Reference no: EM132349773 , Length: word count:3000

Requirements

A simple marketing plan for colgate

Assume you have been hired by Colgate to develop a marketing plan for its dental care products capitalizing on the opportunities identified in your own country. For example, the opportunities might be product-/service- related (e.g. a new product or product line extension) or involve a new target consumer.

Prepare the marketing plan using the following outline. Please note that an ‘Executive summary' is not required for this assignment.

• Introduction
• Current market situation (contains the following sub-sections)
• Market analysis
• Company analysis
• Competitor analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Segmentation and recommended target market
• Recommended positioning
• The marketing objective
• Marketing strategies (contains the following sub-sections)
• Product strategy
• Pricing strategy
• Distribution strategy
• Promotion strategy

Note: You are not expected to undertake any financial analysis or resources planning. You are also not expected to include an action plan and control in the assignment.

Units 1 and 2 provide guidance on where much of the information required for the analysis of the current market situation can be found. Company information may be obtained from the corporate website. You are also encouraged to do ‘field research,' e.g. visiting retail outlets to determine competitors' offerings and pricing strategies. Please make sure that you reference all the information sources properly, using the Open University of Hong Kong referencing style.

A complete marketing plan should also include the ‘Action plan' and ‘Control' sections. However, as noted above, these two sections are not required in this assignment as we will cover the related material after your assignment submission. However, please note that they are an essential part of a standard marketing plan.

The ‘Action plan' should detail how the strategies for each individual ‘P' are coordinated into an overall strategic marketing strategy, as well as what has to be done, who has to do it and when it needs to be completed. The ‘Action programme' outlined in the Sonic marketing plan in Appendix 1 of the Kotler text illustrates the level of detail expected.

The ‘Control' section in the Sonic marketing plan illustrates the level of detail expected in this section.

A marketing plan is a formal document that is not just used within the company but also externally, e.g. for presenting to bankers or investors for funding or suppliers/retailers to secure distribution. As such, you need to ensure that your presentation is professional. Your marketing plan must include a cover page, a table of contents and a reference list. When presenting the material, consider the reader, ensuring that pages are numbered and that headings are used so that the reader can easily find applicable sections. Statistics, charts and detailed material - for example, market data, such as imports and exports or industry profiles - should be presented in an Appendix, with the main points being discussed in the relevant section of the marketing plan. Also, please ensure that you check your spelling and grammar in your marketing plan.

In preparing your marketing plan, you may need to make assumptions (e.g. if information you require is not available). If you make assumptions (e.g. about the size of the market), be sure to explain how you developed the assumption (e.g. by using a conservative 10% increase).

Use the mark allocation below as a guide to the depth and breadth expected in each section.