Important Marketing Concepts You Must Know For Your MBA Interview

To put it simply, there must be revenue for there to be profit. Therefore, a firm’s financial success often depends on its marketing acumen. It helps to build strong brands, create loyal customers, protect from the competition, increase the negotiation power, and in doing all these, it increases profits.

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Key Learning Outcomes of Doing an MBA in Marketing Program

Business schools offer an assortment of courses that help MBA students develop a marketing acumen that they can use in their post-MBA career. While courses may differ in titles, the coverage is more or less the same. It includes:

Marketing Strategy and Management: Marketing Strategy is all of the company’s efforts towards fulfilling the marketing objectives tied up in the form of a single comprehensive plan. It includes – Market Research, Planning, Management, and Execution.

Market Research & Consumer Insights: It is about gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market to gather insights on what the consumer wants and tailoring the firm's offerings accordingly.

Product Development & Management: It refers to the series of steps that help in conceptualization, design, development and marketing of newly created products or services.

Data Analytics: It means analyzing raw data to conclude new products and services that will further help in guiding the business decision.

Advertising and Sales Promotion: It refers to the dissemination of information about a product or service to create awareness through the right channel.

Brand Management: This includes the analysis and the planning of how a brand is perceived in the market and developing a strategic plan to maintain brand equity. Creating a strong brand presence helps in differentiation.

Digital Marketing: It is the buzzword nowadays and refers to the marketing of products using digital technologies through the internet using mobile apps, social media sites, or any other medium.

What can you do with an MBA in Marketing?

An MBA in Marketing opens up a plethora of job opportunities in various sectors such as FMCG, Retail, Hospitality, Banking, Information Technology, and IT-enabled services.

The various profiles offered are of a Brand Manager, Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, Market Research Analyst, Media Planner, Product Manager, and Digital Marketer.

Marketing Concepts you need to know before your MBA interview

4Ps of Marketing:
The 4Ps of Marketing, also known as the Product Mix are important elements in determining a product's offering to the customer. They consist of:

Product: A product can either be tangible, something that has independent physical existence, or intangible like a service. Launching the right kind of product with the appropriate number of variants is the key.
Price: The price of a product determines the offering, which the customers are willing to give to buy that product. The price can neither be too low that the seller incurs losses nor be too high that the consumers cannot afford the product.
Place: The market where the product is sold is known as the place. The markets should be convenient for consumers to access. The distribution network for a product determines its availability in shops/outlets.
Promotion: The method of communication by which the marketer provides information about the product is known as promotion. It includes advertisements, personal selling, word of mouth and publicity etc.

STP Model:
It is the most commonly applied models in Marketing for practice. The STP model is useful while creating the marketing communication plan since it helps the marketers to prioritize propositions and then develop personalized and relevant messages to engage with different audiences.

Brand:
In simple words, brand is similar to the current meaning of ‘trademark’. A brand is a product, service or a concept that can be distinguished from others so that it be communicated and marketed easily.

Difference between Marketing and Selling:
Marketing is the process of meeting the needs of the customer. It includes product planning, pricing, promotion, and distribution.

Whereas, selling is the action that converts the products or services into cash. Sales are a result of Marketing. Sales have a short-term perspective whereas, marketing continues even after sales in the form of after-sales service, etc.

Difference between Marketing and Advertising:
Marketing refers to the process of preparation of your product for the marketplace. It involves understanding the target group and their needs and wants for the product. It is marketing that helps define the brand and attract the market share you want.

Advertising, on the other hand, is the process of making your product or service known to the marketplace by spreading the word about what the company has to offer. Marketing is the way you convince your buyers whereas, advertising refers to how you communicate to them.

Difference between Selling and Advertising:

Selling is a direct contact activity with the consumer to entice him about the product or service, whereas, advertising is an indirect contact activity aimed at creating awareness about the product or service which can result in increased sales. Both these functions work under the umbrella of the Marketing department.

Type of Questions You Can Be Asked

Favourite marketing campaign and the reasons you like it. (Have strong arguments)
Tell us your most favourite and least favourite ad and if you were to change it, how will you? (Use your creativity)
What according to you is a brand? What is your favourite brand and why?
Sell the city from where you completed your graduation and come up with its tagline
Do celebrities hamper the prospect of a brand? People concentrate more on the person than the product. (Opinion based)
Difference between Digital Marketing and marketing in a digital space
Tell us about the Product Life Cycle and name a few products on which it is not applicable
Do you think Marketing is ethical? Give reasons (Proceed with caution)
Why do you want to switch to Marketing from an IT background (for work)