MRKT306 Principles of Marketing
Choose a company to analyze the marketing mix. It can be a local company or a national company. If you’re thinking of starting your own business or you know someone who is, you’re welcome to do this project on that idea, but please see me about it first. You'll be required to submit the first part of this plan in Week 1, so start thinking about this right away.
A good term paper involves such factors as creativity, logical rigor, personal insights, substantiated opinions, critical analysis, and clarity of presentation. The outline provided will help you to organize your paper in a logical manner and will guide you through a complete evaluation of an organization's marketing system. This is a marketing plan and a research paper and should be written as such. A bibliography must be included. APA format is preferred. If you are unsure how to cite sources, there are several helpful links on writing styles located on the Library’s web page. You should have at least five sources cited in your paper.
This marketing plan outline differs from the one on page 318 in your book because this is not only a marketing plan but also an assessment of what you know about the marketing concepts. This marketing plan will have more depth than a typical marketing plan.
Notice that the Executive Summary is listed first in the outline, but you will write this last (Part 6). The Executive Summary is a summary of what your whole plan is about, so you really can’t right it until the end. You will be asked to submit parts of your plan as we go through the term, and you will be awarded assignment points for it. The whole project will be graded in its entirety at the end of the term as your Final Project. Please use your instructor's feedback during the term to improve your paper.
Please follow this outline, but do not repeat every question in your paper. The questions are here to guide you - to get you thinking about what to write. Use paragraph headings, however, to capture the content of each section.
Papers are due _____. Late papers will not be accepted.
Marketing Plan Outline
Part 6:
1. Executive Summary (due ___)
Give a brief summary of what your marketing plan is all about. (Write last, but put first.) If you do not know how to write an executive summary, look for advice in the book or online. There are many websites out there to guide you in addition to information on the class website.
Part 1:
1. Company Description
a. Legal name and form (sole proprietorship? corporation?)
b. History
c. Company’s mission
d. Management (Build credibility. What is their expertise/background?)
e. Location
f. Development stage (introduction, growth, maturity, or decline?)
g. Products or services offered
Part 2 - The Environment
b. Industry Analysis
a. What is the size of the industry and the growth trends?
b. Explain how your product is vulnerable to particular environmental factors: (address each one):
i. technology ii. sociocultural iii. economic iv. political/legal
c. Competitor Analysis
a. Who is the competition and what are they doing? Be sure to cover all 4 Ps.
b. What differentiates your company from the competition?
Part 3 - Consumer Market
1. Who is your Target Market? (The more detail you can come up with, the better your mix will be!) Describe the following: a. Demographics (age, sex, income, education, family life cycle, religion, etc.)
b. Geographics (what area do you serve?)
c. Psychographics (attitudes, interest, beliefs, lifestyle, behaviors)
2. Consumer Purchase Process
a. What process do your customers go through in deciding to purchase your product?
b. Is purchase an impulse decision or does it takes months to make a commitment?
c. How do consumers gather information? What sources do they use? How are they influenced?
d. How do they buy? (phone, in person, with credit card?)
3. Nature of Relationship with Customers
a. Is