MARKETING

Q1. Difference between Sales and marketing

The term, sales, refers to all activities that lead to the selling of goods and services.
And marketing is the process of getting people interested in the goods and services
being sold.Sales is a term used to describe the activities that lead to the selling of
goods or services. Salespeople are responsible for managing relationships with
potential clients (prospects) and providing a solution for prospects that eventually
leads to a sale. And marketing encompasses all activities that help spark interest in
your business. Marketers use market research and analysis to understand the
interests of potential customers. Marketing departments are responsible for running
campaigns to attract people to the business' brand, product, or service.

Differentiation on the basis of the core elements of each department.

ELEMENTS SALES MARKETING

The marketing plan lays out
PROCESS what the product is, its price,
who it'll be sold to, and where it
will be sold. This is also known
as the 4Ps of marketing:
product, price, place, and
promotion. Goals are set,
marketing channels are
chosen, and a budget is made
for the campaigns the
marketing team plans to
pursue.
The primary goal of
Goals marketing is to look big picture
and promote the company,
product or service, and brand.
Marketing departments are
responsible for pricing the
products and communicating
how the product fills customers'
needs and wants. And its goals
are often longer term because
campaigns can span over the
course of many months.
Sales plans include details about
the sales process, team structure,
target market, and goals. Plus,
the sales plan outlines the action
plan, tools, and resources that will
be used to hit these targets
For sales, the focus is to hit quotas
and sales volume goals -- and
these tend to be shorter
term. Sales goals are often
measured month over month.
Targets are defined, and sales
management calculates how much
their department, teams, and
individual salespeople need to sell
to meet the overarching goal.
 2. What do you understand by value? How can you measure it?
Value may also be expressed as a straightforward relationship between perceived benefits and
perceived costs: Value = Benefits / Cost.

3. What do you know about the product life cycle?

The term product life cycle refers to the length of time a product is introduced
to consumers into the market until it's removed from the shelves. The life cycle
of a product is broken into four stages—introduction, growth, maturity, and
decline. This concept is used by management and by marketing professionals
as a factor in deciding when it is appropriate to increase advertising, reduce
prices, expand to new markets, or redesign packaging.

 Introduction: This phase generally includes a substantial investment in

advertising and a marketing campaign focused on making consumers
aware of the product and its benefits.
 Growth: If the product is successful, it then moves to the growth stage.
This is characterized by growing demand, an increase in production,
and expansion in its availability.
 Maturity: This is the most profitable stage, while the costs of producing
and marketing decline.
 Decline: A product takes on increased competition as other companies
emulate its success—sometimes with enhancements or lower prices.
The product may lose market share and begin its decline.

Q5. Why do you think you're suited for a career in marketing?

 Marketing people are first-class communicators, good team players,

and skilled project managers with excellent analytical and creative skills. I
believe that I have the right combination of skills. For example, marketing
requires people with management skills who can work well in teams. At the
university cultural society, I organized an annual charity fundraiser sit-down
dinner. Last year I headed a sub-committee arranging the catering and venue,
so I'm used to overseeing tasks and working within a team. We also increased
the amount of money the event raised for charity – up by a third on the
previous year. Furthermore, Marketing deals with people – real people, not
just business people. How people behave and think and act and interact. I
believe I have the skills to relate to people.
6. Give us a few instances to show how marketing is a part
of your life.
Marketing affects all aspects of our life and has a great impact on consumer behavior. Every
day we use products from advertising: from toothpaste to clothes. Marketing forms the
consumers buying decisions. Frequently we make everything in accordance with marketing
trends: where to go for coffee, what to buy for dinner, what model of phone or snickers buy
and etc. Marketing is so encompassing in life that there are no areas of life that it can't be
applied. Be it religion, businesses, health care, etc.

From trying to get an idea across in a meeting to closing a deal to going out on a Friday night
to meet someone, we all spend our days trying to market ourselves, our ideas and the work
we do.

I cannot even count the amount of times in our daily lives where we have to make decisions.
If you invest a few minutes in analyzing it, the result would be the thought of endless
products, services and life decisions being made every day – some of them without even
much thought;

 What should I wear?

 What should I eat?
 What am I going to do today?
 What school should I choose?
 Will I be buying my coffee from Starbucks, McCafe or at my local coffee shop?

Marketing changes the way you think and in some cases feel. When a politician goes
to an event to speak, they are marketing themselves, advertising themselves to the rest
of their district/state/country etc etc. Cars, advertise themselves, i bought my car (a
Toyota GTS86) because i saw someone driving one around where i live and though
“F**k that's a good looking car, i want one.
8. Question: Sell me this pen/bottle
Me: (I slowly roll the pen between my index and thumb fingers.) When was the last
time you used a pen?

CEO: This morning.

Me: Do you remember what kind of pen that was?

CEO: No.
Me: Do you remember why you were using it to write?

CEO: Yes. Signing a few new customer

contracts.
Me: Well I'd say that's the best use for a pen (we have a subtle laugh).
Wouldn't you say signing those new customer contracts is an important event for
the business? (nods head) Then shouldn't it be treated like one. What I mean by
that is, here you are signing new customer contracts, an important and memorable
event. All while using a very unmemorable pen.
We grew up, our entire lives, using cheap BIC pens because they get the job done
for grocery lists and directions. But we never gave it much thought to learn what's
best for more important events.
This is the pen for more important events. This is the tool you use to get deals done.
Think of it as a symbol for taking your company to the next level. Because when
you begin using the right tool, you are in a more productive state of mind, and you
begin to sign more new customer contracts.
Actually. You know what? Just this week I shipped ten new boxes of these pens
to  Elon Musk's office.
Unfortunately, this is my last pen today (reach across to hand pen back to CEO).
So, I suggest you get this one. Try it out. If you're not happy with it, I will
personally come back next week to pick it up. And it won't cost you a dime.
What do you say?
9. What is the most important skill required in the marketing field?

I believe that Analytical Thinking is the most important skill

because Marketing requires a lot of research-based analysis to
determine what the audience wants and needs, and a lot of careful
strategy crafted around that analysis. Marketers often have to change
course based on new information, and should be able to draw logical
conclusions based on data and other information received.

13. Can you tell me what you've learnt in your marketing course in Trimester
1?
Some of the key intakes frome our course was that we are in a position to-:

1. State the role and functions of marketing within a range of organisations.

2. Identify and demonstrate the dynamic nature of the environment in which marketing decisions
are taken and appreciate the implications for marketing strategy determination and
implementation.
3. Describe key marketing concepts, theories and techniques for analysing a variety of marketing
situations.
4. Analyse the relevance of marketing concepts and theories in evaluating the impacts of
environmental changes on marketing planning, strategies and practices.
Demonstrate the ability to justify marketing strategies and advocate a strategically informed
position
14. What kind of marketing frameworks are you aware of? Can you explain
them?
Some of the marketing frameworks I am aware of are-

(a) 7 Ps of The marketing mix

The 7P's of the Marketing mix model are Product, Price, Place, Promotion,
People, Process and Physical evidence - these elements of the marketing
mix form the core tactical components of a marketing plan.

A good model to explain marketing strategy to someone who isn't a

marketer. But it suffers from a push mentality completely out-of-keeping
with modern digital marketing approaches of listening to and engaging
customers in participation through social median marketing.
 (b). Boston Consulting Group Matrix
This well known, essential MBA model categorises products offered by a
business in a portfolio based on their performance rating them as Stars,
Cash Cows, Dogs and Question Marks as below.

 1. Dogs: These are products with low growth or market share.

 2. Question marks or Problem Child: Products in high growth
markets with low market share.
 3. Stars: Products in high growth markets with high market share.
 4. Cash cows: Products in low growth markets with high market
share
I find this isn't so applicable in the online marketing world for small and
medium businesses - it's more of a Big Business corporate strategy model.
(c)Growth strategy matrix
The Ansoff's model is a matrix that can be used to identify alternative
growth strategies by looking at present and potential products in current
and future markets. The four growth strategies are market penetration,
market development, product development and diversification.

Ansoff's model dates back to the 1960s, but I still cover it in the books to
show how companies should "think out of the box" with new opportunities
for their digital strategies by considering new opportunities for market and
product development rather than simply market penetration which misses
the opportunities of digital marketing for me.
 (d)PESTLE
As an extension of the traditional PEST model, this analysis framework is
used to assess the impact of macro-environmental factors on a product or
brand - political, economical, social, technological, legal and economic.

(e) Porter's 5 Forces is an analytical model that helps marketers and

business managers look at the 'balance of power' in a market between
different organizations on a global level, and to analyze the attractiveness
and potential profitability of an industry sector.

 Competitive rivalry
 Threat of substitute products
 Bargaining power of buyers
 Threat of new entrants
 Bargaining power of suppliers
(e)Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
This three stage STP process involves analysing which distinct customer
groups exist and which segment the product best suits before implementing
the communications strategy tailored for the chosen target group.

As a model which is focused on delivering relevant products, services and

communications to the customer and so generating value for an
organisation, this is essential for every marketer to understand and apply in
practice.
(f)SWOT

stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and so a

SWOT Analysis is a technique for assessing these four aspects of your
business.

You can use SWOT Analysis to make the most of what you've got, to your
organization's best advantage. And you can reduce the chances of failure,
by understanding what you're lacking, and eliminating hazards that would
otherwise catch you unawares.

Better still, you can start to craft a strategy that distinguishes you from your
competitors, and so compete successfully in your market.

A SWOT Analysis Matrix.

 
15. What is positioning? Is it the same as branding?

Branding.

The goal of branding is to elicit a positive emotional response from the market. What
thoughts and feelings do you have when you think of Apple, Disney or Amazon.com?
Your feelings won’t be based on what these companies say their brand is. Instead
your feelings are based on your experience with them. The important concept to
understand about branding is that it comes from your customers’ experiences with
your business.
Positioning

Positioning is just like it sounds. It’s about where you rank in your customers’ mind in
relation to your competition. Positioning your business comes from differentiating
yourself from your competition. In other words, what do you offer or do different from
all the other businesses that provide the same products or services? There are many
places to buy books online, but Amazon is often the first company people think of in
regards to buying books (or just about anything) on the Internet. Amazon has also
positioned itself above most it’s competition in e-readers and self-publishing.

Branding creates positive user expectations of reward from your products or

services. Positioning establishes a preference for your brand relative to competitive
offerings based on the perception of a unique and important difference.
20.What is promotion? Is it the same as advertising?
Advertising is a one-way communication whose purpose is to inform
potential customers about products and services and how to obtain
them. Promotion involves disseminating information about a product,
product line, brand, or company. It is one of the four key aspects of
the marketing mix. Advertising may be one form of promotion.
21. What is the difference between push and pull in marketing

Push Marketing

Push marketing is a promotional strategy where businesses attempt to take their

products to the customers. The term push stems from the idea that marketers are
attempting to push their products at consumers. Common sales tactics include
trying to sell merchandise directly to customers via company showrooms and
negotiating with retailers to sell their products for them, or set up point-of-sale
displays. Often, these retailers will receive special sales incentives in exchange for
this increased visibility.

Businesses often use push marketing when launching a new product, or when
trying to stand out in a niche or crowded market.

Example of Push Marketing

One common example of push marketing can be seen in department stores that
sell fragrance lines. The manufacturing brand of the fragrance will often offer sales
incentives to the department stores for pushing its products onto customers. This
tactic can be especially beneficial for new brands that aren't well-established or for
new lines within a given brand that need additional promotion. After all, for many
consumers, being introduced to the fragrance at the store is their first experience
with the product, and they wouldn't know to ask for it if they didn't know it existed.
Pull Marketing

Pull marketing takes the opposite approach. The goal of pull marketing is to get the
customers to come to you, hence the term pull, where marketers are attempting to
pull customers in. Common sales tactics used for pull marketing include mass
media promotions, word-of-mouth referrals and advertised sales promotions. From
a business perspective, pull marketing attempts to create brand loyalty and keep
customers coming back, whereas push marketing is more concerned with short-
term sales.

Businesses generally will use pull marketing when the customer knows what he is
looking for or what problem he needs to solve, but needs pulling towards your
solution as opposed to the solution offered by your competitors.

Example of Pull Marketing

You can often recognize pull marketing campaigns by the amount of advertising
that's being used. Pull marketing requires lots of advertising dollars to be spent on
making brand and products a household name. One example includes the
marketing of children's toys. In the first stage, the company advertises the product.
Next, the children and parents see the advertisement and want to purchase the toy.
As demand increases, retailers begin scrambling trying to stock the product in their
stores. All the while, the company has successfully pulled customers to them.

22. What is STP?

 Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP) is a familiar strategic approach in
Modern Marketing. It is one of the most commonly applied marketing models in
practice. In our poll asking about the most popular marketing model it is the second
most popular, only beaten by the venerable SWOT / TOWs matrix. This popularity is
relatively recent since previously, marketing approaches were based more around
products rather than customers. In the 1950s, for example, the main marketing
strategy was 'product differentiation'.

The STP model is useful when creating marketing communications plans since it
helps marketers to prioritise propositions and then develop and deliver personalised
and relevant messages to engage with different audiences.
 This is an
audience rather than product focused approach to communications which helps
deliver more relevant messages to commercially appealing audiences. The diagram
below shows how plans can have the flow from

Audience options > Audience selection > Production positioning

In addition, STP focuses on commercial effectiveness, selecting the most valuable

segments for a business and then developing a marketing mix and product
positioning strategy for each segment.

23. What do you understand by the term market share? How do

you calculate it?
Market share is the percentage of an industry's sales that a particular
company owns. In other words, it's a company's total sales in relation to the
industry.

Typically, it's calculated over a period of time, dividing it into yearly or

quarterly sales, and separated by national and regional levels.
Market share gives a company an idea of its revenue compared to the
overall industry and its competitors.
Calculating market share is a simple process. All you need to do is figure out your
company's total sales revenue in a specific time period and then figure out the
market's total sales revenue for the same time period. Then, divide them to figure
out the percentage of market share. So, (Company Revenue from X Time
Period/Industry Revenue from X Time Period).

Once you calculate your market share, you can begin strategizing how to
increase your overall revenue.

25. What do you understand by social media marketing? Is it the

same as digital marketing

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with
your audience to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.
This involves publishing great content on your social media profiles,
listening to and engaging your followers, analyzing your results, and
running social media advertisements. Social media marketing provides
companies with a way to reach new customers, engage with existing customers, and
promote their desired culture, mission, or tone.

The major social media platforms (at the moment) are Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat.

Digital marketing is an extremely vast field that encompasses a lot many strategies and
techniques in its entire gamut.

Out of which, Social media is one such platform that is being used widely by the digital
marketers to reach out to a wider target audience to help the businesses with a wider
outreach almost instantly.

 Digital marketing uses both online and offline digital means to reach out to the
target audience, while social media marketing is limited to online boundaries.
 Your digital media marketing campaign may use a variety of channels such as
mobile advertisements, TV, online advertising, SMS, etc. while social media
marketing may focus on one or more than one social media channel such as
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
 The success of your social media marketing campaign depends heavily on
your content strategy. It means you need to keep posting fresh and unique
content on your social media accounts to interact and engage your target
audience. While for digital marketing, you can only use the banner
advertisements on different digital platforms like TV, the Internet, or billboards
to promote your product, services or brand.
 SALES
1. What do you understand by the field of sales?
The term, "sales", encompasses all activities involved in selling a product or service
to a consumer or business. But "sales" means so much more for businesses.
Field sales is where the reps go out to the market and sell directly. Field sales reps
identify prospects, make contact, pursue leads, and ultimately, close the deal. Many
companies still depend significantly on on-field sales, while others have achieved a
perfect balance of inside and field sales.

2. As a sales manager, how will your role be different to that of a

marketing manager?
Sales managers and marketing managers both supervise a group of employees, but they take
on very different roles in their occupation. Sales managers are fully responsible for managing
the employees in charge of selling a service or a product. Marketing managers focus their
attention on gauging the demand for these products or services in terms of goods.

A Marketing manager oversees development of:

The arguments in favor of the product value and who to target and prioritize as most likely
clients.The distribution systems to be used to reach them (although this should be in
conjunction with the sales manager to evaluate the potential of each distribution system).The
media and materials production to present the arguments, including costs, message, quality,
etc.Such co-marketing efforts to leverage the opportunities using another firms marketing.
And promotional offerings to clients. Liaising with sales and upper management on time and
scheduling the planned release of the newest materials and promotions.

The Sales Manager:

Manages the quality and efforts of the sales force for: Quality and effectiveness of
presentation and closing arguments. Training efforts of the sales force. Territorials
assignments of sales personnel. Sales budgets and expenses. Customer call frequency.
Problem solving individual client issues vis a vis company policy. Prioritizing collateral
activities. Pioneering new customers and markets. Liaising with marketing and with
production feeding back results and suggestions.

3.Explain the role of a sales manager in an organization.

Manages the quality and efforts of the sales force for: Quality and effectiveness of
presentation and closing arguments. Training efforts of the sales force. Territorials
assignments of sales personnel. Sales budgets and expenses. Customer call frequency.
Problem solving individual client issues vis a vis company policy. Prioritizing
 collateral activities. Pioneering new customers and markets. Liaising with marketing
and with production feeding back results and suggestions

4. What is the difference between B2B and B2C sales?

Business to Business
Business to business, or B2B sales, is related to the selling of products and services from one
business to another.  B2B sales relationships are continually developing and typically have a
longer lifespan, as the processes involved in closing a sale is lengthier. B2B sales include a
decision making process that characteristically needs more than one individual signing off.
Business to Consumer
Business to consumer, or B2C sales, is related to the selling of products to one individual
consumer. An example of B2C includes retail sales, as the items sold are directly targeted and
consumed by one individual person. In general, the B2C sales cycle is shorter, as the
consumer is encouraged to purchase the product on the spot. In addition, B2C selling does
not usually include more than one individual in the decision making process.

5- What is B2G sales? Name a few organizations who are likely to

be involved in this domain
B2G describes the relationship between an enterprise and an authority, such as a tax office.
The acronym B2G stands for “business-to-government.” B2A (“Business-to-Administration”)
is also sometimes used and covers both trade and communication between the two.
prime example of a federal agency that employs B2G companies is the U.S. General Services
Administration, or GSA. The GSA Advantage website provides federal offices with a web-
based portal they can use to get the goods and services they need to accomplish their tasks.
The site organizes products and services into more than 20 categories, ranging from
construction supplies to technology solutions to automobiles and boats. Small businesses can
learn about what government agencies require, their pricing expectations and how to become
a supplier.

B2G e-commerce is commerce between Companies and public sector. it refers to the use of
the Internet for Public Procurement, licensing procedure, and other government-related
Operation
6. What are some key traits that a good sales manager should
have?
 Gravitas

The quality most important in any manager -- sales managers included -- is gravitas. Like
obscenity, as defined in the famous Supreme Court case Jacobellis v. Ohio, when someone
has gravitas, "you know it when you see it." Sales professionals will listen to the feedback,
advice and guidance of a manager they respect and disregard one they do not.  - Adam
Mendler, Beverly Hills Chairs

2. Empathy

At their core, sales managers are people managers. Having the ability to empathize with your
direct reports will show them you actually care, and that they are more than just a revenue
stream. Each team member is different. Demonstrating the ability to understand current life
situations, motivations and goals help a manager get buy-in and trust, which easily drives
productivity.  - Christopher Kingman, TransUnion 

3. The Ability To Forecast

There are many facets to sales management -- numbers, headcount, attrition, development
needs, etc. -- and the inability to have a grounded pulse on all aspects of your business results
in your company being unable to plan for the impact your team has on business. It's important
to maintain a level of predictability at all levels.  - Nico Marroquin, Logikcull

4. Active Listening Skills

Active listening is a skill that determines the effectiveness of any manager and their team
relationships. Being present and in the moment with people you lead is crucial to trust.
Nobody wants to repeat themselves, and knowing you remember important information helps
them give their best. Active listening helps you focus on what is most important and can
show signs of issues emerging with a team member.  - Chris Lukasiak, MyHealthDirect 

5. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is important for salespeople but critical for sales managers. In the
field, you need it to overcome objections with potential clients, and in management, you need
it to find the most effective way to motivate your team. Knowing how and when to motivate,
support, console and even reign in your team are essential to maximizing their performance.
- Timothy Moore, Blue Haus Group

6. The Ability To Challenge And Inspire Growth

An effective sales manager should be a mentor who challenges and inspires growth in all of
their team members. They should be someone who is respected and has an outstanding and
accomplished history in their vertical on top of amazing interpersonal skills. They must also
have brutal honesty, as salespeople tend to respect those who explain their thought process
versus directing without explanation.  - Dane Matheson, Sourcebits 

7. Adaptability

The profile of your sales team can vary from person to person. You may have seasoned sales
professionals with decades of experience sitting alongside passionate, ambitious college
grads starting their first sales role. We look for sales managers who can adapt their leadership
style to motivate sellers with different levels of experience and backgrounds.  - Rakhi
Voria, Microsoft 

8. A Great Understanding Of Their Team’s Core Job

The best managers in the world never forget where they came from. Many of the least likable
managers we’ve all had are ones who forgot how hard their first years in sales were. The best
leaders understand our struggles and stay in the trenches. If your managers are ready to keep
getting their hands dirty and win and lose with their team, they’ll be great.  - Joey
Holt, Amerisleep

7. Do you have any idea about the stages that eventually lead to
the completion of sales?
 

1. Prospect for leads

To sell something, you must first have a customer or prospective customer. Identifying
potential prospects is the first stage in any sales cycle and requires a solid understanding of
the service or product you intend to sell.

During the prospecting stage, you should aim to answer some key questions about your
product:

 What does your product do that no one else’s product does?

 What problem or issue does your product overcome or solve?

2. Contact potential customers

After you have identified your prospects, the next stage is to initiate contact. The
communication channel you choose will depend on the business or type of prospect. In some
instances, a phone call is the appropriate means of contacting a prospect, while other times
your first point of contact may be an email or a more traditional sales letter. You aren’t giving
your full sales pitch during this stage, just establishing contact with potential clients in the
hopes of setting up a more formal meeting.

3. Qualify the customers

During this stage of the sales cycle, you will vet the client as much as possible. This process
may be initiated in the contact stage of the sales cycle, but the majority of qualifying usually
happens during the first sales meeting or appointment.This stage will save you time and
resources, since you should only be pitching to qualified leads. You’ll want to find out if your
contact person is a decision maker and, if so, whether they are actually interested in
purchasing your product or service. If your prospect is not in a position to make decisions or
purchase, politely ask to include a manager or superior in the meeting.

4. Present your product

This is the most crucial stage in the sales cycle and requires the most preparation. You should
aim to present your goods or services in a way that solves an issue the customer is facing. Be
ready to demonstrate how using your product will improve day-to-day operations for your
customer and how your company achieves this better than anyone else.

5. Overcome customer objections

Your job at this point in the sales cycle is to manage and overcome any objections. Even the
most enthusiastic prospects will have hesitations or objections—the price is too high, the
contract is too narrow, the terms aren’t right.

6. Close the sale

 It’s time to close the sale, which is much easier said than done

It’s important to remember that just because a sale isn’t closed during the first meeting, that
doesn’t mean the sale is over. Some products, like large machines or complicated software,
can take weeks or months to sell. 

7. Generate referrals

The time to ask for referrals is right after closing a sale. Your new customer is (hopefully)
excited about their purchase and in a position to recommend other clients. Save some time
and energy, and ask your client if they have any friends or colleagues that might also benefit
from the product or service you sell. You can also ask for referrals later on as your business
relationship grows.

8. In B2B sales, how will you identify high potential customers?

Survey Customers

You won’t be able to connect effectively with your potential customers if you don’t have a
customer in mind. Survey current customers, as well as members of your target market, to
find out how you can better present your product or service, or what aspects might be missing
from what you’re currently offering.
2. Research Your Competitors And Find Out Who Their Customers Are

An easy way to find out which kind of marketing campaign works and which don’t is by
researching competitors in your industry.

Not only will this inexpensive effort give you some ideas to follow for your own campaigns,
this research will also reveal dark spots in your competitor’s process and present new
directions for you to take your own marketing strategy.

3. Target Ads

Far cheaper than most methods of advertising, Facebook and Google targeted ads prove that a
little can go a long way.While most advertising in the real world only reaches whoever comes
across a billboard, bus stop or commercial, these targeted ads can locate the people who are
most likely to need your service based on geographical location, demographics (including
age, gender, education and relationship status), interests (based on what they’ve shared or
“liked”) and browsing activity.

4. Smart Social Media

There’s having a presence on social media, and then there’s having a social media presence.
When it comes to keeping customers, a little more effort on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
really go the distance.Far too many businesses use their accounts to simply promote their
own company, while smart social media managers strategize relevant posts, link to cool
articles, answer customer questions as soon as they’re asked, and otherwise give online
surfers the impression that there’s actually a human who cares.

8. Connect With The Right Influencers

Engaging with big players in your industry can be an extremely effective way to garner a
wider share base. After all, if you can get the attention of a thought leader or an influencer,
you have the chance to capture their fans and friends, as well as establish trust and credibility.

Craft An Engaging Newsletter To Foster Leads

One of the most time-consuming aspects of online marketing is generating leads. Often, that
involves analyzing customer demographics and social media activity, putting out ads and
online surveys and updating user data from year to year.

9. What is the difference between a prospect and a lead?

Leads have the potential to become customers, but they haven’t spoken to you or your sales
team yet. Communication is very one-sided.

Prospects, on the other hand, have engaged and indicated interest. For example, a prospect is:

 A lead you’ve spoken with on the phone

 Someone who has responded to one of your emails
 A lead who has clicked a link in an email to visit your website
 A person who fits your target market, who you’ve chatted with at a trade show
 Someone who has asked about your product or service in a social media thread

10. How will you introduce yourself to a customer?

 Initial Face-to-Face Meeting

At your first in-person meeting, be amiable, personable and professional. Smile, shake
hands, make eye contact and express your enthusiasm for your newly established
working relationship.
 State your purpose
 Provide Insight and Overviews
 Explain why you are valuable
Your professional introduction should convey your unique experience and qualifications so
you stand out from other candidates. Hearing an introduction that sounds different from
previous ones directs your new contact’s attention toward you and tends to make it more
memorable. During an interview introduction, for example, you should let your interviewer
know why you would make a valuable contribution to the team.

12. What kind of targets do sales executives have set

for them?
1. Calculate your monthly sales goal.
If you’re setting personal or team goals, they should align with annual sales goals. Figure
your monthly sales goal by working backward from your company’s annual revenue target.
Once that target is defined, calculate how much your department, teams, and individual reps
need to sell to meet that goal.

2. Set waterfall goals.

Budget for ramp-up time when you’re implementing new goals and onboarding reps. If your
reps are currently sending 50 emails a week and you want them to send 100, don’t
immediately double their weekly email goal. Instead, raise their goal to 60 emails next week,
70 the following week, and so on.

3. Sequence goals.

This is another way of saying “prioritize your goals.” Determine which goals bring the
highest value when hit, and make sure your reps are meeting those first.
4. Set activity goals.

If your rep needs to close $4,000 of business this month, convert that target into activity
goals. Working backward lets you turn a (potentially intimidating) revenue goal into
manageable metrics.

5. Incentivize goals.

Receiving bonuses, getting variable compensation, and even keeping their job are all
incentives for reps to meet their quota. So what’s the incentive for meeting these smaller
goals?

Consider what motivates your reps. Promise a cash bonus or a round of golf to reps who meet
their weekly goals

6. Monitor goal progression.

Goals are of no use if they’re not being monitored. Track progress via a dashboard in your
CRM or have reps enter their weekly numbers the old-fashioned way — in an Excel
spreadsheet. If someone on your team isn’t hitting their weekly numbers, talk to them before
it becomes an impediment to meeting their monthly quota. Monitoring these small goals
makes them worth the extra implementation time, so don’t skimp here — even if it’s
tempting.
7. Set stretch goals.

A stretch goal is a goal exceeding their primary goal, which can be effective. Think about the
old saying: “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you’ll be among the stars. Keep in mind that this
isn’t right for everyone. If a rep is struggling to meet their quota every month, a stretch goal
will only increase their anxiety. But if you have a high performer, set realistic stretch goals —
perhaps 125% of goal — that will challenge and motivate them.

8. Suggest mentor goals.

If a rep is having trouble ramping up or hits a rough patch (it happens to everyone), suggest
they find a mentor or two. Provide a framework you'd like them to work through or advise
them to create one with their mentor. Having someone to confide in besides their manager
can be just what they need to thrive.

9. Create a collective goal.

Provide an incentive that’s only awarded when everyone meets the goal. For example, all
salespeople must hit X number of calls/meetings/emails, X amount of revenue, or X% client
retention.

Dangle a company-paid happy hour in front of your team and watch them work together to
help each other succeed.

13. Is it better to retain an old customer or acquire a new customer?

it’s often better to focus your efforts on customer retention. After all, what’s the point of
investing time, effort and resources into customer acquisition, only to waste the potential of
their relationship once you have them on board? Some of the reasonswhy its better to retain
customers are-

1.its cheaper

it costs five times as much to attract a new customer, than to keep an existing one?
The first rule of any business is to retain customers and build a loyal relationship with
them, and thereby avoid customer acquisition costs. It’s a well-established fact that
44% of companies have a greater focus on customer acquisition vs. 18% that focus on
retention. 
2. It’s Faster…
Again, it’s often much easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to sell to a new one.
This is because all barriers to purchase have already been overcome. Existing customers may
just need a slight nudge to increase your share of their wallet, and this will speed up your
sales process.

3. It Better Positions Your Business…

One of the best things about high levels of customer retention is that you’re able to build a
more nuanced view of who your customers really are. On one hand, this data is vital to your
customer retention efforts and gives you the tools to create personalized and targeted
promotions to maximize your chances of success.

But, moreover, this will all assist you in your future acquisition efforts; you will know
exactly what kind of people are most likely to become loyal customers — who they are,
where they hang out online, what motivates them to buy and what kind of messaging they
best respond to.

Retention = Acquisition

Customer loyalty is priceless, and can even result in further customer acquisition for your
company. After all, word of mouth advertising is not only free, but possibly one of the most
credible forms of advertising. Customers will always talk, and they will always listen to other
customers. It’s because of this that just a 5% increase in customer retention can increase a
company’s profitability by 75%.

14. What do you like about a sales job?

There is a long list of things I love about sales, but here are my top five:

1. Improving people’s lives

People buy for one reason: they are looking to improve their lives in some way. Whether a
purchase is personal or for business, a big ticket or an impulse item, everyone has the same
goal. The salesperson is the facilitator of that life improvement. There are few things that are
as satisfying to me as knowing I am making someone’s life a little (or a lot!) better.

2. Puzzle-solving

Some people think sales is about finding a solution to a problem. I think more in terms of
solving a puzzle. The customer’s life is not typically in total disarray -- it is just that one or
more pieces are not a good fit. Find the new pieces that fit for your customer and their entire
picture (life) looks better! Sales isn’t rocket science. It is more like therapy.

3. Partnership

The best sales presentations don’t feel like presentations. With a mutual purpose established,
the salesperson is more like an assistant buyer. This means honesty on both sides, open
communication, emotion and the joy of completion. Working with people to achieve a
common goal is an incredibly rewarding aspect of sales.

4. Reward for results

In most cases, your talent and hard work pay off in tangible rewards. Sales is less
about politics and connections and more about what gets done. The potential for growth and
advancement in sales is almost second to none. As an entrepreneur, this is all about the
growth of your business -- I can't think of anything more rewarding!

5. Referrals

When you help someone improve their life, and you do that really, really well, you
gain more than a sale. You get free advertising as your enthusiastic customers work as
(unpaid) salespeople on your behalf! In time, you acquire a team of mavens who bring you
more business, all because you helped them in a way no one else could or would.

16. What do you understand by distribution channels?

A distribution channel is a chain of businesses or intermediaries through which a good or
service passes until it reaches the final buyer or the end consumer. Distribution channels can
include wholesalers, retailers, distributors, and even the Internet.

Distribution channels are part of the downstream process, answering the question "How do
we get our product to the consumer?" This is in contrast to the upstream process, also known
as the supply chain, which answers the question "Who are our suppliers?"

17. What is the difference between a distributor and a retailer?

The main difference between a distributor and a retailer is that, a distributor supplies the
products, goods and/or services, while a retailer sells the products, goods and/or services. A
distributor is one who distributes the goods, products and/or services to the respective
authorities, which may include any one, the retailer, supplier, etc. In business, a distributor
acts as an ‘an entity that buys non-competing products or product lines, warehouses them,
and resells them to retailers or directly to the end users or customers’. They provide strong
manpower and cash support to the supplier or manufacturer's promotional efforts. Retailers
are basically sellers, who are at the end position of any business management system and who
sell the products to customers. They are direct representative of the consumers, that is, they
help the manufacturers to know about the need and requirements of the consumer. They are
‘a business or person that sells goods to the consumer, as opposed to a wholesaler or supplier,
who normally sells their goods to another business’.

18. What is the difference between modern trade and general trade?
The main difference between traditional trade and modern trade is of the overall system and
innovation. The traditional system of trade is based on physical retail stores operated by
owners, having a limited inventory, and targeting a specific niche of products. On the flip
side, the modern trade is the innovative form of trading that has introduced a variety of new
things in trading like the formation of supermarkets, franchise chain system, targeting vast
products, home delivery, cash on delivery and various other services for the buyer’s
convenience.

The Differences Between Traditional Trade And Modern Trade in Tabular Form

BASIS OF
TRADITIONAL TRADE MODERN TRADE
COMPARISON
Demand Seasonal.   Consistent.
The customers have the benefit of choice
Customer Retailer gives out the product
whereby they can evaluate multiple
Interaction to the customer.
products side-by-side.
Order fulfillment Can be accommodated at Has to be specific to pre-decided time-
time different times. slots.  
Order placement is based on Order placement is appropriately planned
Order
current stocks. to meet promotional demands.
Lead Time Short and Direct.   Structured.
Owner of retail shop owns the
Operations company from the beginning Retail proprietors is subject change.
to the end.
Economies of Goods are traded on maximum Retailers can absorb costs and give
Scale retail price (MRP). promotional discounts to drive purchase.
Product Range Limited. Unlimited.  
On-Time-
Comparatively lower focus.   Comparatively higher focus.
Deliveries
Modern trade can be conducted at any
Traditional trade requires the
time anywhere in the world even when
Flexibility presence of the shop and
the customer is flying over skies or
display of all items on sale.
inside moving train. (Online)  
19. Identify some latest trends in the field of sales

Trend #1: Investing in Future Growth

Thinking three moves ahead is vital in any game, and is essential to sales growth. But this
skill does not come automatically. The best sales leaders make trend analysis a formal part of
the sales-planning process, and make forward planning part of someone’s job description.
This means they are perfectly poised to capture the opportunities created by sudden changes
in the environment. Many sales executives explicitly account for investment in new growth
opportunities in their annual capacity-planning processes
#2: Finding the Growth in Micromarkets

The most successful sales leaders I speak to are extremely proactive at mining the growth that
lies beneath their feet in what can appear — on average — to be mature markets. They take a
geological hammer to all their market and customer data; they break larger markets down into
much smaller units, where the opportunities — prospects, new customer segments, or
microsegments — can be assessed in detail. This disaggregation makes it apparent very
quickly that a broad-brush approach leads to resources being wasted where growth is
significantly below average.

Micromarket strategies are heavy on the analytics, so it’s important that sales teams on the
ground don’t get bogged down by the details, and can use the information in the most
effective way.
Trend #3: Capturing Value from Big Data and Advanced Analytics

Sales forces have an incredible amount of data at their fingertips today compared with even
four or five years ago, but getting insights from it and making those actionable is much
harder. Sales leaders that get it right make better decisions, uncover insights into sales and
deal opportunities, and refine sales growth strategies.

The big shift we see today is from the analysis of historical data to using data to be more
predictive. Sales forces use sophisticated analytics to decide not only what the best
opportunities are, but also which ones will help minimize risk. In fact, in these areas, three-
quarters of fast-growing companies believe themselves to be above average, while 53%–61%
of slow-growing companies hold the same view.

But even among fast-growing companies, only just over half of them — 53% — claim to be
moderately or extremely effective in using analytics to make decisions. For slow-growing
companies, it drops to a little over a third. This indicates that there remains significant
untapped potential in sales analytics

Trend #4: Outsourcing the Sales Function

One of the sales trends that we began to see while doing the research for  Sales Growth is the
outsourcing of parts of (and sometimes lots of) the sales value chain. What’s new today is
that the automation we mentioned has enabled third-party vendors to run a company’s entire
end-to-end sales process. I’m talking all the way from demand generation to customer
acquisition and fulfillment.

These companies understand your target segments, they use big data to identify leads, they
market to different segments with different offers and using different platforms, and then they
match their own sales reps to individual customers based on the likelihood of converting that
particular type of person. For the sales organization, it means moving to a model where your
pay is based not on the service, but on the new customers being acquired.

Trend #5: Understanding Social Selling

An effective sales organization needs to explore every avenue in its quest to truly understand
the customer. It’s important for sellers to understand who the individual customer is, who the
buyers are, who the decision-makers are, who the influencers are, and who owns the budget
— and what their perception of their organization is. A lot of that can be learned through
what they share online on different platforms and in different ways: expressing opinions,
asking for help, and general discussions.

Trend #6: Collaborating More Closely with Marketing

Marketing and sales may seem inextricably linked, but often when I’m working with
commercial functions at large organizations, I find their relationship can be contentious and
lopsided: Sales dominates in B2B sectors, while marketing dominates in B2C. Our own
research for Sales Growth revealed a striking trend in sales and marketing: 61% of companies
that have both functions deliver above-market revenue growth and enjoy high profitability.

It’s important to align sales with marketing so that both understand precisely whom they are
targeting and the journey those buyers are making. This may sound obvious, but the two
functions often work in a vacuum, each with different views of which customers to pursue.
Both functions also generate enormous volumes of valuable data on customer segments and
preferences, but the flow of those insights tends to be one-way: from marketing to sales. At
the outperforming companies I see, the front line reports back to help marketing refine its
offerings, and datasets are integrated to create more accurate pictures of selling opportunities.

At the most basic level, chief marketing officers and heads of sales need to engage with each
other on an equal footing. In my experience, failure to collaborate is outmoded at best, and
dangerous to a company’s performance at worst.

Trend #7: Adopting Automation and Artificial Intelligence

We did some research with the McKinsey Global Institute and found that 40% of tasks within
the traditional sales function can now be automated. Already. With projected advancements
in technology, especially in natural language processing, the research suggests this could top
50%.

21. How will you persuade a customer to buy your product after initial rejection?

1. Analyze, then develop your skills.

This is especially true of salespeople who are new to the game. But even more experienced
sales people need to learn, for example the social selling  trend has emerged only over the
last few years. They are prone to believe that hearing lots of NO’s means they have not
learned their craft yet, and this could be true. When they have more confidence in their
training and experience, with plenty of sales under their belts, they are better able to shrug
off the NOs as just part of the job. Write down the situation when you get a no, and think
what led up to the no. Then go out and do some reading to learn from the best. And then?
It’s trial and error.

2. Don’t take it personally.

This is the advice salespeople hate to hear the most, even though they recognize its validity,
because the loss of a commission affects their personal paycheck and, if they don’t improve
to meet their quota, the loss of their job.

3. Relax, and realize rejection is part of the game.

. One effective strategy is just to accept rejection is part of the job. Once you have some
experience, track your numbers. This is classic. If you make a sale 3 out of every
10 presentations, just understand those 7 NOs as a pathway to the one Yes. And then, try to
get better, and better, and better…
4. Continue to follow up.
One article in The Marketing Doughnut points out that only one out of fifty deals close
upon a first meeting, but 44% of salespeople give up at the first rejection. By the fourth
NO, 92% have given up on the prospect, and that’s why 8% of salespeople make 80% of
the commissions, because 80% of nonstandard sales take 5 follow-ups to close.

5. Break the fear cycle with a pattern interrupt.

Another article in Entrepreneur tells of how a business owner used a psychological
behavior technique to deal with his fear of cold calling. He wore a yellow band around his
wrist. Every time he looked at the telephone and felt afraid, he snapped his wrist with the
yellow band and thought of something positive.

23. How would you deal with an angry customer?

I know sometimes customers may be upset or unhappy with their experience with a particular
product or service and will contact the company to let them know. I would acknowledge their
feelings and concerns, and inform them that I would be more than happy to assist them with
resolving the problem. After exhausting all available resources, if I could not rectify the
situation, I would let the customer know that I can put them in touch with a supervisor who
can help them if necessary.

24. What do you know about customer loyalty? Can you measure it?

customer loyalty is a customer’s willingness to interact with or buy from a specific company
on an ongoing basis. Loyalty can stem from many things, but in general a loyal customer will
associate favorable experiences with a brand therefore increasing their likelihood to make
repeat purchases with that business. Loyal customers spend 67% more on products and
services than new customers. Even though your most loyal customers only make up 20% of
your audience, they provide up to 80% of your revenue.Since it’s 5x easier to retain a
customer than acquire a new one, if you focus on existing customers, they’ll continue buying
from you and will spend more over their lifetime with your company.In an over-saturated e-
commerce marketplace, loyalty matters now more than ever

Customer loyalty, when measured through surveys, is typically assessed through the use of
standard questions or items, mirroring the objective measures listed earlier. For each item,
customers are asked to rate their level of affinity for, endorsement of, and approval of a
company. The items usually ask for a rating that reflects the likelihood that the customer will
exhibit positive behaviors toward a company. Commonly used customer loyalty survey
questions include the following items:
  Overall satisfaction
 Likelihood to choose again for the first time
 Likelihood to recommend
 Likelihood to continue purchasing same products/services
 Likelihood to purchase different products/services
 Likelihood to increase frequency of purchasing
 Likelihood to switch to a different provider
The first question is rated on a scale (e.g., 0 = Extremely dissatisfied to 10 = Extremely
satisfied. The remaining questions allow respondents to indicate their likelihood of behaving
in different ways toward the company (e.g., 0 = Not at all likely to 10 = Extremely likely.
Higher ratings reflect higher levels of customer loyalty.

25. Can you manage working efficiently under the pressure of deadlines?

I am not naturally efficient under pressure, but it is something that I have learned with experience. I
had quite a few exams in college where pressure got to me and I did not perform to the best of my
abilities. __After realizing that I needed to improve, I actively looked for stressful situations in my
career, with the purpose of getting better in these circumstances. I’ve developed several personal
strategies, and I now see pressure as a motivating factor and a challenge, so when these situations
arise, I approach them with a positive mindset.”

26. What do you understand by Key Account Management?

Key account management is the process of building long-term relationships with your
company's most valuable accounts. These accounts make up the majority of the
business' income. To turn buyers into business partners, a key account manager
(KAM) typically provides dedicated resources, unique offers, and periodic meetings.

27. How would you rate your performance as a part of a team versus working
individually?
“I enjoy both. I can work both on a team, and work alone. Depending on the project that
needs to be done, I can work independently to complete my tasks on time, but I also enjoy
brainstorming and collaborating with my colleagues. I would anyway give a better rating to
my performance while working in a team rather than working alone.
28. How do you convince a customer to set a meeting with you?
 Suggest a couple of times. ...
 Set up a calendar event that both of you share. ...
 Use software to schedule the meeting. ...
 Use lunch meetings for busy clients.
If the prospect seems skeptical, I would ask like this:
  "If we really could do (something of value to the customer here), what would your

thoughts be on having an initial conversation to hear more?"

If the prospect seems neutral, "What is your availability over the next few weeks to have an

initial conversation with us about (something of value to the customer here)?"

If the prospect may be interested

 "I would love to have an initial phone conversation with you about (something of

value to the customer here). What is the best way to get on your calendar?"

If the prospect is clearly interested,

 "How do I get on your calendar, please?"

Specific Questions – Market Research Role

1. What do you understand by digital marketing? Why has it

grown important over the years?
Digital marketing is the component of marketing that utilizes the internet and online-
based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital
media and platforms to promote products and services.
It has grown important over the years
(a) Because Digital Marketing Levels the Online Playing Field. Digital Marketing actually
levels the playing field, providing small and medium enterprises the chance to compete
against the big boys and attract their share of targeted traffic. With digital marketing, small
companies now have the resources to perform sales and marketing processes previously
available only to large corporations. Without a call center, small businesses can engage
effectively with multiple customers, even to customers from any parts of the world, even if
they don’t have physical stores or branches in these locations.
2. Because Digital Marketing Is More Cost-Effective than Traditional Marketing, Small
businesses have minimal resources and even capitalization. This is why Digital Marketing
provides them with a better and much more cost-effective marketing channel that delivers
results. Gartner’s Digital Marketing Spend Report highlighted that up to 40% of respondents
claimed to get considerable savings using digital marketing methods of promotion for their
products and services.
3. Because Digital Marketing Delivers Conversion Businesses marketing products and
services online measure success by the percentage rate of incoming traffic gets converted into
leads, subscribers, or sales, depending on the intended purposes of your website. Without
conversion, all your traffic would mean nothing, and all your marketing efforts will simply go
to waste. That is why business owners streamline their digital marketing campaigns
towards conversion optimization, making it a top priority above everything else.
4. Because Digital Marketing Helps Generate Better Revenues With better revenue growth
expectancy, small and medium enterprises using digital marketing techniques will have 3.3
times better chances of expanding their workforce and business – opening their doors to
better, larger and farther reaching markets both locally and abroad. Google’s Asia-Pacific
Head of SME Kevin O’Kane describes the Internet as rocket fuel for growth for small and
medium enterprises.
5. Because Digital Marketing Facilitates Interaction with Targeted Audiences
One of the reasons why digital marketing is taking over traditional marketing channels is the
ability of Internet marketing tools to interact with targeted audiences in real time.
Engagement in any form is what your customers expect to receive when interacting with your
brand or business. How your business handles such engagements and interactions will spell
the difference between business success and failure – just like what eMarketer’s report Key
Digital Trends for 2014 is saying as shown below
6. Because Digital Marketing Caters to the Mobile Consumer
Now would be the best time to have digital marketing campaigns intended towards mobile
consumers, paving the way for them towards achieving better growth and faster expansion.
Mobile gadgets have evolved from being mere alternatives for laptops and personal
computers, into something that is influencing their purchasing decisions as confirmed by
another report from eMarketer

7. Because Digital Marketing Builds Brand Reputation The power of digital marketing lies in
its ability to attract targeted traffic. These types of audiences for your content are most likely
already ready to know more about your brand, products or services and may be interested
enough to purchase what you have to offer. Delivering on what you promised will help you
develop a better relationship with your targeted audiences, help them transition into paying
customers that will go back and interact with your site some more – on a regular and
continuous basis.

8. Because Digital Marketing Provides better ROI for Your Marketing Investments With
better revenues and better branding, Digital Marketing can provide a better Return of
Investments (ROI) than traditional media and marketing channels. With traditional media, the
cost is too exorbitant for small and medium enterprises to leverage on, and the results
received are somewhat vague and difficult to measure.

2. What are some ways by which companies carry out digital

marketing activities?

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) In layman’s terms, Search Engine Optimization or

SEO is essentially tweaking your website so that it comes up naturally or organically for
search results in Google, Yahoo, Bing or any other search engine.
2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Search Engine Marketing or SEM is a comprehensive
strategy to drive traffic to your business, primarily through paid efforts. Hence it is also
called Paid Search Marketing. The universe of SEM is diverse and complicated. Based on
your business structure, you may choose the PPC (pay-per-click) or CPC (cost-per-click)
model, or CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) model.
3. Content Creation Research shows that content creation is a definitive method of marketing
in 2014.All recent changes to Google’s algorithm - be it Panda, Penguin or Hummingbird -
point to the fact that content is the most important metric while filtering search results.
4. Social Media Marketing (SMM) Social Media Marketing or SMM is an offshoot of your
SEM efforts. It involves driving traffic to your sites or business through social sites like
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Linkedin, etc.

5. Digital Display Advertising This again is a subset of your SEM efforts. You may use a
variety of display advertising formats to target potential audience - be it text, image, banner,
rich-media, interactive or video ads
5. Digital Display Advertising This again is a subset of your SEM efforts. You may
use a variety of display advertising formats to target potential audience - be it text,
image, banner, rich-media, interactive or video ads.

6. Retargeting and Remarketing Essentially, Retargeting or Remarketing is a

strategy to target customers who have already visited your website. It is based on
cookie technology.
7. Mobile Marketing According to a report, Mobile Marketing will be worth $400 billion
by 2015 in the US alone. We strongly recommend you try out Mobile Marketing.
Remember, the website, apps and content should be customized for mobile devices.
8. Interactive Marketing Make sure your advertising strategy engages the potential
customer in a conversation. According to a survey by ExpoTV.com, 55 percent
respondents preferred to have ongoing communications with the companies they
buy from; and 89 percent felt more loyal to the companies if they were invited to
provide feedback.
9. Viral Marketing Viral Marketing is a strategy where a unique content spreads
exponentially online, because the content is appreciated, shared and liked
immensely.

3. What is the purpose of digital marketing?

Digital Marketing helps you make use of proven strategies and techniques that
attract not necessarily more traffic – but highly targeted traffic that delivers results.
Targeting the right kind of people that delivers the right kind of results is what Digital
Marketing is all about – ensuring survival for your business.

4. What is the difference between inbound and outbound

marketing?

Outbound marketing is what used to just be known as “marketing.” It’s interruptive and it
pushes itself at an audience, whether the audience wants it or not. TV and radio ads,
telemarketing, banner and display ads, billboards, newspaper and magazine ads, cold calling,
pop-ups and pop-unders, and contextual ads are all examples of outbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is a relatively new marketing concept where marketers

attempt to “pull” in potential customers with interesting content. Also
called content marketing, inbound marketing involves creating blog posts,
social media, infographics, white papers, email newsletters, and other content
that people actually want to read. Search engine optimization paid discovery,
and paid search help people find marketers’ content. If it’s engaging enough,
they interact with it, reading and sharing, and come away with a positive
impression of the brand that influences later purchasing decisions.

The difference between inbound and outbound tactics.

Inbound Outbound
Pulls in interested readers Pushes at everybody, regardless of interest
Written for the consumer’s needs
Interactive and fluid
Draws in customers
Is part of content consumption
Natural habitat: blogs, social media, opt-in
emails, search, influencer marketing
Written for the product’s needs
Inert, one-way
Seeks out customers
Disrupts content consumption
Natural habitat: display ads, billboards,
telemarketer scripts, magazines, TV ads

5. What is social media marketing?

. Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that
involves creating and sharing content on social media networks in order to
achieve your marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing includes
activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and and other content that
drives audience engagement, as well as paid social media advertising.
6. What do you understand by SEO? Why is it important?
SEO is made up of multiple different elements, and knowing what they are and how they
work is key to understanding why SEO is so important. In short, SEO is significant because it
makes your website more visible, and that means more traffic and more opportunities to
convert prospects into customers.

SEO is important because it keeps the search results fair. It reduces the ability to
manipulate these results as much as possible, so that the sites appearing for each
search are there because they deserve to be there. Hard work and a website that
appeals to visitors correlate with high search engine rankings, so if your site
meets these criteria, you’ll have a better chance at showing up in the results.
7. What do you understand by keywords from the perspective of
digital marketing?
A keyword is a term used in digital marketing to describe a word or a group of words an Internet user
uses to perform a search in a search engine or search bar. In an SEO strategy, keywords are very
important and should be the core of any copy written for the web (present in the content, titles and
SEO elements).
Keyword optimization (also known as keyword research) is the act of researching, analyzing and
selecting the best keywords to target to drive qualified traffic from search engines to your website. ...
So keyword optimization isn't a set it and forget it process.

8. What are some ways by which you can increase traffic on your
website?
1. Advertise
 Paid search, social media advertising and display advertising are all excellent ways of
attracting visitors, building your brand and getting your site in front of people. Adjust your
paid strategies to suit your goals – do you just want more traffic, or are you looking to
increase conversions, too? Each paid channel has its pros and cons, so think carefully about
your objectives before you reach for your credit card.

2. Get Social
It’s not enough to produce great content and hope that people find it – you have to be
proactive. One of the best ways to increase traffic to your website is to use social media
channels to promote your content. Twitter is ideal for short, snappy (and tempting) links,
whereas Google+ promotion can help your site show up in personalized search results and
seems especially effective in B2B niches. If you’re a B2C product company, you might find
great traction with image-heavy social sites like Pinterest and Instagram. Here's more advice
on making the most of social media marketing.

3. Write Irresistible Headlines

Headlines are one of the most important parts of your content. Without a compelling
headline, even the most comprehensive blog post will go unread. Master the art of headline
writing. For example, the writers at BuzzFeed and Upworthy often write upward of twenty
different headlines before finally settling on the one that will drive the most traffic, so think
care
4. Pay Attention to On-Page SEO
Think SEO is dead? Think again. Optimizing your content for search engines is still a
valuable and worthwhile practice. Are you making the most of image alt text? Are you
creating internal links to new content? What about meta descriptions? Optimizing for on-page
SEO doesn’t have to take ages, and it could help boost your organic traffic.

9. What are some digital marketing tools you’re aware of?

 Organic Social Media.- As of September 2017, Facebook has over 2 billion
monthly active users, Twitter has 320 million and Instagram has well over 700 million. With
so many people spending so much time on social, it’s becoming one of the most important
channels for brands to leverage. 
 Paid Social Media. The power of social sites goes far beyond organic reach.
Paid platforms can get your brand in front of large groups of active users that you’d
otherwise be unable to reach. The major social networks have so much data on their
users that targeting can become extremely granular and effective, making social an
ideal place to pay for impressions.
 Email Marketing. Despite being old-school, email is easily one of the most
effective marketing channels in terms of ROI. Email usage continues to grow
approximately 4% year-over-year and has no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
 Display Retargeting. Ads that “follow us around” from sites we’ve visited or
shopped on have exploded in popularity over the past couple of years. These are retargeting
ads, and even if you haven’t heard of them by name you’ve certainly been targeted by them
in the past. Retargeting is incredibly efficient for getting customers back to your site to make
a purchase or become a lead when they otherwise would have been bounced traffic
 Programmatic Advertising. Programmatic advertising refers to the use of software to
automate the purchase of media from both online and offline channels. In other words, ads are
purchased and displayed automatically based on data. Two of the largest benefits of using
programmatic media buying solutions is you can reduce the time you spend finding the best networks
to advertise. Secondly, you gain access to the plethora of data that most of these companies have
access to.
10. What do you understand by ‘remarketing’?
Remarketing is a tactic that involves showing ads to people who have visited your website or used
your mobile app. This strategy is a particularly cost-effective way to increase your sales conversions
because you're reaching out to customers who have already expressed interest in your products or
services.

11. When you visit the website of e-commerce platforms, they

have some tailored product ‘suggestions’ for you. How do they
determine that
They use recommendation Systems. Recommender systems are machine learning
systems that help users discover new product and services. Every time you shop
online, a  recommendation system is guiding you towards the most likely product
you might purchase.

Recommender systems are an essential feature in our digital world, as users are

often overwhelmed by choice and need help finding what they're looking for. This
leads to happier customers and, of course, more sales. Recommender systems are
like salesmen who know, based on your history and preferences, what you like.

Have you done any digital marketing certifications? What have you learnt?

13. What is the role of a digital marketing

professional? What skills are required for such a role?
Strategic thinking - It’s essential that those involved in digital marketing can seem one step

ahead. Strategic thinking is all about understanding how other people think. Without knowing

how people think, you could never hope to understand why they do or don’t buy your product

or service. And without that, you might as well be throwing your money away.  .

Data analysis -We speak a lot about big data here and it’s essential for marketers to

understand the information that’s available to them. By analyzing data about customers,

marketers are able to gain insights and increase profits. In addition, they’re able to provide

data about just how valuable campaigns have been; when it comes to big data, there’s no

need to thumb suck.

Paid social advertising- Facebook was a marketer’s dream a few years ago. Now, changes in

algorithms mean you can’t be sure your content will end up on customers’ feeds. That's

where paid advertising comes into play. There are many nuances to knowing how to target

content toward an audience, and it’s the job of the digital marketing manager to know-how.

Email marketing- This form of communication is all about niche targeting, bounce rates,

open rates and conversion. It is a powerful marketing tool that is often underestimated yet has

immense power. Email subscribers are more likely to buy than other potential customers.
Because they’re subscribed to your list, they’re already interested in what you have to say.

That means they’ve either already been a customer, and have the potential to buy again, or

are very close to being a customer. Your emails can help make that happen.

SEO- There are two parts to this area – optimizing a website’s content for organic search, but

also paying for clicks using Google’s AdWords. Without paying for clicks, it’ll take years of

content creation and strategic marketing to gain a spot on page one of Google’s search

results.

Knowledge of the free tools available- There are numerous free tools available that can

greatly benefit digital marketing managers. Some of them include:

 Hootsuite
 Tweetdeck
 Facebook Insights
 Twitter analytics
 Google analytics
Getting to know these tools, and more will add immense value to any digital marketing
manager’s arsenal of tricks.

Social media marketing Every digital marketing manager needs to understand the various

social networks and how they work. They need to understand where customers spend time as

it’s pointless to waste your attention on other networks. Once on the network of choice,

marketers can make decisions about branding, tone, and scheduling. As always, successful

campaigns are all about keeping consistent

14. How does Google earn revenue from advertisements?

The main way Google generates its revenue is through a pair of advertising services

called Ads and AdSense. ... Every time someone clicks on an ad on the site, the site receives

a portion of the ad revenue (and Google gets the rest).

15. What are the metrics you set to evaluate a digital marketing
campaign?
Step 1: Evaluate your digital marketing goals.

The first step in any good digital marketing strategy evaluation is a thorough examination of
the specific goals you’ve set for yourself in the past. (Obviously, if you haven’t yet created
any goals, this is the first issue you’ll want to tackle!)

Step #2: Reexamine your target customer profiles.

In addition, it’s important to remember that any good digital marketing plan is founded on a
series of well-constructed customer profiles that outline the specific types of people you’d
like to reach through your campaigns. So while you shouldn’t launch a new marketing
campaign until you have some idea of your target customer’s demographics, interests and
Web activities, you’ll also want to continually develop this profile based on your newest data.

Step #3: Take a look at your digital presence.

As you reexamine the types of customers you target, you’ll also want to periodically assess
whether or not you’re actively participating on the right digital properties.

Step #4: Evaluate your messaging strategies.

Next, take a look at the specific types of messages you’re releasing as part of your digital
marketing campaigns. Specifically, evaluate:

 Which types of messages (i.e. text-based status updates, blog posts, videos,
podcasts, etc.) are performing best with your audience?

 Do the words you've chosen for various messaging pieces seem to resonate
with your audience?

 How frequently are your marketing materials being shared virally amongst
users?

Step #5: Check your digital marketing ROI.

The last thing you’ll want to evaluate when it comes to assessing your digital marketing
performance is your overall ROI. Now, calculating your exact returns can be difficult, but
you’ll ultimately find that the data you’re able to produce are well worth your efforts.

To measure ROI, you'll need to track two different variables:

 The amount you’ve invested into your digital marketing campaigns (being
sure to account for both financial investments and time expenditures), and

 The financial benefit of any conversions you’re tracking.