Marketing Professionals
Analyse consumer behaviour and identify market opportunities to develop plans and policies to price and promote the goods and services provided by organisations.
Spring sale week
You are a marketing specialist at a plant nursery, running the biggest sale of the year across social media and email. It is Monday of spring sale week. A new post is scheduled, a local influencer is promoting you, and your manager wants results by Friday. Things start moving fast.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Let's put 'The only plants in town that never die' on the main banner. Customers love a bold promise, and our plants are really healthy. It'll get attention, don't you think?
Use it, because the owner wants it and bold claims get attention, and the banner needs something people will remember
The banner gets plenty of attention, including from a customer whose plant did not survive. A promise that cannot be true invites complaints, and customers may no longer believe your other messages.
Suggest a line about how you choose and care for your plants, which is true and still bold
Kris likes the new line because it sounds like the nursery. It is something customers can believe, and it gives you a story to tell in every post.
Say it is a bad idea and refuse to put it on the banner
You are right about the risk, but Kris feels dismissed. Refusing without offering something in its place leaves the owner with no banner and no idea what to do next.
I've just posted about the sale and tagged you. I didn't write that it was a paid partnership, because it'll look more genuine if people think it's just me loving the plants. Is that okay?
Let it stand, as her followers like her authenticity and the post is already doing well
Undisclosed paid promotion misleads followers and can breach advertising rules. If anyone complains, both Jess and the nursery are responsible. Doing well is no defence.
Ask her to add a clear note that it is a paid partnership and explain why it protects her too
Jess updates the post. A few followers comment on the label, but most do not mind. Being open keeps trust for both of you.
Take the post down and tell her the partnership is over
The problem disappears, but so does your best promotion for the week. Jess did not realise it mattered, and a short conversation might have solved it.
Your email promised a free plant with every order, but I only have a small number left. Customers are arriving at the till waving the email. What do we do?
Apologise, send a clear update about the limit, and agree an alternative with Aditi for those who miss out
You fix it, and Aditi appreciates the plan. But the update goes out hours after the first customers were disappointed. Sooner would have been better.
Say nothing and hope customers forget about the free plant
Many do not forget. Staff face upset customers all day, and some post complaints online. An unkept promise in your own marketing is harder to fix the longer it sits.
Send an honest correction at once, apologise, offer a fair alternative and agree it with Aditi first
Customers receive the correction before the afternoon rush. Some are disappointed, but most accept the alternative. Owning an error quickly turns a complaint into goodwill.
How it went
The sale ends and the results come in, a little better than expected and a little messier than planned. Marketing is a mix of creative ideas, careful numbers and honest promises, and you are always one post away from learning something new. How would you feel about working in that space?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: Lots of clicks, few sales
A fictional case set in the small marketing team of a fictional online and in-store plant nursery.
The situation
Hannah was a digital marketing analyst at Fernbank Nursery. A new ad campaign for indoor plants was getting a huge number of clicks, and her manager was thrilled. But when Hannah looked at the sales numbers, hardly anyone who clicked was buying. The campaign budget was nearly spent, the owner had praised it in a team meeting and the next round of advertising was about to be approved. It would have been easy to leave the good news alone.
What they did
Hannah followed the journey of the people who clicked, using the website's data. Many left on the same page. She tested it on her phone and found the buy button hidden below a large photo that did not load properly. She showed her manager the clicks alongside the sales, explained what she thought was happening and suggested fixing the page before spending more. She worked with the web developer to correct it that afternoon.
How it turned out
After the fix, more visitors bought, though the results were more modest than the click numbers had suggested. The owner was glad the problem was found before more money went into advertising. The team started looking at sales and clicks together on every campaign.
What would you do?
- Why were the clicks not the whole story?
- How would you tell a happy boss that the good news is incomplete?
- What would you want to measure if you were running a campaign?