The Marketing Plan

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Marketing Plan

Read

  • Chapter 9 of the course text, Principles of Marketing
  • Chapter 10  of the course text, Principles of Marketing
  • It is recommended you review the course text and other resources read or watched throughout this course.

Throughout this course, you have explored all of the elements of a marketing plan. Now it is time to put your marketing plan together for the company you selected for your marketing manager internship.

Instructions

Part 1 – General Information and Situational Analysis

Section 1 – Company Background

  • Describe your selected company or brand.
  • Tell a brief history of the company.
  • Summarize the core products and services the company offers.
  • Identify direct current competitors.
    • Explain why they direct competitors.

Section 2 – SWOT Analysis (Links to an external site.)

  • Complete a  SWOT analysis.
  • Propose the product or service line you want to develop a marketing plan for.
  • Justify your proposal with a SWOT-based argument for why it warrants marketing investment.

Section 3 – Macro- and Microenvironment

  • Analyze at least two elements from each quadrant of Table 8.1 in the course text as the micro-and macro environment factors that affect the company’s overall marketing strategy.

Part 2 – The Marketing Plan

Section 1 – Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP)

  • Describe your segmentation approach for your proposed product/service.
    • Be sure to discuss these elements of the segmentation approach: demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic segmentation approaches.
    • Provide a rationale for this approach.
  • Describe the target audiences or markets.
  • Create a  positioning statement.

Section 2 – The Marketing Mix

  • Formulate the 4Ps for your proposed product/service:
    • Product
      • Describe your core product, extended product, and product concept.
      • Explain how you plan to achieve competitive differentiation through creating customer value in four areas: Branding, Packaging, Support & Quality
      • Price
      • Place
      • Promotion with a special focus on digital media and integrated marketing communications (IMC)

Section 3 – Global and Ethical Considerations, and Conclusion

Helpful Tips

  • Use your  Week 2 assignment and make sure you incorporated your instructor’s feedback and have improved your previously submitted work for Part 1 and  Part 2, Section 2 (Product).
    • Understanding the background of the company will help you complete the SWOT analysis.
    • Propose a new idea to market the product or service line. Avoid writing about or proposing the current marketing strategy.
    • This is your idea, so use the SWOT analysis to defend it.
  • Use the information you researched and analyzed in the Week 4 video presentation to complete Part 1, Section 3.
    • Analyze some micro-and macro environment factors that affect the company’s overall marketing strategy.
    • You need to provide enough details to the information you included in your  slides to fit well with the rest of the paper.
    • Make sure you incorporated your instructor’s feedback and have improved your previously submitted work for this part.
  • Use the  information you researched and analyzed in the Week 4 discussion forum, Finding and Targeting Your People, to complete Part 2, Section 1.
    • You  need to beef up the information you discussed in that discussion forum to align it with your overall marketing plan.
    • Review and refer to Section 7.3 of the course text, Principles of Marketing.
  • Spend considerable time completing Part 2, the Marketing Plan; this is the essence of your plan.
    • Someone  should be able to understand your plan, just by reading this section only.
  • At the end of your marketing plan, add an APA-formatted appendix.
  • Save your      marketing plan as a Word document.