#1

This assignment is designed to help students analyze and interpret primary and/or secondary data and research. First, students will be provided with a marketing report that allows for preparing basic executive level data insights. Second, they will be allowed to pick a company and product or service. This assignment will help prepare students for the development of their marketing plan. Students will be creating a marketing plan (refer to Marketing Plan and Outline document) so they may want to choose a company and product or service that has data readily available or where they can use demographic/psychographic data to provide insights. 

Assignment Steps

Part 1:

Analyze the Week 1 Business Growth Overview dataset. This is a marketing report generated by an analyst for the Senior Vice President (SVP) of Marketing at a large corporation. The analyst is new and has provided summary data but no insights or commentary for the SVP.

Construct a minimum 525-word memorandum for the SVP providing insights and commentary. The memorandum should include your analysis of the following:

Major areas of increase and decrease in revenue or type and/or category of business

Trends that are evident in terms of revenue or type and/or category of business

Insights that would help formulate marketing strategies to either continue growth or reverse decline

Additional analysis you (if you were SVP) would like to build a marketing goal and strategy or strategies (and why) 

Part 2: 

Select a global or multi-regional (does business in more than one country) company and one of its products or services that will serve as the basis for your marketing plan. You should obtain two years of annual reports as well as two years of 10K reports (provides a comprehensive overview of the company’s business and financial condition and includes audited financial statements) for your data source. Once you have selected your product or service, you must define the size and type of your selected company that provides the product or service (available from annual reports). This need not be elaborate but must include total number of employees, production volume, distribution methods, and so forth. Record this information in a summary document as outlined below. 

Company and product selection is a critical part of this project. You must ensure your proposed company can implement the marketing methods discussed in Marketing Management. 

Prepare a minimum 175-word summary document and send it to your instructor as a record of your selection. The summary document should include the following:

Name of Company

Location of Company Headquarters

Name of Product or Service selected

General description of company (number of employees, revenue, type of ownership, web page, etc.)

General description of product or service

Format your assignment according to APA guidelines. 

Submit your assignment.

#2

To develop effective relationship marketing, a company must first understand its targeted consumers’ buying influences and behaviors. This week’s assignment is the first part of the development of a marketing plan. It provides the foundation of the marketing plan and introduces the student to a variety of diagrammatic tools for understanding a business. 

Assignment Steps 

To develop effective relationship marketing, a company must first understand its targeted consumers’ buying influences and behaviors. In Week 2, create the Research section of your plan. 

Create the research section of your marketing plan in minimum of 700 words.

Include at least 3 elements of the Research List of Topics (see list below):

Research List of Topics:

Primary Research

Secondary Research

Consumer Analysis

Customer Profile

Continuous Consumer Monitoring & Research

Environmental Scanning

Identify Market, Economic, Technological, Regulatory, Legal, Social, and Ecological Forces

Current Opportunities

Potential Future Opportunities

Current Threats

Potential Future Threat

Diagrams are not required but can be used to provide clarity and conciseness. Diagrams (and subsequent discussion) can include SWOT (emphasizes internal market–Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) TOWS (emphasizes the external market–Threats, Opportunities, Weakness, Strength), PEST (Political, Economical, Social, Technological), SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results), and/or STEEP (Social, Technological, Environmental, Economical, Political). All diagram(s) should be in APA format and must include a subsequent discussion of the diagram(s) providing insight and clarity.

Develop the first two parts of the Target Market section, which includes an overview of the demographics (age, income, family members, and birthdays) and psychographics (activities, interests, and opinions) analysis. This is not a detailed analysis but an overview (basic trends and insights from the data that is presented in annual reports and other SEC type filings).

Explain the insights you have gained from your inspection and analysis of the demographic and psychographic information you have found. 

This assignment will be incorporated into your overall marketing plan for Week 6.

Format your assignment according to APA guidelines.

#3

Purpose of Assignment 

All products/services go through a life cycle of NPI (new product introduction), growth, maturity, and decline. These various stages affect the marketing strategy and promotional efforts for a particular product or service. In Week 3, you will incorporate a product strategy that addresses at least 3 areas of the product life cycle. The primary objective of this assignment is to allow you to demonstrate an understanding of the factors that can affect the launch of a product or service.

Assignment Steps

Create a minimum 700-word product strategy in Microsoft Word. Complete the following:

Select a product strategy.

Address at least three areas of the product life cycle (e.g., NPI, growth, maturity, and decline).

Discuss two types of media methods you could use to highlight your product or service.

Determine how you will measure the marketing activities (i.e., what metrics will be used to determine success or failure).

Address three elements of the following product and promotion list:

Integrated marketing communication

Advertising strategy/objectives

Push and pull

Media strategy

Advertising execution

Direct marketing

Public relations/strategies

Positioning

The plan will be a continuation of the global or multi-regional company you chose in Week 1 and will be incorporated into your overall marketing plan for Week 6.

Note: Charts/graphs/tables do not count toward the word count.

Format your assignment according to APA guidelines. 

#4

This assignment is designed to help students analyze and understand how price setting and go to market (distribution) are interrelated and affects the profitability and growth of the business. It has been designed to be a short overview on purpose: the concepts of pricing and distribution are complex and a general understanding is what should be absorbed in one week of study. 

Assignment Steps 

Resources: Marketing Plan and Outline

Construct a minimum 700-word plan for setting price and a distribution model (place/distribution) in Microsoft Word. This plan should address at least three elements (from the Price and Place/Distribution list below) of the Price and Place/Distribution section of the marketing plan.

Price and Place/Distribution:

Distribution Strategies

Channels, Mass, Selective, Exclusive

Positioning within channels

Dynamic/Static Pricing Strategies

Channel tactics (Pricing)

Daily pricing, promotion pricing, List pricing

Note: Charts/graphs/tables do not count toward the word count.

The plan will be a continuation of your global or multi-regional business you chose in Week 1. This will be incorporated into your overall marketing plan for Week 6.

Format your assignment according to APA guidelines.

#5

This assignment is designed to help students understand the interrelationships between brand strategy and the communication message to the target audience.

Assignment Steps

Resources: Marketing Plan and Outline

Develop a minimum 700-word branding strategy and marketing communication plan in Microsoft Word. This document should address at least 5 elements of the Situational Analysis and the Product, Place/Distribution, Promotion, and Price Strategies (modified below) sections of the marketing plan (from the Situational Analysis and the Product, Place/Distribution, Promotion, and Price Strategies lists below). The five elements you select should only come from the options provided below. You must include a measurement of customer loyalty and retention in your strategy document. You may include more than the minimum to provide clarity and coherence to your document. 

Situational Analysis:

Vision , Mission, Strategic objectives, Values

Strengths/Weaknesses

Competitor’s Strengths/Weaknesses

Market Segments

Product, Place/Distribution, Promotion, and Price Strategies:

Creating a Brand Image

Maintaining Brand Image

Branding Concerns

Promotion/Integrated Marketing Communication

Advertising Strategy/Objectives

Push and Pull

Media Strategy

Advertising Execution

Public Relations/Strategies

Note: Charts/graphs/tables do not count toward the word count.

The plan will be a continuation of your global or multi-regional business you chose in Week 1. This will be incorporated into your overall marketing plan for Week 6.

Format your assignment according to APA guideline

#6

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to help students think through the importance of social, legal, and ethical issues that may arise with their product or service and the implications of decisions made within those frameworks. It is designed to help the learners understand ethical and legal issues related to marketing practices. This knowledge helps to prevent such issues when developing the marketing strategies in their marketing plan. The executive overview of the marketing plan is not a summary and conclusion, but an overview of what the plan entails and what it does not address.

Assignment Steps

Note: the Social, Ethical, and Legal Implications assignment is part of the total marketing plan as outlined in the grading guide. It is not a separate paper.

Resources: Marketing Plan and Outline

Producing and marketing a product without regard to ethical, legal, and social considerations is detrimental to the overall success of any company.

Assess in a maximum of 700 words the ethical, legal, and social issues affecting your product or service in two markets: the United States and one international market. Domestic market generally means the market where the company headquarters are located. If you choose a domestic market that is not the U.S., then your other market is required to be the U.S. marketplace. This will be added to the Target Market section of your Marketing Plan.

Include the following:

Develop a process to monitor and control marketing performance. This process could be a flowchart but a flowchart is not required (flowcharts do not count towards your word count requirement).

Formulate a maximum 350-word executive summary including at a minimum the following elements to include in your marketing plan:

Required executive summary elements:

Strategic Objectives 

Products or Services 

Optional executive summary elements:

Resources Needed 

Projected Outcomes

Integrate the previous weeks’ sections, and incorporate corrections and suggestions from the instructor’s weekly feedback. The marketing plan should contain elements from each week of the course, including:

Understanding Target Markets (Week 2)

Promotion and the Product Life Cycle (Week 3)

Price and Channel Strategy (Week 4)

Marketing Communication and Brand Strategy (Week 5)

Executive Summary, Legal, Social and Ethical Considerations (Week 6)

Format your assignment according to APA guidelines.

Marketing Plan

You are expected to develop a marketing plan, according to the outline below, for a product or service of your choosing. The product or service must be identified by the end of Week 1. The product or service you select is used to develop the assignments for Weeks 2 through Week 6. References must be included for each section. 

There are no defined standards for the length of the marketing plan; however, your plan must disclose complete marketing strategies and provide reliable and valid references and data supporting the strategies to convince the target audience. The plan must be written in plain language that would be easily understood by stakeholders.

Marketing Plan Outline

Your final marketing plan must consist of the following sections. Refer to the timeline for due dates for each section and subsection. Assignments may include modifications to these lists. Please use lists provided in assignments only.

Executive Summary:

o Strategic Objectives

o Products or Services

o Resources Needed

o Projected Outcomes

Situational Analysis:

o Vision, Mission, Strategic objectives, Values

o Internal Analysis 

o Strengths/Weaknesses

o Capability/Capacity

o Competitors Strengths/Weaknesses

o Technological Competency 

o Product or Service Analysis 

o Market Segments 

Research

o Primary Research 

o Secondary Research 

o Consumer Analysis 

o Customer Profile 

o Continuous Consumer Monitoring & Research

o Environmental Scanning

o Identify Market, Economic, Technological, Regulatory, Legal, Social, and Ecological Forces

o Current Opportunities

o Potential Future Opportunities 

o Current Threats 

o Potential Future Threat

Target Market(s):

o Demographics 

o Psychographics 

o Ethical Issues

o Legal Issues

o Social Issues

Product, Place/Distribution, Promotion, and Price Strategies:

o Product Descriptions and Product/Service Mix Strategies

o Product/Service Determinants

o Creating a Brand Image

o Maintaining Brand Image

o Branding Concerns

o Distribution Strategies

o Channels, Mass, Selective, Exclusive

o Promotion/Integrated Marketing Communication 

o Advertising Strategy/Objectives 

o Push and Pull

o Media Strategy 

o Advertising Execution

o Sales Promotion 

o Direct Marketing

o Public Relations/Strategies

o Positioning

o Dynamic/Static Pricing Strategies

Marketing Plan Timeline

Week 1: Marketing Plan Topic 

Consider your company and product or service selection in Week 1. You may select an existing type of product or service or a new product or service but it must be global or multi-regional. Once you have selected your product or service, you must define the size and type of company that provides the product or service (available from annual reports). This need not be elaborate but must include total number of employees, production volume, distribution methods, and so forth. Company and product or service selection is a critical part of this project. You must ensure your proposed company can implement the marketing methods discussed in the text. 

Key to creating an effective marketing plan is the ability to analyze the environment in which the product or service will be offered. The Week 1 assignment allows you to begin to understand various reports and how they can be used in your marketing plan.

Week 2: Understanding Target Markets

To develop effective relationship marketing, a company must first understand its targeted consumers buying influences and behaviors. In Week 2, create the Research section of your plan. In addition, create the first two parts of the Target Market section, which includes performing the demographics and psychographics analysis.

Week 3: Promotion and the product life cycle

All products/services go through a life cycle of NPI (new product introduction), growth, maturity and decline. These various stages affect the marketing strategy and promotional efforts. In Week 3, you will incorporate a promotion strategy that addresses at least three areas of the product life cycle.

Week 4: Price and Channel Strategy

How one goes to market and the influences of the channel (channel power, strength of channel, speed of channel, etc.) affects the pricing strategy of the product or service. In Week 4 your pricing and distribution strategy will be incorporated into the marketing plan.

Week 5: Marketing Communication and Brand Strategy

Brand strategy and the communication of the brand is essential to understanding the various phases of a product or service (viz a viz the life cycle). Brand recognition is based in the marketing communication efforts of the firm. When you hear or see the word Coke, you immediately know it is Coca Cola. When you see five interlocking rings of different colors you know that is the symbol for the Olympics. In Week 5, you will develop a brand and communication strategy for your product.

Week 6: Executive Summary, Legal, Social and Ethical Issues, Final Plan

Review your final plan. Does the plan effectively analyze market strategies? Are the social, ethical, and legal considerations valid and accounted for? What is the relationship among quality, price, satisfaction, and perceived value within the plan? 

Marketing Plan Outline and Timeline

Marketing Plan

You are expected to develop a marketing plan, according to the outline below, for a product or service of your choosing. The product or service must be identified by the end of Week 1. The product or service you select is used to develop the assignments for Weeks 2 through Week 6. References must be included for each section. 

There are no defined standards for the length of the marketing plan; however, your plan must disclose complete marketing strategies and provide reliable and valid references and data supporting the strategies to convince the target audience. The plan must be written in plain language that would be easily understood by stakeholders.

Marketing Plan Outline

Your final marketing plan must consist of the following sections. Refer to the timeline for due dates for each section and subsection. Assignments may include modifications to these lists. Please use lists provided in assignments only.

Executive Summary:

o Strategic Objectives

o Products or Services

o Resources Needed

o Projected Outcomes

Situational Analysis:

o Vision, Mission, Strategic objectives, Values

o Internal Analysis 

o Strengths/Weaknesses

o Capability/Capacity

o Competitors Strengths/Weaknesses

o Technological Competency 

o Product or Service Analysis 

o Market Segments 

Research

o Primary Research 

o Secondary Research 

o Consumer Analysis 

o Customer Profile 

o Continuous Consumer Monitoring & Research

o Environmental Scanning

o Identify Market, Economic, Technological, Regulatory, Legal, Social, and Ecological Forces

o Current Opportunities

o Potential Future Opportunities 

o Current Threats 

o Potential Future Threat

Target Market(s):

o Demographics 

o Psychographics 

o Ethical Issues

o Legal Issues

o Social Issues

Product, Place/Distribution, Promotion, and Price Strategies:

o Product Descriptions and Product/Service Mix Strategies

o Product/Service Determinants

o Creating a Brand Image

o Maintaining Brand Image

o Branding Concerns

o Distribution Strategies

o Channels, Mass, Selective, Exclusive

o Promotion/Integrated Marketing Communication 

o Advertising Strategy/Objectives 

o Push and Pull

o Media Strategy 

o Advertising Execution

o Sales Promotion 

o Direct Marketing

o Public Relations/Strategies

o Positioning

o Dynamic/Static Pricing Strategies

Marketing Plan Timeline

Week 1: Marketing Plan Topic 

Consider your company and product or service selection in Week 1. You may select an existing type of product or service or a new product or service but it must be global or multi-regional. Once you have selected your product or service, you must define the size and type of company that provides the product or service (available from annual reports). This need not be elaborate but must include total number of employees, production volume, distribution methods, and so forth. Company and product or service selection is a critical part of this project. You must ensure your proposed company can implement the marketing methods discussed in the text. 

Key to creating an effective marketing plan is the ability to analyze the environment in which the product or service will be offered. The Week 1 assignment allows you to begin to understand various reports and how they can be used in your marketing plan.

Week 2: Understanding Target Markets

To develop effective relationship marketing, a company must first understand its targeted consumers buying influences and behaviors. In Week 2, create the Research section of your plan. In addition, create the first two parts of the Target Market section, which includes performing the demographics and psychographics analysis.

Week 3: Promotion and the product life cycle

All products/services go through a life cycle of NPI (new product introduction), growth, maturity and decline. These various stages affect the marketing strategy and promotional efforts. In Week 3, you will incorporate a promotion strategy that addresses at least three areas of the product life cycle.

Week 4: Price and Channel Strategy

How one goes to market and the influences of the channel (channel power, strength of channel, speed of channel, etc.) affects the pricing strategy of the product or service. In Week 4 your pricing and distribution strategy will be incorporated into the marketing plan.

Week 5: Marketing Communication and Brand Strategy

Brand strategy and the communication of the brand is essential to understanding the various phases of a product or service (viz a viz the life cycle). Brand recognition is based in the marketing communication efforts of the firm. When you hear or see the word Coke, you immediately know it is Coca Cola. When you see five interlocking rings of different colors you know that is the symbol for the Olympics. In Week 5, you will develop a brand and communication strategy for your product.

Week 6: Executive Summary, Legal, Social and Ethical Issues, Final Plan

Review your final plan. Does the plan effectively analyze market strategies? Are the social, ethical, and legal considerations valid and accounted for? What is the relationship among quality, price, satisfaction, and perceived value within the plan?