Reference no: EM132262643

Part II Content of Marketing Plan As a marketer , you will need a good marketing plan to provide direction and focus for your brand, product, or company. To deeper understand what to write in the marketing plan, one essential step is to know competitive advantage through well-informed segmenting, targeting, differentiating, and positioning decisions. Pay attention that unlike a business plan, a marketing plan has a more limited scope. It serves to document how the organization’s strategic objectives will be achieved through specific marketing strategies and tactics, with the customer as the starting point. Also, to develop successful strategies and action programs, marketers require up-to-date information about the environment, the competition, and the market segments to be served. Scenario: you are running a hypothetical start-up company – Link. The company’s first product is the Link H One, a multimedia, cellular/Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone. Link will be competing with Apple, Samsung, Huawei, HTC and other well-established rivals in a crowded, fast changing marketplace for smartphones that combine communication, entertainment, and storage functionality. Link is preparing to launch Link H One in a mature market. This product offers a competitive unique combination of advanced features and functionality at a value-added price. The company plans to target specific segments in the consumer and business markets, taking advantage of opportunities indicated by higher demand for easy-to-use smartphones with expanded communications, entertainment, and storage functionality. The primary marketing objective is to achieve first-year U.S sale of 500,000 units. The primary financial objectives are to achieve first-year sales revenues of $75 million, keep first-year losses under $8 million, and break even early in the second year. Your individual project should be composed of the following parts: 1 Executive Summary – this section summarizes and overviews the main goals, recommendations, and points for senior managers who will read and approve the marketing plan. 2 Current Marketing Situation – this section needs you to focus on the overall market, identifying the market segments you will target and providing information about a company’s current situation. 3 Product Review – this section summarizes the main features for your company’s products, organized by product line, type of customer, market, or order of product introduction. 4 Competitive Review – the purpose of a competitive review is to identify key competitors, describe their market positions, and briefly discuss their strategies. 5 SWOT analysis – refers to analysis of strengths (internal capabilities that can help a company reach its objectives), weakness (internal elements that may interfere with a company’s ability to achieve its objectives), opportunities (external elements that a company may be able to exploit to its advantage), threats (current or emerging external elements that could potentially challenge a company’s performance). 6 Marketing Strategy - Positioning (built on meaningful differentiation, supported by appropriate strategy and implementation, can help a company build competitive advantage) - Product Strategy - Pricing Strategy - Distribution Strategy - Promotion Strategy.