Your final product in MBA 538 will be a marketing plan that seeks to provide a new offering to a particular target market as well as capture data from that market, and it represents a summative assessment of how well you understand and can apply marketing management, strategy, and analytics concepts. The marketing plan will be for a group home for troubled teens in Allentown Pennsylvania.
This Marketing Plan is based on the example and explanation of the marketing plan given in Mullins & Walker textbook used in MBA 537 – pages 483-490 – but keep in mind that the marketing plan reflects inputs from all of the topics covered in the book.
Here are the final paper requirements:
APA Formatting
Title Page
APA Reference Page with At Least Five References
The Marketing Plan itself will be in the range of 10-15 pages, plus a title page, the references and appendices
Marketing Plan:
Executive Summary – Short overview of the issues, objectives, strategy and actions in the plan for a quick management review – this comes first but is written last
Current Situation and Trends – Summarizes relevant background information on the market, competition, trends in the macroenvironment, size and growth rates for the overall market and key segments
Performance Review for an Existing Product/Service – Examines past performance and the elements of the past program (4Ps) for this product category (Audit)
Key Issues – Identifies key opportunities and threats the product/service identified in the plan will deal with in the coming year and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the product/service and business unit that must be taken into account (A SWOT)
Objectives – Specify the goals to be accomplished in terms of sales volume, market share and profit – these must be quantified (SMART Goals)
Marketing Strategy – Summarizes the overall strategic approach that will be used to meet the plan’s objectives (i.e. focus on the which products/services are being offered and to who – the markets)
Action Plans – (Marketing Programs) – This is the critical piece of the plan that guides effective implementation and coordination of marketing activities:
Description of Target Segment (Characteristics of the target, estimated size and dollar value of the segment)
Specific Actions for each of the 4Ps (strategy and tactics)
When will the action /program occur (schedule)
What is the budget for each action
Projected Profit Statement – Expected Marketing Return on Investment (MROI) – What sales revenue will be generated in relation to the marketing costs
Controls – Describe how progress/ performance will be monitored – tracked and evaluated – in relation to objectives, and as inputs for next planning cycle (Key metrics)
Contingency Plans – Description of actions to be taken if specific threats or opportunities arise in the planning period
Concluding Comments – Key take-aways
