Marketing Management & Strategy Spring 2011

Activity: Final Project Total Marks: 20 Submission Date: TBA Faculty: Usman Khan Target Audience: Graduate Project Lever: Advance

Project Outline: The Project Select a Product/ service of your own choice and develop a marketing plan for one year as per the outline give below. Guidelines y y y y y Product/ service selected for the job must be approved by the instructor. Names of the product/ service must be submitted for instructor s approval The marketing plan should be realistic keeping in view strength (including resources) and weaknesses of the organization. It should also be achievable in the face of competitive and environmental factors. The plan should be internally consistent i.e. all marketing activities and elements of the marketing mix must contribute to the achievement of marketing goals and must support and intended and unified differentiation and positioning strategy. A detailed action plan must be developed for all key strategies.

Outline of the Marketing Plan 1. Executive Summary: y A brief Summary of the main goals and recommendations of the plan for management review. 2. Table of contents 3. Situation Analysis y Brief History of organization and selected brand. y Environmental Scanning: Pest Analysis y Market Analysis  How large is the market for the product in question?  Is it growing, shrinking, or static?  What is the market of the product?  What are the major factors influence the level of the demand of the product?  Can the market be broken down in to segments? If so what are the most useful bases foe segmentation?

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 At what stage in the product life cycle is the market?  Is demand consistent over time or does it fluctuates in response to random or cyclical factors? y Competitive Analysis  Who are the competitive serving the market?  What are their strength and weakness?  What is the basis of competition? (Price, quality, economy, services. Delivery, real of perceived differentiation, etc.)  How long has each competitive been active in the market?  Where is the competition serving in this market?  Where is the completion vulnerable?  What is the current and projected market share of the competitors?  Analyze the strength of the current and potential competition through Porter s five forces model. y SWOT Analysis  Strength & Weaknesses: Organization History, Value Chain Analysis, SWOT checklist.  Opportunities & Threats: PEST Analysis, Market Analysis, Competitor analysis. Analyze Buyer Behavior y Who initiates the buying process? y What events or factors stimulate the need to purchase? y What criteria are used to evaluate alternative products? y What criteria are most important and will and will they change over time? y Who make the final buying decision? y Who implements the actual purchase transaction? y Who uses the product once the purchase has been made? y How the product is used, evaluated and discarded? Establish Marketing Goals to be met? (Goals are usually set in terms of sales, revenue, profits, market share, geographical coverage, new product(s) introduction, product & brand image, etc.) Review of Market Segmentation Strategy y What is the current strategy, aggregation or segmentation? y What is the segmentation strategy of competitors? y Is the basis for market segmentation appropriate? y Can we identify new segment that can be served? y Can significant advantages be gained by combining or subdividing market segments? Review of Differentiation & Position Strategy y What is the current differentiation & positioning Strategy? y What is the differentiation and positioning strategy of competitors? y Is our positioning based upon strong, favorable and unique association? y Do we need to change our differentiation & positioning strategy? Product Strategy

Are the current product features suitable for achieving the desired differentiation & positioning? What are product strategy of competitors in terms of product & service quality, features, sizes, variants, packaging, and new product development? y Should new product features be developed or new product variants introduced into the market? y If new product variants are to be introduced, should new product variants be targeted to new segments? y Do we need to improve or redesign the product or new product and / or its packaging? y New product(s)development and launch plan y How can we improve the quality of services offered to the customer (including reducing lead times, improving product availability, strengthening warranty and improving the quality of after sale services, etc.)? 9. Pricing Strategy y What is the pricing objective (survival, maximize profits, maximize revenue, maximize sales growth etc.)? y List price, price discounts and allowances y What is the pricing strategy of competitors : list price, price discounts, allowance, dealers margins, etc? y If any price increase is necessary, what should be the timing, method and rate of increase? y Does pricing strategy support intended positioning? y Margins to dealers, wholesalers and retailers 10. Distribution Strategy y What are the current distribution channels? y What are distribution strategies of competitors : number of channels used, channel design, terms with dealers/ distributer, future distribution plans, etc. y Should we develop new distribution channels to expand the market or reach new segments selected above? y What are the current terms with dealers/ distribution? Do we need to change existing terms in order to archive our marketing objectives? y Are the current and intended distribution channels compatible with the positioning strategy? 11. Communication Strategy y Establish communication objective (awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, purchase, etc.) y What are the communication strategies of competitors: channels used, message conveyed, purchase, etc.? y What message do we want to convey to the target audience? y What is the suitable promotional mix y Plan major advertising and promotional activities including objectives including objectives, timing and venue of each activity. y Develop detailed advertising plan including media selection, schedule and frequency of ads. y Develop communication budget y y

12. Sales Forecasts y Detailed sales forecasts including quarterly and monthly sales, sales of each product variants, area wise sales, etc. y Comparison of sales forecasts with previous year s sales.

Communication the Plan

1. Each group which is composed of 6 students at most is required to hold a 20----35 minutes presentation in an open forum. A viva voce session may also be announced. 2. Last date to submit written reports of the project is (TBD) which is to be followed strictly. 3. Discuss your brand with your supervisor and get registered. 4. Any copied project will be marked F .

Note: please remember it is a group project where everyone should know each and everything about the project being done.