Marketing in a Credit Credit Crunch

• Lesson
• Exercise
• Answer

Mystic Movers is a mom and pop Moving and Storage Company, composed of mainly family members. The company originated quite spontaneously and took off initially based on word of mouth advertising. The company’s advertising strategy consists of simply copying some of its competitors’ sales literature. Its prices were arrived at in a similar arbitrary fashion.

Mystic knows what its customers don’t like due to its low rating on consumer websites and complaint records, but it doesn’t know what customers liked about its service. Chief among customer dislikes are employee appearance and items lost during moving.

The recession has reduced the number of people relocating to other cities and many have postponed plans to move to upgraded dwellings. The result has been a reduction in sales prompting Mystic to consider layoffs and drastically cut back on advertising. The company has excellent internal records of customer contacts and had considered conducting its own customer feedback survey and using the results to help guide an advertising campaign.

Since its initial success came via word of mouth, the company has never compiled demographic data or defined its target market. Mystic recently joined a Moving Company Association whose purpose is to keep its members attuned to political changes and lobby in support of stakeholder interests.

Your questions

1. A great framework for conducting a situational analysis which takes into account economic and political factors is a part of which of the following

• a. Transactional Analysis
• b. Nutritional Analysis
• c. Systems Analysis
• d. PEST Analysis

2. The Mystic Company’s current lack of information on customer opinions hinders its understanding of which of the following factors?

• a. Customer needs
• b. Brand Perception
• c. The buyer decision process
• d. Consumer values
• e. All of the above

3. Mystic Company personnel most likely to be assigned to monitor and adapt to changes in the marketing environment is which of the following?

• a. The Company Attorney
• b. The Truck Mechanic
• c. The Marketing Manager
• d. The Auditor

4. Which of the following approaches is most likely to result in the development of Smart Objectives?

• a. Following the leader
• b. Proceeding on instinct
• c. Outlining specific, realistic and achievable tactics
• d. Crossing your fingers

5. Which of the following current or planned initiatives will aid Mystics formulation of its advertising tactics and decision-making?

• a. Assessing the cause of customer complaints
• b. Continuing to mirroring the moves of competitors
• c. Conducting a customer feedback survey
• d. Utilizing information provided by the Association