Marketing Assignment

JWI 518: Marketing In a Global Environment Academic Submissions and Evaluations

© 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. This course guide is subject to change based on the needs of the class. JWI 518 – Assignment 1 (1186) Page 1 of 5

Assignment 1: Executive Memo Due Week 3, Sunday midnight of your time zone (Weight: 10%)

“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.”

– Jack Welch

Overview

Marketing plays an important role in the growth of an organization and its ability to create and sustain a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, some organizations undertake marketing initiatives without a clear idea of what they want to achieve, how strong the competition is, and how they will measure success. For this assignment, you are the leader of a product group. You believe there is significant untapped market potential for the products or services you manage. You want to approach the Chief Marketing Officer with a marketing initiative based on a new product or service. Knowing that your audience is busy, and that many other staff also present ideas for support, you know that you will need a strong and compelling pitch. The focus of your proposal is the company and the product or service you chose at the beginning of the course, which will be used for your Marketing Plan Project. This could be the company you currently work for, a start-up, a Fortune 500 company, or a non-profit organization. You decide to draft a brief Executive Memo outlining your ideas for the marketing initiative. Your memo should be short and focused, but also provide enough detail to demonstrate that you know what you are talking about. You know that simply saying you “aim to increase sales by 15% next quarter” will not be productive. Your objective is to identify broad marketing goals the company should be focusing on and to get the support for your new product or service initiative. Leveraging what you have been learning in the first three weeks of this course - including the first three chapters of the textbook, course lecture notes and external resources including the company website - you decide to organize your memo into three sections: Goals, Research, and Metrics.

Instructions

Organize your memo as follows:

1. Marketing Goals

Identify 3 to 5 Marketing Goals that you will focus on, selected from the list below:

o Build awareness of the company/brand o Increase market share o Capture a new target market o Increase sales, revenues, profits o Increase new accounts or relationships o Increased share of customer’s business

JWI 518: Marketing In a Global Environment Academic Submissions and Evaluations

© 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. This course guide is subject to change based on the needs of the class. JWI 518 – Assignment 1 (1186) Page 2 of 5

o Increased return on investment (ROI) o Converting sales leads into customers

Explain why you have identified these particular goals as being most important.

2. Marketing Research

Present your rationale for the type of Market Research needed to support your initiative. You should leverage Kotler & Keller’s 6-step marketing research process from Chapter 3 of your course textbook. Identify which of the following are the most critical research items to support your goals:

a. Determine the feasibility of a new business or product or service. If market research does not indicate a demand for the product or service the proposed business will not likely be viable.

b. Test interest in new products or services to respond to customer needs.

c. Find and develop new markets.

d. Monitor industry and economic trends and develop strategies to adapt the business to the changing environment.

e. Determine optimal product placement - when, where, and how should a product or service be distributed?

f. Improve aspects of their businesses, such as customer service. Develop competitive strategies - for example, setting competitive pricing for products or services or determining how your products/services and customer service compare to the competition.

3. Marketing Metrics

Explain how the success of your proposed marketing initiative will be measured. Use Kotler & Keller’s Marketing Metrics from Chapter 2, Table 2.2 (shown below) to guide you. Which Marketing Metrics are most important ones for you to track? Remember, the marketing metrics should be selected to match your marketing goals.

Sales Metrics Customer Readiness to Buy Customer Metrics Distribution

Metrics Communication

Metrics

• Sales growth • Market share • Sales from new

products

• Awareness • Preference • Purchase

intention

• Reduction in customer complaints

• Reduction in customer losses

• Increase in new customer gains

• Number of locations

• Out of stock frequency

• Share in stores handling

• Top-of-mind brand awareness

• Survey response rate

• Number of media stories

JWI 518: Marketing In a Global Environment Academic Submissions and Evaluations

© 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. This course guide is subject to change based on the needs of the class. JWI 518 – Assignment 1 (1186) Page 3 of 5

Professional Formatting Requirements

• Typed, double-spaced, professional font (size 10-12), including bolded headings and subheadings,

with one-inch margins on all sides. • References must be included and provide appropriate information that enables the reader to locate

the original source. Application and analysis of course materials and resources are expected, and additional research is welcome.

• Include a Cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date.

• Your memo should be no more than four (4) pages in length, excluding your Cover page and References list.

JWI 518: Marketing In a Global Environment Academic Submissions and Evaluations

© 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. This course guide is subject to change based on the needs of the class. JWI 518 – Assignment 1 (1186) Page 4 of 5

Weight: 10% Assignment 1: Executive Memo

Criteria Unsatisfactory Low Pass Pass High Pass Honors

1. Analyzes and presents the company’s marketing goals,

Weight: 25%

Does not or unsatisfactorily analyzes the company’s marketing goals.

Little to no synthesis of ideas is demonstrated, and logical reasoning is not included or evident.

Partially analyzes the company’s marketing goals.

Demonstrates some synthesis of ideas and understanding of course concepts.

Satisfactorily analyzes the company’s marketing goals. Demonstrates synthesis of ideas and logical reasoning from course concepts.

Completely analyzes the company’s marketing goals.

Demonstrates thorough synthesis of ideas and understanding of course concepts.

Exemplarily analyzes the company’s marketing goals,

Demonstrates critical analysis, an excellent synthesis of ideas, and deep understanding of course concepts and unique insights.

2. Discusses the company’s use of the Kotler & Keller 6-step Marketing Research process.

Weight: 25%

Did not or unsatisfactorily discuss the company’s use of the Kotler & Keller 6-step marketing research process.

Little to no synthesis of ideas is demonstrated, and logical reasoning is not included or evident.

Partially discusses the company’s use of the Kotler & Keller 6-step marketing research process.

Demonstrates some synthesis of ideas and understanding of course concepts.

Satisfactorily discusses the company’s use of the Kotler & Keller 6-step marketing research process.

Demonstrates synthesis of ideas and understanding of course concepts.

Completely discusses the company’s use of the Kotler & Keller 6-step marketing research process.

Demonstrates thorough synthesis of ideas and understanding of course concepts.

Exemplarily discusses the company’s use of the Kotler & Keller 6-step marketing research process.

Demonstrates critical analysis, an excellent synthesis of ideas, and deep understanding of course concepts and unique insights.

3. Discusses and identifies the company’s marketing metrics.

Weight: 25%

Did not or unsatisfactorily discusses and identifies the company’s marketing metrics.

Little to no synthesis of ideas is demonstrated, and logical reasoning is not evident.

Partially discusses and identifies the company’s marketing metrics.

Demonstrates some synthesis of ideas and understanding of course concepts.

Satisfactorily discusses and identifies the company’s marketing metrics.

Demonstrates synthesis of ideas and understanding of course concepts.

Completely discusses and identifies the company’s marketing metrics.

Demonstrates thorough synthesis of ideas and understanding of course concepts.

Exemplarily discusses and identifies the company’s marketing metrics. Demonstrates critical analysis, excellent synthesis of ideas, deep understanding of course concepts & unique insights.

JWI 518: Marketing In a Global Environment Academic Submissions and Evaluations

© 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. This course guide is subject to change based on the needs of the class. JWI 518 – Assignment 1 (1186) Page 5 of 5

4. Rationale, support, and thought leadership

Weight: 15%

The rationale is not supported with references to course reading materials and external sources as appropriate.

The rationale is partially supported with references to course reading materials and external sources as appropriate.

The rationale is mostly supported by references to course reading materials and external sources as appropriate.

The rationale is completely supported with course reading materials and external sources as appropriate.

The rationale demonstrates student’s thought leadership and is well supported with course reading materials and external sources as appropriate.

5. The Executive Memo is professionally formatted and includes in-text citations, references, and is free from grammar and spelling errors.

Weight: 10%

The Executive Memo is unsatisfactorily formatted. It may not include a cover page and headings or lacks professional choices in formatting, font, and spacing.

Sources are not consistently cited in text, and references are not included in a manner that enables the reader to quickly identify sources.

There are numerous grammatical or usage errors.

The Executive Memo is partially satisfactorily formatted. It may not include a cover page and headings or lacks professional choices in formatting, font, and spacing.

Sources may are not consistently cited in text, and references may not be included in a manner that enables the reader to quickly identify sources.

Some grammatical or usage errors.

The Executive Memo is satisfactorily formatted. It includes a cover page and headings but may lack professional choices in formatting, font, and spacing.

Sources may not be consistently cited in text, and references may not be included in a manner that enables the reader to quickly identify sources.

Some grammatical or usage errors.

The Executive Memo is professionally formatted.

It includes a cover page, headings, professional formatting, font, and spacing.

All sources are consistently cited in text, and references are included in a manner that enables the reader to quickly identify sources.

No grammatical or usage errors.

The Executive Memo is exceptionally formatted. It is highly professional in look and easy to quickly locate information.

It includes a cover page, headings, professional formatting, font, and spacing.

Sources are consistently cited in text, and references are included in a manner that enables the reader to quickly identify sources.

No mechanics or usage errors.