Marketing Plan Template A Student aid for successfully completing the final project

1. Marketing Plan TemplateA Student aid for successfully completing the final project MRKT 310 Principles of Marketing University of Maryland University College Rev. July 2013

2. How to use this template • Use this template to navigate the marketing plan term project. You can either: • Print these slides and use them as tools to develop your own format • Keep the headings but remove all the directions and tips and use this template format • Check out the Effective Power Point Presentation Tips in your Marketing Toolbox. The examples are specific to this project. • Many topics will need more than one slide, don’t try to cram it all on one slide even though the template has only one slide per topic. Add additional slides if you need more space to effectively present key information. • Be sure the numbering system used in the template begins each of your slides as they track to the grading rubric. • Feel free to change the presentation theme to one of your own, or design one specifically related to your product.

3. Marketing Plan Term Project Objectives • By completing this project you will be able to: • Demonstrate knowledge of basic marketing principles • Apply marketing principles to a product/market situation • Develop/improve Power Point presentation skills • Demonstrate critical thinking skills • Demonstrate information literacy skills

4. Suggested Initial Approach to the Marketing Plan Term Project • Select your company or product/service in Week 1 and get faculty approval • Determine external research needs by end of Week 1 and use the UMUC virtual library. Complete external research by Week 3. • Check out the product website and competitor websites; visit the store to see where your product/service is sold, make note of shelf space positioning and competitive offerings. • Buy your product (if possible) and keep it near you as you draft your marketing plan. • Check out the discussions on the marketing plan term project where your faculty member may be providing additional tips and hints.

5. Tips for completing the Marketing Plan Term Project • Stay current with text readings and online discussions or classroom discussions • Draft sections as topics are covered in class while the material is still fresh in your mind. • Don’t wait until the day the project is due. It is impossible to do a good job in one weekend. • Refer to grading rubric frequently so ensure you have devoted enough emphasis to those items with higher point values. • Edit! Be sure your presentation looks professional and addresses all the issues. • Ask questions early and often!

6. Expectations for External Research • All your external information should be gathered within the first three weeks. • Finding perfect information is not realistic; budget time spent on research carefully • Look for sources that provides additional product and competitor information, industry trends and other readily available data. Refer to the Marketing Webliography in the Marketing Toolbox for ideas. Ask the librarian if you still need help. • Expect to make educated generalizations if your research does not uncover all the information you need or is only available by a fee subscription; but be sure to include some rationale for your conclusions. • Expect to use endnotes to verify information and a bibliography, both in an acceptable citation style, e.g. MLA, APA • Expect 90 percent of sources to be academic sources, not Wikipedia and Google searches

7. Your Marketing Plan Term Project will start with the next slide You can delete these introductory slides when you submit your parts 1 and 2 and begin with your own title slide.

8. (Your Product Name) (Your name Course name/number, Section, Semester)

9. Executive Summary • Prepare this slide last and submit with your finished product at the end of the semester. • An executive summary should include: • Summary of key findings in the analysis of the current marketing situation • Briefly state your marketing mix recommendations for the coming year. (See Appendix 1, pg 612 in the text 15th ed. or find the related appendix in the online version for example, but be sure to frame it as a Power Point, not prose)

10. Table of Contents Prepare this slide twice: • When you are ready to submit Part 1, prepare your Table of Contents for Part 1 • When you are ready to submit Part 2, prepare your final Table of Contents incorporating both Part 1 and Part 2

11. Section ACurrent Marketing Situation Section A -- Title slide for Section A, no additional content needed but be sure to include a title slide so your reader can follow your presentation accurately. Part 1 focuses on the current situation, in other words what ‘is’ not what you think it should be. Hints Do not include a history of the company Do research and be sure to provide citations both as endnotes and in a bibliography, refer to UMUC virtual library for citation and bibliography styles. Consider your reader to be members of the company’s management team. Do not approach this as a term paper where you regurgitate information you may be finding. Follow the topic numbers precisely.

12. A.1.a. Market Description Description of market segments • Develop two to three distinctive market segments the product now reaches using the hints below. Then, select the one largest segment that appears to be the primary target market. This primary target market will be the focus of your marketing plan term project for the remainder of Part 1. You might recommend one of the other target markets to be the focus for Part 2 if your analysis concludes the primary target market is saturated. • Hints: • Use Chapter 7, Table 7.1 on page 193 in text 15th ed. for a list of potential characteristics of market segments and be specific. For example, if age is a characteristic, then mention the age ran range, e.g. 25-49 year olds. • If product is mass marketed, e.g., no segmentation, then do not provide a target market description, but do explain why it is a mass market. See Chapter 7, Requirements for Effective Segmentation 2 • Most market segments have multiple characteristic in common. • Articles written about the product may have some expert analysis of the current target market. • This topic works well in chart format • Alternative: Use the PRISM system to find two to three possible market segments and their descriptions. Refer to the following websitehttp://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp?ID=30 for more details.

13. A.1.b. Market DescriptionCurrent Marketing Targeting Strategy • Select and defend one of the four market targeting strategies currently used by the product and defend your choice. • Hints: • The four market targeting strategies are: • Undifferentiated – Also called mass marketing, ignores segment differences and goes after whole market • Differentiated – Also called segmented marketing, company markets to multiple segments with separate offerings • Concentrated – Also called niche marketing, company focuses on the one market segment they can serve better than competitors • Micromarketing – Variations include local marketing, individual marketing, used for marketing to local customer segments • See Chapter 7, Evaluating Market Segments and Selecting Market Segments for more details. • Note, to keep things simple, you will focus on only one target market for the remainder of your marketing plan, even if you decided the company uses a differentiation targeting strategy. Be sure to identify the primary target market and keep their characteristics in mind as you complete your marketing plan. Part 1.

14. A.1.c. Market Description Value Proposition • What is the product/service’s current value proposition for the primary target market? • Hints: • Reference Chapter 1 for a general definition of value proposition and relationship to developing customer lifetime value. • Reference Chapter 7, specifically Figure 7.4, on page 215 of the text 15th ed. for the generic value proposition categories, pick one and defend your choice.

15. A.1.d. Market description Factors influencing consumer behavior • Based on the characteristics of your primary target market, what are the major factors influencing their buying behavior? • Hints: • Use Chapter 5, Figure 5.2 on page 137 of the text 15th ed. for a framework. • Do not need to address each factor, but those factors you believe are part of the consumer’s ‘black box’ for this purchase.

16. A.1.e. Market description Buyer decision process • Based on these factors influencing their buying behavior, discuss the type of buying decision they most likely will use when deciding on the purchase or non purchase of your product/service. Your choices are: • Complex buying behavior • Dissonance-reducing buying behavior • Habitual buying behavior • Variety-seeking buying behavior Hints: • See Figure 5.5 in Chapter 5 on page 153 of the text 15th ed. for a framework for the types of buying decisions. • Be sure the logic for your choices are evidenced in your presentation.

17. A.2.a. Product Review Levels of product/service • This begins your description of your product/service as it currently exists. • To complete this topic, refer to Chapter 8, specifically Figure 8.1, on page 228 in the text 15th ed., three levels of product. Describe your product/service in terms of each of these levels. • Hints: • Be sure you understand each of the three levels as this will be important in assessing and developing marketing strategy. • If your product is a service, be sure to refer to the service characteristics as discussed in Chapter 8 beginning on page 237 of the text, 15th ed.

18. A.2.b. Product Review Type of product/service • Here you will pick the type of product/service most appropriate to your primary target market. Use Table 8.1 on page 229 of the text, 15th ed. to help you determine the type of product • The types of product are: • Convenience • Shopping • Specialty • Unsought • Hints: • Table 8.1 Table will be an invaluable aid in Part 2 when you determine future marketing strategy. It provides clues to marketing mix strategy based on the customer’s behaviors and the type of product. • Be sure you are considering only your primary target market

19. A.2.c. Product review Product/service lifecycle Refer to the discussion of the product lifecycle in Chapter 9, page 279 in the text 15th ed. List the stage your product/service is currently in and your rationale for your decision. • Hints: • Table 9.2 gives a lot of clues as to what may be happening in each of the stages giving you the rationale you need to defend your choice • Table 9.2 will also give you ideas as to future marketing strategy recommendations in Part 2.

20. A.2.d. Product Review Benefits/features analysis • This topic should list the features of the product in one column and then correlate the feature with the customer benefit each feature provides. For example, a feature of an iPad might be a built-in camera. The benefit to the customer is the ability to take photos and share them without uploading from a separate camera. • Hints: • Check out Table A1.1 in Appendix 1 in the text 15th ed. for a good example; but unlike the example, you only need to do it for one primary target market you identified earlier. • The feature is always something the company puts in the product, the benefit is the reason why this feature is important to the customer.

21. A.2.e. Product Review Differentiation • This begins your description of the marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) that currently exists. You can find most of this information in your research and where needed, make educated and well-grounded guesses. Here you will discuss the points of differentiation as seen through the eyes of the primary target market. Your choices are: • Product differentiation • Services differentiation • Channel differentiation • People differentiation • Image differentiation • Hints: • Check out Chapter 7, Identifying Possible Value Differences, beginning on page 211 of the text, 15th ed. • In some cases, you may determine that your product/service has more than one point of differentiation, if so discuss each. Rarely will a product/service have an advantage in each and every point of differentiation.

22. A.2.f. Product Review Branding strategy • This covers the topic of how the company that produces the product/service brands the product/service. Discuss the following: • Is your product/service a national brand that already has brand equity, or is it a new brand with little or no brand equity? • Is your product/service part of a product line, and if so, what else is included in the product line? • Is the brand adequately represented in the packaging such that the primary target market can identify the positioning strategy? Hints: • The manufacturer’s brand is not always the product brand. Refer to Chapter 8, Product and Service Decisions.

23. A.3.a. Competitive Review Competitive Analysis • Identify each of your product/services direct competitors. These are competitors who offer a similar value proposition to meet the same consumer need. Compare each competitor, including your product, on relevant criteria such as price, channel system, brand image, features, etc. • Hints: • Refer to Appendix 1, Table A1.2 for an idea of how to compare each of the direct competitors. You can add as many columns as you think relevant. In addition to features you might compare price, assortment, numbers of locations, competitive advantage and other variables relevant to your product. • Refer to Chapter 18 for more information on competitive analysis. • Use the Competitive Analysis worksheet to help you with this important analysis.

24. A.3.b. Competitive Review Market share • This is the list of who has the largest to smallest market share. If possible, find this information from an industry source. If you have to guess, be sure to include your rationale. • Hints: • Hoovers.com usually has comparable revenue numbers for public companies. Industry trade magazines frequently give comparative statistics. See the Marketing Webliography in the Marketing Toolbox for more ideas. • Be careful your number is only for your product, not the company’s entire portfolio of products • A quick and dirty measure is the amount of shelf space devoted to each competitor, if you have chosen a consumer product. But, true market share indicators based on volume sales or sales dollars, or units sold would be better.

25. A.3.c. Competitive Review Competitive positions and roles • This topic will draw your conclusions from your competitive analysis. Minimally, include the following: • Which product/service is the market leader, market challenger, market followers or market nichers? • What are the differences in the positioning strategies of each, if any? • What are the vulnerabilities in each of the competitors that can be ‘attacked’ in future marketing mix strategy? Hints: • Check out Chapter 18 for a thorough discussion of competitive positions and roles, see Figure 18.2 and related narrative on page 536 in the text, 15th ed.

26. A.3.d. Competitive review Strategic Sweet Spot • The Strategic Sweet Spot is not covered in your text, but it means the convergence of market needs and company’s ability to meet those needs better than any of the competitors. • Your product/service may or may not have a strategic sweet spot. If so, identify it here. If not, discuss why this is a problem, which is generally the case for products where consumers do not really believe there are any product differences amongst the competitors. • Hints: • Sample of a strategic sweet spot: The Macbook Pro is the most light, most powerful full functioning laptop available to college students and comes with Apple’s industry leading service and guarantees easily accessible for free via phone or at the college’s IT support department. • The Strategic Sweet Spot is NOT the positioning statement, although they may look alike. The difference is that no other competitor owns your sweet spot. If they do, then both competitors are positioned similarly and that creates a major marketing challenge.

27. A.3.e. Competitive review Positioning • This topic covers the important question of how does the product/service position itself in the minds of the primary target market. What position does your product/service hold in the minds of your primary target market? Your discussion of the sweet spot should set the stage for this discussion. • Hints: • If possible, a good way to describe the product/service’s position is to develop a positioning map for the product/service category. See Figure 7.3 in Chapter 7, page 211 in the text 15th ed. for an example of a positioning map. • Use the Perceptual/Positioning map worksheet to aid your analysis. • See also the sample positioning statements under Differentiation and Positioning on page 210 in the text, 15th ed.

28. A.4.a. Distribution review Current supply chain members and roles • Who are the channel members that takes the product from producer to end user and what does each channel member do to to add value to the final customer • Hints: • You may want to draw one or more of the channel design illustrated in Figure 12.2., page 343 in the 15th ed. Be as specific as you can, e.g. for retailer, exactly what stores is the product sold. • Discuss the channels for the primary target market only • You may need to discuss more than one channel system. For example, may have a direct to customer channel, and one or more indirect channels to the final customer. For example, you can buy best selling books via a direct channel on the web. You can also buy a best selling book via a retail channel utilizing a publisher (manufacturer), wholesaler and retailer. You can also buy a best selling book via a discount channel such as Costco, which functions as both the wholesaler and retailer. • Be sure to discuss how each adds (or doesn’t add) value for the final consumer. You can find a basic list of channel functions in Chapter 12, page 342, 15th ed.

29. A.4.b. Distribution Review Value delivery network analysis • Refer to Chapter 12, discuss whether your product or service is distributed via a: • Conventional distribution channel • Vertical marketing system (VMS) • Corporate VMS • Contractual VMS • Administered VMS • Horizontal Marketing System • Multichannel Distribution System End with your conclusion as to whether the current value delivery network is appropriate for your product/service to add value to the primary target market. Hints: • This may be a topic for which you may not be able to find perfect information. Do your best and explain the rationale for your choices.

30. A.4.c. Distribution Review Current type of distribution strategy • Discuss which of the distribution strategies is currently used, e.g. selective, intensive or exclusive distribution. • Hints: • Refer to Chapter 12, beginning on page 351 in the text, 15th ed. identifying major distribution alternatives.

31. Section BSWOT Analysis Title Slide – no need for additional content

32. B.1. SWOT microenvironments • Strengths and weakness come from a company’s microenvironments. Refer to Chapter 3 and list the strengths and weaknesses of the company producing your product/service here. You can include any or all of the actors as described in Chapter 3. • Hints: • Check out the SWOT worksheet to assist you with this analysis.

33. B.2. SWOT macroenvironments • Opportunities and Threats come from a company’s macroenvironments. Referring to Chapter 3 list the opportunities and threats that may exist from any or all of the actors in your product/service’s macroenvironments.

34. This concludes Part 1 • Be sure to go back and develop your Table of Contents • Be sure to edit your work, follow the tips for effective Power Point Presentations • Be sure to include your endnotes and bibliography • Check your work against the grading rubric • Upload your Part 1 to your assignment folder by the due date listed in the course schedule. • Remember your analysis so that you can make recommendations in part 2 grounded in the current situation and how it can be improved.

35. Begin Part 2 • Part 2 will be your ideas, suggestions and recommended marketing strategies going forward. • Do not repeat information from Part 1. That is historic, we now want recommendations and your critical thinking. • Little if any external research will be needed for Part 2 as we are looking for your thoughts and recommendations as you critically assess the part 1 information to design new marketing strategies. • Remember, you are students in an introduction to marketing class; your recommendations do not have to be at the level of actionable strategies as the company might pursue; but they should be a demonstration that you understood the current situation sufficiently to determine the product’s future marketing efforts.

36. Part CSection CObjectives and Issues Title slide – No need to add content

37. C.1. Objectives and Issues First year marketing objectives • Develop new objectives for your product/service based on your analysis of the current situation. • Hints: • If your product/service was the market challenger, your objective might be to become the market leader. This would be an increase in market share objective. Or, you may have concluded that you need to find new customers for your existing product. This would be a market penetration from x to y strategy. You will probably have more than one objective going forward. • Refer to Chapter 2, Setting Company Objectives and Goals, for more discussion. Refer to Appendix 1, Objectives and Issues, on page 618 of the text 15th ed. for some idea on how to write marketing objectives. You do not need to cover year 1 or year 2, just some general marketing objectives that will signify growth going forward. The product/market grid illustrated in Chapter 2, Figure 2.3, on page 47 of the 15th edition is a good framework for developing marketing objectives.

38. C.2. Objectives and Issues Issues that may hinder objectives • Based on your analysis of the current situation throughout Part 1 and your new marketing objectives, what are the issues your company might encounter that would hinder their ability to reach these objectives? • Hints: • See Appendix 1, Objectives and Issues section on page 618 of the text 15th ed. for an examples of issues. • Generally, your SWOT analysis should have revealed what issues have to be overcome to achieve new objectives.

39. Section DMarketing Mix Recommendations Title slide No need for additional text

40. D.1. Marketing Strategy Recommendations Positioning strategy • Refer back to A.2.e. Do you want to recommend a change to the positioning strategy to more adequately reflect the value proposition to the primary target market; or is the current positioning strategy sufficient? If so, be sure to justify why the current positioning strategy should continue. • Do you want to recommend a new target market because you conclude the primary target market is saturated and your objectives include developing a new market? If so, describe the target market characteristics for this new group of consumers.

41. D.2. Marketing Mix Strategy Recommendations Product and branding strategy • What recommendations would you suggest to change the product/service? Go back to the three levels of the product and make changes that you think would enhance the value proposition for the existing target market, or the new target market if that is one of your objectives. Would you change the packaging? Would you change the branding? Would you suggest additions to the product line? Be sure to provide your rationale. • Be sure to read the text chapter on branding and product decisions to understand how they apply to your case.

42. D.3 Marketing Mix Strategy Recommendations Pricing Strategy • What changes to the current pricing strategy would you recommend and why? • Hints: • If the product currently uses cost plus or other non consumer focused strategy, a good recommendation might be to change to a consumer focused strategy such as value added or good value pricing. • Rarely can you raise the price of a product/service unless you add additional value. If you recommend product changes to enhance the value proposition you can consider a price increase. • Highly competitive product categories are usually victims of the principles of supply and demand, and in that elastic situation may have to lower prices in hopes of increasing sales volume. • Be sure to check out all the pricing issues discussed in Chapter 10 to determine the best pricing approach for your product/service. • Do not confuse price strategies with promotion pricing, an IMC tactic.

43. D.4 Marketing Mix Strategy Recommendations Distribution Strategy • What changes might you recommend to the current value chain and value delivery network and why? • Remember, every channel member needs to be performing some value added service in order to be included in the value chain. • Hints: • If delivery is an issue for your product/service, changes are good that some change will need to be made. This includes post purchase services. • May want to draw a recommended channel system design

44. D.5. Marketing Mix Strategy Recommendations Marketing Communications Strategy • What changes would you recommend to the marketing communications strategy to more adequately communicate the value proposition to your primary target market? How would the marketing communications integrate to provide synergy to reinforce the brand. Be sure to list which promotion mix tools would be used to reach each of the objectives. You should have at least three marketing communication objectives. Is your marketing communications strategy mostly push or pull and why. • Hints: • Use the buyer readiness stages, Figure 14.3 and related discussion in Chapter 14, page 414 in the text 15th ed. and the related discussion on communication objectives in Chapter 14 and develop several marketing communications objectives. • Warning, the example of Marketing Communications in the Appendix plan is NOT sufficient; you need to include a discussion of how the promotion tools integrate.

45. D.6 Marketing Research • How will marketing research be used to support development, implementation, and evaluation of strategies and action plans? • Although the marketing research chapter was not covered in class, it might provide you with some ideas on how marketing research can support your marketing objectives. • Hints • If you developed an objective to expand the product line, your market research needs might include some test marketing to ensure the new product meets the consumer needs you identified. Similarly, if you developed an objective to increase brand name awareness, you might need a pretest of the current brand name awareness so you have a base line on which to gauge any increase in brand name recognition as a result of the marketing recommendations.

46. Section EAction Programs Title Slide No need for additional text

47. E.1. Action Programs - IMC • Provide some detail as to when the marketing communications would take place over a specific period of time, e.g. calendar year. Be sure to keep your primary target market in mind, for example, if you are selling holiday ornaments, there is no need to promote year round. Think of when the consumer is most like to be in the buyer decision making mode. • Hints: • See Appendix 1 under action programs for some ideas of how to approach this topic.

48. E.2. Action Programs Message design, content and structure • Your marketing communications will be driven by the right message design. Review the existing marketing communications and make recommendations for changes as may be appropriate given your recommendations in Part 2. You can also create a marketing communication, e.g. an ad, a buzz campaign, billboard, TV or radio etc. creative strategy. Be sure your message is designed to effectively reach your primary target market. • Hints: • Check out Chapter 14, Designing a Message, beginning on page 415 of the text 15th ed. for more details.

49. E.3. Action Programs Media choices • Where will you place the communication message? Based on each of the promotion mix tools you identified, how would the message be used to communicate with the primary target market? • Hints: • You can base this on personal and nonpersonal communication channels discussed in Chapter 14. • Be specific, e.g. not just TV ads, but on what TV shows and why you think that show will reach your target market.

50. E.4. Action Programs Promotion Mix Tools • List each of the promotion mix tools you plan to use in your marketing communications strategy. Describe why you think each tool will contribute to achieving your communications objectives? • Hints: • A good marketing plan will have at least three different promotion tools and have clearly identified objectives for each that integrate with each other to create synergy and overall attainment of marketing communications objectives.