Information
WELCOME
Welcome to the vhb course "Principles of Marketing & Sales". We are pleased that you have chosen our course and wish you a lot of fun and interesting insights into the world of marketing & sales.
This course is designed to support virtual learning for undergraduate students in the field of marketing and sales. It is a general introduction course. Below you can find more information regarding the content. Please start by watching the video. It will give you some important information about the structure as well as the course schedule.
Good luck and hope you have a good learning experience! We welcome your feedbacks!
Please note: this is an online course, there will be no online-lecture via Zoom (or other providers).
CONTENT
The course is divided into a total of eight content blocks.
1. Introduction into Marketing & Sales
The first chapter will introduce the principles of Marketing and Sales and familiarize students with the necessary terminology. It also covers – on a very general level – the particularities of the various marketing disciplines (B2C marketing, service marketing, B2B marketing, retailing).
2. Product
The chapter introduces the relevant approaches to structure a company’s product portfolio and discuss width and depth as important variables in designing a company’s product portfolio. Students will be familiarized with the various tools to develop new products and modify existing ones in order to satisfy customer needs. The final part of the chapter will be dedicated to branding. This includes strategic brand positioning as well as branding decisions on an operational level (e. g. design).
3. Price
The chapter outlines the importance of pricing as the most important profit driver. Students will get to know the most relevant concepts of setting prices including price differentiation, bundling and psychological price effects.
4. Promotion
The chapters introduces the communication planning process and the relevant classical („above-the-line“) and non-classical („below-the-line“) communication tools.
5. Sales
The sales chapter focuses strongly on multi-channel management. Different channels such as personal selling, e-commerce, franchising etc. are discussed and students are familiarized with its strategic implications.
6. Strategic Marketing
The
module introduces methods to understand the situation companies are in
as a precondition to derive strategic decisions in Marketing and Sales.
Based on these insights, selected strategic approaches in Marketing and
Sales are discussed and applied along different cases or exercises. Aim
is to familiarize students with various tools and methods.
7. Market Research
This chapter imparts knowledge in the areas of desk and field research
as well as qualitative and quantitative market research methods.
Students are enabled to understand and critical review different market
research designs. We also look into modern forms of market research
where the focus is more on data interpretation than on data collection.
8. Consumer Behavior
Understanding
consumer behavior is a key to success in all marketing disciplines,
from product development to advertising design and sales pitching. In
this section we give you an insight into the fascinating world of
customer decisions, human information processing and the influence of
intra- and interpersonal characteristics. In addition to the theoretical
basics, many different cases ensure that the practical application is
not neglected.
SYMBOLS
For all modules we provide different kind of material to support your learning. The contents of the course are either directly integrated into the learning platform or are available as a PDF script or a links to external websites or video-platforms.
h5p scripts
All module scripts are structured as interactive h5p activities. The individual modules contain links with the symbols listed below.
Additional Content
The Additional Content folder in the main course in each module contains all necessary PDFs of the respective module. You will also find the respective script in printable PDF form there.
Links
The integrated links will take you to videos, exercises, tests, further reading or case studies, for example.
PDF scripts
Whenever you see this symbol, you will be referred to a PDF script with the contents of the respective chapter.
/
Videos
All modules contain additional content such as micro-lectures or explanatory videos. These are directly integrated into the interactive script.
Compulsory reading
Whenever you see this symbol in the module, you will find a link to further reading material that has to be prepared as part of this course. You'll find it in the folder "Additional Content"
Additional reading
Some literature recommendations refer additional reading recommendations, for example to create a higher practical relevance, or to literature that repeats and consolidates basic knowledge from other lectures (e.g. statistics). These texts are not necessarily relevant for the exam, but are helpful for your personal learning progress and helps you to close knowledge gaps. You'll find it in the folder "Additional Content"
Exercises &
Self-assessments &
interactive Content
Within or at the end of each module you find small exercises or self-assessments. You should do this tests to deepen your knowledge and make sure you understood the contents correctly. In most of the exercises you receive instant feedback. Some exercises have to be uploaded into a forum for discussion.
You can repeat the self-learning tests as often as you like.
The course contains two different types of exercises. Some of them a voluntarily, but highly recommended. Some of them are mandatory exercises. You have to pass this exercises or self-assessments before you can continue with the course. You need a minimum of 80% of correct answers to continue.
A Mock Exam is available to the students. This exam will not be graded or reviewed by the supervisors!
Case Studies
To deepen further the theoretical knowledge, we provide case studies that helps to transfer the theoretical knowledge into practice. For some case studies we just provide a sample solution but also a more intensive discussion within a particular forum is possible. Please be aware that more than one answer option may be right and more important is a valid explanation. Each chapter also ends with a module-end case to encourage self-learning. You'll find it in the folder "Additional Content"
Wrap-up questions
At the end of each chapter your find wrap-up-questions which help you to repeat important aspects of the module. You can expect different types of questions. Some of the questions are just to summarize the knowledge you have gained in the module. Other questions require transfer knowledge and are intended to encourage you to dive deeper into the subject. Please also keep in mind that one or more answer options can be correct.
Please be aware that for the wrap-up questions we will not provide any exemplary solution. This is part of the course concept and should encourage the use of the `discussion forum´.
LEARNING SUPPORT
If you have questions concerning the course content we are here to help you. You have different possibilities:
- In the news forum (
) the course supervisors share important information.
- A discussion forum is available to all students. This is where the students exchange ideas and help each other. Please be active here and use the opportunity for interaction with your peers. The tutors will comment on the content in the discussion forum if necessary.
- The course supervisors are of course also available by e-mail for your personal enquiries. We guarantee an answer within 48 hours (Monday-Friday).
- It is possible to interact with your peers individually through private messages.
- The course supervisors are offering 2 Q&A sessions throughout the semester (dates will be given after the semester has started)
- A Mock Exam is available to the students which will not be graded or reviewed by the supervisors
Please note: this is an online course, there will be no online-lecture via Zoom (or other providers).
Self-learning and self-motivation skills are required to pass this course. Also be aware that the workload is 150h (5 ECTS). This includes to deal with provided literature and further to search for other sources on your own if needed.