Reference no: EM132310306

Marketing Plan Analysis - Over-the-top Creative

It is expected that you will integrate your learnings (concepts and theory) from both seminars and workshops to analyse this marketing plan effectively.

Scenario: You are working for a large business consultancy firm. The firm has just acquired a new client. Your work team's job is to undertake an audit of the client's activities in the market in order for the senior consultants in your firm to develop a new set of strategies that will take this client to a new level of profitability and market share. The client has presented you with their latest marketing plan. You have been tasked with undertaking a detailed analysis of this marketing plan and to assess whether it can be modified or just thrown out and started again.

In effect you are conducting a marketing audit. You are deconstructing every component of the marketing plan to check the assumptions, research, and strategies used.

The report back to the senior partners should be presented in the same sequence as the marketing plan sections. For example, in each section you should explain:

1. What the firm has done?

2. Why they have done this (relate this back to theory)?

3. How have they arrived at that choice or decision (back this up with facts about the market)?

4. What other options could they have used?

Current Situation Analysis

Internal Analysis:
Mission (what your company wants to achieve - its fundamental purpose), Resources (what you have to work with),
Offering (define what you are selling - what value does it have for customers), Business relationships (if any).
External Analysis (Understanding the influences on your business):
Demographic trends (how will population trends affect your business or customers),
Technological trends (how will changes in technology affect the way you reach customers and the way customers use products)
Economic (are economic conditions likely to affect your business or customers),
Political/Legal (do you have to comply with any Government regulations),
Socio-cultural (are there social or cultural influences that may affect your customers' tastes or willingness to buy from you)
Natural environmental trends (how will they impact on your business)

Market Analysis :
Market definition (where do you see your market existing),
Market trends (apart from the general trends covered in you external analysis is there anything that is likely to affect your particular product or customers),
Competitive situation (level of competition, types of competition, key players, your firm's competitive advantage),
Customer needs (What customers' needs exist that your product can fulfil)

Remember to cover both positive and negative factors that may affect your business

SWOT Analysis:
Your SWOT is derived from your SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
Major issues facing the company and product that have come out of your Current situation analysis (do this in a table format).
Summary of the key issue that are likely to affect your business and your ability to market your product.
See your text book on conducting a SWOT

Key issues
Key Issues must be derived from your SWOT
Begin this section with a brief summary of the key issues that will guide the marketing strategies that you will do in a later section.

Objectives

Budget

Your objectives are derived from your KEY ISSUES
Marketing objectives - Short term (what you want to achieve in the next 12 months)
Establish specific and measureable goals for sales, market share, brand awareness, customer segments, loyalty etc.
Identify objectives for marketing strategies (and rationale) to overcome key issues identified in SWOT analysis.
Note: You are not required to include long term objectives

Target Market Selection and Positioning Strategy

Your SWOT, KEY ISSUES, AND OBJECTIVES will shape your targeting and positioning. Remember the 5 requirements for effective segmentation.
Have you made a distinction between the market segmentation and the target market? What segmentation strategies have you used?
Have you described the characteristics of your target market?
Although you should identify more than one customer segment, for the purpose of this assignment you only need to concentrate on one target market
Think about potential customers' (target market) needs, wants, behaviour, attitudes, loyalty, and purchasing patterns.
What positioning strategy have you used? How does this relate to branding?

Branding
Your Branding must be appropriate to your TARGET MARKET AND MARKET POSITION Present your brand ideas for the business (name logo etc)
What is the value proposition (why would customers want your product)? How does the brand identity tie in with your product offering?

Marketing Mix Strategies

Product Price Distribution Promotion People Process
Physical Evidence

Product:
Outline your product concept and justify your choice.
Concentrate on one particular product as an example (event though you may sell a range) What format(s) does your product come?
Are there any augmented features to your product?
Price:
How much will you charge (again just use one of your products as an example)
Justify (and name the pricing theory) why you have decided to set the price as you have. As this is an online business does the customer get charged any delivery fees?
Distribution:
Present and justify how your customers will get their products?
You don't have to discuss the back end distribution (where and how you get your products from)
Promotion
THIS NEEDS TO BE A SUBSTANTIAL SECTION (It covers many lectures)
What various media will you use to promote your product/service?
Outline the timing (reach and frequency) of each promotional activity and justify why you have planned it this way.
Discuss the objective for each medium used (why use this and what you expect it will achieve).
People (for the last 3 Ps only need a brief description - cover text book considerations)
Who will staff your operation; what qualifications do they need (if any), do they need experience and so forth.
Process
Will training be provided, will you have dedicated frontline/admin staff or just clinical staff, will staff reviews take place, will you gather performance feedback from customers / clients, online bookings and so forth.
Physical Evidence
What will the business and surroundings look like, consider access issues, will parking be available, lighting, décor, be sure to make this appropriate to both your online and physical environments.

Marketing Budget

Provide a breakdown of all marketing costs involved. Provide projections of all revenue streams.
This can be added as an additional column to the action plan chart. Budget needs to cover the first 3 years of trading

Controls and Contingencies

Set boundaries and benchmarks.
How will you monitor the success of each your marketing activities? Be sure to have a control and contingency for EVERY marketing activity listed in your strategies and Action plan (hint: the strategies section and action plan should be covering identical things - if it's in your strategy you need to have an action plan for it).
(e.g. Strategy: Facebook page: Control = 200 likes by XX date: Contingency if don't reach target (either drop the strategy or invest in FB advertising / promotions etc.) How would you know if your marketing plan is working or not?
When do you pull an idea or activity that is not working?

Action Plan
This section can be in a table format. Include every promotional activity you intend to conduct throughout year 1. Include objective of each activity

Include the timing for each activity.
Include who will be responsible for implementing each activity.

Limitations

This is a brief section that describes any limitations that you can identify with your report that you feel the reader ought to be aware of. It also serves to cover you in- case the plan proves ineffective. Examples may include, the use of secondary data, is the data current or getting old, are you making cultural inferences based on populations similar to, but different from your actual target market... and so forth.

Conclusion

Brief summing up of project - no more than ½ page.

References
Any data that comes from any outside source (not your own team's creativity and ideas) should be referenced.
Check that all statements and justifications made throughout the marketing plan are cited in the body of the report and full references provided in a "reference" section. References should be in accordance with the Harvard System (see UQBS Writing Guide or the library website)
Have you used a variety of sources?