project

MKT 3321: Final Project Guidelines and Grading Guide

Overview Written Report: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies of a Product For your final project in this course, you will apply what you have learned about the four P’s to research the segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategy of a product and analyze how the marketing mix is incorporated into that product’s marketing strategy. The marketing mix should be designed such that it accomplishes the positioning strategy of a product within a targeted segment. Your mission for this project is to explain in a written report how the positioning strategy is accomplished using the marketing mix for a product of your choice from a well-known brand. The project includes a ​milestone​, which will be submitted halfway through the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. This milestone will be submitted in ​Module 4. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

● Analyze real-world consumer behaviors, applying principles of marketing to explain or predict behavior ● Evaluate the challenges of marketing in terms of diversity, ethical dilemmas, an ever-changing business environment, and the need to

integrate message strategies across various marketing tools

Prompt Specifically, your written report must include the following critical elements:

1. Identify the ​product​ you are researching (this can be a good or a service or both). You must choose an established national brand that will be familiar to most people.

2. Briefly explain the product’s history in terms of the ​marketing mix ​(the four P’s: product, price, promotion, and place [distribution]). Be sure to address how this particular brand has offered the product, at what prices, using what promotions (advertising, coupons, personal selling, etc.), and where (brick-and-mortar retail, internet, etc.). This will require you to conduct some research on the brand and the product so that you can fully understand how this brand has been doing in the past, and how it is doing in the present time.

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3. Identify what ​segmentation variable(s) ​the product is using. What positioning strategy does it have? This step requires doing research on

the product and, in some cases, making educated guesses about it. 4. Describe the ​industry​ that the brand operates within, and include the brand’s primary competitors. 5. Conduct a ​SWOT analysis​. 6. Describe the type of ​target audience ​(e.g., household consumers, business consumers) that the product attempts to reach. Who,

specifically, constitutes the primary target market? 7. Assess what ​objectives​ the brand seeks to accomplish by the product’s promotion. 8. Explain the company’s strategy using ​Porter’s Five Forces Model ​to analyze the company’s standing vis-à-vis the competition. 9. Use the ​BCG matrix​ to explain current and future strategies.

Milestone Milestone​: ​Final Project Status Report In Module 4, you will provide an update on the current status of your final project thus far in a Project Status Report. ​This Milestone is graded with the Milestone Rubric. Final Submission​: ​Written Report: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies of a Product In Module 7, you will submit your final written report. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing ​all ​of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This milestone will be graded using the Final Product Rubric.

Deliverable Milestones Milestone Deliverables Module

Due Grading

1 Final Project Status Report 4 Graded separately; Milestone Rubric Final Product: Written Report:

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Strategies of a Product

7 Graded separately; Final Product Rubric

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Rubric

Requirements of Submission:​ Your final written report should be ten pages in length, double-spaced, with a 12-point font, submitted as a Microsoft Word document. References can be cited using any citation format (APA, Chicago, Harvard, etc.). Instructor Feedback​: Students can find their feedback in the Grade Center.

Critical Elements

Exemplary ​(100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Product Identifies the product of an established national brand.

N/A Identifies a product of an unknown brand.

Does not identify a product.

5

Marketing Mix Demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of marketing through the explanation of the product’s history in terms of the marketing mix (the four P’s).

Explains the product’s history in terms of the marketing mix (the four P’s).

Explains the product’s history in terms of the marketing mix (the four P’s), but lacks in detail or clarity.

Does not explain the product’s history in terms of the marketing mix (the four P’s).

10

Segmentation Variables

Demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of marketing through the identification of what segmentation variable(s) the product is using.

Identifies what segmentation variable(s) the product is using.

Identifies what segmentation variable(s) the product is using, but lacks in detail or clarity.

Does not identify what segmentation variable(s) the product is using.

8

Industry Demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of marketing through the description of the industry that the brand operates within, and includes the brand’s primary competitors.

Describes the industry that the brand operates within, and includes the brand’s primary competitors.

Describes the industry that the brand operates within, and includes the brand’s primary competitors, but lacks in detail or clarity.

Does not describe the industry that the brand operates within, and include the brand’s primary competitors.

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3

SWOT Analysis

Demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of marketing through a SWOT analysis.

Conducts a SWOT analysis.

Conducts a SWOT analysis, but lacks in detail or clarity.

Does not conduct a SWOT analysis.

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Target Audience

Demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of marketing through the description of the type of target audience that the product attempts to reach.

Describes the type of target audience that the product attempts to reach.

Describes the type of target audience that the product attempts to reach, but lacks in detail or clarity.

Does not describe the type of target audience that the product attempts to reach.

12

Promotion Objectives

Demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of marketing through the assessment of what objectives the brand seeks to accomplish by its promotion.

Assesses what objectives the brand seeks to accomplish by its promotion.

Assesses what objectives the brand seeks to accomplish by its promotion, but lacks in detail or clarity.

Does not assess what objectives the brand seeks to accomplish by its promotion.

10

Porter’s Five Forces Model

Demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of marketing through the explanation of the company’s strategy using Porter’s Five Forces Model to analyze the company’s standing vis-à-vis the competition.

Explains the company’s strategy using Porter’s Five Forces Model to analyze the company’s standing vis-à-vis the competition.

Explains the company’s strategy using Porter’s Five Forces Model to analyze the company’s standing vis-à-vis the competition, but lacks in detail or clarity.

Does not explain the company’s strategy using Porter’s Five Forces Model.

12

BCG Matrix Demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of marketing through the use of the BCG matrix to explain current and future strategies.

Uses the BCG matrix to explain current and future strategies.

Uses the BCG matrix to explain current and future strategies, but lacks in detail or clarity.

Does not use the BCG matrix to explain current and future strategies.

15

Articulation of Response

Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy to read format.

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization.

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas.

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas.

5

Earned Total 100 %

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