SECTION 2: Strategy questions

Instructions: Create a marketing strategy for each of the situations below, using the information provided and what you have learned in class.

Tips:

• Remember brand management has one problem (how to sell something) that can be solved in many ways. Your answers should show that you a) know what types of solutions exist, b) that you understand how these different solutions can help to solve the problem, and c) that you can make strategic choices about which solutions to use and defend those choices.
• Be thorough, detailed, and specific in your answers. Use brand management terms and show that you know what they mean.

Situation #1:

Below are some statistics on current marketing trends. Imagine you are a brand manager advising a local consumer-goods company on how to deal with a slowdown in sales during COVID-19. How might you use these statistics to develop a marketing strategy? BE SPECIFIC: what pricing, promotion, advertising, and distribution strategies would you recommend for increasing sales, given these statistics? Why? Explain your reasoning.

Brands are becoming less of a factor for 44% of global consumers when it comes to purchasing decisions, as the pandemic has aided consumers in learning to live with less and consume better. The trend is especially strong among millennials (49%) and Gen Z (47%) consumers. There is less pressure for consumers to keep up with the latest gadgets and technology trends (41%). While almost a third (27%) of respondents buy things to feel happy, 48% disagree with this statement. (Source: Marketing Week) 36% of searches on Google are associated with a location. (Source: Think with Google)

Where to buy and near me mobile queries have grown by over 200% in the past two years. (Source: Hubspot)

Research suggests that advertising on TV can have an immediate and visible response. Across the 10 brands modelled, TV drove 42% of all visits online 50 million in total at an average cost per visit of 2.11. The study also shows that brand-focused TV advertising, alongside outdoor advertising, has the longest-lasting effects, generating 50% of sales in the first 14 weeks following the TV commercial and 50% in the two years afterwards. (Source: Marketing Week)

The number of global social media users is expected to reach almost 3.43 billion in 2023. (Source: Hubspot)

Email marketing has the highest return on investment for small businesses. (Source: Campaign Monitor)

Situation #2:

Business is slow at Remy, a posh, boutique hotel in Washington, DC, and the problem started before COVID-19. Even though tourism is coming back and other hotels are filling up, Remys rooms are empty. Remys owner wants to hire you to figure out why it is losing business.

Use the prompts below to generate ideas about what the source of the branding problem could be (product, pricing, promotion), how you would plan to test your ideas, and what solutions you might recommend to the hotels owner.

If the problem is the hotels product . . .

What could be wrong?
What would you do to find out for sure?
What kinds of solutions could help?

If the problem is the hotels pricing . . .

What could be wrong?
What strategies could you use to find out for sure?
What kinds of solutions could help?

If the problem is the hotels promotion . . .

What could be wrong?
What strategies could you use to find out for sure?
What kinds of solutions could help?