some of which include advertising, providing discounts and allowances or a 'buy one get one free offer' etc.

It is an investment strategy that involves the buying of money market instruments or currencies in anticipation of a price rise or a future increase in demand. Buying forward allows an investor to take advantage of future and potential profits by buying now at alower price, and selling when prices rise.