1 Planning is a process of designing the Blueprint for the future.

In this context,
Explain Marketing planning in detail.
Ans: a marketing plan is a written document that specifies the required actions to attain one
or more marketing objectives. A good marketing plan should communicate to every member
what is desired of them, so that they have some level of goal clarity, understanding of
assumptions that lie behind the goals, and the context of each activity and decision.
Elements of standard marketing plan:
Executive summary and table of contents
Mission statement
Summary of performance till date
Summary of financial projections
Market overview
SWOT Analysis for major SBUs
Portfolio summary offal the SBUs
Market assumptions
Marketing objectives and goals
Financial projections for at least 3years
Marketing strategy
marketing action plans
Marketing planning process: The marketing planning process must begin by setting the
corporate objectives and should be followed by strategies and plans for each function.




1. The first step in marketing planning process is setting marketing objectives and policies
2. The second step is designing the marketing system. In the marketing stemma company
has to design each function with its contribution
3. The third step is developing separate objective, programmes and strategies for each
function (like new product development, pricing decisions, distribution function,
promotion function) so that they can be assessed for the targets purpose and the broad
objectives.
4. The fourth step is drawing detailed plans for each function for a shorter period i.e.; a
quarter or a half year or a year. It will help in defining responsibilities, timing and costs
needed to achieve the short term objectives.
5. The fifth step is merging the marketing the marketing plans into organisational plans.







2 Explain Henry Assail Model of buying decision behaviour along with the Diagram?

Ans: Henry assail has come up with an explanation to analyse why consumers buy the goods
they buy .he explained the relationship between the level of involvement by the consumers in
the purchase of goods and services and the level at which diverse good or services differ from
one another .he therefore came up with four different buying behaviours as explained in figure
5.5


Types of buying decisions behaviour
Complex buying behaviour consumers are highly involved in a purchase and are
aware of significant differences among brands. This is usually the case when the product
is expensive, bought infrequently, risky and highly self expensive. Typically the consumers
dont know much about the product category and have more to learn .example :personal
computer
Dissonance-reducing sometimes, the consumer is highly involved in a
purchase but sees little differences in the brands. The high involvement is based
on the fact that the purchase is expensive, infrequent and risky. Example: after
purchasing the carpet, consumers might experience dissonance that stems from
noticing certain disquieting features of the carpet of hearing favourable things
about other carpets.
Habitual buying behaviour- many products are bought under conditions flow
consumer involvement and the absence of significant brand differences.
Considering salt, consumers have little involvement in the product category. They
go to the store and reach for a brand. If they keep reaching for the same brand, it
is out of habit and not strong brand loyalty.
Variety-seeking buying-some buying situations are characterised by low
consumer involvement but significant brand differences. Here consumers often do
a lot brand switching. Consumers do the brand switching for the sake of variety
rather than dissatisfication. Example: wafer potato chips.




3 Packaging includes all the actions that involve the development of a container and
a graphic design for a product .In the light of the statement, explain packaging and
labelling?
Answer: Packaging considerations:
A variety of packaging materials, processes, and designs are available. Marketers primary
concern is to consider the costs involved. The question is how much money consumers are
willing to pay. Research can be used to determine dis-comapanies also need to consider
how much consistency they desire among packages of the firms product. If the aim was to
promote an overall corporate image, the company would prefer to have similar packages or
include one majored design characteristic. Some companies prefer to use family packaging
for different product lines. the packages promotional aspect includes symbol, contents,
features, uses advantages, and precautions. The package design, colour, texture, shape
etc., also communicate a products desirable images and associations. An expensive
perfume cannot communicate the image of luxury and exclusiveness if its package is
ordinary or cheap looking. Marketing should carefully study this aspect while choosing
packaging colours. Pastel colours are viewed as feminine and dark colours as masculine.
The need to create a tamper proof packaging would depend on the nature of product and
extent of its necessity. The package should be convenient for transportation, storage and
handling. A cumbersome package may sometimes discourage resellers from stocking and
displaying a product.
Labelling:
Labelling is closely related to packaging and is used in many different informational, legal
and promotional ways .a label may be a part of package or it may be a tag attached to the
product. Depending on the product category and specific laws of the country, the level might
include only the products brand name or more detailed information desired by the marketer,
or information conforming to the legal requirements. The label can facilitate product
identification by presenting the brand and a distinct graphic design. The labels perform a
descriptive function relating to products source, its contents, important features and benefits,
instructions for use, cautions or warnings, storage instructions, batch number, date of
manufacture, and date of expiry.


4 Explain Brand Extension and its kind.
An: When affirm uses an established brand to introduce a new product, it is called brand
extention.when a brand manager combines elements of an existing brand with a new brand
,it is called sub-brand. If an existing brand name is used for a new product category, then the
existing brand is called pared brand or master brand. If parent brand is associated with
multiple products through brand extentions, it is called family branding.
Types of brand extentions: there are two kinds of brand extentions, namely vertical
extension and horizontal extension.
When the same brand name is taken to products very similar to the current offer,
higher or lower in the same product line, it is called vertical extension or line
extension. Line extension can be step up or step down extensions also. A step up
line extension occurs when the brand manager moves up in the price quality
dimension with the same brand name
A step down model occurs when a current brand name is used to launch a low value
product. The horizontal extension is a process of taking an existing brand name to a
newer product category. This is also known as category extention. In this case, the
parent brand name is used to enter into a newer product category. A brand line
means a set of products sold under the same brand name.
A brand line can have similar as well as dissimilar products in its line. A brand mix is the
set of all the brand lines that a multi-product firm offers to the market companies can also
launch branded variants. The branded variants are available in the market due to
excessive pressure to retailers to deliver specific brands in the market place.
Example: LG has specific brands for specific distribution channels in the market. The
distributed retailer brands are different than the set of brands available in
LGeasybuy.com sites.


5 Logistics has always been a central and essential feature of all economic
activities. In this context, explain logistics management and its major functions


ANS: Logistics has always been a central and essential feature of all economic activities.
The concept of logistic as an integrative activity in business has developed within the last
twenty years. Logistics management is a process of strategically managing the movement
and storage of materials, part, and finished inventory from the supplier through the firm and
on the customers. Logistics is thus concerned with the management of physical distribution
of materials. It begins from sources of supply and ends at the point of consumption. It is
therefore, much wider units reach than simply a concern with the movement of finished
goods- a commonly held view of physical distribution. Logistics deals with all the activities
that facilitate product flow from the point of raw material acquisition to the point of final
consumption. It also facilitates information flow that sets the production in motion for the
purpose of providing adequate levels of customer service at a reasonable cost.
Major logistics functions:
Logistics management involves two functional issues. They are:
Movement of raw materials to the plant known as physical supply or material
management.
Flow of finished products from the plant to the customers, known as physical
distribution.
Logistics management functions can be grouped as primary and secondary activities.



Physical distribution is the process of making the end product reach the customers ant it
encompasses all the activities in the physical flow of products from producers to
customers. To provide the appropriate level of customer service, physical distribution
managers must make decisions concerning warehousing, inventory management, and
control and transportation system.

Q6 Write short notes on:
a) Integrated Marketing Communication
b) Direct Marketing
ANSWER:
A) INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION:
According to the American marketing association, IMC is a planning process designed to
assured that all the brand contacts received by a customer or prospect, for a product,
service, or organisation are relevant to that person and consistent over time.IMC tries to
unite incorporate, synergise elements of the communication mix as the strengths of one are
employ to countervail the flaws of others. Many organisations are of the opinion to integrate
their communications disciplines to one strategic marketing communications function,
specifically IMC The reason is that publicity and advertising back up each other and impact
potently in a cost-effective manner.IMC approaches have been significantly recognised by
the organisations as a tool for effective marketing.
Characteristics of integrated marketing communication programmes
An IMC programme can be defined from two points- continuity and strategic orientation.
Campaign continuity means that all messages communicated in different media through
different marketing communication tools are inter relayed. It involves marketing both the
physical and psychological elements of a marketing communication campaign consistently.
Physical continuity refers to the consistent use of creative elements in all marketing
communications. Psychological continuity refers to a consistent attitude towards the firm and
its brand. It is referred to as the companys voice and personality for the consumers. The
second point is strategic orientation. This means marketing communication will be effective
as it is designed to achieve long term corporate and marketing goals of the firm. The focus of
an integrated marketing communication programme is not to develop a unified campaign or
theme that simply attracts peoples attention but to develop a long term communication
programme to achieve strategic goals in terms of sales, market share, and profit.

B) DIRECT MAARKETING:
Direct marketing mean getting the message directly to the customer without using any
intermediaries. Direct marketing is an efficient way to promote and sell products and
services because it has a record of proven profitability. It helps in responding to the return on
the marketing investments and gives efficient systems that helping reaching fragmented and
distributed markets. while direct marketing helps in identifying prospectus and generating
desired sales responses, it also help the customer either to go for a trial or at least seek
product information. General advertising seeks to increase awareness and has more
communication orientation in relation to direct marketing advertising.
Advantages of direct marketing:
1. Focused approach- it is possible to identify a specific target market using direct
marketing techniques. This makes it a very useful promotional tool for niche products
because it is possible to target only those who are likely to respond to the promotion,
leading to lesser wastage of marketing efforts and resources.
2. Cost effective-although the cost per thousand people may be high as compared to
other mass marketing promotional techniques, direct marketing can be very cost
effective for niche products. Companies are also able to remove the non value-
adding intermediaries from the channel and serve customers due to less number of
intermediaries in the value network.
3. Measurable and attributable-it is possible to link a particular sale as being a
response to a particular direct marketing activity. This is very useful information since
over a period of time it is possible for an organisation to build up a picture of the kind
of marketing messages to which a particular group of customers is more likely to
respond. A marketing manager can measure the benefits of direct marketing
programme and identify attributes responsible for the success or failure of the
programme.
4. Alternative distribution channel- many organisations are realizing that direct
marketing not only offers the opportunity to communicate with customers but it is also
a means of getting their products to the customer. In other words, it is mechanism for
distribution as well as promotion.
5. Tailored messages-direct marketing also offers greater opportunities for developing
tailor-made messages for particular groups of consumers this is the biggest benefit
as there is lesser involvement of mass media while communicating with identified
segments. Marketers can undertake behavioural research to find out the benefit
sought of the target segment and tailor the message to appeal to the audience.
6. Immediate and flexible-some promotional activates can take a great deal of time to
develop from the first idea to the final execution like television advertising. Direct
marketing is flexible and there is a short lead-time associated with its use. Direct
marketing often has an immediate impact on customer responses. The adaptability of
direct marketing programme to the changing environment is high, making it more
flexible and instant result oriented activity for the organisation.
7. Opportunity to build a database-Over time, the direct marketing company is able to
develop a database of customers, which includes information on what they bought,
when and how they bought.many companies use such customer database to do mail
oreder marketing.