The Marketing Plan Handbook Case Essay
Order ID 53563633773 Type Essay Writer Level Masters Style APA Sources/References 4 Perfect Number of Pages to Order 5-10 Pages Description/Paper Instructions
The Marketing Plan Handbook Case Essay
Marketing Plan
A formal, written marketing plan is essential; in that it provides an unambiguous reference point for activities throughout the planning period. However, perhaps the most important benefit of these plans is the planning process itself. This typically offers a unique opportunity, a forum, for information-rich and productively focused discussions between the various managers involved. The plan, together with the associated discussions, then provides an agreed context for their subsequent management activities, even for those not described in the plan itself. Additionally, marketing plans are included in business plans, offering data showing investors how the company will grow and most importantly, how they will get a return on investment.
Follow the Marketing Plan Handbook. The following is a typical template for a marketing plan.
Marketing Plan Worksheets
These worksheets developed by Drs. Ferrell and Hartline will assist you in writing a formal marketing plan. Worksheets are a useful planning tool because they help to ensure that important information is not omitted from the marketing plan. Answering the questions on these worksheets will enable you to:
- Organize and structure the data and information you collect during the situation analysis.
- Use this information to better understand a firm’s strengths and weaknesses, and to recognize the opportunities and threats that exist in the marketing environment.
- Develop goals and objectives that capitalize on strengths.
- Develop a marketing strategy that creates competitive advantages.
- Outline a plan for implementing the marketing strategy.
Marketing Plan Handbook will provide you the templates to develop your marketing plan. Remember that there is no one best way to organize a marketing plan. This outline is to serve you as a starting point and to be flexible enough to accommodate the unique characteristics of your situation.
As you complete the worksheets, it might be useful to refer back to the text of the chapters where you have learned your marketing strategy. In completing the situation analysis section, be sure to be as comprehensive as possible. The viability of your SWOT analysis depends on how well you have identified all of the relevant environmental issues. Likewise, as you complete the SWOT analysis, you should be honest about the firm’s characteristics. Do not depend on strength that the firm really does not possess. Honesty is also important for your listing of weaknesses.
- Executive Summary
The executive summary is a synopsis of the overall marketing plan. It should provide an overview of the entire plan including goals/objectives, strategy elements, implementation issues, and expected outcomes. The executive summary is easier to write if you do it last, after you have written the entire marketing plan.
- Situation Analysis
- The Internal Environment
Review of marketing goals and objectives
Identify the firm’s current marketing goals and objectives.
Explain how these goals and objectives are being achieved.
Explain how these goals and objectives are consistent or inconsistent with the firm’s mission, recent trends in the external environment, and recent trends in the customer environment.
Review of current marketing strategy and performance
Describe the firm’s current marketing strategy with respect to products, pricing, distribution, and promotion. Which elements of the strategy are working well? Which elements are not?
Describe the firm’s current performance (sales volume, market share, profitability, awareness, brand preference) compared to other firms in the industry. Is the performance of the industry as a whole improving or declining? Why?
If the firm’s performance is declining, what is the most likely cause (e.g., environmental changes, flawed strategy, poor implementation)?
Review of current and anticipated organizational resources
Describe the current state of the firm’s organizational resources (e.g., financial, capital, human, experience, relationships with key suppliers or customers). How are the levels of these resources likely to change in the future?
If resource levels are expected to change, how can the firm leverage additional resources to meet customer needs better than competitors?
If additional resources are not available, how can the firm compensate for future resource constraints (lack of resources)?
Review of current and anticipated cultural and structural issues
In terms of marketing strategy development and implementation, describe the positive and negative aspects of the current and anticipated culture of the firm. Examples could include:
The firm’s overall customer orientation (or lack thereof)
The firm’s emphasis on short-term versus long-term planning
Willingness of the firm’s culture to embrace change
Internal politics and power struggles
The overall position and importance of the marketing function
Changes in key executive positions
General employee satisfaction and morale
Explain whether the firm’s structure is supportive of the current marketing strategy.
- The Customer Environment
Who are the firm’s current and potential customers?
Describe the important identifying characteristics of the firm’s current and potential customers with respect to demographics, geographic location, psychographic profiles, values/lifestyles, and product usage characteristics (heavy vs. light users).
Identify the important players in the purchase process for the firm’s products. These might include purchasers (actual act of purchase), users (actual product user), purchase influencers (influence the decision, make recommendations), and the bearer of financial responsibility (who pays the bill?).
What do customers do with the firm’s products?
How are the firm’s products connected to customer needs? What are the basic benefits provided by the firm’s products?
How the firm’s products are purchased (quantities and combinations)? Is the product purchased as a part of a solution or alongside complementary products?
How are the firm’s products consumed or used? Are there special consumption situations that influence purchase behavior?
Are there issues related to disposition of the firm’s products, such as waste (garbage) or recycling, which must be addressed by the firm?
Where do customers purchase the firm’s products?
Identify the merchants (intermediaries) where the firm’s products are purchased (e.g., store-based retailers, ecommerce, catalog retailers, vending, wholesale outlets, direct from the firm).
Identify any trends in purchase patterns across these outlets (e.g., how ecommerce has changed the way the firm’s products are purchased?).
When do customers purchase the firm’s products?
How does purchase behavior vary based on different promotional events (communication and price changes) or customer services (hours of operation, delivery)?
How does purchase behavior vary based on uncontrollable influences such as seasonal demand patterns, time-based demand patterns, physical/social surroundings, or competitive activities?
Why (and how) do customers select the firm’s products?
Describe the advantages of the firm’s products relative to competing products. How well do the firm’s products fulfill customers’ needs relative to competing products?
Describe how issues such as brand loyalty, value, commoditization, and relational exchange processes affect customers’ purchase behaviors.
Why do potential customers not purchase the firm’s products?
Identify the needs, preferences, and requirements of non-customers that are not being met by the firm’s products.
What are the features, benefits, and advantages of competing products that cause non-customers to choose them over the firm’s products?
Explain how the firm’s pricing, distribution, and/or promotion are out of sync with non-customers. Outside of the product, what causes non-customers to look elsewhere?
Describe the potential for converting non-customers into customers.
- The External Environment
Competition
Identify the firm’s major competitors (brand, product, generic, and total budget).
Identify the characteristics of the firm’s major competitors with respect to size, growth, profitability, target markets, products, and marketing capabilities (production, distribution, promotion, pricing).
What other major strengths and weaknesses do these competitors possess?
List any potential future competitors not identified above.
Economic Growth and Stability
Identify the general economic conditions of the country, region, state, or local area where the firm’s target customers are located. How are these economic conditions related to customers’ ability to purchase the firm’s products?
Describe the economics of the industry within which the firm operates. These issues might include the cost of raw materials, patents, merger/acquisition trends, sales trends, supply/demand issues, marketing challenges, and industry growth/decline.
Political Trends
Identify any political activities affecting the firm or the industry with respect to changes in elected officials (domestic or foreign), potential regulations favored by elected officials, industry (lobbying) groups or political action committees, and consumer advocacy groups.
What are the current and potential critical political or policy issues at the national, regional, or local level that may affect the firm’s marketing activities?
Legal and Regulatory Issues
Identify any changes in international, federal, state, or local laws and regulations affecting the firm’s or industry’s marketing activities with respect to recent court decisions, recent rulings of federal, state, or local government entities, recent decisions by regulatory and self-regulatory agencies, and changes in global trade agreements or trade law.
Technological Advancements
How have recent technological advances affected the firm’s customers with respect to needs/wants/preferences, access to information, the timing and location of purchase decisions, the ability to compare competing product offerings, or the ability to conduct transactions more effectively and efficiently?
Have customers embraced or rejected these technological advances? How is this issue related to customers’ concerns over privacy and security?
How have recent technological advances affected the firm or the industry with respect to manufacturing, process efficiency, distribution, supply chain effectiveness, promotion, cost-reduction, or customer relationship management?
What future technologies offer important opportunities for the firm? Identify any future technologies that may threaten the firm’s viability or its marketing efforts.
RUBRIC
QUALITY OF RESPONSE NO RESPONSE POOR / UNSATISFACTORY SATISFACTORY GOOD EXCELLENT Content (worth a maximum of 50% of the total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 20 points out of 50: The essay illustrates poor understanding of the relevant material by failing to address or incorrectly addressing the relevant content; failing to identify or inaccurately explaining/defining key concepts/ideas; ignoring or incorrectly explaining key points/claims and the reasoning behind them; and/or incorrectly or inappropriately using terminology; and elements of the response are lacking. 30 points out of 50: The essay illustrates a rudimentary understanding of the relevant material by mentioning but not full explaining the relevant content; identifying some of the key concepts/ideas though failing to fully or accurately explain many of them; using terminology, though sometimes inaccurately or inappropriately; and/or incorporating some key claims/points but failing to explain the reasoning behind them or doing so inaccurately. Elements of the required response may also be lacking. 40 points out of 50: The essay illustrates solid understanding of the relevant material by correctly addressing most of the relevant content; identifying and explaining most of the key concepts/ideas; using correct terminology; explaining the reasoning behind most of the key points/claims; and/or where necessary or useful, substantiating some points with accurate examples. The answer is complete. 50 points: The essay illustrates exemplary understanding of the relevant material by thoroughly and correctly addressing the relevant content; identifying and explaining all of the key concepts/ideas; using correct terminology explaining the reasoning behind key points/claims and substantiating, as necessary/useful, points with several accurate and illuminating examples. No aspects of the required answer are missing. Use of Sources (worth a maximum of 20% of the total points). Zero points: Student failed to include citations and/or references. Or the student failed to submit a final paper. 5 out 20 points: Sources are seldom cited to support statements and/or format of citations are not recognizable as APA 6th Edition format. There are major errors in the formation of the references and citations. And/or there is a major reliance on highly questionable. The Student fails to provide an adequate synthesis of research collected for the paper. 10 out 20 points: References to scholarly sources are occasionally given; many statements seem unsubstantiated. Frequent errors in APA 6th Edition format, leaving the reader confused about the source of the information. There are significant errors of the formation in the references and citations. And/or there is a significant use of highly questionable sources. 15 out 20 points: Credible Scholarly sources are used effectively support claims and are, for the most part, clear and fairly represented. APA 6th Edition is used with only a few minor errors. There are minor errors in reference and/or citations. And/or there is some use of questionable sources. 20 points: Credible scholarly sources are used to give compelling evidence to support claims and are clearly and fairly represented. APA 6th Edition format is used accurately and consistently. The student uses above the maximum required references in the development of the assignment. Grammar (worth maximum of 20% of total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 5 points out of 20: The paper does not communicate ideas/points clearly due to inappropriate use of terminology and vague language; thoughts and sentences are disjointed or incomprehensible; organization lacking; and/or numerous grammatical, spelling/punctuation errors 10 points out 20: The paper is often unclear and difficult to follow due to some inappropriate terminology and/or vague language; ideas may be fragmented, wandering and/or repetitive; poor organization; and/or some grammatical, spelling, punctuation errors 15 points out of 20: The paper is mostly clear as a result of appropriate use of terminology and minimal vagueness; no tangents and no repetition; fairly good organization; almost perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word usage. 20 points: The paper is clear, concise, and a pleasure to read as a result of appropriate and precise use of terminology; total coherence of thoughts and presentation and logical organization; and the essay is error free. Structure of the Paper (worth 10% of total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 3 points out of 10: Student needs to develop better formatting skills. The paper omits significant structural elements required for and APA 6th edition paper. Formatting of the paper has major flaws. The paper does not conform to APA 6th edition requirements whatsoever. 5 points out of 10: Appearance of final paper demonstrates the student’s limited ability to format the paper. There are significant errors in formatting and/or the total omission of major components of an APA 6th edition paper. They can include the omission of the cover page, abstract, and page numbers. Additionally the page has major formatting issues with spacing or paragraph formation. Font size might not conform to size requirements. The student also significantly writes too large or too short of and paper 7 points out of 10: Research paper presents an above-average use of formatting skills. The paper has slight errors within the paper. This can include small errors or omissions with the cover page, abstract, page number, and headers. There could be also slight formatting issues with the document spacing or the font Additionally the paper might slightly exceed or undershoot the specific number of required written pages for the assignment. 10 points: Student provides a high-caliber, formatted paper. This includes an APA 6th edition cover page, abstract, page number, headers and is double spaced in 12’ Times Roman Font. Additionally, the paper conforms to the specific number of required written pages and neither goes over or under the specified length of the paper. GET THIS PROJECT NOW BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK TO PLACE THE ORDER
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