ITE3642 · SEM 6
Marketing
Offline study guides — one per week, built from the lecture notes and lecture videos. Green bar = sections you marked as understood.
Week 01Introduction to MarketingWhat marketing is (Kotler, CIM, AMA, social marketing), marketing vs selling and the iceberg, why marketing matters, its core concepts (needs, wants, demand states, offerings, value, satisfaction, exchange, markets) and its objectives.
Week 02Paradigms (Philosophies) of MarketingHow marketing thought evolved: production, product, selling, marketing, societal and holistic marketing concepts, with their focus, examples, benefits and drawbacks, plus marketing myopia and the four pillars of holistic marketing.
Week 03Environmental Scanning & Marketing PlanningThe marketing environment (internal, micro and macro), the 5 Ms and McKinsey 7S, suppliers, intermediaries, customer markets, competitor types and publics, the six macro forces (DENTPC), reactive vs proactive responses, and the marketing information system.
Week 04Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy — Segmentation, Targeting, Differentiation & PositioningSTP explained: four segmentation bases, why segment, the five requirements for useful segments, targeting with Porter's five forces and the five target-selection patterns, differentiation types, positioning and perceptual maps.
Week 05Consumer Markets & Consumer Buyer BehaviourWhat consumer markets are, the stimulus–response (black box) model, cultural, social, personal and psychological influences, buying roles, the 5-stage buyer decision process, the four buying behaviour types, and Sri Lankan and global consumer trends.
Week 06Business Markets & Business Buyer BehaviourHow B2B markets differ from consumer markets, the three buying situations, systems buying and selling, the buying centre's seven roles, purchasing orientations, Kraljic's four product types, the 8 buy phases, and B2B relationships.
Week 07Marketing Information & Marketing ResearchWhy information beats gut feeling, internal data, competitive intelligence and research, the marketing information system (internal records, intelligence, MDSS, research), types of research, qualitative vs quantitative methods, the 4-step research process, and why research fails.
Week 08Fundamentals of Digital MarketingWhat digital marketing is (and isn't), its four objectives, why people go online, the seven key components (website, SEO/SEM, social, paid ads, remarketing, affiliate, email), Kaushik's measurement model, and metrics vs KPIs.
Week 09New Product Development & Product Life Cycle StrategiesSix types of new products, why new products are needed and why they fail, the 8-stage NPD process, sequential vs simultaneous development, the product life cycle (shapes, stages, characteristics) and 4P strategies for each stage.
Week 10Product & Branding StrategiesProduct strategy, the three levels of a product, product classifications (durability, consumer shopping habits), product-mix dimensions and product-line decisions, brands and their six meanings, brand equity, branding decisions, and packaging and labelling.
Week 11Pricing StrategiesWhat price is and why it's special, internal and external factors affecting price, the 6-step pricing process (objectives, demand and elasticity, costs, competitors, methods, final price), skimming vs penetration, seven price-adjustment strategies, and initiating and reacting to price changes.
Week 12Promotional Strategies & Integrated Marketing CommunicationIMC, the new marketing communications model, six promotion objectives, the five promotion-mix tools, advertising types and strategy, message strategy (appeals, structure, format), PR tools, sales promotion (consumer and trade), push vs pull, and socially responsible communication.
Week 13Channel Strategies, Logistics & Supply ChainPlace, the last of the 4 Ps: the nature of marketing channels, push and pull, how channel members add value, channel levels, behaviour and conflict, conventional vs vertical and horizontal marketing systems, designing a channel step by step, managing channel members, and marketing logistics.
Week 14The Marketing PlanThe final session: what marketing planning is, why it matters, and every component of a marketing plan, from the executive summary, company information, environment and current situation through SWOT, objectives and the full marketing strategy (STP and the 4 Ps) to action programmes, budget and controls.
★Mixed practice exam
20 random questions drawn from all 14 weeks (162 in the bank). Every attempt is a new mix — a good way to test whole-subject knowledge before the exam.