Here is the brief overview of this cumulative Session Long Project (SLP). In this research project, you would work as a marketing consultant to develop a feasible marketing plan for your client. You would conduct both secondary research in SLP1 and SLP2 to glean the necessary information for your marketing plan in SLP3 and SLP4.

It is important to conduct quality market research on your focal product/company in order to develop realistic and workable marketing plans. Generally speaking, there are two types of research. One is secondary research, which refers to data collection using existing sources, and the other is primary research, which is your own data collection for the specific study at hand. The purpose of market research is to collect usable information to make more informed decisions on the business problem, thus increasing the chance of business success in the marketplace.

Please check the outline of the marketing plan, which provides information on:

1. The final format for this cumulative Session Long Project;

2. A list of topics for the whole project;

3. The continuity and connections among SLPs 1-4.

In this module SLP3, conduct the issue analysis based on the secondary research results in SLPs 1-2. Then develop goals and objectives, as well as the specific marketing strategies to accomplish your charge. This is the third step of this cumulative research project and you are developing marketing plans for your charge. Be sure to revise the sections in SLPs 1-2 and include them in this paper following the marketing plan outline provided above.

Issues Analysis

The situation analysis and SWOT Analysis are the basis for the Issues Analysis. Here the primary focus should be on the charge for your research project. What are the most important issues and decisions that the organization is likely to face when trying to accomplish the charge? Further, if the previous research steps (situation analysis and SWOT analysis) have shown that previous marketing efforts were unsuccessful (and why), you should include the lessons to be learned as issues.

In general, issues can include, but are not limited to (the issues depend on the charge of the respective marketing plan and are likely to differ from plan to plan):

Should the company focus on the charge in question? What rate of growth is necessary and sustainable?

Does the company need to increase promotion to thwart the competition or to successfully reach its target market?

Does the company need to develop new promotional efforts to reach the identified target market?

What would be the most promising way of communicating with the target market?

Does the company need to increase the target market's knowledge base?

Does the company need to address/change the target market's belief systems?

Does the company need to develop persuasive messages tailored to the specific brand at hand?

Does the organization need to work on its reputation? Is the company's current distribution in order?

Should the company review its pricing strategy?

Does the company anticipate any major competitive attacks in its current markets?