Mkt 571 researching marketing questions

Researching Marketing Questions

Purpose of Assignment

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 consistent with APA guidelines.

Marketing Plan Outline and Timeline

MKT/571 Version 10

1

University of Phoenix Material

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:

· Strategic Objectives

· Products or Services

· Resources Needed

· Projected Outcomes

· Situational Analysis:

· Vision, Mission, Strategic objectives, Values

· Internal Analysis

· Strengths/Weaknesses

· Capability/Capacity

· Competitor’s Strengths/Weaknesses

· Technological Competency

· Product or Service Analysis

· Market Segments

· Research

· 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

· Target Market(s):

· Demographics

· Psychographics

· Ethical Issues

· Legal Issues

· Social Issues

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

· Product Descriptions and Product/Service Mix Strategies

· Product/Service Determinants

· Creating a Brand Image

· Maintaining Brand Image

· Branding Concerns

· Distribution Strategies

· Channels, Mass, Selective, Exclusive

· Promotion/Integrated Marketing Communication

· Advertising Strategy/Objectives

· Push and Pull

· Media Strategy

· Advertising Execution

· Sales Promotion

· Direct Marketing

· Public Relations/Strategies

· Positioning

· 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?