Universal Functions of Marketing

. The universal functions of marketing are buying, selling, marketing jobs, research, storage, transportation, standardization, grading, financing, and risk. All of these functions would apply to my fictitious firm in some way. I would have to deal with buying and selling the products, marketing for them, storing them and getting them to the places, how to pay for the development of them, and what the risks would be associated with the development of the product.

2. The key components of a marketing plan are defining the ideal customer or target market. The next component is understanding competition or differentiation. Next is knowing what to achieve or marketing goals. The next component is defining how you will reach your target market or marketing strategy. The last component is projecting costs of marketing activities or marketing budgets.

3. The four p's of marketing are product, place, price, and promotion. Products refers to what the customer wants, how they will use the product, the look, color, and size. The place refers to where the consumer looks for the products and what kind of stores to put it in. Price refers to the value of the product to the buyer and the marketer has to establish price points for the product. They also have to compare the price to their competitors. Promotion refers to when and where to market and the best time to promote compared to the competition.

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5. Some of the psychological purchasing variables are motivation, perception, learning, attitude, personality, and lifestyle. These are important to marketers because they must be motivated to sell and the consumers to buy. They have to have a positive attitude about the process and be willing to learn about new processes.

6. First a person will have to learn of my products (watermelon bowl) existence and understand its functions. Then they will form an opinion about my watermelon bowl, good or bad. Next they will adopt or reject my bowl. After they have adopted my bowl, they will use it.

7. The internet is allowing new forms of communication, reduced costs of many kinds of market interactions, and brought firms and consumers closer together from around the world. The internet allows for businesses to easily communicate with firms in other countries. I would use the internet to look at similar products first and make mine better and advertise it on the internet and share it with consumers and others firms around the world.

8. Some ideas that would help increase sales for my friends store would be better advertisement in better locations. I could ask where she is advertising currently and offer better placement of those advertisements. I could also suggest a sale. Having a sale would get consumers into the store and offer a lower price than Walmart and other competitors. I could ask about her selling prices and suggest she