Lesson 2: Marketing
Words to learn:
Attract; compare; competition; consume; convince; currently; fad; inspiration; market; persuasion; productive; satisfaction.
Study the following definitions and examples.
1. attract v., to draw by appeal
a. The display attracted a number of people at the convention.
b. The new advertising attracts the wrong kind of customer into the store.
2. compare v., to examine similarities and differences
a. Once the customer compared the two Products, her choice was easy.
b. The price for this brand is high compared to the other brands on the market.
3. competition n., a contest or struggle
a. In the competition for afternoon diners, Hector’s has come out on top.
b. The company has decided not to join the growing competition for dominance in the semiconductor market.
4. consume v., to absorb; to use up
a. The business plans consumed all of Fritz’s attention this fall.
b. This printer consumes more toner than the downstairs printer.
5. convince V., to bring to believe by argument; to persuade
a. The salesman convinced his customer to buy his entire inventory of pens.
b. Before a business can convince customers that it provides a quality product, it must convince its marketing staff.
6. currently adv., happening at the present time; now
a. We are currently exploring plans to update the MX3 model.
b. Currently, customers are demanding big discounts for bulk orders.
7. fad n., a practice followed enthusiastically for a short time; a craze
a. The mini dress was a fad once thought to be finished, but now it is making a comeback,
b. Classic tastes may seem boring but they have proven to resist fads.
8. inspiration n,, a thing or person that arouses a feeling
a. His work is an inspiration to the marketing department,
b. Marta’s high sales in Spain were an inspiration to other European reps.
9. market v., the course of buying and selling a product; n., the demand for a product
a. When Omar first began making his chutneys, he marketed them door-to-door to gourmet shops.
b. The market for brightly colored clothing was brisk last year, but it’s moving sluggishly this year.
10. persuasion n.., the power to influence; a deep conviction or belief
a. The seminar teaches techniques of persuasion to increase sales.
b. Under his persuasion, she returned to school for her MBA.
11. productive adj., constructive; high yield
a. The unproductive sales meeting brought many staff complaints.
b. Alonzo is excited about his productive staff.
12. satisfaction n., happiness
a. Your satisfaction is guaranteed or you’ll get your money back.
b. We will print the advertisement to your satisfaction.
WORDS IN CONTEXT
Read the following passage and write the words in the blanks below.
| attract | consumers | fad | persuaded |
| compared | convince | inspire | product |
| competes | current | market | satisfied |
Yassir is getting ready to realize his dream: opening a business that sells plants on the Internet. After completing a business plan that helped him to determine that there was demand for his (1) ____________in the (2) ____________, Yassir is ready to start promoting his business. Having (3) ____________ the bank that there was a market—that there were consumers willing to buy plants on the Internet— he needed to find these (4) ____________ Once he has an established base, Yassir, like other business own-ers, will have to continually (5) ____________ new customers. At the same time, he must make sure current customers are (6) ____________. In order to be satisfied,(7) ____________ customers must be happy with the product they receive. Yassir’s job is to (8) these cus-tomers to gain their repeat business. To do this, he will have to (9) ____________ consumers that he offers a good product at a good price, especially when (10) ____________ to the businesses with which he (11) ____________. He hopes that Internet plant buyers are here to stay and not just part of a (12) ____________.
WORD FAMILIES
| verb | attract | The store’s poor location did not help it attract customers. |
| noun | attraction | Having a clown in the toy store was a foolproof attraction for getting kids to enter. |
| adjective | attractive | Lou ran his store on an old-fashioned premise: quality merchandise at attractive prices. |
| verb | compare | She compared the prices before she made a decision. |
| noun | comparison | There was no comparison in the quality of the two brands. |
| adjective | comparable | To get an average for home costs, the agent sought prices on comparable homes. |
| noun | competition | Try to think of yourself as someone who leads the competition. |
| verb | compete | We competed against three or four other agencies to get this contract. |
| adjective | competitive | His competitive character made him quite successful in his department. |
| verb | consume | The analyst was able to consume new information quickly. |
| noun | consumer | The government tracks consumer spending closely. |
| adjective | consumable | He ran a study of the use of consumable goods. |
| verb | market | The sales department disagreed about how to market their newest product. |
| noun | marketing | A good director of marketing can find a way to sell even an unattractive product. |
| adjective | marketable | Once the sales manager decided to change the packaging, the product became much more marketable. |
| noun | satisfaction | Our highest priority is customer satisfaction. |
| verb | satisfy | Henri was perfectly satisfied with his new fishing rod. |
| adjective | satisfactory | The rods were not in satisfactory condition. |
WORD PRACTICE
READING
Part 5 Incomplete Sentences
Choose the word that best completes the sentence.
10. Marketing specialists have conducted extensive studies of what ____ customers to a particular product.
(A) attractive
(B) attraction
(C) attracts
(D) attracting
11. Smart shoppers will ____ similar brands of an item before making a decision.
(A) compare
(B) comparison
(C) comparative
(D) comparable
12. If our work isn’t to your ____ , please notify us within 60 days.
(A) satisfy
(B) satisfactory
(C) satisfaction
(D) satisfied
13. Manufacturers like to know what features ____ find useful.
(A) consumers
(B) consume
(C) consumption
(D) consumable
14. Without good ____ , good Products can go unsold.
(A) market
(B) marketable
(C) marketed
(D) marketing
15. A careful analysis of the ____ Products on the market indicated that our product lacked innovation and optional features.
(A) compete
(B) competing
(C) competed
(D) competition
Part 6 Text Completion
Choose the word or phrase that best completes the sentence.
Dear Valued Customer,
Smart consumers like yourself are concerned about your family’s nutrition. Health is a top priority, and so is value. You want high-quality food Products at competitive prices. That’s why we are introducing Farm Fresh, our new line of 100% natural and organic frozen dinners. We know you’ll love the great natural taste of Farm Fresh dinners such as Turkey and Wild Rice, Wild Salmon with Spring Greens, and Country Chicken with Vegetables. Farm Fresh dinners are (16 ______ ) packaged with 100% recyclable materials. But we don’t have to use a lot of fancy words to convince you to enjoy Farm Fresh frozen dinners. We will let their great taste (17. ______) you to keep coming back for more. Please use the enclosed coupons to buy up to six Farm Fresh dinners of your choice at 25% off the usual retail price. We know you (18. ______) by the great taste and the great price.
Sincerely,
Rosa Martello
National Frozen Foods, Inc.
16.
(A) attract
(B) attractive
(C) attractively
(D) attraction
17.
(A) persuade
(B) persuades
(C) to persuade
(D) will persuade
18.
(A) satisfy
(B) satisfied
(C) will satisfy
(D) will be satisfied
Part 7 Reading Comprehension
Questions 19-23 refer to the following report.
Catherine Cosmetics Company
Sales Department Meeting Report
March 29, 20—
We reviewed the sales figures for the past quarter. We are currently experiencing a significant drop in sales in our hair care products. This has been going on since the beginning of the year when we introduced the improved version of our top-selling hair care line, Catherine’s Curls. Our advertising has not been successful in convincing more consumers to buy these products. We know there is a market for products such as these manufactured with 100% natural ingredients and no testing on animals. In fact, our competitors are doing quite well in this area and have been for a number of years. We know from our research that the popularity of all-natural cosmetic products is more than just a passing fad, and this is why we decided to branch out into this area. We have carefully compared our products to those of our three largest competitors. We have looked at product ingredients, packag-ing, target consumers, pricing, and sales strategies. Our product is similar, or even better, in all ways but one. Our packaging is significantly less eye-catching than that of our com-petitors, and it does not convey the important aspects of the products to the consumer, that is that these products are entirely made with natural ingredients. Therefore, in order to attract more customers, we recommend employing a new designer to create better pack- aging for the Catherine’s Curls line of products.
19. When did the sales department have a meeting?
(A) At the beginning of the year.
(B) In March.
(C) A quarter of a year ago.
(D) At the end of last year,
20. Which of the following might be part of the Catherine’s Curls line of Products?
(A) Shampoo.
(B) Hand lotion.
(C) Nail polish.
(D) Lipstick.
21. According to the report, why are fewer people buying Catherine’s Curls Products?
(A) The prices are too high.
(B) The ingredients aren’t natural.
(C) The packages aren’t attractive.
(D) The type of product is not popular.
22. The word market in line 5 is closest in meaning to
(A) product
(B) factory
(C) purchase
(D) demand
23. The word fad in line 8 is closest in meaning to
(A) need
(B) fashion
(C) event
(D) wish
See more Answer key Lesson 2 Marketing here.