Strategic Marketing

Read the following course scenario.

https://class.aiuniv.edu/LCMSFileShareCommon/e94/1e3/adc/1c2/490/ea1/7fb/8ce/4ec/a77/39/mkt651_scenario.pdf

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This assignment is based on the Sof-A-Logue scenario linked above.

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Managing a Marketing Project

When a company focuses on organic growth to build its revenues, scanning the competitive landscape is important to develop unique points of differentiation that make the product stand out. Understanding a company’s competition also helps the marketer shape the value proposition, or the reason why the target market should buy the product or service. In other words, why should a consumer buy your product?

You decide to meet with you marketing team to start brainstorming ideas for Sof-A-Logue.com. Your team includes 3 branding managers, responsible for specific product lines; 2 graphic artists; 2 copywriters; 1 Web site developer; 1 market research analyst; and 1 advertising manager.

The First Meeting

To prepare for the meeting, it is important to introduce the new project to the team. The timeline to introduce the strategic marketing plan to the executive committee is short. Your team needs to research the market, the competition, and other background information to develop the strategy that will be presented to upper management.

Because some of the team members may be unfamiliar with basic marketing concepts, you will design a brief e-handout that can outline points of discussion for the meeting. The e-handout will define some basic marketing concepts as well as how you will apply them to Sof-A-Logue.com’s situation.

Part 1: Research for the E-Handout

Using company Web sites and articles from the library's full-text databases, research the current national marketing strategies of 2 like-sized competitors in Sof-A-Logue’s industry.

• Provide a brief background of the companies and the industry in which they compete.


• Describe the strategies used by each company.
  
  
  
  • Be sure to apply concepts and theories from this and past graduate-level marketing courses.
  
  
  
  


• Compare and contrast how each reaches its market.
  
  
  
  • Provide solid research to back up the analysis.
  
  
  
  

This section of the paper should be 2–3 pages in length and use research from the library's full-text databases and the company's Web site.

Part 2: Applying the Research

• Based on your findings, provide an overview of a marketing strategy for Sof-A-Logue.com.
  
  
  
  • Capitalize on niches, segments, target areas, or needs that have not been addressed by the original two competitors.
  
  
  
  


• Also, analyze how the basic 4Ps of marketing link to Sof-A-Logue’s marketing options.


• Include a description of the current marketing environment related to the social media communications market. This section of the paper must be based on research from the library's full-text databases.


• Develop a situational analysis for Sof-A-Logue’s current business goals.

This section of the paper should be 4–5 pages in length and use research from the library's full-text databases and the company's Web site.

Your assignment should contain a cover page, an abstract page, and a reference page, in addition to the body paragraphs. The body of the paper should be 6–8 pages in length, starting with a brief 1-paragraph introduction and ending with a short conclusion. The entire submission will be 9–13 pages in length.

Please submit your assignment as a Word document in APA format using the attached TEMPLATE. Notice that the grading criteria components match up with the headings provided in the template. Do NOT change the font, page breaks or margins. Using the template without deleting the headings ensures that you cover each segment of the assignment.

GRADING CRITERIA

MKT651 Unit 1 Individual Project

Percentage

Part 1: Brief background of the companies

10

Part 1: Brief background of the industry

10

Part 1: Describe the strategies used by each company

15

Part 1: Compare and contrast how each reaches its market

15

This section of the paper should be 2–3 pages in length and use research from the library's full-text databases and the company's Web site. Failure to use the articles will result in a grade no higher than 35/50 points for Part 1.

Part 2: Overview of a marketing strategy for Sof-A-Logue.com

20

Part 2: Analysis of linkages to 4Ps

20

Part 2: Overview of current marketing environment related to the social media communications market (full-text research). Failure to use the articles will result in a grade no higher than 21/30 points for this section.

30

Part 2: Situational analysis for Sof-A-Logue’s current business goals

30

This section of the paper should be 4–5 pages in length.

Grade for Unit 1 Individual Project

150

Grading will be based on Content, Application, Research, Mechanics (APA format, spelling grammar, punctuation) and Style – (Organization, readability, using your own words). Please click here to view MKT651 Grading Rubric.