Strategic Marketing - Postgraduate Level

3600+ words - Harvard style referencing

TASK: Develop a Marketing Plan

For the requirements of this assignment, you assume the role of a marketing consultant. You have to develop a detailed Marketing Plan for a company of your choice (preferably a European business). As they need to increase their revenue generation and position their organisation within the industry to gain competitive advantage, you have been asked to produce a detailed marketing plan - one-year plan.

In the report you will need to demonstrate an understanding of all the aspects of marketing planning. Do use relevant theory. It is mandatory to include credible SMART corporate and marketing objectives, clear segmentation, targeting and positioning and other marketing strategies. The revenue projections and recommendation on marketing activities using marketing mix. This can also be used to show the financial implications by way of stating clear revenue projections and costs of individual proposed marketing activities. You are also expected to demonstrate your knowledge of how theory can be utilised in practice i.e. all stages of a marketing plan. The presentation and structure of the marketing plan must have a professional outlook.

The Report should cover ALL the following sections:

1)    Executive Summary - (150 words)

Does this provide a good summary of the report and encourage further reading? You need to think about the audience, creativity, and competitive advantage. Find a way to make sure that your marketing plan stands out from the crowd.      

2)    Situation Analysis - (700 words)

Quality and relevance of audit (internal & external)

Clear headings and only relevant information is needed here. Remember, when you are doing your analysis, you need to discuss this in relation to the organisation or business and the target market. There is no point just writing

PEST factors. Therefore you need to discuss how they influence the business, their current and potential customers. Porter's five forces industry analysis need to conduct in order to ascertain the current competitive position of the business. What way the analysis is helping you in this process. Now do a detailed SWOT analysis.

3)    Aims and Objectives - (400 words)

Both corporate and marketing objectives must meet SMART criteria. These should be listed and clearly identified, and linked to the controls.

4)      Appropriateness of segmentation, targeting and positioning - (500 words)

Who is your target market? You need to explain why? Explain the chosen segmentation criteria with justification. Who are the competitors? What is your organisation's current positioning in relation to the competitors? Is it unique enough to give you competitive advantage? If not, what are you suggesting? Why? You need to show current and future positioning using perceptual maps. What is the communication theme?

5)    Implementation - (1850 words)

• The 4P or 7P framework is a good starting point. What specifically are you going to do in terms of promotion, price, distribution & product?

• These should be used to achieve the objectives that you have set earlier. Also you need to consider the costs, and time constraints. Here, you need to be creative. You must also think of how to use digital technologies and media, effectively.

• All the marketing activities schedule should be included with the anticipated costs.

• Include a one page detailed financial report for the business

Total Word-count: 3600+ words

6)    Appendices

Background of the firm

Any research evidence

Reference list

Other appendices

Other information:

Include any other relevant tools, in additional the ones mentioned above, to enhance the report, i.e, bar/flow charts, critical path chart, gantt chart, pert, etc. Harvard Style Referencing. Deadline 18/11/2014.