Reference no: EM132337774 , Length: word count:1000

Assignment 1 - Case Study

Michael's Café recently made a change to their product by switching to a coffee bean blend of their premium exotic beans and a lower standard non-organic bean that is low cost. This will reduce their expenses. They also engaged a marketing consultant to develop an advertising campaign to help boost their sales and increase their loyal customer base. The campaign was based on suggesting that their premium exotic coffee beans will increase metabolism leading to weight loss. At the end of the second week of the campaign several customer complaints have been made, suggesting false advertisement and their weekly sales have dropped. There has also been a steep decline in the number of loyalty program customers being served.

Extract from Michael's Cafe Marketing Plan:

Marketing Objectives

• Grow total sales by 10% annually
• Build customer loyalty through customer service experience and by offering a premium product

Target Market

• Office Workers - many local Government offices
• Health Professionals - from nearby Hospital and medical suites
• Public Transport consumers - from nearby train station and bus junction

Positioning

Michaels' Cafe will position itself as an upscale coffee house. Their coffee beans are a premium exotic blend not seen in the local area before, and the food that they cook and sell is organic and caters to several allergies.

Marketing Mix

Michaels' Cafe marketing efforts will focus on building a loyal base of customers that will buy and drink their coffee on an almost daily basis.

Product/Service

Michaels Cafe will sell an organic premium exotic coffee in a cup with Michael's Cafe and the bean brand names and logos.

Michael's Cafe will only sell food that is organic in nature and will cater for common allergies such as gluten-free, dairy free, nut free, etc.

Michael's Cafe will ensure its staff are trained and educated to the industry standard Master Barista within three months of their employment commencement so to give their customers an unforgettable coffee experience.

Pricing

Michaels' Cafe applies a premium pricing strategy to its coffee beverages. There are several cafés in close proximity that sells similar product but do not have a premium product. They apply a combination of cost-based and psychological pricing strategies for the food they cook on site.

Promotion

Michaels' Cafe will spend $1,000 on promotion and advertising per year. Promotion will focus on the local market and building a loyal customer base.

Specific marketing efforts will focus on:

• Sales promotion - loyalty incentives - buy 5 coffees get the 6 one free.
• Advertising - printed material for local area and shop front promoting exotic coffee beans.

Place

Michael's Café will sell their product from their Queen St premises. As a competitive advantage, we will open at 530am and close at 530pm. Other local cafés do not offer these extended hours.

Answer the following questions and prepare a report:

1. Read Michael's Café Marketing Policy and the case study and outline how the Café has not complied with their own policy.

2. Discuss the success of the advertising campaign, outlining why sales and loyalty program customers might have dropped.

3. Assuming that Michael's Café is going to stay with the coffee bean blend mentioned in the case study, suggest changes to the marketing mix to meet the change in product.

4. Evaluate how these changes will impact Michael's Café's marketing objectives, customer base and the desired position.

5. Submit your report to your assessor.

Assignment 2 -

INSTRUCTIONS: Read the information below and complete the activities that follow.

Your Managing Director has agreed to table your identified marketing opportunities for the Management Team's consideration for the coming year's Marketing Plan. You are required to prepare a business case outlining the business operations that need to be modified and a list of resources to ensure the viability of your marketing opportunities. The Managing Director has also asked you to include an assurance that the company's current customer base will not be forgotten about.

You will present your marketing opportunities report and the business case at the next Management meeting where the team will discuss and agree on the order of priority and the viability of the opportunities.

1. Prepare a professionally presented and error free business case addressing the following:

• The changes that would need to be made to current operations in order to take advantage of the opportunities.
• An outline of additional resources that will be required for each of the viable marketing opportunities. For example, if additional staff are needed, how many or if there are additional costs, what are they and what is the amount.
• Recommended strategies to ensure that the quality of service to existing customers is not affected by changes made as a result of implementing the new marketing opportunities.

2. Your assessor will arrange a meeting with at least two other participants that will play the role of the Management team. Once you know who your participants are you should provide each person a copy of your report and your business case so that they are prepared for the meeting.

3. Prepare your presentation. You will have 10 minutes to present so your information has to be brief but clear and to the point. You will need to tell the team the reasons that you have selected the marketing opportunities order of priority and brief details of your business case. The management team will discuss the information and either accept your order of priority and business case or suggest changes.

4. Attend the meeting with at least two management team members (students) and the Managing Director (your assessor).

During your presentation you will need to demonstrate effective communication skills including:

• presenting your ideas clearly and concisely and in language appropriate for the audience
• asking questions to find out your team's views
• responding to questions
• active listening skills.

5. Following the meeting, consider any feedback from the team and amend your report and or business case.

6. Submit your final report and business case in an email to your Managing Director (your assessor) confirming the outcome of the management meeting.

Assignment 3 -

INSTRUCTIONS: Read the information below and complete the activities that follow.

This assessment task requires you to identify and evaluate marketing opportunities for a company of your choice. You will need to identify the company and access its marketing plan.

The marketing plan must include sufficient information in order to be able to complete this assessment; this means the marketing plan must include business goals, target customers, marketing/branding strategy, sales forecasts and marketing budget You may access your chosen company's marketing plan personally or via an Internet search. If you are not able to find a plan with sufficient information you may select one from Mplans: Marketing Plans & Marketing Strategy Guides site.

Before you start the assessment task, you should discuss your choice of company with your assessor who will need to approve your choice before you start the assessment project. For the purposes of this assessment, assume that you are the Marketing Manager of your chosen company and that your assessor is the Managing Director. Assume that the location of the business is in the oily or suburb you are living in.

1. After reading and becoming familiar with your marketing plan, explore creative and innovative ideas and conduct research relevant to the business' products and/or services, potential new and emerging market competitors and any other factors you deem relevant, to prepare a list of potential marketing opportunities.

2. Based on your review of the marketing plan and research, identify three potential marketing opportunities for the company. Investigate these opportunities in detail with the intention of developing a report and suggesting an order of priority based clearly on their viability and contribution to the business. Later you will need to present your recommended priorities to the Management Team for consideration.

Analyse and evaluate the following for each potential opportunity:

• Alignment with the company's objectives and goals and the objectives and goals described in the Marketing Plan.
• Target customers for each opportunity. Identify if they are they new or existing customers.
• Overall benefits to the business of pursuing the opportunity.
• Anticipated effect of the marketing opportunity on sales, profitability, growth and market share. A cost-benefit analysis or existing data in the Marketing Plan could be used to help you estimate this.
• Estimated effect on return on investment. This should be an approximate estimate taking ,nto account how much the likely cost of the opportunity would be against anticipated return. Use the information in the Marketing Plan to help you answer this.
• Potential competitors - these may be existing competitors or new ones depending on the marketing opportunity.
• How any changes in economic conditions could impact on the marketing opportunity Technological factors that may affect the marketing opportunity.
• Legal issues associated with the marketing opportunity.
• Risks associated with the marketing opportunity. A risk assessment must be completed for each opportunity.

3. Develop your report addressing all of the points above and your recommended order of priority. As an introduction to your report provide an overview of the company (their structure, products and services), their business objectives and marketing plan (strategies, target market, etc.). Ensure your report is professional presented and error free.

4. Submit your list of original ideas from question 1 and your report in an email to the Managing Director (your assessor). The Managing Directory will provide feedback and give approval for you to present your marketing opportunities to the Management Team.

Total Words: around 4 pages (1000 Words) for all Questions.