You are the owner of a small to mid-sized business. You are currently developing your marketing plan for the upcoming year. The marketing plan will include both the tactical and strategic plan elements. You will also discuss the implementation and evaluation of the strategic marketing plan.

You will answer the following:

Summarize your selected scenario and details about the firm and/or product line.

Assess which of Michael Porter’s basic strategies you will use to market this product and why.

As you know from your reading, consumers have different product needs and use products differently. Segmentation seeks to group different demands and needs into clusters with similar demand patterns. Using the dimensions of market segmentation, determine and defend which markets you will target with your marketing plan. Outline your target market in detail.

Justify the stages in the consumer decision making process for your selected product or service. Be sure to discuss how consumers evaluate alternatives and what mediums they use in the information search stage.

Conduct research to determine where improvements should be made to your product or service line. Discuss these improvements and the estimated cost in developing and launching these enhancements. This could be a product line extension, a service improvement, new packaging, Web site enhancements, etc. The purpose of this element of the marketing plan is continuous improvement. You should justify the need of these enhancements based on your research, such as a review of the competition, feedback from customers, or a review of the marketing environment.

Submit a 4- to 5-page paper written in APA format.