This week, you will submit the first part of your strategic marketing plan report. The report should outline your analysis of the market environment and your organisation’s marketing response so far. Specifically, describe the nature of the product (product attributes and/or services provided) and market (characteristics, needs, trends, growth). From your analysis of the internal and external environments, prepare a SWOT analysis of the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses and of the opportunities and threats in the external environment.
This must not simply be a report on what the organisation is currently doing or a restatement of the work of others. Throughout the assignment, you should focus on how the decisions you recommend will offer a competitive advantage for the firm and justify any changes you consider necessary. You do not need to include a Cover Sheet (but do include your name at the top), Table of Contents or Executive Summary in the Week 3 assignment. Be certain to include a Reference section at the end along with in-text citations identifying all sources used to prepare your assignment, which should include a substantial listing of originally sourced material from the online library, quality websites and/or industry sources.
References:
The References should be a list of quality academic and professional articles and papers, links to websites and other sources (for example, documented interviews) which you have consulted in developing your Module Project assignment. All references must be compiled in accordance with the Harvard Referencing guidelines.
Sample marketing plan:
This outline structure is taken from the Pegasus Sports International sample marketing plan (section numbers have been added for clarity), which you may wish to read and consider as an example of how you might approach each topic in your analysis.
It can be located online at: http://www.mplans.com/inline_skating_marketing_plan/executive_summary_fc.php. You should understand that this plan is considerably abbreviated and well below the assignment wording requirements. Also, with the exception of the breakeven analysis graph (which should be included), it is not necessary to prepare graphs in your analysis of the type shown in this Pegasus plan.
Project resources
Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L. (2012) Framework for marketing management, 5th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall.
- Chapter 1,‘Defining marketing for the 21st century’
- Chapter 2, ’Developing marketing strategies and plans’
- Chapter 3, ‘Collecting information and forecasting demand’
- Chapter 4, ‘Creating long-term loyalty relationships’
- Chapter 7, ‘Identifying market segments and targets’
Please also refer to the recommended journal readings outlined in your weekly notes.
To complete the Submission:
By Wednesday (Day 7)submit approximately 1,000-2,000 words in which you:
- Complete sections 2.0-2.6 of the Strategic Planning Project:
- 2.0 Situation Analysis
- 2.1 Market Summary
- 2.2 SWOT Analysis
- 2.3 Competition
- 2.4 Product Offering
- 2.5 Keys to Success
- 2.6 Critical Issues
