Marketing Plan

 Must be nine to 11 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages or slides) and formatted according to APA Style 

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

• Identify three business or sociocultural considerations in translating your marketing plan for use in a foreign market.
• Discuss at      least one policy/philosophy or idea regarding the company’s
  • corporate       social responsibility (CSR),
  • green       marketing practices, and
  • ethics and ethical marketing.
• Conclude with a summary of your plan and why it deserves to be funded.

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.
  • For       information on how to create a APA-formatted appendix, please review the       University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center’s resource Tables, Images, and Appendices (Links to an       external site.).
• Save your      marketing plan as a Word document.