marketing plan

Marketing Plan Assignment

This is an individual assignment worth 35% of the final grade for this course.[footnoteRef:1] [1: The Marketing Program adheres to the Departmental Policy on Originality of work. This policy appears in the syllabus for this course in the Grading Information section and reads in part, “The work in this class must be your own and original to this course. Work prepared for other courses or use of material obtained from other students is expressly prohibited and can result in a grade of zero "0" for the assignment and/or course failure...” This means you may not reuse a product idea that you have submitted in a prior course, either at UMUC or elsewhere. Please be aware that the marketing plans will be submitted to Turnitin and issues with originality will be forwarded to the Dean’s Office under the Academic Integrity process. ]

The importance of the marketing plan in this course underscores the significance of planning to the marketing function of a large organization, or to the survival of a small one.

Getting Started

This assignment begins in Week 1 and is due on the final day of Week 11.

Your marketing plan assignment begins with a product or service selection process.

You will select one fictional product or service that you would like to bring to the consumer market. You will be asked to submit a list of THREE possible product/service ideas in Week 1 for feedback by the professor, prior to making your final product/service selection in Week 2.

The idea generation process you undertake is up to you.

Remember, your product or service should be one that offers value to the customer. The best ideas will be novel, useful and feasible. A good test of your idea is whether it is novel, useful and feasible as described by Kudrowitz & Wallace (2013).[footnoteRef:2] [2: See, Kudrowitz, B.M. & Wallace, D. (2013). Assessing the quality of ideas from prolific, early-stage product ideation. Journal of Engineering Design, 24(2), 120-139, Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=85199283&site=eds-live&scope=site ]

Your product/service may be an enhancement of something that exists currently, but it must be sufficiently creative and different that it would be considered novel and useful in the eyes of a consumer. To obtain potential customer feedback we suggest you ask others, such as friends or business associates, whether they would consider your product/service to be something novel and useful. Your professor will provide some input as to feasibility.

Resources

To understand the purpose of a marketing plan you will begin by reading two sources:

1) “The Marketing Plan”, Chapter 8 from the book Modern Management of Small Businesses v. 1.0

http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/modern-management-of-small-businesses/s12-the-marketing-plan.html

2) "The Marketing Plan," Chapter 16 from the book Principles of Marketing v 2.0

https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-marketing-v2.0/s19-the-marketing-plan.html

Chapter 8 describes the marketing plan process from a small business or start-up point of view while Chapter 16 views the process from a corporate vantage point. Both of these are important to your learning for this assignment and you should refer back to these resources often as you develop your marketing plan.

Most importantly however, this is a research assignment. You will need to perform substantial research about your chosen product or service and the market for that offering. That research should involve high quality sources. The UMUC Library has a guide to research resources. You will be applying the concepts learned from Chapter 8 and Chapter 16 to your research to come up with a marketing plan to introduce your product or service to consumers profitably. That is the goal.

Required Format

You will write a 20-page marketing plan. The paper will be a Word document. The page limit does not include appendices and the reference list.

Acceptable fonts are:

· Arial

· Cambria

· Calibri

· Times New Roman

· Verdana

The font size is 11-12.

All factual material (e.g. facts, figures, charts, statistics) must be properly source cited in APA format. A reference list in APA format is required.

Follow this format for your Marketing Plan:

I. Executive Summary

II. The Business Challenge

III. The Market

a. Customers

b. Company Analysis

c. Competition & Collaborators

d. Business Climate

IV. The Strategy

a. The Strategy

b. The Offering

c. The Communications Plan

d. Distribution

V. The Budget

a. Investment

b. Return

c. Other Resources

VI. Legal & Ethical Issues

VII. Conclusion

Reference List

You will find more in-depth descriptions of each section, except VI, in Chapter 16.

Executive Summary

The executive summary is a high-level summary of the most important elements of the plan. The purpose of the section is to serve as a “hook” for a reader with limited time. Understand that not every reader would have the ability to read your entire plan. It may be necessary for your plan to receive initial approval from gate-keepers who must be convinced in a few minutes whether to approve sending it to the level, or not. This section should be about one page; if it goes to a second page there should be a reason for doing so. Don’t confuse this with an introduction! The executive summary should be tightly edited and very factual. Give a compelling and complete view of the plan in as few words as possible. The executive summary must be appropriate to the scope and contents of the plan; therefore we usually advise you write this section of the plan last.

The Business Challenge

This section presents the “what” of your plan - an introduction to your product/service and the problem it solves. What is the Value Proposition of your product/service for the customer? What problem does this project solve for the customer? Why do customers need this product/service? This is a “need analysis.”

The Market

This is perhaps the most important part of the plan because it is where you will discuss your customers, how you define your market and how well you recognize your competitive environment. Include in this section the market size, market trends and growth potential.

Customers

Customer analysis should reflect the learning about how markets are target and segmented. Research should be apparent and appropriate to the product/service.

Company Analysis

Many possible tools are possible for company analysis, but this section MUST include a SWOT analysis at a minimum.

Competition & Collaborators

Competitive analysis should include both direct and indirect competitors.

Business Climate

A PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ethical, Legal) analysis is appropriate in this section. Since the ethical and legal issues will be covered in a separate section, you may cover the PEST only here.

The Strategy

This section presents the “how” of your plan – how your organization will develop, market and sell the product/service the customer needs. Very little introduction is needed because you will be providing all the details in the next section. This is a good place to spell out your marketing objectives. You will specify no few than THREE specific marketing objectives to achieve with your plan. Remember, the very best marketing objectives are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound).

The Strategy

In this section you will detail your strategy and discuss why it is the best most appropriate one for the product/service and the market.

The Offering

The most important aspects of any product/service are features, benefits and price. What is your product strategy? How will the product be positioned? What is the branding strategy?

The Communications Plan

How will customers know about your product? What is your plan? Is this a product/service that would benefit from digital marketing or social media support? Influencer marketing? Print, TV?

Distribution

How will the product/service find its way to the customer? Will you use marketing intermediaries? Channel partners?

The Budget

Forecast sales and expenses over at least one year.

Investment

Cost out the marketing expenses specifically, such as the cost of the communications plan and the need to hire new marketers, if applicable.

Return

Forecast sales and profits for the product/service. Demonstrate break-even analysis over the number of years required.

Other Resources

Is anything else needed to successfully bring this product/service to market? For example, have you done, or will you do market research to support this offering? If not, you may leave out this section of the plan.

Legal & Ethical Issues

Identify any regulatory or other legal issues that may affect the marketing of your product/service and discuss how you plan to address those issues. You also will mention any potential ethical issues you have identified with your product/service and how you plan to address those issues. See, PEST analysis in Chapter 16.

Conclusion

Remember, the marketing plan is itself a communication tool. This is the place where you have your final opportunity to make the “pitch,” so don’t waste a word. Repeat only the highlights here and make a strong close.

Sample Plans

You will find good sample marketing plans*^ here:

· Mobile News Games, LLC

· Pasta Restaurant

*Be aware that some of the sections in the sample marketing plans are different from the format we are using for your assignment. For your plan use the format provided above. ^These plans do not include the legal and ethical issues section.

Writing Tutoring

Because the clear communication of ideas is essential to effective marketing, a significant portion of the grade on the marketing plan is devoted to format and writing. UMUC provides excellent resources for students who wish to obtain assistance with writing improvement. Anyone may register for Writing Tutoring by going to the classroom and following the path (Content>Writing Tutoring). Simply click on the link and register for the writing tutor. There is no charge for this service and it is available for the duration of the assignment.

Questions and Feedback

Questions about this assignment are welcome at any time in the “Ask the Professor” area of the classroom. In addition, there will be one opportunity to submit a draft of the marketing plan for feedback before the plan is due in W11. Everyone is encouraged to take advantage of that opportunity which will be announced in class.

A grading rubric for this assignment is provided below. Please scroll down for the rubric.

Rubric

Qualities & Criteria	Superior	Good	Adequate	Unsatisfactory
Fo Content –
Executive Summary Business Challenge and Market Analysis	Executive summary appropriate to scope & contents of plan. Business challenge is clear and highly appropriate to product/service Product/service description is clear and highly appropriate Value proposition is clear and highly appropriate. Need analysis is closely aligned with value proposition. SWOT analysis is insightful. Critical issues follows logically from SWOT. Macro-environment is clear and highly appropriate. Market size & growth clearly connects growth rate with chosen target market. Market trends analysis clear and highly appropriate. Target market analysis clear and highly appropriate. Customer analysis indicates exceptional understanding of target market. Competitive analysis excellent understanding of competition, both direct & indirect. PEST analysis is excellent.	Executive summary may need more information. Business challenge may need more information and/or support. Product/service description is clear and appropriate Value Proposition may need more information and/or support. Need analysis may need more information and/or support. SWOT may need more information and/or support. Critical issues may need more information and/or support. Macro-environment may need more information and/or support. Market trends may need more information and/or support. Target market may need more information and/or support. Customer analysis may need more information and/or support. Competitive analysis may need more information and/or support. PEST analysis may need more information/or support.	Executive summary may lack clarity. Business challenge may lack clarity. Product/service description may lack clarity. Value Proposition may lack clarity. Need analysis may lack clarity. SWOT may lack clarity. Critical issues may lack clarity. Macro-environment may lack clarity. Market size & growth may lack clarity. Market trends analysis may lack clarity. Target market analysis may lack clarity. Customer/consumer analysis may lack clarity. Competitive analysis may lack clarity. PEST analysis may lack clarity.	Executive summary is missing/ does not accurately describe scope & contents. Business challenge missing or inaccurate. Product/service description missing or inaccurate. Value proposition missing or inaccurate. Need analysis missing or inaccurate. SWOT missing or inaccurate. Critical issues missing or inaccurate. Macro-environment missing or inaccurate. Market size & growth missing or inaccurate. Market trends analysis missing or inaccurate. Target market analysis missing or inaccurate. Customer/consumer analysis missing or inaccurate. Competitive analysis missing or inaccurate. PEST analysis is missing or inaccurate.
Possible Points: 40	40 - 36	35.5 - 34	34 – 33	Under 33
Points
Strategy and Budget	Marketing objectives are measurable, specific and time-limited. Appear achievable. Financial objectives clearly expressed in expected revenue or profits. Positioning strategy is clearly expressed and highly appropriate to product /service. Product strategy is clear and highly appropriate to product/service. Pricing strategy is clear and highly appropriate to the product/service. Distribution strategy is highly appropriate to the product/service. IMC strategy is well planned, integrated and appropriate. Branding strategy is clear and highly suited to product/service. Market research activities are highly appropriate in all aspects. Break-even analysis accurate for all costs. Sales forecast appears highly appropriate based on research. Expense forecast highly appropriate for planned strategy. Plan includes highly appropriate legal and ethical considerations.	Marketing objectives are measurable, specific and time-limited. Financial objectives may need more information and/or support. Positioning strategy may need more information and/or support. Product strategy may need more information and/or support. Pricing strategy may need more information and/or support. Distribution strategy may need more information and/or support. IMC strategy may need more information and/or support. Branding strategy may need more information and/or support. Market research activities may need more information and/or support. Break-even analysis may need more information and/or support. Sales forecast may need more information and/or support. Expense forecast may need more information and/or support. Legal considerations in plan may need more information and/or support. Ethical considerations in plan may need more information and/or support.	Marketing objectives are not specific and/or measurable or time-limited. Financial objectives may lack clarity. Positioning strategy may lack clarity. Product strategy may lack clarity. Pricing strategy may lack clarity. Distribution strategy may lack clarity. IMC strategy may lack clarity. Branding strategy may lack clarity. Market research activities may lack clarity. Break-even analysis lacks clarity. Sales forecast may lack clarity. Expense forecast may lack clarity. Legal considerations may lack clarity. Ethical considerations may lack clarity.	Marketing objectives are unclear or missing. The ideas presented are not practical or executable. The ideas presented are impractical to implement. Financial objectives missing. Positioning strategy missing Product strategy missing. Pricing strategy missing. Distribution strategy missing. IMC strategy missing. Branding strategy missing. Marketing research activities missing. Break-even analysis missing. Sales forecast missing. Expense forecast missing. Legal considerations missing. Ethical considerations missing.
Possible Points: 40	40 - 36	35.5 - 34	34 – 33	Under 33
Points
Total Content	80 - 72	71 - 68	68 – 66	Below 66
Content Points

Form & Writing –
Marketing Plan Form and Writing, including research effort and use of quality sources	Overall, graduate level writing is reflected throughout the marketing plan, including accurate spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. Marketing plan reflects appropriate graduate level research effort and high quality sources. Sources are well integrated into the analysis. All sources are identified and cited properly in the text and the reference list Citations are properly used (APA format). Marketing plan is exceptional with respect to format and professional presentation.	Overall, writing in marketing plan meets graduate standards. Fewer than 5 errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and/or sentence structure in marketing plan. Marketing plan reflects graduate level research effort. Some questionable sources may be used, but these sources are not relied upon exclusively. Sources are reasonably well integrated into the analysis, not merely quoted. All sources are identified and cited properly in the text and the reference list. Few errors in the proper use of citations (APA format). Marketing plan is well formatted and professionally presented.	Overall, writing in marketing plan does not meet graduate standards. Unacceptable number of errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure in marketing plan. Marketing plan reflects lower level graduate research effort. Some questionable sources were used and relied upon. Research is sparse and insufficient Sources are not integrated into the analysis, but are merely quoted. Citations and/or reference list are not properly used. (APA format). Marketing plan is not well formatted or professionally presented.	Overall, writing does not meet graduate standards. Unacceptable number of errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure in marketing plan. Marketing plan reflects very little evidence of any research or uses sources that are not reliable, credible and/or outdated. Any sources used were merely quoted. Citations and/or reference list are not properly used. (APA format). Marketing plan appears to have been hastily constructed.
Possible Points (20)	20 - 18	17 - 16	16 – 14	Below 14
Form & Writing Grade
TOTAL Grade

1