Marketing Plan Assignment
Summer II 2018
As summarized in your syllabus, you will prepare a “Marketing Plan” for marketing a new
product or service in Rio Grande Valley. You should choose a product, not a brand (do not
prepare a project that talks about an existing brand). This means that, for example, you can
choose “ice cream,” but you cannot choose “Ben & Jerry’s,” or you can choose a “restaurant,”
but you cannot choose “Olive Garden.” You will be creating a marketing plan for your own
brand from scratch! Do not copy any other brand’s mission statement, goals, objectives, etc.
You will submit the assignment online at the end of the semester (August 14). Please, do not
wait the last minute to work on it. If you do so, your assignment will not be insightful. This is a
comprehensive project covering all the materials you learn throughout the semester. Your
marketing plan will follow the exact structure (and content) outlined below. This outline is
parallel to the topics we will cover on Discussion Board as we progress throughout the
semester, so each week you will learn something new to apply to and progress with your
marketing plan. You can also see the Marketing Plan Rubric for assessment criteria.
OUTLINE
? Introduction
o You should state why you have chosen to market certain product or service in
RGV. Explain in half a page what motivates you?
? Mission Statement
o Your mission statement should have a market orientation, stating not only what
business you are in, but also its benefits for consumers, talking about the
competitive sphere and the values of the company. Please check the guidelines
provided in power point slides (Chapter 2) about writing a good mission
statement.
? Marketing Objectives
o Your objectives must be clear, specific, and aligned with the business mission (like
saying “we will open two more stores by the end of 2019”). You should explain
how you decided about these objectives. What makes you think that you can
achieve them?
? Marketing Environment Analysis
o Detailed Analysis of the Marketing Environment (MICRO and MACRO) is the most
crucial part of your Marketing Plan since you will base all your strategies
(Marketing strategy, STP strategies, and 4 P Strategies) on this analysis, so this
part must be very much detailed under each sub-section (suppliers, competitors,
consumers, etc. in the micro environment and demographic, political, economic,
etc. factors in the macro environment), explaining how each factor will affect
your Marketing Plan. For example, it is not enough if you only talk in general
about your competitors, instead you must mention their names and talk about their strengths and weaknesses, collect information from their websites. Same
goes for suppliers/intermediaries, consumers etc.
o You must talk about all the micro and all the macro factors you will learn in class
and already mentioned in power point slides. Do not omit some.
o You must provide all supporting citations/references here (competitor websites,
government statistics, etc.).
? SWOT Analysis
o You can conduct a realistic SWOT analysis only after your marketing environment
analysis. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal to the company versus
Opportunities and Threats are external factors. When you talk about S and W,
you must talk in relation to your competitors. For example, when you have an
ability that others do not have, this may be a strength. In case you need, there is
more information about SWOT in your power point slides and the textbook.
? Competitive Strategy (Differentiation, low cost, or niching – you cannot choose all)
o For the Marketing Strategy, I recommend that you to choose one. It is often very
challenging to be a low-cost provider and have a uniqueness (that no other
competitor has) at the same time. Which marketing strategy will your company
adopt? Why? Explain in detail.
? Market segmentation, Targeting and Positioning strategies
o You need a detailed section about Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
Strategies (each under separate sub-title). Please, do not simply say “the
company is targeting this type of customers.” Here, I expect you to explain in
detail the segmentation criteria (demographic, psychographic, behavioral,
and/or geographic, etc.), targeting strategy (multisegment, mass marketing, or
niching), and positioning strategy you choose. You will learn more about these in
class.
? Marketing Mix Strategies:
o For the Marketing Mix, do not simply say what product, what price, which
channels, and what kind of communication tools you choose, but explain “why?”
in detail. In the Marketing Mix section (as well as others), I expect you to apply
the things you learn in class. Your Marketing Mix section will evolve much better
as we will talk about each P after mid-semester.
o For Product, do not forget to talk about features/benefits, new product
development, product/service strategy and competitive positioning.
o For Price, do not forget to describe and justify your pricing strategy. Why do you
choose one strategy and not the others? The pricing strategy must be realistic. It
is not enough to say, “we will charge this price.”
o For Place (Distribution) strategy, justify the choice of channel members. Include
details about channel partnerships and relationships.
o For Promotion (Communication), please provide the promotional objectives and
the justification behind the use of the various promotional tools (advertising, PR,
sales people, promotion, direct marketing, social media, etc.). The promotional
objectives and promotional tools must be integrated and consistent with each
other. Notes:
1. Remember that the written report of your project is a business document. Be precise,
concise and to the point. The information should be clear and specific. It must be
written in Font: Times New Roman (or Calibri): 12 pt. and 1,5 spaces. I expect no
discernible errors with spelling. Exceptional grammatical clarity is a must.
2. You must use citations/references both in the body of the paper and list them at the
end of the document. Falsifying data, cheating, and copying other’s work are serious
breaches of ethics.
Your Marketing Plan Assignment report is due on August 14, 2018!
