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Planning and Implementing Marketing Objectives Outline the planning process of c

ID: 415540 • Letter: P

Question

Planning and Implementing Marketing

Objectives

Outline the planning process of creating a marketing plan

Explain the important considerations in implementing a marketing plan

Discussion Overview

This discussion forum explores the important considerations when developing a marketing plan.

Deliverables

Your participation in the discussion forum including:

Step 1 An initial post in response to question(s) by due date

Step 2 Responses to at least two other students' posts

View the rubric for grading criteria. (See the "gear" icon.) Review this document for information about discussion expectations and for the philosophy behind discussion assignments. Review the syllabus for etiquette expectations.

Replies are visible after your initial post is completed (Step 1).

Post your answers to the discussion board. Choose either Scenario 1 or Scenario 2, not both.

Scenario 1: Imagine that you are the newly appointed Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Big Established Company Inc. (BEC). BEC has been around for more than 50 years and has many well-known brands, the majority of which command large market shares. Your first task is to develop a marketing plan. What kinds of things will you consider? How would the types of products or services affect your answers? How might your approach differ from what would be proposed in Scenario 2?

Scenario 2: Now imagine that you have been appointed the CMO at Small New Start-Up Company, Inc (SNSU). SNSU is a new company which hopes to challenge the entrenched players. Again, your first task is to develop a marketing plan. What kinds of things will you consider? How would the types of products or services affect your answers? How might your approach differ from what would be proposed in Scenario 1?

HINTS:

Be sure to address the strategic, functional, and operational aspects of a marketing plan.

The brief scenarios have been left purposefully vague; feel free to add in further creative details about the types of products BEC or SNSU produces or other aspects of the company (as long as in doing so it helps market planning).

For subsequent posts, imagine yourself in the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BEC or SNSU. Respond to initial posts of your classmates in which they played the role of CMOs of your company.

What kinds of questions would you have for the CMO? What additional information would you want to have as you and your CMO discuss the development of the marketing plan? How would you evaluate your CMO's work? Do you think that they did a good job and are on the right track or would you send them back to the drawing board?

Be professional in your comments but remember you are the CEO and ultimately responsible for company performance. If you believe that your CMO is off the mark, it's your job to provide appropriate feedback to get things right.

If differences of opinion occur, debate the issues professionally and provide examples to support your opinions.

Planning and Implementing Marketing

Objectives

Outline the planning process of creating a marketing plan

Explain the important considerations in implementing a marketing plan

Discussion Overview

This discussion forum explores the important considerations when developing a marketing plan.

Deliverables

Your participation in the discussion forum including:

Step 1 An initial post in response to question(s) by due date

Step 2 Responses to at least two other students' posts

View the rubric for grading criteria. (See the "gear" icon.) Review this document for information about discussion expectations and for the philosophy behind discussion assignments. Review the syllabus for etiquette expectations.

Replies are visible after your initial post is completed (Step 1).


Step 1 Initial post is a response to ONE of these 2 scenarios.

Post your answers to the discussion board. Choose either Scenario 1 or Scenario 2, not both.

Scenario 1: Imagine that you are the newly appointed Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Big Established Company Inc. (BEC). BEC has been around for more than 50 years and has many well-known brands, the majority of which command large market shares. Your first task is to develop a marketing plan. What kinds of things will you consider? How would the types of products or services affect your answers? How might your approach differ from what would be proposed in Scenario 2?

Scenario 2: Now imagine that you have been appointed the CMO at Small New Start-Up Company, Inc (SNSU). SNSU is a new company which hopes to challenge the entrenched players. Again, your first task is to develop a marketing plan. What kinds of things will you consider? How would the types of products or services affect your answers? How might your approach differ from what would be proposed in Scenario 1?

HINTS:

Be sure to address the strategic, functional, and operational aspects of a marketing plan.

The brief scenarios have been left purposefully vague; feel free to add in further creative details about the types of products BEC or SNSU produces or other aspects of the company (as long as in doing so it helps market planning).


Step 2 Read and respond to other students' posts.

For subsequent posts, imagine yourself in the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BEC or SNSU. Respond to initial posts of your classmates in which they played the role of CMOs of your company.

What kinds of questions would you have for the CMO? What additional information would you want to have as you and your CMO discuss the development of the marketing plan? How would you evaluate your CMO's work? Do you think that they did a good job and are on the right track or would you send them back to the drawing board?

Be professional in your comments but remember you are the CEO and ultimately responsible for company performance. If you believe that your CMO is off the mark, it's your job to provide appropriate feedback to get things right.

If differences of opinion occur, debate the issues professionally and provide examples to support your opinions.

Explanation / Answer

1. The steps involved in creating a marketing plan are:

- situation analysis- understanding the current situation of the company is the initial step involved in this process. To determine its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and plan a marketing strategy bases on it is important.

- determining target audience- indentifying the customers who have to be targeted for marketing of the product is important. Studying their behaviours and tastes to place our product in that market needs this study. Hence the audience to be target have to be described well before creating a plan for marketing.

- setting marketing goals- to form a strategy for marketing it is important to know the goals in measurable form. For example, the goal of marketing plan is increasing the sales, but a fixed number of how much the sales should be from the last figures is not determined than it wont be possible to compare the results and understand the success of the marketing plan.

- determining strategies and tactics- after have been identifying the goals, strategies and tactics are to be determined on how the goals will be achieved. This includes the mode of marketing the product like advertising through different sources. Based on the target customers, strategies are formed for marketing the product.

- marketing budget- the last and essential step to planning a marketing strategy is creating a marketing budget based on the tactics formed for marketing the product. Marketing is done before getting any returns from the business, hence, the funds are arranged from the capital money. So the budget of spending on the marketing of a product has to be determined and followed to keep the overall budget of the business in control.

2. The important considerations in implementing a marketing plan are:

- marketing research- before implementing a plan in a market a proper research of the market is essential. This includes the study of the macro environment, trend of the market, competitors in the market, size of market, requirement of product in the market.

- positioning- positioning of the product in the market is an important aspect to consider while implementation of the marketing plan. Planning a defensible position in the market and making an impact on the customers mind will make the effect.

- strategies and tactics- the strategy by which the marketing plan will be implemented in the market has to be determined. The main function of such strategies are marketing existing products in the existing markets, new products in the existing markets and new products in the existing markets. Hence proper strategies will help in bringing the product in the market by efficient plans.

- metric tables- these tables are essential to measure the current results derived from the marketing strategy and comparing it to the figures given in the metrics. Taking proper decision to overcome that difference is then found out and implemented.

- alignment with business plan- lastly the plan to be implemented should be aligned with the business plan initially made for the company. Every business has a plan created at the beginning of the company. So the market plan should be of such a nature that it supports the company business plan kn a whole.