How to Prepare for SBI PO Marketing Questions

SBI PO exam is unique in one aspect. It has questions based on Marketing. These questions are a part of the 50 mark combined section on GK, Marketing & Computers. Scoring well on marketing questions is really critical considering how competitive SBI PO exam is. Since most exam aspirants aren’t MBAs and don’t have any marketing background, it becomes tough for them to crack such questions. If you are also one of such aspirants, you needn’t be scared. The experts at Vidya Guru, the institute for Best Bank PO Coaching in Delhi, have come with a blueprint which will guide your preparation in the right direction and give you much needed clarity.

Over here, past SBI exam marketing questions have been categorized under various headings. By going through them you will be able to find out what the exam expects from you and the areas that you need to focus your attention on.

1. Abbreviations & Acronyms: Marketing, like all other subjects, has its share of short forms. These short forms are widely used to discuss key business ideas related to marketing. Without the understanding of these abbreviations and acronyms, it is difficult to follow any marketing discussion.

• SBU stands for (1) Strategic Business Utility (2) Strategic Business Users (3) Strategic Business Unit (4) Secondary Business Unit (5) All of the above
• The full form of SWOT is (1) System; weakness; operations; threats (2) Strengths; weaknesses; opportunities; threats (3) Systems; weakness; operations; technology (4) Strategic units; workers; opportunities; technology (5) Strengths; weaknesses; opportunities; technology
• What does the ‘USP’ of a product signify? (1) Utility of the product (2) Shortcomings of a product (3) Main functions (4) Number of associated products available (5) High selling features of a product
• DSA is an abbreviation for (1) Delivery Staff Agency (2) Direct Selling Agency (3) Distribution and Selling Agency (4) Driving Sales Ahead (5) Direct Sales Authority

2. Frequently Used Marketing Terminology: You must be aware of the marketing terminology / jargon given in standard books on marketing such as Philp Kotler. Questions based on important marketing terms are regularly asked in the exam and neglecting them can result in your losing some sure-shot marks.

• In marketing, the term “Customization” refers to (1) Test (2) Making few changes according to client requirement to an already existing product (3) Coasting (4) Production (5) All of the given options
• In marketing, “Innovation” can be considered the same as (1) Inspiration (2) Communication (3) Creativity (4) Aspiration (5) Research work
• ____ motivates and empowers personnel to generate more ideas and take further initiative. (1) Benchmarking (2) Accelerating (3) Empowering (4) Merging (5) Flattening
• What does the term “Value Added Services” signify? (1) Low cost products (2) High cost products (3) At par services (4) Additional services for the same cost (5) Providing discounts

3. Types of Marketing Strategies: Marketers make use of different marketing strategies which are instrumental in enhancing awareness about the brand and the organization associated with it. The strategy that finally gets implemented depends on marketing objectives of the organization and the environment in which it operates.

• _____ is undertaken by a not for profit or Govt. organization to promote a cause (1) Brand marketing (2) Social marketing (3) Casual marketing (4) Issue marketing (5) Non-profit marketing
• Which of the following is the same as Relationship Marketing? (1) loyalty marketing (2) experiential marketing (3) value marketing (4) promotional marketing (5) brand marketing
• What is meant by Direct Marketing? (1) Advertisements (2) Hoardings (3) Face-to-face selling (4) Selling by all staff members (5) Chasing targets

4. Selling Concepts: An organization strives hard to make its sales effort more effective and systematic. In order to do so, it has to work consistently on various aspects. Understanding the selling process, sales planning and organizing the sales force are some of the significant aspects.

• The first step in sales process is (1) Customer identification (2) Lead generation (3) Sales presentation (4) Sales closure (5) Sales meeting
• Which of the following is the basis for fixing sales targets? (1) Brand Positioning (2) Time Period (3) Past Experience (4) All of the above (5) None of the above
• What do effective selling skills depend on? (1) Number of languages known by the DSA (2) Data on marketing staff (3) Information regarding IT market (4) Knowledge of related markets (5) Ability to speak fast
• Sales forecasting involves considering which of the following? (1) Proper selling price (2) Sales planning (3) Distribution outlet (4) Consumer needs and demands (5) All of the above

5. Target Marketing: An organization must orient its marketing activities in the right direction. Segmentation, targeting and positioning are the steps that together comprise Target Marketing. By adopting it, the organization can tremendously increase the return on marketing investment that it makes.

• Which of the following is the target market for Debit Cards? (1) All existing account holders (2) All agriculturists (3) All DSAs (4) All vendors (5) All outsourced agents
• Market Segmentation is beneficial in (1) Identifying the target group (2) Focused marketing (3) Improved lead generation (4) Only (a) and (b) (5) All (a), (b) and (c)
• What is the target group for Personal Loans? (1) All private limited companies (2) All businessmen (3) All salaried persons (4) Adolescents (5) Newborn infants
• What is meant by the term “Target Group”? (1) a group of sellers (2) a group of customers (3) a group of products (4) a group of persons at whom sales should be focused (5) all of these

6. Marketing Organization: What sort of marketing organization is required to achieve organizational objectives? What sort of structure will help the organization optimize its marketing performance? Questions such as these are important for any business and it is expected that public sector bankers of the future will be able to answer them.

• It is quite often seen that a company selling in a national market organizes its sales force along _____ lines. (1) product (2) territory (3) psychographic (4) geographic (5) convenience
• If customers can be categorized into user groups having distinct buying preferences & practices, then a _____ is preferable. (1) Flattened Organization (2) Product Management Organization (3) BAMT Organization (4) Brand Management Organization (5) Market Management Organization
• Product and brand management are often seen as a ____ system. (1) hub and spoke (2) regional system (3) layered organization (4) flattening organization (5) wheel

7. Pricing & Discounts: Pricing decision is one of the most crucial marketing decisions. A lot of factors such as competition, customer expectation and cost incurred etc. play a role in price point fixation. Moreover, you need to understand whether discounts are also required. If, indeed, discounts are required, then you need to have clarity on the discount policy as well.

• Market price is also referred to as (1) list price (2) value price (3) effective price (4) retail price (5) wholesaler price
• Underpriced products sell in high numbers, but these products generate less revenue than they would have, if their prices were raised to the (1) variable level (2) demand curve level (3) price floor level (4) perceived value level (5) value based level
• Which of these is not an objective of providing discounts? (1) All the given options are objectives of discounts (2) Reward competitors (3) Reward valuable customers (4) Clear the out of date stock (5) Increase short term sales
• 3/10 net 30 represents what sort of discount? (1) Seasonal discount (2) Trade discount (3) Bulk discount (4) Quantity discount (5) Cash discount

8. Marketing Fundamentals & Orientation: Knowledge of what marketing is and understanding of its scope, nature & objectives are a must. Moreover, core concepts such as needs, wants, demands, product, marketing channels, organization’s market place orientation, marketing environment etc. should be clear to you.

• A consumer requirement of any product in which he/she is looking to avail core features of that product is referred to as (1) Real need (2) Stated need (3) Unstated need (4) Delighted need (5) Primary need
• Products which are usually bought due to adversity and high promotional back up rather than desire are known as (1) Sought goods (2) Unique goods (3) Unsought goods (4) Preferred goods (5) Regular goods
• Which of the following concepts believes that customers will prefer those products which offer to them most quality, performance, or innovative features? (1) Product (2) Selling (3) Holistic marketing (4) Production (5) Marketing
• Marketing must be (1) Consumer Oriented (2) Competitor Oriented (3) Expense Oriented (4) Both 1 and 2 (5) None of the above

Since the job of a probationary officer involves marketing of banking and financial services to prospective customers, that is why SBI puts great emphasis on recruiting people who have sound knowledge of marketing. Both SBI PO 2013 and 2014 exams had 12 questions each on marketing. These are scoring questions that don’t have a very high level of difficulty. Finally, they have great potential of becoming your competitive edge over other aspirants.

Summary

This year onwards, SBI has changed the pattern of its Probationary Officer exam. The exam is going to be conducted in two levels: Tier-I (Preliminary Exam) and Tier-II (Mains Exam). The marks you obtain on Tier-II exam will be considered while preparing the final merit list. As marketing questions are going to be a part of Tier-II exam, you must make an extra effort to ensure that you score well on them. To learn more about SBI exam preparation, you can get in touch with the faculty members at the centre for Bank Exams Coaching by writing at vidyagurudelhi@gmail.com.