Marketing Plan

The Marketing Plan assignment gives you the opportunity to practice developing an integrated business and marketing strategy for a product or service of your choice. This activity will make the course "come alive" through the application of the principles from the textbook, course materials, and threaded discussions. Assignments such as this also help you develop business-oriented communication skills.

The development of the marketing plan is an integral part of the course, and will require several weeks of research, critical analysis, critical thinking, and writing. Past students tell us the only way to do well on this project is to begin early and work on it consistently throughout the entire course.

You have several options when choosing a product or service for your marketing plan. Consider choosing a new product for a new company (your own) or creating a new product for an existing company. Perhaps you would want to do a product extension of an existing product. You might consider a different approach to marketing an existing service. You can target consumers or businesses. You may choose a product or service offered by your employer or your own business, or one from another organization. Ultimately, to maximize your learning experience, choose a product or service in which you have an interest and about which you would like to see your product or service come to the marketplace. Make sure there is information available about the industry and target market of the product or service you choose.

Remember that this is a marketing plan and not a business plan; you are not creating a business, but you are creating the marketing plan for an existing product or service. Thus, your focus should not be on the company or its products, but on how to market the product or service that you have chosen. Provide enough background and history to put the marketing plan in perspective. Do a comprehensive SWOT analysis with an in-depth and candid look at your internal and external environments. Establish your goals and objectives. Analyze the information developed, and only then begin defining your target market and specifying the specific marketing strategies. Do not simply report on how a company markets its goods or services. Instead, you should explain what type of marketing you would propose.

Your instructor will look at your marketing plan from the point of view of a business proposal. Have you thought through and considered your options? Have you provided details of your proposal? Have you looked at the entire strategy, the "big picture," while still considering the more operational elements that make for successful implementation? How well written and persuasive is the plan?