Marketing Review - Chapters 11, 12, 13 (35 points)

Situation: Your friend is starting Dog House Cleaners, a new cleaning service for people with pets. She has developed a line of new cleaning products that are very good at removing stains, odors, and pet dander from carpets and furniture. They are so good that it will allow people with allergies to have a pet. She is initially going to only sell the service of cleaning houses in her area for $55 per week and that will include a thorough house cleaning and an optional dog walking service. Eventually she would also like to sell the products.

Using the situation above, respond to the questions below using complete sentences with proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Each question is worth 1 point.

Customer Relationships

  1. Describe how Dog House Cleaners can provide the four types of utility to customers.
  2. Would the market for Dog House Cleaners be considered a producer, reseller, government or institutional market? Why?
  3. Describe a potential target market for this product which uses at least three bases of segmentation. (Refer to table 11.3)
  4. What is the term for the combination of activities the firm uses to reach the firm’s target market?
  5. Describe how each of the forces of the marketing environment (economic, sociocultural, political, competitive, legal, and technological) could affect the marketing mix of the firm.
  6. Describe three ways that market research could help with this business.

Product

  1. Is this a consumer or business product? Justify your answer.
  2. Is this a convenience, shopping or specialty product? Justify your answer.
  3. Make an argument about which part of the product life cycle the product would be in.
  4. Is she offering a product line or mix?
  5. Would patents be an issue for this business?
  6. What is the brand?
  7. How can establishing a strong brand assist Dog House Cleaners?
  8. Describe two actions that Dog House Clearers should take to build a strong brand.
  9. Describe the perfect packaging for the cleaning products. Make sure you use all four functions of packaging in your description.
  10. Design a label for the cleaning products. Make sure you include information that is required on a label.

Pricing

  1. Describe two things that will affect the pricing of the service. Describe two things that would affect the pricing of the cleaning products.
  2. Describe two different possible pricing objectives.
  3. List and explain three possible pricing methods or strategiesfor the cleaning service.

Place – Distribution

  1. Describe two possible channels of distribution for any product.
  2. List one advantage and one disadvantage of each of the channels listed in the previous question.
  3. Explain two criteria for choosing the best channel.
  4. What channel do you see for the cleaning service?
  5. Which kind of market coverage would you recommend for the cleaning products? Why?
  6. Describe two services that wholesalers offer retailers.
  7. Assume your friend decides to sell the cleaning products through a retailer. Describe two different potential types of retailers that would be appropriate for the cleaning products. Defend your answer.

Promotion

  1. What is promotion?
  2. What are the four areas of the promotional mix?
  3. What is advertising?
  4. Describe two possible types of advertisements for this business and/or products.
  5. What are the steps of personal selling?
  6. How could personal selling be used for this company?
  7. List four possible promotional tools for this company.
  8. Give an example of a public relations activitythat could be used with your company.
  9. How do you decide what promotional activities to do for your company?