Assignment 1: Part A: Your Marketing Plan

Due Week 4 and worth 400 points

From the start of this course, you have accessed the Interactive Marketing Plan tool and used the step-by-step guide to complete Part A of your marketing plan. You are required to submit a marketing plan for a hypothetical company. Your plan must include the company’s background information, as well as information collected from Steps 1- 4 of the Interactive Marketing Plan, located in the course shell.

Note: You may create and /or make all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of this assignment.

Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper in which you:

1. Construct a concise executive summary that provides the details of the outcomes of your marketing plan outcomes. The relevant outcomes include profitability, shareholder returns, and return on investment.
2. Conduct an environmental analysis that includes competitive, economic, political, legal, technological, and sociocultural forces.
3. Specify the primary and secondary target markets for your company.
4. Develop a branding strategy for your product / service that covers the brand name, logo, slogan, and at least one (1) brand extension.
5. Conduct a performance analysis with set benchmarks of 50% to 75% per annualized plan. Your analysis should include at least four (4) of the following metrics: tracking downloads of website content, Web site visitors, increases in market share, customer value, new product adoption rates, retention, rate of growth compared to competition and the market, margin, and customer engagement. Develop four (4) quantitative and (4) qualitative marketing objectives from your chosen metrics.
6. Conduct both a SWOT analysis and needs analysis for your product/service. Each analysis should examine four (4) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your company.
7. Develop a marketing strategy for your product / service and determine an appropriate timeframe for execution of the plan, i.e. 5, 10, 15 years. Provide a rationale for your timeframe for execution.
8. Develop a positioning statement which should include, at a minimum, i.e., a benefit, user, competitive, or innovative statement about your product / service. Provide a rationale for your timeframe for execution of your positioning statement.
9. Examine the relevant marketing science of customer behavior for your product / service.
10. Use at least four (4) academic resources as quantitative marketing research to determine the feasibility of your product/service. These resources should be industry specific and relate to your chosen product/service. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

1. Analyze the marketing framework including the concepts of the 5Cs, STP, and 4Ps.
2. Examine the marketing science of customer behavior and products in the marketing exchange process and create dynamic strategies for competing.
3. Evaluate the basis for market segmentation and approaches to segmentation.
4. Evaluate and target customer segments and positioning products within these segments.
5. Create an effective marketing plan.
6. Use technology and information resources to research issues in marketing management.
7. Write clearly and concisely about marketing management using proper writing mechanics.