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MKT 201 · Unit 3 of 6

Customer and Market Understanding

Marketing Management

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Learning objectives

After completing this unit, you will be able to:

  • Apply frameworks from \
  • Apply the frameworks in "Customer and Market Understanding" to a real management decision
  • Make progress on your Marketing Management portfolio artifact applied project

Why this matters

Customer and Market Understanding is essential to Marketing Management. Complete all lessons in this unit, then finish the assessments on the unit page.

Lesson

Unit overview

Work through each lesson in order. This unit covers Customer and Market Understanding as part of Marketing Management. Lessons build on one another; complete the knowledge checks and applied work on the unit page after finishing all lessons.

Connection to applied work

This unit feeds directly into Marketing Management portfolio artifact. As you read, capture notes, examples, and data you can reuse in that deliverable. Strong students finish each unit with a draft section of their project, not just highlights.

Practice

  1. Write a one-page summary of this unit in your own words without looking at the lesson.
  2. Find a real company example (public filing, news article, or personal experience) that illustrates the main concept.
  3. Draft one paragraph recommending an action a manager should take based on this unit.
  4. Add at least three terms from this unit to your course glossary.

Knowledge check

Answer these without notes before marking the unit complete:

  1. What is the central idea of "Customer and Market Understanding"?
  2. What mistake do beginners most often make when applying this material?
  3. How does this unit help you complete Marketing Management portfolio artifact?
  4. What is one decision you face this month where this unit applies?

Key takeaways

  • Apply frameworks from \
  • Business concepts only matter when they change a decision.
  • Your MKT 201 assessment (Segmentation, positioning, product, pricing, channels, and marketing performance.) rewards applied understanding, not memorization.

Unit assessment

Complete each section below. Score 80%+ on the quiz to finish this unit's assessment.

40% applied project35% knowledge checks25% reflections

Exercises

Apply what you learned in this unit with structured practice.

ExerciseApplied practice: Customer and Market Understanding45 min
Complete a focused practice exercise on **Customer and Market Understanding**. 1. Choose a real company, product, or situation you know. 2. Apply one core framework from this unit to analyze it. 3. Write your analysis in 300–500 words with a clear recommendation. 4. Cite at least one credible source.

Deliverable

300–500 word analysis document saved to your portfolio under MKT 201.

Rubric

  • • Framework applied correctly (not just named)
  • • Specific evidence from a real example
  • • Clear recommendation with tradeoffs acknowledged
  • • Professional writing with source citation
ExerciseDrill: Customer and Market Understanding30 min
Work through the practice problems in the unit lesson without looking at notes. Then check your work against the lesson and write a short reflection: - What you got right - One mistake you caught - One concept to review before the next unit

Deliverable

Problem solutions + 150-word reflection in your MKT 201 workbook.

Rubric

  • • Attempted all practice items before checking answers
  • • Honest reflection on errors
  • • Identifies a specific review action

Case analysis

Analyze a case using frameworks from this unit.

CaseCase analysis: Customer and Market Understanding60 min
Analyze a real business case through the lens of **Customer and Market Understanding**. Choose a public company event, HBR-style case, or documented decision. **Deliverable structure:** 1. Situation summary (150 words) 2. Analysis using this unit's frameworks (400 words) 3. Recommendation (150 words) 4. Risks and what would change your mind

Deliverable

2-page case write-up in your portfolio.

Rubric

  • • Case facts are accurate and sourced
  • • Analysis uses unit frameworks explicitly
  • • Recommendation is justified with tradeoffs
  • • Risks are specific, not generic

Knowledge quiz

Check your understanding before marking the unit complete.

1. BrightBrew sees high traffic but weak pricing-to-checkout conversion. Journey mapping suggests evaluation friction, not awareness alone. What should marketing fix first?

2. An office trial converts users but finance blocks renewal without vendor portal setup. Which B2B concept explains the failure?

3. BrightBrew SAM for routine metros estimates 8.4M households with 15% considerers → 1.26M considerers and about $219M SAM revenue at $174 annual ARPU. What is SOM used for?

4. Win/loss interviews show BrightBrew loses most often to grocery on price/immediacy, not only to DTC rival Alpha on variety. What competitive lesson applies?

5. A strategy memo recommends shifting $1.2M from broad paid social to carrier upgrades and onboarding because 53% of churn ties to pacing and late delivery. Which Unit 3 skill is demonstrated?

6. BrightBrew aided awareness rises but reliability association lags while variety association climbs faster than strategy intends. What risk emerges?

7. Top-down specialty subscription revenue cross-check shows definitional sensitivity between $317M category slice and $219M SAM. What sizing practice prevents false precision?

8. Podcast shows high assisted conversions but weak last-click ROAS. What is the best interpretation for IMC and metrics lessons together?

Next unit: Product, Brand, and Pricing →