During this semester students will be working in teams (3 – 4 people) to develop a marketing plan for a product or service of one of the following icon Australian brands:
Panadol® – GlaxoSmithKline Australia
Redheads matches – Redheads Australia
Winfield – British American Tobacco Australia
Food For Cats – WHISKAS®
Cereals – UNCLE TOBYS
Milk – Dairy Farmers
Car insurance – AAMI
Tourism – Ayers Rock Resort
Boots – UGG Australia
As you can see it is a specific product or service rather than a company, as the company may have several products each requiring individual plans. It is product or service that is easy to research, one that has been written about regularly in marketing magazines or one that students have access to the information via a personal contact. No direct contact is allowed with organisations unless students have a prior personal or professional relationship. All research should otherwise be desk research, observation and educated guesses.
You will be developing the plan in two separate stages – Assignment 1 and Assignment 2. Assignment 1 will be marked promptly and returned with feedback so that you can revise and resubmit it as part of Assignment 2- the completed marketing plan.
assignment 1
Assignment 1 concentrates on:
1. Defining the firm’s mission and overall objectives.
Any individual product or service must be developed in line with the firms overall mission and objectives. All Body Shop products, for instance, must be environmentally friendly, all 3M products reflect the firms commitment to leading edge technology and the Foxtel vs Optus Vision battle depicts these firms’ high risk for high reward business vision.
By including the firm’s mission and overall objectives at the start of the planning process we are establishing the framework within which our product will operate in. We are also ensuring that our product will play its part in assisting the firm achieve its overall objectives.
2. The Situation Analysis
The purpose of the Situation Analysis is to describe and analyse the firms current position in the market place. The Situation Analysis attempts to answer the question “where are we now?” by taking a ‘snapshot’ of the current situation and explaining not only what is happening in this marketplace but why, who and what are the key players, forces and dynamics that drive it.
The Situation Analysis also helps to identify key leverage points or significant areas of strength that cam be used to improve the products market position. The situation analysis is carried out in three stages:
External Analysis analysis of variables outside the firms control
Internal Analysis analysis of variables within the firms control
SWOT Analysis identifies the key issues affecting your product’s / firm’s performance
See the detailed Assignment 1 Framework for more details.
assignment 2
Assignment 2 concentrates on the planning phase of the marketing cycle. It addresses:
1. Where do we want to be?
This question is answered by
- developing the product objectives (for market share, profitability and so on),
- defining our Target Market (who is this plan/ product aimed at)
- III. specifying our Desired Product Positioning (what does this product stand for in the consumers mind).
2. How will we get there?
In this phase of the plan, we develop the strategies and action plans to ensure we achieve our objectives. These strategies and action plans revolve around the 4p’s (or 7p’s for a service).
We also specify a control program to track and monitor our performance and this includes marketing research projects and budget controls.
See the detailed Assignment 2 Framework for more details.
the marketing plan format
This is a flow chart of the Marketing Plan Format highlighting the various components of a marketing plan.
company mission and objectives
situation analysis
Where are Assignment One
we now?
external internal
analysis analysis
SWOT
analysis
product objectives
Where do we
want to go?
target market definition
desired product positioning
product strategies Assignment Two
How will we
get there? action program
control program
major assignment
marketing plan framework
assignment 1: situation analysis
Due date: Week 8
Hand in to your tutor at the tutorial
2,000 words approximately (excluding appendices).
This assignment is to be typed and presented in the report format given below. You are expected to reference all information gained from outside sources.
____________________________________________________________________
Students are to select a product (goods or service), and with appropriate approval from their tutor prepare a Situation Analysis of the environment which their product operates in.
As a guide you should include the following:
1. Company Mission.
The overall guiding vision of the company, or what this company stands for.
2. Company Objectives.
Corporate objectives to be achieved over the next 12 months. (These are different to product objectives – refer to the Assignment description if you are still unsure what is required).
These objectives help to set the scene that your product operates within. They will show whether the company is looking to grow or consolidate, be innovative and take risks or be reactive and conservative in its approach.
3. Market overview.
Describe and analyse the market place and the trends and forces operating within it. Include analysis such as:
- Definition of the market or category
You need to very clearly define and describe the market your product operates in. The broader the definition of your market the more competitors there are likely to be and the narrower the definition the less scope there is for market segmentation and finding new users for your product.
Ask yourself whether you are analysing the ‘confectionary market’ or only the Chocolate Bar’ category. If you are concentrating on the Chocolate Bar category , it is very worthwhile to show where it fits in to the overall market. You can do this by describing the confectionary market and defining the various product categories that fit into it, such as, chocolate bars, boxed chocolates, children’s treats (Kinder Surprise), confectionary bags and so on. You could then go on to describe what proportion of the confectionary market it represents and
compare the growth trends of the total market and this particular category. For instance, it would be significant to know that the chocolate bar market represents 25% of the confectionary market and although the confectionary is stagnant, Chocolate Bars are still growing at 7-8% per annum. (You should also specify the types of products included in your definition of the market/ category).
- Market Size
What is the size of the market? Quantify the size of the market in volume (000’s cases/ kilos) and/ or value ($000) terms.
- Market Potential
Is this a growth market? Can you estimate next years growth rate? Is this an attractive market to be in? What stage of the life cycle is this market in?
- Market Structure
What is the competitive nature of this market? Is it a monopoly? Oligopoly?
- Trends
Analyse the macro environmental trends effecting this market place. Include only those issues that are relevant to your market. Consider the demographic, economic, natural, cultural, technological and political/ legal trends.
4. Competitors
Consider both direct and indirect competitors in your analysis.
Include information in your analysis that helps to identify not only what your competitors are doing but how they think, how innovative they are and how they may respond to a competitive threat. You should consider issues such as:
market share
corporate culture
strategic alliances
international links
financial strengths
marketing expertise
innovativeness and so on ..
You may even like to do a SWOT analysis on your key competitors.
5 Segmentation and Buyer Behaviour.
In this section of the plan you are trying to understand the various customer segments in the marketplace.
You should attempt to divide the market into discrete segments and describe these segments using a segmentation table. (Ask your tutor what this is!)
Your aim is to build ‘profiles’ of each segment to aid in our understanding of what, where, when, why and how often these customers buy products in this market.
You may even identify a segment that is currently not being served and in doing so you have uncovered a major opportunity.
Discuss in this section the type of buying process involved in your market place, how decisions are made, who influences these decisions and any other issues that are important to the decision making process.
6. Internal Analysis
The internal analysis is a review of the products performance and current marketing strategy.
The purpose of this review is to establish how well the current marketing strategy is working to achieve the objectives set for the product. It is a review of performance against targets such as market share, sales, profitability and so on. It also evaluates specific product, price, promotion and distribution strategies to identify areas of strength and weakness for the firm.
Identify the firm’s existing strategies and analyse their effectiveness, with a view to developing new refined strategies in Assignment 2. Your analysis will also help to identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for the SWOT analysis.
7. SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The SWOT analysis is a summary of the external and internal analyses, highlighting the critical issues that must be addressed by the marketing plan. When the SWOT analysis is completed, the firm has a clear idea of its:
- Strengths What do we do better than competitors?
What advantages do we have over competitors?
- Weaknesses In what areas do we need to improve marketing mix in order to be more competitive?
- Opportunities What new opportunities exist in the market place for our product?
- Threats Can we anticipate any threats to our business from the external environment that may challenge or weaken our position?
SOLUTION
6. Detailed implementation program identifying what will be done, who is responsible, Marketing Budgets and deadlines
The marketing manager is one who deserves the discipline of business in which he is focussed on the application of marketing statics and managing the entire firm through his own marketing skills and activities. He is responsible for all the marketing events which take places in his organisation .
Marketing budget and deadlines:
Marketing the budget is one of major important part in the marketing field. The budget should be focussed in all the direction if not it leads to serious downfall. It is a cost in terms of marketing plan. It is an estimate of cost that helps to market the products. Salaries for the employees who serve in the organisation, room space and marketing communications like brochures, email &website campaign also includes in the marketing budget. Most of the amount will be allotted to market communications like public relationship and website. It is more important to know the key factors of the industry and it should be taken into the account for generating a competitive marketing plan and that will emphasizes your strength.
In Current competitive world meeting the deadlines is major role for every sales person in the company. It gives additional strength of credibility and prestige of a company. It is a great tool for the completion of job within the time frame.
7. Defines how you will monitor your progress, including benchmarks, evaluation procedures, budgets and so on.
It is very important to track the efforts which is made by the marketing. Because it will improve the standard of marketing strategies by quickly determining the causes between actual performance and expected results. It is necessary to analysis the work progress in the resorts which will provide the better signs to develop up to the mark. It is very much needed to create the bench mark for the resort and it is attraction of the people to get into the resort to enjoy the luxury. This will provide a great symbols for the tourist as well as the people in the surrounding area. It also high light the major attraction and specialization of the resort among the competitiors. And evaluating also plays the dominant role which helps to determine the current condition of the resort both financially as well as strategically. This will provide the base for the resort to come up with the different features and specification. Evaluation also provides a key factors to develop by analysing the market conditions. From the evaluation we can understand the market value of the other competitors and their drawback which will helps us to step forward by using the analysis. At the same time budgeting also should be considers as core value . which will results in the form of finanace. The proper budget should be done in every equal department like for advertsing ,people relationship, media and for the employee. This will sustain the resort to be in healthy position.
LC22
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