Developing and Implementing a Marketing Plan 

Project 4: Developing and Implementing a Marketing Plan 
Step 6: Research and Analyze the Company’s US Market 

Now that you have completed the environmental scan, your team needs to conduct a market analysis of the company’s customers in the United States. Outline how the team would conduct this analysis, while considering both current and potential customers. Your analysis should address how you would determine answers to the following question:

1. What needs are being met by the products or services that they purchase? What are the benefits to the customers? Make sure that you differentiate between features and benefits; go beyond manifest motives and consider latent motives.
2. Who is involved in the purchase process? Who are influencers? Who are buyers? Who are users?
3. How do customers pay? Describe payment plans, financing, banking arrangements, etc.
4. Where are the products or services sold and delivered, and what are the distribution channels?
5. How often are the different types of the products or services purchased? Is there seasonality to sales?
6. Is there any market regulation? Is there self-regulation? Do any federal or state regulations affect the company’s US operations?
7. What is the size of the market (in dollars and units)? What is the growth rate of that market?

Deliverable: Any tables, graphs, and figures should be included as appendices. Your report should have one-inch margins and be double spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font. The report should be organized using headings and subheadings to improve its readability.

Support your work with scholarly sources and reliable nonscholarly sources such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Barrons.com, Morningstar.com, Money, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review, as well as the UMGC Library databases such as Hoover’s and ABI/INFORM. All sources need to be cited using APA formatting, both within the text and in the reference list.

Project 4: Developing and Implementing a Marketing Plan 
Step 7: Develop Marketing Objectives 

The next component of the marketing plan your team needs to tackle is the strategic analysis report.

As a marketing team, you need to decide on the marketing objectives for your target market before you develop your company’s marketing strategy. Marketing objectives translate the company’s mission and business into long- and short-term goals. Marketing objectives are usually quantitative and include sales (both in units or dollars), market share, and profitability. They may also include qualitative factors such as quality, customer satisfaction, and social responsibility (Kerin & Hartley, 2017). Knowing exactly where you want to go is essential in deciding how to get there. The objectives have to be measurable, specific, and have a set time limit.

Marketing objectives should be challenging but achievable. They are mainly quantitative (with some qualitative ones), and they should be precise and focused.

Using figures from your own market research, please include your projected annual…

1. growth percentage
2. market share percentage
3. sales (in both units and dollars)
4. average unit price
5. profitability percentage
6. customer satisfaction
7. CSR outcomes
8. employee satisfaction rate

Be sure to include a time frame. Also, presenting the figures in a table in the end would look professional.

References

Kerin, R. & Hartley, S. (2017). Marketing (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Project 4: Developing and Implementing a Marketing Plan
Step 8: Conduct a Segmenting and Targeting of the US Market and Product Positioning (STP)

The next step in developing your strategic analysis report involves segmenting, targeting, and positioning (STP).

Take Note

• Segmenting refers to breaking the market down into homogenous groups.
• Targeting refers to selecting the customer group or groups that you will focus your marketing efforts on. The appropriate segmentation variable is dependent on the needs and wants of customers.
• These decisions are directly tied to your value proposition and require extensive marketing research on the customers. Once the segmentation variable is determined and the target markets selected, you need to develop a positioning strategy, which refers to the way you want the customer to view the product or service relative to the competition.

Describe the market research you would conduct to analyze and segment the US market. Explain how you would select your target markets and explain the process of positioning the company’s products or services relative to the competition.

Project 4: Developing and Implementing a Marketing Plan 
Step 9: Develop a Marketing Strategy 

Required Readings

Chapters 4, 5, & 6

Lancaster, G., & Massingham, L. (2018). Essentials of marketing management (2nd ed.). Routledge

You and your team have been working around the clock to generate all the pieces for your new client’s requests. Jillian touches base to see how things are moving along and to provide additional instruction.

INBOX: 1 New Message

Subject:  Pulling it all together
From:      Jillian Best, CEO, MCS
To:          Team & You

Hi Team,

Please develop a marketing strategy for this client based on your STP strategy. The following marketing strategy elements are interdependent and are crucial components of a successful marketing plan. Click each component for more in-depth information:

• branding strategies—Describe the needs and wants of your target customers and how you intend to position the offerings versus the competition. Present a detailed description of the different types of products or services that you intend to sell in the US market, including their attributes, features, and quality level, along with the brand names, intended packaging, logo, and supplemental products and services. As you make these branding strategy decisions, it is imperative that you stay focused on the customer. Remember that the company’s customers do not buy features; they buy benefits, both tangible and intangible. It is also critical to understand the customer: think about who makes the purchase and who influences that decision.
• pricing strategy—Pricing is very strategic, as it is the only marketing mix variable that generates income. As a marketing team, you need to decide on your price objectives and strategies. Think about pricing tactics like discounts and incentives. You need to decide whether your pricing strategy should be skimming, premium, or market penetration given the nature of the offerings, your customers, and your major competition. Profit margins and breakeven analysis will also need to be considered. As you determine your final price points, you’ll need to consider the perceived value of your offerings. Describe how you would go about making these decisions as well as the major issues involved.
• distribution and supply chain strategy—Is it easy to transport your offerings, or are there issues involved in delivering them to the final user? These strategic decisions deal with how customers purchase your products or services. Will you market your products or services directly to your customers or through intermediaries like distributors and wholesalers? Will you follow an exclusive, selective, or intensive distribution? Distribution decisions focus on marketing channels as well as the physical distribution of the offerings. Explain the criteria you would use to make these distribution and supply chain strategy decisions.
• integrated marketing communications—This is often the most visible element of a marketing strategy. The company’s communication strategy involves developing an integrative mix of a number of different tools, while keeping in mind the needs and characteristics of the target market. These tools may include a mix of traditional communication elements such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and publicity and public relations. It is essential that your promotion objectives are clearly defined, and that a holistic and integrated marketing communication approach is used.

Whew, that was a lot to cover, but all-important info,

Jillian

Support your work with scholarly sources and reliable nonscholarly sources such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Barrons.com, Morningstar.com, Money, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review, as well as the UMGC Library databases such as Hoover’s and ABI/INFORM. All sources need to be cited using APA formatting, both within the text and in the reference list.