Description

Principles of Marketing Group Marketing Plan Project

 

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY TO OBTAIN A FULL PICTURE OF THIS PROJECT

Spring 2019

Due Monday,

300 points total

 

Paper: Uploaded to eLearning AND hard copy beginning of class   (110/300 points)

Presentations:  (80/300 points)

Peer Evaluations: (60/300 points)

Two Checkpoints: I (30/300 points)

Proposal: Uploaded to eLearning AND hard copy beginning of class (20/300 pts)

 

 

1. Background

You have been tasked with: joining a group of peers, creating a new offering (manufactured good, service or idea);  writing a completely original marketing plan for it; succinctly and effectively presenting it to the class; and – lastly – evaluating your group members this effort across four dimensions in as fair and as objective a manner as possible.

 

1. Objectives

The learning objectives of the marketing plan assignment include the following: to apply segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies, recommend reasonable 4 P (product, place/distribution, promotions and pricing) strategies, as well as consider the ethical implications of introducing a new product or service. By doing so, you will understand the basic steps in developing a marketing plan which may be used in future marketing and business courses and competitions as well as throughout your business career.

III. Skills

This project affords you the ability to develop the following skills essential to success in the field of marketing and business.

• Understand basic marketing terminology and methods (like using environmental scanning and conducting marketing research) to make better 4P recommendations
• Apply fundamental marketing knowledge and tools to problem solving (i.e. addressing a consumer need) while considering the ethical implications of doing so
• Synthesize key textbook information by applying concepts from key chapters like “Scanning the Marketing Environment”, “Ethical and Social Responsibility for Sustainable Marketing”, “Understanding Consumer Behavior”, “Marketing Research”, “Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning”, “Developing New Products and Services” and “Arriving at the Final Price”
• Craft a marketing plan for a completely new product

 

 

1. Requirements

 

1. Participation in a group of six students.

 

1. One-Page Proposal (20/300 points)

• Briefly (one-page limit) describe your group’s new offering (manufactured good, service or idea/concept) to be brought to market. If at all possible, provide a sketch or computer rendering.  Include your rationale, i.e. what problem does it solve and what is/are its point(s) of difference?  In order to answer those questions, you will also need to describe your target market. Please be specific; that is, use demographic descriptors.
• DUE Wednesday, 2/13, both uploaded to eLearning AND in hard copy at the beginning of class.

 

1. Written Marketing Plan (110/300 points)

• Cover Page: include student names — please alphabetize
• Table of Contents: tabs are optional, but nice touch
• Executive Summary: Succinctly – in one page – summarize your entire plan promotionally but professionally. It often is helpful to write this section last.
• Environmental Scan: Perform an environmental scan (CREST analysis) and discuss the basis of your product recommendation. Is the market opportunity or unmet need clear?
• Market Research: Conduct two types of research, one qualitative and one quantitative. For example, conduct qualitative marketing research like a focus group to uncover unmet needs and/or opportunities. Conduct quantitative marketing research like a survey to confirm theories or tweak marketing plan details. Notes: For surveys, you can access Qualtrics from the UTDallas.edu webpage search bar. Survey Monkey offers free basic membership (limited functionality) with a 10-question limit.

Discuss what you learned from your research efforts and how it will affect your marketing efforts         moving forward.  Include the data in Appendix.

• “STP” (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning): Describe the reasoning behind your segmentation decision.  What variables did you use? Who are you targeting, specifically, and why? How is your product positioned and how/why is it different from your competitors?
• Marketing Program Strategy and Tactics:

1. Product: Describe and sketch your new product or service. What is the unique value proposition? Are features and benefits clearly distinct? Make sure you are selling benefits, not features.
2. Price: Provide a preliminary pricing strategy. Rely on the textbook’s approximate pricing strategy approaches for guidance. What are the rough cost-of-goods and retail price for your product? What are your sales/revenue or profit goals for Year 1 and how many units do you need to sell to meet those goals? How many units do you need to sell to break even? How long do you estimate it will take you to break even?  (You will have to make certain assumptions to answer these questions.  Be sure to: 1. make realistic assumptions; 2. make those assumptions clear.)
3. Promotion: Describe your promotional strategy and plan.  Summarize how you will use the various elements of the promotional mix (advertising, sales promotion, social media promotion, merchandising, public relations, etc.) to promote your product.
4. Place: Discuss the channel(s) of distribution used for distributing your product. Also, include any important logistical considerations associated with distributing your product. Will you need to rely on key partners?

**Include in this section at least 2-3 quantitative and time-specific marketing objectives.  For example, “Generate _% awareness of our new product among (fill in your target marketing), leading to

$    in sales in Year 1.”

(Other examples in Appendix A.)

• Implementation and Control Plan: Use a GANTT chart to show what should happen when, and who is responsible for what tasks. Also, how will you judge your plan’s success?  At what intervals will you judge performance against plan? What actions will you take if there is a gap?
• Appendix: Include ALL sources here. Use footnotes in written plan and place reference page here. Do NOT just list all references at the end of your paper and assume all is fine. You must show where and how you used those references; hence, the footnotes.  Please use the footnoting style shown in Appendix A marketing plan. You MUST attribute all ideas, facts, figures, etc. which are not your own to the source from where they came or it is considered plagiarism, i.e. academic dishonesty.

 

1. Presentation (80/300 points)

• 10 minutes maximum, allowing for Q&A.
• Your group decides how to present the plan (PPT, prezi, etc.).
• I suggest using a “topline” approach; that is, creating slides that show only the main points your audience must understand. Small, hard-to-see graphics, charts, or spreadsheets are not effective.  Remember, the idea is to “sell” the audience on your plan in a professional, yet promotional manner.
• Groups will be chosen randomly to present on either 12/3 or 12/5.
• Grading points breakdown:
  • 35: synthesis of written plan content into “topline” points for presentation
  • 20: group member participation and Q&A performance
  • 15: aesthetics
  • 10: promotional, yet professional feel

 

1. Peer Evaluations (60/300 points)

Group members will evaluate each other at end of semester on:

• Meeting attendance
• Follow through/delivery
• Leadership
• Overall contribution to the group

 

I reserve the right to question or correct any peer evaluations that appear to be biased or questionable.

Important: during your first meeting after receiving these instructions, each group must create – and each member must sign – a contract which outlines what penalties the group will enforce in what circumstances. For example, if a member misses a meeting without notice, will there be any repercussions? What about is he/she doesn’t turn in their part of the paper on time? Or by April 29^th? Write what you believe to be a fair contract and have all members sign. That way, no one will feel blindsided if/when something like that arises. (Hopefully it won’t.)

 

1. Two Checkpoints (30/300 points)

• To encourage each group member to pull his/her weight, two class periods this semester are set aside as attendance-mandatory group project checkpoints. (See Academic Calendar for dates.)
• The purpose of these instructor/group meetings is to identify group members who are falling behind and/or failing to uphold their obligations to the group.
• Each student will show the work that he/she has agreed to complete, and progress made toward that goal.
• Students will earn full points for attending class and showing their agreed-upon goals and progress at each of the two sessions attended. Students either not attending or failing to show goals or work may lose individual project points.

1. Grading Criteria

Projects will be evaluated using criteria reflective of the nature of the assignment already described, which also may include:

• Effectively applying class and text marketing concepts to the entire project
• Presenting a new offering, marketing ideas and financial projections which are both within the realm of business possibility and show ethical considerations
• Writing an organized, detailed plan, utilizing college-level writing and GSP, while taking the environmental scanning and research elements into account
• Utilizing the outline above as a guideline in written plan creation
• Synthesizing written plan information to create a presentation that both interests and engages the audience

 

 

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