​Introduction

Principles of Marketing, MKT201, is an introductory, core requirement course in the business degree curriculum. There is not a prerequisite for this course. As Principles of Marketing forms the foundation of advanced marketing courses and business learning, it is important for students to understand the key marketing terms, concepts, and theories. Although I must help them acquire requisite knowledge, I believe it's important for the students to be able to be able to apply, analyze, and evaluate these terms, concepts, and theories—in addition to being able to explain them on an exam.

 

Marketing Concept Being Presented

Today’s marketing is all about creating customer value and building profitable customer relationships. A company makes four customer-driven marketing strategy decisions: (1) dividing markets into meaningful customer groups (segmentation), (2) choosing which customer groups to serve (targeting), (3) creating market offerings that best serve targeted customers (differentiation), and (4) positioning the offering in the target customers’ minds, relative to competing products or services, on an important attribute (positioning—the topic of the unit I am presenting).

 

Session and Course Learning Objectives

Learning, activities, and assignments for this unit on positioning will address session-specific and overall course learning objectives. Learning objectives for the positioning session are: (1) define product positioning, (2) explain how companies position products against competitive offerings, and (3) analyze real-world marketing scenarios. This session addresses the course learning objectives that students will: (1) explain the significance of key marketing terms and concepts in a variety of marketing situations, and (2) analyze real-world marketing challenges faced by a company or a brand.  These two course learning objectives align with Fink's Foundational Knowledge, Application, Integration, and Human Dimension attributes of Significant Learning.

 

Approach

So they may digest and reflect upon the material, and come to class prepared with questions, students are asked to read the positioning chapter text and complete a written, open-ended question homework assignment prior to class. Students also bring their responses to class. The reading and homework assignment are augmented by informative class discussions and presentations intertwined with real-world stories to communicate marketing concepts and principles to the group. As I strive to meet the needs (visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic) of each type of learner a couple of times per topic, a variety of instructional delivery methods are incorporated in this session. This approach follows the theory that “learning is more thorough and is retained better if multiple modes are used to input and process information.” Instructional materials included in the session on positioning are: (1) homework-turned-pop quiz, (2) PowerPoint slides with notes, (3) positioning map in-class, small group active learning exercise, and (4) “3-2-1 Minute Paper” Classroom Assessment Technique (CAT).

 

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