Read
Chapter 9 of the course text, Principles of Marketing
Chapter 10 of the course text, Principles of Marketing
It is recommended you review the course text and other resources read or watched throughout this course.
Instructions:
Throughout this course you have explored all elements of a marketing plan. Now it is time to put your marketing plan together for the company you selected for your marketing manager internship.
Part A – General Information and Situational Analysis
Section 1 – Company Background
Describe the selected company and brand and a brief history.
Summarize the core products and services the company offers.
Identify direct current competitors and explain why they are direct competitors.
Section 2 – SWOT Analysis
Complete a SWOT analysis.
Propose the product or service line you want to develop a marketing plan for.
Justify your proposal with a SWOT-based argument for why it warrants marketing investment.
Section 3 – Macro- and Microenvironment
Analyze at least two elements from each quadrant of Table 8.1 in the course text as the micro- and macroenvironment factors that affect the company’s overall marketing strategy.
Part B – The Marketing Plan
Section 1 – Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP)
Describe your segmentation approach for your proposed product or service and provide rationale for this approach.
Describe the target audiences or markets.
Create a positioning statement.
Section 2 – The Marketing Mix
Formulate the four Ps for your proposed product or service:
Product
Describe your core product, extended product, and the product concept.
Explain how you plan to achieve competitive differentiation through creating customer value in four areas
Branding
Packaging
Support
Quality
Price
Place
Promotion with a special focus on digital media and integrated marketing communications (IMC)
Section 3 – Global and Ethical Considerations, and Conclusion
Identify three business or sociocultural considerations in translating your marketing plan for use in a foreign market.
Discuss the company’s policy or philosophy on one of the areas below:
corporate social responsibility (CSR
green marketing practices
ethics
ethical marketing
diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.
Conclude with a summary of your plan and why it deserves to be funded.
Helpful Tips
Part A
Section 1: Understanding the background of the company will help you complete the SWOT analysis. Use your Week 2 assignment and make sure you incorporated your instructor’s feedback and have improved your previously submitted work.
Section 2: Propose a new idea to market the product or service line. Avoid writing about or proposing the current marketing strategy. This is your idea, so use the SWOT analysis to defend it. Use your Week 2 assignment and make sure you incorporated your instructor’s feedback and have improved your previously submitted work.
Section 3: Use the information you researched and analyzed in the Week 4 video presentation to complete this section. Analyze some micro- and macroenvironment factors that affect the company’s overall marketing strategy globally. You need to provide enough details about the information you included in your slides to incorporate it with the rest of the paper.
Make sure you incorporated your instructor’s feedback.
Part B
Section 1: Use the information you researched and analyzed in the Week 4 discussion forum, Finding and Targeting Your People. You need to beef up the information you discussed in that discussion forum to align it with your overall marketing plan. Also, review and refer to Section 7.3 of the course text, Principles of Marketing.
Section 2: Spend considerable time completing the four P’s of your marketing plan; this is the essence of your plan. Someone should be able to understand your plan just by reading this section only.
Section 3: Research, analyze, and discuss your internship brand at the global level or in a foreign market. Also, discuss its CSR and DEI efforts.
