marketing strategy

TOP TEN TIPS TO PRODUCE A GREAT REPORT Prof. Harseerat Kaur

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• Cover page to the report is like the best dress to you.

• Table of Content explaining what your report includes. 1. Identify correctly your document

➢ Course ID and Student Number not name. ➢ ➢ Title of report ➢ Date

2. Use the same format, size and type of letters.

3. Insert page numbers on every page.

4. Careful how you break pages, so titles of next paragraph for example does not stay in previous page

5. Use Harvard style and recommendations

6. When possible, insert also:

➢ Cover page ➢ Index ➢ Executive Summary ➢ Conclusion ➢ Bibliography used

7. Use same spacing among paragraphs.

Small paragraphs only.

8. Number the paragraphs according to the Index

9. Use graphs and images, if possible, to support your ideas

10. Use bold letters, Italics and/or underlining for easier reading

11. Justify the text (suggestion) and give examples of how this applied to your company and find pictures to support your evidence.

12. Interrelate different concepts (VERY IMPORTANT!)

13. Always revise the final text to avoid misspellings.

14. A good text, if brief, it is two times as good…

15. Use bullet points to make the reading more understandable.

TOP TEN TIPS TO PRODUCE A GREAT REPORT Prof. Harseerat Kaur

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v Templates.

TOP TEN TIPS TO PRODUCE A GREAT REPORT Prof. Harseerat Kaur

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What is the task?

Description of the assessment

Assessment purpose is to critically analyse the past and present marketing strategy as per Learning outcome one to ‘critically evaluate marketing strategy from the perspective of a market led and market focused view’.

Your document will be marked against:

1. An executive summary (5 marks = 1 A4) 2. The rationale behind choosing the organization (5 marks = 150 words) 3. PAST - What is the organization’s history/heritage? Why was this business created? Original purpose and values? What

consumer needs did it originally fulfil? (marks = 200 words) 4. PRESENT PROBLEM - Where is the organization now? What is happening around the organization? How efficiently and

effectively are they currently operating? (35 marks = 550 words) 5. PLAYERS - Who is the competition? What’s going on with them? How have they been affected? How has the competitive

landscape changed? What are they doing about it? (25 marks = 300 words) 6. A summary consisting of the key conclusions (5 marks = 150 words) 7. The presentation and Harvard referencing of the document (10 marks)

The structure of your report:

➢ Cover page: It is like the best dress you have.

➢ Table of Contents: Explaining what your report includes:

• Executive summary • Introduction and rationale behind choosing YOUR COMPANY

Past:

• The company’s heritage: Brand Heritage Model

Present:

Macro environment:

• PEST

Microenvironment:

• MOST analysis or Porters Generic Strategies

Micro+ Macro= Marketing Environment Analysis

• SWOT analysis of the marketing environment: • TOWS matrix

Players:

Competitors Identification

• Porters Five Forces for identifying WHO are the main sources of competition in your industry. What does the Market look like and who are the players which shape competition?

TOP TEN TIPS TO PRODUCE A GREAT REPORT Prof. Harseerat Kaur

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Porter’s model of competitive industry structure: General overview no need to apply to specific competitor. Use the guide below to answer what information is needed from your side to explain:

⊹ New entrants – Easy or difficulty to enter an industry

⊹ Substitutes – Easy or difficult to replace our product

⊹ Suppliers – Many or only few suppliers

⊹ Customers – Little or many choices for customers

⊹ Competitive rivalry – Little or intense competition.

Competitive rivalry

New entrants

Supplier Customers

Substitutes

TOP TEN TIPS TO PRODUCE A GREAT REPORT Prof. Harseerat Kaur

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• Define Direct, Indirect and Potential customers using Market Commonality or Resource commonality matrix. At least 2 for each for identification.

• WHO is your existing competitor, new and substitute?

How do a competitor analysis?

⊹ VITAL elements of their marketing mix – 4Ps (McCarthy 1960) or 7Ps (Booms and Bitner 1981) or 4CS (Lauterborn 1990)

⊹ Choose 1 model and apply as follows:

1. Analysis of the Players

2. Have you introduced the section?

3. Discussed the importance of this section?

4. Have you outlined your chosen frameworks? LIKE 4P´S OR 7p´S OR 4 c´S

5. Have you applied the frameworks?

6. Drawn conclusions,

7. Critique the frameworks: LIMITATIONS IF ANY. For example, what do you find not applying?

4ps model Competitor 1 Competitor 2 Competitor 3 Competitor 4 ⊹ PRODUCT Bullet Points ⊹ PRICE ⊹ PLACE ⊹ PROMOTION

ensi vity nterna

Level of ompetitive

ivalry

hreat of ew

ntrants

uyer ower

hreat of u stitutes

upplier ower

ow long has the organisation s market een around

s it a market that is currently growing ow easy is it for a new organisation to

start trading ould igger corporations e interested

in oining the market through an ac uisition

an customers shop around for the est price

s it easy for the organisation to differentiate itself on something other than price

ow loyal are customers generally

an customers uy alternative products which will allow them to achieve the same outcome

s the current technology a out to e superseded y something significantly different

ould the organisation also potentially offer these alternatives

ow many total competitors are there in the organisation s market

as this num er of competitors increased or decreased in the last months

ho are the organisation s main competitors

hat is the atmosphere of the market e.g. rice attles c uisitions ontentment.

Adapted from orter 1

o suppliers have the power to change prices up or down easily

oes the organisation have a range of suppliers so it can shop around

s the supplier power relatively the same for all products and services the organisation uys or are there certain e ceptions

L

TOP TEN TIPS TO PRODUCE A GREAT REPORT Prof. Harseerat Kaur

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• Customer Persona or profile of your 2 direct competitors, ideally if 4ps model is used then customer profile of competitors is a must.

➢ Use Canva templates in this task and be creative. ➢ The buyer persona is an integral part of marketing strategies and their success. A customer profile is a document that

contains key information about your ideal customer. Free and customizable user persona templates

• A summary consisting of the key conclusions (5 marks = 150 words) • The presentation and Harvard referencing of the document (10 marks) • All your references should be in alphabetical order. At least minimum 20 references out of them 5 or 8 should be academic. • Reference the images. • Create two sections in referencing one for all the other references the other one only for images. • Do in text citation where needed.

TOP TEN TIPS TO PRODUCE A GREAT REPORT Prof. Harseerat Kaur

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Assignment Rubrics:

90-100% 80-89% 70-79% 60-69% 50-59% 40-49% Under 40%

Exceptional, as meets the brief and goes the extra mile.

Exceptional amount of research by finding additional sources to reference the arguments.

Exceptional depth of analysis by relentlessly focusing on ‘why’, which is called critical evaluation.

Exceptional presentation visually, in attention to detail and an engaging writing style

Very high quality, as it meets the brief brilliantly.

Very high- quality research by using all suggested references

Very high - quality analysis but which mostly focuses on ‘why’ apart from one or two places

Presented to a very high quality visually, minor gaps of attention to detail, minor lapse of energy in writing style

High quality, as meets the brief apart from minor elements missing.

High-quality research by using most suggested references

High quality in describing, mostly analyses well but the focus on ‘why’ lacks consistency in a few places

Presented to a high quality visually, with some gaps of attention to detail and consistent but monotonous writing style

Very good as meets most of the brief but some elements lack detail.

Very good research by using many suggested references with some missed out

Very good in describing, mostly descriptive and focused on ‘what’ with limited focus om ‘why’

Very good presentation visually, with inconsistent attention to detail and descriptive writing style

Good, as is inconsistent in meeting the brief with some elements completely not addressed

Good research by using only some suggested references

Good in describing, mostly descriptive and focused on ‘what’

Good presentation visually, with lack of attention to detail and a very basic writing style

Satisfactory, as it does not meet most elements of the brief

Fail, as it completely fails to meet the brief

TOP TEN TIPS TO PRODUCE A GREAT REPORT Prof. Harseerat Kaur

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Exceptional Very high quality

High quality Very good Good Satisfactory Fail

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