Marketing Plan A++Tutorial

Marketing Plan A++Tutorial

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Introduction
Product innovation and marketing are the only enduring competitive advantages that
companies can use to survive and thrive in the marketplace. In the next seven weeks,
you are going to participate in designing and writing a marketing plan for a business,
product, or service of your choosing. Your active participation in this project is essential
to building your understanding of marketing. Also, you can use a well-written marketing
plan to show prospective employers a sample of your work or pitch your idea to
investors who may be interested in your venture.
A marketing plan is a guide for the marketing activities of an organization for a specified
period of time, typically about 5 years. The plan can be used internally to guide the
marketing activities or it can be used to communicate with external audiences to raise
capital. There are important questions to keep in mind as you design your plan.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Is the marketing idea valid?
What is unique or distinctive about the product or service that separates it from
substitutes and competitors?
Does a viable market exist for the product or service?
Is the target market large enough, accessible, and capable of purchasing your
product or service?

5.

Are the financial projections sound?

6.

Is the management team competent?

7.

How will the investors get their money back with a return on their investments?
In order to help you answer these questions and many others, the course provides the
following items.

Building an Effective Marketing Plan in Appendix A on page 48 of your textbook
(it includes an example of a marketing plan).
Financial Aspects of Marketing in Appendix B on page 368 of your textbook.
A marketing plan outline (see Week 4: Draft Marketing Plan in
the Milestone section below).
A grading rubric for the marketing plan.

Guidelines
Your final marketing plan should be between 10–15 pages and must follow all APA
guidelines. In Week 1, you will submit a two-page description of your business,

product, or service for instructor approval of your topic. In Week 4, you will submit a
substantial draft of your marketing plan for instructor feedback. Your completed
marketing plan is due at the end of Week 7.

Milestones
Week 1: Topic Proposal (20 points)
You will select a topic for the Week 1 assignment, and thereafter, all related
assignments (the draft in Week 4 and the final marketing plan in Week 7) MUST be on
the same topic. You may not change your marketing plan topic without approval from
your instructor. Your topic should be for a business, product, or service that you would
like to start (no multilevel marketing structures or non-profit organizations,
please).Because this is an applied project and not a research paper, please do not
select a corporation such as Starbucks or Coca-Cola as your topic. You are to
apply the course concepts to this project. If you are interested in coffee restaurants, for
example, you may wish to select your own cappuccino bar as your topic and then use
information from companies like Starbucks or Seattle’s Best Coffee for ideas and
competitive research as you work on your project. If you have questions about your
topic, don’t hesitate to post them in the Q & A Forum this week.
For Week 1, please write a two-page description of your company, product, or service. It
should be a new business, product, or service.
Discuss:
1.

Ownership and company structure.

2.

Describe the business, product, or service.

3.

Write your mission statement.

4.

Provide your marketing goals.
The marketing goals must be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time
bound.
Examples…
Company ABC plans to generate 25 leads per week as a result of our Facebook
marketing campaign beginning Oct. 1, 2014.
Company XYZ plans to sell 5,000 widgets for the next fiscal year.

5.

Discuss who a typical customer might be.
Week 4: Draft Marketing Plan (100 points)
At the end of Week 4, you will submit a substantial draft to your instructor for grading
and feedback. Read Appendix A in the text. Be sure to download the Marketing Plan

outline. It must be used! It is recommended that you start working on your draft in
Week 2 after your instructor has approved your topic. Use the Marketing Plan outline as
a guide to the required content for your marketing plan. Complete as much as you are
able in order to get a good start and an initial draft ready to submit at the end of Week 4.
Remember, the more you complete on this initial draft the greater the input that the
professor can provide. Also, please include your last name within the document title.
Week 7: Final Marketing Plan (220 points)
Submit your completed Marketing Plan. It should include all sections listed in
the marketing plan outline. It should include headings for the various sections of the
marketing plan. APA format should be used, and three references are required. Be sure
to list all references that you consult (both print media and online).
See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for due date
information.

Grading Rubrics
Week 1: Topic Proposal will be evaluated as follows.
Category

%

Description

Documentation,
Formatting, and
Editing

10%

Quality work will include a title page, table of
contents, proper citations, and a bibliography. Quality
work will be free of any spelling, punctuation, or
grammatical errors. Sentences and paragraphs will be
clear, concise, and factually correct. It must follow
APA guidelines.

Content

90%

Quality work will meet the following requirements.
Your topic should be for a business, product, or
service that you would like to start (no multilevel
marketing structures or nonprofit organizations,
please). Your proposal should be approximately two
pages long and should contain the following.
1. Information about ownership and company
structure.
2. A description of the business, product, or service.
3. A mission statement.
4. Marketing goals.

Category

%

Description
5. Who a typical customer might be.

Total

100%

A quality submission will meet or exceed all of the
above requirements.

Week 4: Draft Marketing Plan will be evaluated as follows.
Category

%

Description

Documentation
and Formatting

5%

Quality work will include a title page, abstract, table of
contents, proper citations, and a reference page. Your
final marketing plan should be between 10–15 pages;
your draft should be substantial—about 75% complete.
It must follow all APA guidelines.

Organization and
Cohesiveness

20%

Quality work will use the marketing plan outline
provide above for its organization. The content will be
properly subdivided into sections with headings. The
executive summary is not required in your draft because
the executive summary is usually the last part of the
plan that is written; it summarizes the entire plan.

Editing

5%

Quality work will be free of any spelling, punctuation,
or grammatical errors. Sentences and paragraphs will be
clear, concise, and factually correct.

Content

70%

Quality work will have significant scope and depth of
research to support any statements. Relevant
illustrations or examples are encouraged. Quality work
will cover all the sections included in the marketing
plan outline. The content presented must demonstrate an
understanding of the material.

Total

100%

A quality submission will meet or exceed all of the
above requirements.

Week 7: Final Marketing Plan will be evaluated as follows.

Category

%

Description

Documentation
and Formatting

5%

Quality work will include a title page, table of contents,
abstract, proper citations, and a reference page in APA
format including at least three references.

Organization and
Cohesiveness

20%

Quality work will use the marketing plan outline for its
organization. The content will be properly subdivided
into sections with headings and subheadings; it will
incorporate feedback provided from your instructor on
your Week 4 draft. You may choose to use some of the
Building Your Marketing Plan exercises at the end of
the chapters in the text to guide you to develop some
sections of your plan. The executive summary will
summarize your plan and include the reasoning you
employed in your analysis, as well as any outstanding
conclusions you can reach about the marketing plan for
your chosen product or service.

Editing

5%

Quality work will be free of any spelling, punctuation,
or grammatical errors. Sentences and paragraphs will be
clear, concise, and factually correct.

Content

70%

Quality work will have significant scope and depth of
research to support any statements. Relevant illustration
or examples are encouraged. Quality work will cover all
the sections included in the marketing plan outline. The
content presented must demonstrate an understanding of
the material.

Total

100%

A quality submission will meet or exceed all of the
above requirements

Marketing Plan Tutorial