Business & Finance Week 5 Assignment

First Name Last Name

Strayer University

BUS 599: Strategic Management

Professor

April 10, 2024

BUS599 – Strategic Management

© 2024 Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. 2

Document Instructions

Delete the instructions in red before submitting the assignment!

Due: Week 5, worth 125 points

Length: The assignment should be 3 to 5 pages, excluding title page and reference page

Important:

· Review the description of this assignment in Canvas and use the tips provided along with this template to help you write.

· Be sure to review the guidelines provided For-Profit Startup Company Guidelines

· Use the textbook and review the recommended pages. Note that your textbook has sample plans at the end of each paper.

· Review the grading rubric before writing. Know what you are graded for. Always look at the “exemplary” section.

Notes:

· Leave the text in black as it is. You are required to have a heading for each section.

· Use SWS format. Your will respond to each question using indented paragraphs. The preferred font is Times New Roman, size 12.

· The references must be on a separate page at the end of the paper.

Marketing Plan

Target Market

Describe your target market (customers) in demographic terms (age range, income range, gender education, etc.) as well as the geographic, lifestyle, psychographic, purchasing patterns and buying sensitivities description.

· You have addressed this topic in week 3 discussion. Be sure to check the feedback provided by the instructor and make changes as needed. Check the suggestions made by other students as well.

· Use the bold subheadings below.

Demographic Description

Age range, income range, gender, family size, education, occupation, et cetera. Example: A likely user for X product is a male aged 25–34 who earns between $35,000 and $55,000 per year and has a four-year college degree.

Geographic Description

Area you would like to serve, density (urban, rural), nature of location (mall, business center, et cetera), climate condition. Example: Atlanta.

Lifestyle Description

Where do your customers shop, what do they do for leisure, what kind of clothes do they wear, what type of cars do they drive, et cetera?

Psychographic Description

How would you describe your target market, for example, socially responsible, trendsetters, or fun-seeking?

Purchasing Pattern Description

How will your target market use the product, how many times will they buy it, where do they buy the product, how do they pay for it, et cetera?

Buying Sensitivities Description

What factors are important to the customer before they buy (price, quality, customer service. packaging, et cetera)?

Market Competition

· Identify and describe your top 3 competitors.

· When assessing the competition, specify the exact company and particular product or service you are competing against. For example, Coca-Cola offers a portfolio of products, such as water, fruit juice, and cola. Are you competing against Coca-Cola’s fruit juice product? Or its cola product?

Differentiating from Competition

· Explain how you compare yourself to each of your competitors.

· Detail a plan to differentiate yourself from the competition in the future. How will you stand out and why?

Value Proposition

· Outline the company’s value proposition (be specific to the product or service you plan to sell). The value proposition should be a brief description of how your product or service solves a problem the customers may have (or provides an improvement), should list the benefits the customers can expect, and why customers should buy your product or service instead of other similar ones on the market. You should also consider providing some evidence of your claims. The value proposition tells your customers why should they buy from you.

Marketing Vehicles

· Insert the final version of the marketing vehicles table adjusted per the feedback received from week 4 discussion.

· Provide a rationale for selecting each marketing vehicle, clarifying why you believe they will be effective in promoting your business.

Sources

· Be sure to cite all your sources.

· Use SWS to format all the references.

· Wikipedia and other similar websites (blogs, opinions) do not qualify as academic resources.

· You can use websites as long as the source is reliable (company websites, forbes.com, fda.com, census.com, etc.)

· For each reference you must have a corresponding in-text citation.

Below are examples of references (please delete and replace them with yours).

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2016. Causes of Climate Change. https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/causes-climate- change_.html

2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2008. Graphic: The Relentless Rise of Carbon Dioxide. https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the- relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/

3. Ellie Zolfagharifard. 2014. Tree Roots Act as 'Earth's Thermostat': Mountain Forest