The first day of the Introduction to marketing module class is an experience I can’t seem to forget in my journey through the Lagos Business School (LBS). Before the course, I had done a little research to see what marketing was all about. I found out that planning, pricing, promoting, and distributing goods and services to satisfy the wants and needs of both current and potential customers are all part of the marketing mix. Marketing can also be defined as the associated activities that determine the customer’s demand for and the sale and distribution of goods and services.
Before the Pre module class, to my and everyone’s awe, our tutor gave us an examination! An examination on the first day of the lecture was surreal to me. However, it was a take-home examination. The take-home exam was based on marketing challenges that organizations face when pushing their goods and services to the market and how to solve this menace through several strategic marketing strategies, such as the introduction of new, cutting-edge products that render rival products obsolete, the introduction of new service technologies, segmentation, and brand repositioning, to name a few, that firms often use to overcome these difficulties.
The exam instructions stated that we try and find a specific marketing problem in our organization, undertake market research to determine customer insights (which are what your customers want that competitors do not offer), and competitive insights (which are produced after a thorough analysis of the products on the market). The competitive insight is made possible by the absence of specialized offerings within a sector, subsector, or industry. Then make a strategy to solve the marketing challenge, and preferably use the 3Cs strategy that involves what a customer wants or needs that a competing organization or firm does not have or cannot provide to such a customer but which your organization has or can provide to the customers, or a 2Cs strategy in the case of an organization with no competition, like a government institution, agency, or parastatal. It’s just between the customer and the organization; there’s no competition.
We were encouraged to include pictures in the take-home exam, preferably high-resolution images, to help us deliver our points effectively. The paper’s submission was slated for the first day of examination; hence, we had to create the instruments (questionnaire) for the research as quickly as possible to enable timely administration, receipt of the results, and analysis of the results. We were allowed to research on the internet. If it’s using a questionnaire that any individual prefers, a copy of the instrument must be printed in the work’s appendix section because it will be graded. We were provided with a sample questionnaire to use as a planning tool. The instructions stated that we write between five thousand (5000) and ten thousand (10,000) words, which is nothing less than 16 to 30 pages, regardless of how small the font size is. The examination instruction required the submission of only hard copies of the paper.
In conclusion, I think this step aims to expose us thoroughly to marketing concepts as the marketing management module progresses.
Capstone Project Lessons!