Reference no: EM131306572 , Length: 1500 Words

Requirement: - Needed Final Marketing Plan

Objectives

The Course Project gives students the opportunity to synthesize all of the concepts in the BUSN319 Marketing course by applying them to develop a comprehensive for a new business, product, or service.

Introduction

Product innovation and marketing are the only enduring competitive advantages that companies can use to survive and thrive in the marketplace. In the next seven weeks, you are going to participate in designing and writing a marketing plan for a business, product, or service of your choosing. Your active participation in this project is essential to building your understanding of marketing. Also, you can use a well-written marketing plan to show prospective employers a sample of your work or pitch your idea to investors who may be interested in your venture.

A marketing plan is a guide for the marketing activities of an organization for a specified period of time, typically about 5 years. The plan can be used internally to guide the marketing activities or it can be used to communicate with external audiences to raise capital. There are important questions to keep in mind as you design your plan.

1.    Is the marketing idea valid?

2.    What is unique or distinctive about the product or service that separates it from substitutes and competitors?

3.    Does a viable market exist for the product or service?

4.    Is the target market large enough, accessible, and capable of purchasing your product or service?

5.    Are the financial projections sound?

6.    Is the management team competent?

7.    How will the investors get their money back with a return on their investments?

In order to help you answer these questions and many others, the course provides the following items.

• Building an Effective Marketing Plan in Appendix A on page 48 of your textbook (it includes an example of a marketing plan).
• Financial Aspects of Marketing in Appendix B on page 368 of your textbook.
• A marketing plan outline (seeWeek 4: Draft Marketing Planin theMilestonesection below).
• A grading rubric for the marketing plan.

Guidelines

Your final marketing plan should be between 10-15 pages and must follow all APA guidelines. In Week 1, you will submit a two-page description of your business, product, or service for instructor approval of your topic. In Week 4, you will submit a substantial draft of your marketing plan for instructor feedback. Your completed marketing plan is due at the end of Week 7.

Milestones

Week 1: Topic Proposal (20 points)

You will select a topic for the Week 1 assignment, and thereafter, all related assignments (the draft in Week 4 and the final marketing plan in Week 7) MUST be on the same topic. You may not change your marketing plan topic without approval from your instructor. Your topic should be for a business, product, or service that you would like to start (no multilevel marketing structures or non-profit organizations, please). Because this is an applied project and not a research paper, please do not select a corporation such as Starbucks or Coca-Cola as your topic. You are to apply the course concepts to this project. If you are interested in coffee restaurants, for example, you may wish to select your own cappuccino bar as your topic and then use information from companies like Starbucks or Seattle's Best Coffee for ideas and competitive research as you work on your project. If you have questions about your topic, don't hesitate to post them in the Q & A Forum this week.

For Week 1, please write a two-page description of your company, product, or service. It should be a new business, product, or service.

Discuss:

1.    Ownership and company structure.

2.    Describe the business, product, or service.

3.    Write your mission statement.

4.    Provide your marketing goals.

The marketing goals must be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time bound. 
Examples... 
   Company ABC plans to generate 25 leads per week as a result of our Facebook marketing campaign beginning Oct. 1, 2014.

   Company XYZ plans to sell 5,000 widgets for the next fiscal year.

5.     Discuss who a typical customer might be.

Week 4: Draft Marketing Plan (100 points)

At the end of Week 4, you will submit a substantial draft to your instructor for grading and feedback. Read Appendix A in the text. Be sure to download the Marketing Plan outline. It must be used! It is recommended that you start working on your draft in Week 2 after your instructor has approved your topic. Use the Marketing Plan outline as a guide to the required content for your marketing plan. Complete as much as you are able in order to get a good start and an initial draft ready to submit at the end of Week 4. Remember, the more you complete on this initial draft the greater the input that the professor can provide. Also, please include your last name within the document title.

Week 7: Final Marketing Plan (220 points)

Submit your completed Marketing Plan. It should include all sections listed in the marketing plan outline. It should include headings for the various sections of the marketing plan. APA format should be used, and three references are required. Be sure to list all references that you consult (both print media and online).

See the Syllabus section "Due Dates for Assignments & Exams" for due date information.

Grading Rubrics

Week 1: Topic Proposal will be evaluated as follows.

Category	%	Description
Documentation, Formatting, and Editing	10%	Quality work will include a title page, table of contents, proper citations, and a bibliography. Quality work will be free of any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. Sentences and paragraphs will be clear, concise, and factually correct. It must follow APA guidelines.
Content	90%	Quality work will meet the following requirements. Your topic should be for a business, product, or service that you would like to start(no multilevel marketing structures or nonprofit organizations, please). Your proposal should be approximately two pages long and should contain the following. 1. Information about ownership and company structure. 2. A description of the business, product, or service. 3. A mission statement. 4. Marketing goals.  5. Who a typical customer might be.
Total	100%	A quality submission will meet or exceed all of the above requirements.

Week 4: Draft Marketing Plan will be evaluated as follows.

Category	%	Description
Documentation and Formatting	5%	Quality work will include a title page, abstract, table of contents, proper citations, and a reference page. Your final marketing plan should be between 10-15 pages; your draft should be substantial-about 75% complete. It must follow all APA guidelines.
Organization and Cohesiveness	20%	Quality work will use the marketing plan outline provide above for its organization. The content will be properly subdivided into sections with headings. The executive summary is not required in your draft because the executive summary is usually the last part of the plan that is written; it summarizes the entire plan.
Editing	5%	Quality work will be free of any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. Sentences and paragraphs will be clear, concise, and factually correct.
Content	70%	Quality work will have significant scope and depth of research to support any statements. Relevant illustrations or examples are encouraged. Quality work will cover all the sections included in the marketing plan outline. The content presented must demonstrate an understanding of the material.
Total	100%	A quality submission will meet or exceed all of the above requirements.

 

Week 7: Final Marketing Plan will be evaluated as follows.

Category	%	Description
Documentation and Formatting	5%	Quality work will include a title page, table of contents, abstract, proper citations, and a reference page in APA format including at least three references.
Organization and Cohesiveness	20%	Quality work will use the marketing plan outline for its organization. The content will be properly subdivided into sections with headings and subheadings; it will incorporate feedback provided from your instructor on your Week 4 draft. You may choose to use some of the Building Your Marketing Plan exercises at the end of the chapters in the text to guide you to develop some sections of your plan. The executive summary will summarize your plan and include the reasoning you employed in your analysis, as well as any outstanding conclusions you can reach about the marketing plan for your chosen product or service.
Editing	5%	Quality work will be free of any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. Sentences and paragraphs will be clear, concise, and factually correct.
Content	70%	Quality work will have significant scope and depth of research to support any statements. Relevant illustration or examples are encouraged. Quality work will cover all the sections included in the marketing plan outline. The content presented must demonstrate an understanding of the material.
Total	100%	A quality submission will meet or exceed all of the above requirements.