Marketing

What Marketing covers

Marketing is examined in all three written papers — the specification is assessed in full on every one of them, and they differ by the context questions are set in rather than by content. It covers marketing objectives and why a business sets them, marketing resources and SWOT analysis, primary market research and trial marketing, secondary market research and desk sources, sampling methods and sample reliability, normal distribution and standard deviation, market share and market growth, using market analysis to make decisions, consumer buying behaviour and the marketing models, niche marketing and mass marketing, customer orientation, product orientation and customer service, market segmentation, customers, consumers and business-to-business marketing, the product life cycle and its stages, extension strategies, the marketing mix and the marketing strategy, product, USP, branding and differentiation, the Boston matrix, Ansoff's matrix and portfolio analysis, pricing strategies, price and income elasticity of demand, cross elasticity and advertising elasticity of demand, place and channels of distribution, promotion above the line, below the line and digital, service marketing and the extended marketing mix and external influences on marketing.

The 25 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Marketing objectives and why a business sets themRecall questions on marketing objectives and how they differ from corporate objectives, measurable marketing goals and SMART form, customer retention, using objectives to allocate budgets and manage staff, consistency with other functions, over-ambitious objectives, reviewing objectives, and market share against sales volume.Open →
• Marketing resources and SWOT analysisRecall questions on the resources needed to market a product, how budgets, team skills, customer data, brands and time constrain strategy, SWOT analysis and its internal and external elements, examples of strengths and threats, the purpose and criticisms of SWOT, and making a SWOT more useful.Open →
• Primary market research and trial marketingRecall questions on market research and primary research techniques, focus groups and their drawbacks, observation, online surveys, interviewer bias and leading questions, the cost of primary research, and trial marketing, how it reduces launch risk, its drawbacks and what an app trial aims to learn.Open →
• Secondary market research and desk sourcesRecall questions on primary and secondary research, desk research, external sources such as government statistics and published reports, internal sales and complaints data, the advantages and limitations of secondary data, research funding, competitors' accounts, web analytics, and sequencing secondary before primary research.Open →
• Sampling methods and sample reliabilityRecall questions on sampling and why businesses sample, random, stratified, cluster, systematic, quota and convenience sampling, which method represents minority groups, sampling bias, how sample size affects confidence, why large samples can still mislead, and the flaw in surveying a store's own shoppers.Open →
• Normal distribution and standard deviationRecall questions on the normal distribution and its use in marketing, standard deviation and what a small value shows, the 68% and 99.7% rules, calculating ranges and a standard deviation, planning stock, comparing samples with the same mean, delivery times, and the limitations of standard deviation.Open →
• Market share and market growthRecall questions on calculating market share, market growth and total market size, contracting markets, share by value against volume, percentage points against percentage change, sales rising while share falls, the benefits of high market share, and how a business should respond to market growth, shrinkage and changes in its share.Open →
• Using market analysis to make decisionsRecall questions on market analysis and its purpose, quantitative and qualitative market data and why neither suffices alone, misleading correlations, trends against single periods, ignoring or setting aside research findings, why accurate data can still lead to wrong decisions, extrapolation, testing surprising results, and stated purchase intentions.Open →
• Consumer buying behaviour and the marketing modelsRecall questions on consumer buying behaviour, planned and impulse purchases, risk in purchasing, setting promotional budgets, the AIDA model, the DAGMAR approach and the hierarchy of effects, the ATR model, the shared limitations of the models, diagnosing a failing campaign, and how business decisions change buying behaviour.Open →
• Niche marketing and mass marketingRecall questions on niche and mass marketing, the advantages and risks of a niche, unit costs and margins in mass marketing, how promotion and market research differ, premium pricing, growing from a niche into the mass market, break-even in each strategy, large firms' niche brands, and a brewery's supermarket contract.Open →
• Customer orientation, product orientation and customer serviceRecall questions on customer and product orientation and their advantages, risks and criticisms, product orientation in long research cycles, customer orientation across the whole business, customer service as part of the product, after-sales service, social media complaints, service as competitive advantage, and measuring service by call times.Open →
• Market segmentationRecall questions on market segmentation and its demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural bases with examples, charging segments more, reducing wasted promotion, the costs of serving several segments, what makes a segment worth targeting, over-segmentation, stereotypes, a premium fitness app, and withdrawing products.Open →
• Customers, consumers and business-to-business marketingRecall questions on customers and consumers and how the split complicates promotion, business-to-business marketing and how business markets differ, derived demand, personal selling, pricing, trade exhibitions, brands in business purchasing, losing a customer, the length of the buying process, and promoting low-value consumer products.Open →
• The product life cycle and its stagesRecall questions on the product life cycle and its development, introduction, growth, maturity and decline stages, sales, profit and cash flow at each stage, the shape of the curve, how promotion differs between stages, the model's limitations, and the danger of holding all products at one stage.Open →
• Extension strategiesRecall questions on extension strategies and their purpose, examples including new markets, product updates, new uses and price cuts, why extension is cheaper than a replacement, timing an extension, the danger of relying on it too long, judging whether it worked, and why it works less well in technology markets.Open →
• The marketing mix and the marketing strategyRecall questions on the marketing mix and marketing strategy, strategy against tactics, keeping the mix consistent, why mixes differ, local, national and international marketing, standardising and adapting the mix, changing the mix at maturity, funding a strategy, benefits to employees, and entering a market held by two rivals.Open →
• Product, USP, branding and differentiationRecall questions on product in the marketing mix, unique selling points and their effect on price, real and perceived differentiation, brands and branding, the benefits and risks of a strong brand, negotiating with retailers, own-label competition, product portfolios, and balancing the product mix across the life cycle.Open →
• The Boston matrix, Ansoff's matrix and portfolio analysisRecall questions on the Boston matrix, its axes and its stars, cash cows, question marks and dogs, cash flow between cash cows and question marks, keeping a dog, the matrix's limitations, Ansoff's matrix and its four strategies, why diversification is riskiest, value analysis, and product portfolio analysis.Open →
• Pricing strategiesRecall questions on price in the marketing mix, price skimming and penetration pricing, competition-based and psychological pricing, calculating cost-plus prices and contribution, marginal-cost and contribution pricing, accepting orders below full cost, the danger of price cuts, and pricing a new technology.Open →
• Price and income elasticity of demandRecall questions on price elasticity of demand, its formula and why it is negative, elastic and inelastic demand, calculating it, its effect on total revenue, the factors that make demand elastic, branded products, income elasticity of demand, normal and inferior goods, and planning for a recession.Open →
• Cross elasticity and advertising elasticity of demandRecall questions on cross elasticity of demand, its formula, substitutes, complements and unrelated products, calculating it and using it when rivals change prices or when selling complements, advertising elasticity of demand, calculating and interpreting it, and why it can understate a campaign or be hard to measure.Open →
• Place and channels of distributionRecall questions on place in the marketing mix, channels of distribution, direct selling and its advantages, wholesalers and retailers, intensive, exclusive and selective distribution, luxury watches, online selling, logistics, the cost of stock-outs, channel conflict, and distribution for a new craft food brand.Open →
• Promotion above the line, below the line and digitalRecall questions on above-the-line and below-the-line promotion, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling, drip and viral marketing, social media and internet promotion with their advantages and drawbacks, matching the promotional mix to the audience, and promoting a small independent restaurant.Open →
• Service marketing and the extended marketing mixRecall questions on service marketing and the characteristics of services, why services cannot be stored, the people, process and physical evidence of the extended marketing mix, consistency, reducing delivery costs, restaurants, customer reviews, hotel pricing, and where a new hairdressing salon should invest first.Open →
• External influences on marketingRecall questions on how an ageing population and health trends alter marketing, the Advertising Standards Authority and its rules, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, data protection, marketing to children, greenwashing, interest rates, recession and exchange rates, the tobacco advertising ban, measuring effectiveness, and marketing abroad.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Marketing further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Customer vs Consumer

  Customer: the person who buys a product and pays for it. Consumer: The person who actually uses a product, whether or not they bought it.

• Market share vs Market growth

  Market share: the proportion of all the sales made in an industry, by value or by volume, that is held by one business or brand. Market growth: The percentage rise or fall in the total size of an industry over a given period.

• Percentage point change in share vs Percentage change in share

  Percentage point change in share: the plain arithmetic difference between two figures that are already out of 100, so 12 to 15 is a rise of three. Percentage change in share: The difference between two figures expressed as a proportion of the starting figure, so 12 to 15 is a rise of a quarter.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is a marketing objective?

   Model answer

   A marketing objective is a specific goal set for the marketing function, such as raising market share or brand awareness, to be achieved within a stated period.

2. 2

   How does a marketing objective differ from a corporate objective?

   Model answer

   A corporate objective is a goal for the whole business, while a marketing objective is a functional goal set to help deliver it.

3. 3

   State four measurable goals a business might set for its marketing.

   Model answer

   It might set goals for market share, sales volume or value, brand awareness and customer retention.

4. 4

   Why are marketing objectives usually written in SMART form?

   Model answer

   Making them specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound means performance can be judged objectively rather than argued about.

5. 5

   How do clear marketing objectives help a department allocate its budget?

   Model answer

   They show which activities contribute to the stated goal, so spending can be directed towards those and away from ones that do not.

6. 6

   Why might a business set an objective for customer retention rather than for winning new customers?

   Model answer

   Keeping an existing customer usually costs far less than winning a new one, and loyal customers buy more often and recommend the brand.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Marketing revision questions

What does Marketing cover in OCR A-Level Business (H431)?

25 subtopics: marketing objectives and why a business sets them, marketing resources and swot analysis, primary market research and trial marketing, secondary market research and desk sources, sampling methods and sample reliability, normal distribution and standard deviation, market share and market growth, using market analysis to make decisions, consumer buying behaviour and the marketing models, niche marketing and mass marketing, customer orientation, product orientation and customer service, market segmentation, customers, consumers and business-to-business marketing, the product life cycle and its stages, extension strategies, the marketing mix and the marketing strategy, product, usp, branding and differentiation, the boston matrix, ansoff's matrix and portfolio analysis, pricing strategies, price and income elasticity of demand, cross elasticity and advertising elasticity of demand, place and channels of distribution, promotion above the line, below the line and digital, service marketing and the extended marketing mix and external influences on marketing. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Marketing organised?

By the OCR H431 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.