PROJECT PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

PROJECT PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

MARKETING PLAN

Executive Summary

1. Business Name

What is the name of your business?
Hint:       When you think of the name of your business, make sure that it captures the spirit of the business you’re creating.

1. Mission Statement

Provide a brief mission statement for your business
Hint:       Be is market/consumer oriented, not product oriented

III. Current Situation – SWOT

1. Internal Environment

Hint:     Describe the components of the internal environment: resources (human, physical, financial, knowledge/expertise, etc.)

2. External Environment

Hint:       Describe/analyze (only) the components of the external environment that you consider will affect your marketing decision:

• customers
• competition
• suppliers
• marketing intermediaries (advertising agencies, marketing research companies, mass media)
• demographic environment
• economic environment
• technological environment
• natural environment
• political-legal environment
• socio-cultural environment

1. Marketing Objectives

Consider the objectives for the first year.
Hint:       Be as specific and realistic as possible with the goals you set. You can have quantitative and qualitative objectives. For example, if you plan on selling a service, how many customers do you want by the end of the first year and how much do you want each customer to spend? If you plan on selling a good, how many do you hope to sell?

1. Marketing Strategies
2. Choosing your target
3. Segmentation
   • what variables of segmentation will you use to segment your market

1. Targeting

• what targeting strategy do you choose? Undifferentiated, differentiated, concentrated, or local/individual targeting strategy

1. Differentiation

How will you make your product stand out in the crowd? What is you competitive advantage?
Hint:       There are many ways to stand out in the crowd, such as a unique product, outstanding service, or a great location. What makes your “great idea” special? Does it fill an unmet need in the marketplace? How will you differentiate your product to make sure that it succeeds?

1. Positioning

How will you position your product in your consumers’ minds? What is your promise to them?

                                   This part you can use to write the communication message later under promotion.

2. Marketing Mix(one for each target)
3. Product Features and Benefits

Describe the features and benefits of your product or service.
Hint:       A product is a bundle of attributes—features and benefits. What features does your product have—what does it look like and what does it do? How will your product benefit the buyer?

1. Pricing

What pricing strategy will you choose for your product, and what are the reasons for this strategy?

Hint: Since your business is new, so is the product. Therefore, you probably want to choose between price skimming and penetration pricing, or maybe a price based on competition. Which will you choose and why?

1. Place (Distribution) Issues

Where will customers find your product or service? What issues of the distribution mix should you consider?

Hint: What distribution strategy will you choose? Intensive, selective, exclusive? Why? If you sell the product directly to the consumers, what types of retail stores will sell your product? If your product will be sold to another business, which channel of distribution will you use? If you offer a service ambience, minimizing waiting time, parking, scheduling are distribution issues you should explain.

1. Promotion

What promotion mix will you choose for your new product/business. Why?

Hint: Marketers use any combination of advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing, internet marketing. You may use a specific communication media, vehicle, to carry your message to potential customers. When you build the promotion mix keep in mind the cost, and the budget you will allocate for this.

How and what will you communicate to your target? What is the message? What is your IMC? What combination of promotion tools will you use?

advertising

• media chosen, vehicle
• frequency
• budget

Public relations

• tools you choose (see chapter 12)

sales promotions

• be specific about any tool that you decide to use, like for coupons decide the value, expiration date, etc….
• how will you distribute the coupons
• who is your target for sales promotion? Customers? Businesses? Your own sales force?

personal selling

• will you hire and sales people? how many? what is their role?

direct marketing

• enumerate any of the tools you decide to use (see chapter 14)

online marketing

• will you choose to do online marketing? what specific tool?
• will you have a marketing website? or a regular one? (see chapter 14)

1. Action Programs

Hint: enumerate all the actions that need to be prformed for the year in order to achieve the objectives.

Executive Summary

Now, create an executive summary for your marketing plan. The executive summary should be brief—no more than two pages long—and should cover the major points of the plan.

Hint: At this point, you’ve already answered all of these questions, so what you need to do here is put the ideas together into a “snapshot” format. The executive summary is really a sales pitch—it’s the investor’s first impression of your idea. Therefore, as with all parts of the plan, write in a clear and professional way.

Once you have written the executive summary, cut and paste it so that it falls at the beginning of your business plan, as the very first element.