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Marketing Skills Assessment

Question #1

What education or background skillsprovide the BEST background forsuccess in marketing management?

• 1. MBA case study experience• 2. Field sales experience• 3. A financial analysis background

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#2 Field Sales ExperiencePrior field sales experience provides the best background for

marketingmanagers, because sales experience helps a marketing managerunderstand the human motivations behind a prospects reasons for

buying,or not buying, a company's products. Through a past track record ofeffectively addressing the needs and wants of prospects, prior sellingexperience also helps marketing managers do a better job of defining

anddeveloping the major sales benefits for their company's products, used

inads, brochures, and all other company marketing deliverables. While

MBAcase study and financial analysis experience can be helpful in helpingmarketing managers identify and correct high-level marketing issues,

suchas positioning, marketing strategy, or pricing, actual sales experienceprovides marketing managers with more practical background and

skillsrequired for real-world execution in marketing projects.

Question #2

What is the most important part of anymarketing program?

• 1. Supporting and reinforcing theproduct's brand image

• 2. Meeting the ROI goals of yourmarketing plan

• 3. Swift and competent marketingexecution

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#3

Timely, competent marketing execution is the most important part ofany

marketing program. Poor execution, such as delays in ad placements,mailing dates, or poor coordination and implementation of printing

projectsand other marketing tasks, lead to missed selling opportunities in yourcompany. Other objectives, such as reinforcing a product's brand

image,are far less important than rapid, diligent, forceful execution on all of

yourcompany's marketing projects. While it is certainly important to meetcompany return-on-investment goals in your marketing program, this

goalcan only be reached after a marketing project has been successfullyexecuted.

Question #3

The only goal of your marketing programis:

• 1. To generate sales• 2. To establish brand awareness in your

industry• 3. To meet the ROI goals of your

marketing plan

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#1 To generate sales

The only goal of your marketing programis to generate sales. Your job as amarketing manager is to serve this goal inevery marketing project. Other objectives,such as establishing brand awareness,are far less important than generatingsales, and meeting marketing ROI goalsare only achieved after sales aregenerated.

Question #4The BEST description of focusing on the reality of your

company’s products in marketing projects means:

• 1. Describing their benefits, features, and applications inways that meet the consensus viewpoint of yourcompany's senior management

• 2. Focusing on their benefits, features, and applications,and describing them in a way that persuades theprospect to respond

• 3. Assigning company marketing resources to theproducts in your company which are more likely togenerate the highest, most profitable sales response

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#2 Focusing on benefits, features,applications….

In developing marketing deliverables for your company, you mustfocus on

the benefits, features, and applications that your prospects want, anduse

copy and presentation techniques to persuade and motivate prospectsto

respond, to initiate the selling process: Calling your company's salesreps,

linking to your Web site, filling out an inquiry card, etc. As a marketingmanager, it is very important for you to see the key benefits of yourcompany's products as your prospects see them, not as your

company'sCEO or other senior managers wish they would be seen, because

seniormanagement is often isolated from the realities of their company'smarketplace.

Question #5A company can achieve a “positive brand image:”

• 1. Through the application of creative advertisingapproaches in all company marketing efforts

• 2. Only through a long-term history of selling excellentproducts and providing excellent customer service

• 3. By consistently including its company tagline andproduct positioning statement in every marketingdeliverable, and through all marketing media

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#2 Through a long history….

"Branding" can best be thought of as acompany's reputation in its industry andmarkets, and this reputation can only beachieved by a long-term history of sellingexcellent products, using honest businesspractices, and providing excellent customerservice. And because the process of building acompany's reputation is a long and difficult one,"branding" is not achieved by designing anattractive logo, and cannot be cheaply bought ina three-month ad campaign.

Question #6Underperforming ads, mailings, or other marketing

deliverables are often problems of:• 1. Poor presentation, prospect targeting,

marketing execution, or poor allocation ofdollars in the marketing mix

• 2. Poor ad agency selection, or poor agencyresponsiveness, agency supervision, orinadequate planning

• 3. Unrealistic sales projections, poor sellingskills, poor prospect follow-up, and lack ofcreative advertising strategy

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#1 Poor presentation…..Underperforming ads, mailings or other marketingdeliverables are most often caused by poor presentationin deliverables, poor execution of marketing projects,incorrect prospect targeting, wrong allocation ofmarketing costs to underperforming media andmethods, and other problems directly related to themarketing program. The genesis of these problemsusually stem from lack of leadership and poormanagement on the part of marketing managers insupplying outside ad agencies with the essentialdirection in copy and strategy required to drive theprocess of creating, developing, and executingsuccessful marketing projects.

Question #7What is the PRIMARY purpose of the marketing

function in most business-to-business, trade,and industrial companies?

• 1. To provide important sales support for thecompany's sales team

• 2. To promote and reinforce the company'sbrand image in all forms of trade media in theindustry

• 3. To publicize the company's products in ads,mailings, trade shows, and other marketingprojects

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#1 Sales Support

The only purpose of the marketingfunction in a company, and your mainfunction as a marketing manager, is toprovide important sales support for thecompany's in-house sales team.Primarily, this involves executing lead-generating programs through advertisingand targeted direct mail, and othermarketing activities, such as trade showsupport, sales force support, and Website development.

Question #8

Which of the following is the best sourceof information on your product's mosteffective sales benefits?

• 1. Trade publication ad readership studies• 2. Skilled focus group research• 3. Your company's sales reps

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#3 The sales ForceBecause they present and sell your company's productsto real, live prospects on a daily basis, your company'ssales reps know which of your product's features andsales benefits are most persuasive to their prospects,and the best ways to present these features andbenefits to them. Collecting and adapting these salesbenefits for use in your company's advertising, directmail, and other marketing programs provides you withthe best sales benefit copy for your company's products.Other methods, such as focus group research or marketsurveys, yield less trustworthy and useful sales copybenefit information than the real-world experience ofyour company's sales force.

Question #9The prime benefit expressed by the headline in

your company's advertising:

• 1. Should be the consensus of your product'sbest benefit, as seen by you, your ad agency,and your management team

• 2. Must be the best benefit you think will appealto readers

• 3. Must be your product's key benefit, asperceived by your reader

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#3 The Reader

Headlines should contain a prime benefit that isperceived as meaningful, relevant andpersuasive to the prospect in the targetedmarket, not the benefit that you, your CEO, yourcompany, or its ad agency thinks the prospectshould see, or headlines dictated by ad agency"creative" approaches. For example, a primebenefit that is perceived as being important anduseful for solving a prospect's real-worldproblem, as it is seen by that prospect, is thebest prime benefit to use in sales copy formarketing projects.

Question #10

• The most important part of any direct mailproject is:

• 1. The outer envelope• 2. The mailing list• 3. The projected financial return

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#2 The list

The most important part of any direct mailproject is, by far, the mailing list used for theproject. The "quality" of the names on thismailing list—i.e., their propensity to becomepurchasers of your company'sproducts—determines the ultimate success orfailure of the mailing. Even a poorly-written orimplemented mailing piece stands a betterchance of being successful if mailed to a top-quality mailing list; however, the best mailingpiece mailed to a poor-quality mailing list isunlikely to generate adequate response.

Question #11What is the most likely result of many first-time direct mail tests?

• 1. If carefully conceived, planned and executed, most first-timedirect mail tests will achieve a successful end result, indicating thatlarger quantities can be "rolled out" once projected response can bejustified by statistical methods

• 2. Most first-time direct mail tests will generate mixed results, andultimate success depends on further scrutiny and improvement ofdifferent elements of the mailing, such as mailing list selection orsales copy

• 3. If poorly planned, implemented, or executed, most first-timedirect mail tests will fail

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#2 Results mixed

Most new direct mail tests and programsgenerate ambiguous response—they areneither complete successes nor totalfailures. Careful analysis of results,identification of factors that can improveresponse, such as emphasizing better ordifferent product features and benefits,and fast correction and execution of newfollow-up mailings often yields a betterresult in subsequent mailing efforts.

Question #12

Ideally, marketing materials under developmentshould be reviewed and critiqued by:

• 1. As many key company employees aspossible, to insure company-wide "buy-in" toyour marketing projects

• 2. You, your sales manager, and yourcompany's CEO

• 3. A focus group, prior to any public release

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#2 Smaller groupThe more people who are "in the loop" to reviewa marketing piece, the more its completion willbe delayed, and the greater the chance thequality of the final product will be lessened.Limiting the number of people who review andcritique marketing deliverables underdevelopment helps to increase the chancesthese projects will be completed on time.Ideally, this

means limiting the review of a deliverable to thefew, responsible people inside your companywho can add the most value to it: You, yourcompany's sales manager, and your company'sCEO.

Question #13What is the most likely reason a smaller, fractional-pagead will repeat, month after month, in a trade publication?

• 1. These ads usually generate solid sales responseevery time they appear in the publication, so thereforethey continue to run, unchanged, month to month

• 2. Advertisers who run smaller ads repeat themregardless of their response, because they feelcompelled to keep their product's name in front of themarket

• 3. These fractional ads are strictly "image" placeholderads intended to impress company management

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#1 They work

A telltale sign that an ad generates goodsales response is the fact that it repeats,month to month, in every issue of apublication. Smaller,inquiry-generating ads run by trade,industrial and business-to-businessadvertisers prove this point, and pay theirway by generating salesresponse, not merely brand awareness,with every placement.

Question #14The longer an advertising deliverable or layout remains unfinished, or

in development, the greater the chance that:

• 1. Your ad agency will develop an even better ad layout or concept

• 2. It will never see the light of day, since too many people may addtheir own suggestions and changes to the ad, leading to abreakdown in execution

• 3. It can be improved, since input from as many people as possiblein your company can only improve the quality and effectiveness ofany marketing deliverable

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#2 Too many cooks

The quality of an advertising program, and itstimely execution, will always suffer by havingtoo many people involved in the creative anddevelopment process; this reduces the ad'seffectiveness and delays its timely completion.Given unlimited time, any advertisement can bemade better, but timely execution is alwaysbetter for your company's marketing programthan delaying the execution of ads ordeliverables to achieve perfection.

Question #15Which statement below BEST describes the role of theInternet for established companies selling their productsin business-to-business markets?

• 1. The Internet extends an established company's real-world sales and marketing activities

• 2. The Internet empowers established companies toabandon their current "old economy" ways of doingbusiness

• 3. The Internet has had virtually no impact onestablished ways of doing business among companiesselling to other companies

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#1 It’s here to stayFor established companies, the Internet is neither areason to abandon current marketing methods, nor aphenomenon that can be ignored. The most successfulestablished companies in business-to-businessmarketing utilize the Internet to extend and complementtheir current marketing methods and ways of doingbusiness, without threatening their current, profitable"bricks and mortar" distribution channels. For example,by using the Internet to move important marketing,product, and sales information more quickly tointerested prospects, a company can shorten the time ittakes for a prospect to make a buying decision, therebyshortening the company's sales cycle

Question #16

Which item below is NOT an example of aneffective use of multimedia for a business

Web site?• 1. A video product sales presentation• 2. Video product site introduction or

demonstration• 3. A Flash "gateway" screen with company logo

and promo message which appears before thehome page is displayed

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#3 Too much of a good thing

Flash animations are one of the most-abusedand least-useful features in Web sitedevelopment. Often implemented as animated"gateways" on Web sites, they nearly alwaysirritate site users by delaying their access to theinformation users want to see on the site. Flashanimation should be used sparingly, if at all, onbusiness-to-business Web sites, and works bestfor animated display of text, such as salesheadlines or bullet points, on small areas ofconventionally-designed Web page layouts.

Question #17Should a marketing manager spend time in theircompany's trade show booth giving sales presentationsto prospects?

• 1. No, the marketing manager should never interferewith the company's sales staff

• 2. Yes, because "face time" improves the effectivenessof company marketing programs and deliverables

• 3. No, because time is better spent assessing thecompetition and getting new marketing ideas at theshow

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#2 Face time with customers

Just as prior sales experience is a majoradvantage in a marketing manager'sprofessional background, getting live"face time," by talking with prospects andcustomers at the trade show providesinvaluable response that helps marketingmanagers improve their company'smarketing program, by helping marketingmanagers improve the sales copy,presentation, and targeting of theirmarketing program.

Question #18

Where is the BEST location for a booth at atrade show?

• 1. Front row, facing show entrance• 2. Front row, facing rear of show floor• 3. Rear corner location, facing inner aisle

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#1 Front and center

Booth locations that directly facing theshow entrance at the front of the showfloor are the best locations for your tradeshow booth, because they attractinterested show visitors early, before theycan visit other exhibitors' booths.

Question #19Which of the following is NOT one of the guidingprinciples of your company's public relations program?

• 1. To send out press releases only when your companyhas something to talk about

• 2. To think of how your press release or announcementwill be received by the writer or editor at the other end ofthe exchange

• 3. To aggressively publicize every company newsannouncement, large and small, to trade media contacts

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#3 You can overdo itThe guiding principles of successful business-to-business public relations programs includeseeking high-quality editorial coverage bymaking news announcements only when yourcompany has "something to talk about," andthinking of how your press release orannouncement will be perceived by the writer oreditor at the trade publication. Aggressivelypublicizing every news announcement,regardless of its importance to your company orits industry, dissipates your PR program andreduces your company's reputation in the eyesof trade publication editors and writers.

Question #20

The ultimate success or failure of a start-up or new product launch is notdependent on events, but depends:

• 1. Upon your response to these events• 2. On the impact of external market forces• 3. On your company’s senior

management

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#1

In many instances, the result of amarketing program for a start-up or newproduct launch is neither a success nor afailure. Often, ultimate success isdetermined by your response to theseevents—that is, your mindset, themeasures you take to assess the causesof poor sales response, and the steps youexecute to correct the problems identifiedby the calm observation of the results ofthe project.

Question #21What is the role played by creativity in themarketing process?

• 1. Creativity is a tool used in the service ofsalesmanship in marketing projects

• 2. Creativity should always be encouraged,because it leads to ads, mailings and marketingdeliverables that boost product awareness

• 3. Creativity should always play a secondaryrole meeting the expense and ROI goals of themarketing plan

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#1 Serve salesSalesmanship is always the most importantelement in the development of marketingprojects. It is the catalyst that makes everyaspect of marketing deliverables effective andpersuasive in the market: Copy, design andlayout and production. The role of creativity is toserve the salesmanship that determines theproduct’s key sales benefit, positioning and callto action. Creativity also plays a role in the“downstream” aspects of copy, design andlayout for marketing deliverables, but alwaysworks in service to salesmanship

Question #22As a general rule, what is the minimum size andfrequency required for effective ad placements?

• 1. Full page ad placed in 6 consecutive issuesof the highest circulation publication in yourindustry

• 2. The largest affordable fractional ad, at aminimum three-time insertion in the top twopublications in your industry.

• 3. A series of at least two fractional “image-builder” ads, placed on successive right handpages of a publication

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#2 Reach and frequency

To maximize the cost, impact and coverage ofyour advertising program, run the largestfractional ad your company can afford, with aminimum three-time placement schedule in thetwo top publications. This strategy maximizesthe three key goals of every advertisingprogram: Effective deliverable (largest ad pagesize), frequency (minimum three-timeplacement), and coverage (top twopublications), and provides your program withthe highest chance for success with the mostefficient use of your marketing budget

Question #23If, after examining all mailing-related elements of anunderperforming direct mail test, you determine thatdirect mail that is sent out "cold" to your marketplace isnot a viable marketing approach for your company, whatis the next option to explore?

• 1. Immediately divert marketing dollars to a high-visibility print advertising campaign

• 2. Add telephone follow-up by your company's salesreps to prospects on your next direct mail test

• 3. Conduct another small direct mail test to the samelist, to validate the poor performance of the previous test

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#2Follow-up phone calls made by sales reps toprospects who have recently received thecompany's direct mail packages are often anecessary step in the sales process for manycompanies in business-to-business markets,and underperforming direct mail projects willoften require additional follow-up contacts bythe company's sales reps to boost mailingresponse.Alternative marketing options, such as printadvertising campaigns, often generate far lessresponse compared to making the basicchanges often necessary to correct a poorly-performing direct mail program.

Question #24As a marketing manager, what is the best way for you tomanage the public relations process in your company,to receive the best results for your marketing program?

• 1. Time press release distributions to coincide withdisplay advertising placements

• 2. Plan ahead and develop news announcements tosupport concrete news events in your company, such asnew product announcements

• 3. Hire a skilled, experienced PR firm on a monthlyretainer, and let them decide what is newsworthy in yourcompany

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#2

Since "hard" news events occurring in your company, such as newproduct announcements, have the highest chance of receivingcoverage inyour field, they should be the focus of most of your PR planningefforts.Also, since these events are often supported by new marketinginitiatives,such as ad campaigns, mailings, and trade show appearances,simultaneouseditorial coverage occurring alongside these marketing projects canbe asignificant boost to your company's marketing program. Placingtotal relianceon your company's PR firm to generate publicity for your company,withoutdirection on major news events from you, is most likely to create acostly,unfocused PR program that yields no positive sales impact for yourcompany.

Question #26What s the MOST likely outcome of manymarketing projects undertaken in new media,markets or industries?

• 1. If careful research and market assessment isperformed beforehand, many new marketingprojects will likely be successful

• 2. They are neither complete successes nortotal failures, but often yield clues that cangenerate better results on the next attempt

• 3. Most new marketing projects are likely to fail,so marketing managers should move verycautiously and conservatively

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#2• Marketing projects launched in new markets or

marketing programs for start-ups or new productlaunches, often yield mixed results, in that they areneither total failures nor complete successes. Smartmarketing managers realize they must be alert todetecting the clues from these first efforts—such ascopy changes, media selection or better prospecttargeting—that can yield better results on the nextimplementation. Prior research, or market surveysusually do not reflect the actual reality of sales responseto a product, and are never a substitute for “asking forthe order” in live advertising, mailings and other hard-dollar marketing projects.

Question #27

Every marketing project begins with a three-step process of:

• 1. Identifying prospects, locating prospects andapplying the best marketing tools available toreach these prospects

• 2. Establishing a budget, allocating the budgetto marketing activities and developing amarketing strategy for the project

• 3. Assumptions, goals, analysis

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#1Keeping your focus on the only goal of yourmarketing program—to generate sales for yourcompany—requires a steady focus on reachingthe audiences who are most likely to buy yourcompany’s products. This focus meanscentering your marketing plan on the tasks ofidentifying and locating prospects and applyingthe best marketing tools to reach them.Budgets, strategies, assumptions and goals aresecondary to the marketing manager’s mainobjective of creating marketing projects that sellthe company’s products to the most-likelyprospects

Question #25

Marketing Managers should learn thebasics of writing sales copy for theircompany’s products so they can:

• 1. Publish their copy in ads and brochuresproduced by the company’s ad agency

• 2. Recognize effective ad copy, and rejectcopy that does not effectively sell theircompany’s products

• 3. Reinforce their company’s brand image

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#2

Although marketing managers usually donot write the copy for their company’sadvertising and marketing collateral, theyshould be proficient in communicating thekey benefits of their company’s product orservice so they can identify copyapproaches that sell their company’sproducts, and reject copy that doesn’tpresent the product’s major benefits.Other goals such as brand reinforcementare secondary to the main goal ofpresenting copy that sells.

Question #28

The key selling objective of your Web sit’s homepage is determined by:

• 1. The specification and content developed byyour ad agency or Web design team

• 2. The rough, initial Web design specificationcreated for the Web development project

• 3. Your company’s industry, products sold, priceand existing sales and marketing channels

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#3Important characteristics of your company such as itsindustry, products sold, their price and your company’sexisting sales and marketing channels define the site’skey selling objective. These characteristics dictate thecontent and presentation of the initial Web site designspecification. For example, Web sites for companiesselling complex, high-ticket technical products willfeature more technically-oriented pre-sales information,such as company white papers, datasheets,performance data, etc. than companies selling moreeasily-described products. Also, a company havingextensive, long-established dealer and distributor saleschannels may decide not to add online ordering featuresfor its products.

Question #29

The need for branding and brand reinforcement:• 1. Is generally important only to the largest

consumer products companies or companiesthat are already well-established

• 2. Applies to any company, large or smallselling products and services to today’s busy,distracted readers and viewers

• 3. Is the most important goal of your company’smarketing program

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#1Yes, it’s true. The need for “branding” and brandreinforcement generally applies to those kinds ofcompanies who can afford to implement massivesaturation advertising campaigns to gain incrementalmarket share in very large and mature markets. Theimportance of “branding” as a goal has been grosslyoverstated for small and mid-sized companies sellingtheir products in industrial markets and is often a costlydistraction from the far more important goal of usingeffective salesmanship and clear, persuasivepresentation in company marketing projects

Question #30The BEST description of focusing on the reality of yourcompany’s products in marketing projects means:

• 1. Describing their benefits, features and applications inways that meet the consensus viewpoint of yourcompany’s senior management

• 2. Focusing on their benefits, features and applicationsand describing them in a way that persuades theprospect to respond

• 3. Assigning company marketing resources to theproducts in your company which are more likely togenerate the highest, most profitable sales response.

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#2• Inn developing marketing deliverables for your

company, you must focus on the benefits, features andapplications that your prospects want, and use copy andpresentation techniques to persuade and motivateprospects to respond, to initiate the selling process:Calling your companies sales reps, linking to your Website, filling out an inquiry card. As a marketing manager,it is very important for you to see the key benefits ofyour companies products or services and yourprospects see them, not as your CEO or other seniormanagers wish they would be seen, because as we allknow, senior management is often isolated from therealities of their companies marketplace.