Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 7
Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 7Assigned Readings:Chapter 16. Marketing Strategy.Chapter 17. Marketing Plans.Initial Postings: Read and reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Then post what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding in each assigned textbook chapter.Your initial post should be based upon the assigned reading for the week, so the textbook should be a source listed in your reference section and cited within the body of the text. Other sources are not required but feel free to use them if they aid in your discussion.Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:
[Your post must be substantive and demonstrate insight gained from the course material. Postings must be in the student’s own words – do not provide quotes!] [Your initial post should be at least 450+ words and in APA format (including Times New Roman with font size 12 and double spaced). Post the actual body of your paper in the discussion thread then attach a Word version of the paper for APA review]
Attached Files:
Cumberlands version x Cumberlands version x – Alternative Formats (22.885 KB)
MARKETING PLAN(Please see Template on Blackboard)This is a semester-long team project focused on developing a marketing plan for an innovative, INTERNATIONAL product/service. Each team will come up with one innovative product/service and develop a comprehensive marketing plan, following the template provided in Course Content. Although individual team members may take on certain management and editing task, all team members are collectively responsible for understanding and preparing materials for this assignment. Peer evaluations will be administered at the end of the course. There will be a powerpoint presentation expected, as well as, a 20 – 25 minute video presentation (all members must participate in the video presentation and be Professionally dressed) of the your plan required. There IS NOT a paper required for this project for this is a Marketing course and therefore, needs to have a more creative flare of presenting your work (i.e. YouTube clips, commercials, advertisements, Public Relations events, etc.). So, to sum it up, you and your group are looking at taking your new product International, and you have to create the marketing plan to support your proposal for doing so. (Please see the sample Marketing Plan posted on Blackboard under “Course Information” as to what is expected of the project and your presentation. Remember, this is only an example, not the guideline to follow). Step 1: Coming up with Innovating Product/ServiceIn developing your idea for your team Marketing Plan for a NEW INTERNATIONAL product/service assume you are presenting your product/service idea to the New Product Development (NPD) department of “your” existing organization. This is not an “entrepreneurial” exercise, but rather a “marketing management” one consistent with the course title, Strategic Marketing Management and Innovation. The organization you choose may be one that you decide to create on your own or as a collective group, you may pick one of your own/currently employed by organizations (only for background history purposes), but it must be an existing, well-known, and easily researched organization (usually one can find more information on publicly traded companies). The NPD Committee of the organization has asked you to come up with an innovative, imaginative idea that upon further review can lead to a new avenue of growth for the organization in an INTERNATIONAL setting. You are only responsible for generating the idea, and proposing the implementation of the plan. Although, it would be helpful for you to gain a perspective on how the NPD process would play out in any well-run organization. Keep in mind that the products/services ideas have to come from one of the following categories: 1. New-to-the World (new products/services that create an entirely new market)2. New Product/Service Line (new products/services that allow a company to enter an established market for the first time) The really creative, “premium”, new product/service idea should ideally come from the “new-to-the-world” category, but your particular organizational situation might warrant considering other categories. *NOTE: Improvements and revisions of existing products/services, repositioning, or cost reduction alternatives should not be considered. To successfully generate viable ideas for your organization, make sure you first know and understand the organization and its position in the marketplace. Start your research by looking at the existing services and product lines related to your idea and what other organizations currently carry. Consider the target market for each product and service line while thinking of the proposed new offerings. There is no need to report on this now as your proposed product/service idea will reflect your understanding of the company and environment it operates in. Note that you will also need much of this information in the team Marketing Plan you will be developing this term. In addition to screening your proposed organization new product, ideas can come from interacting with various groups and from using creativity-generating techniques such as Attribute Listing, Forced Relationships, Morphological Analysis, Reverse Assumption Analysis, New Contexts, and Mind-Mapping. Ideas can come from interacting with others such as customers, scientists, competitors, employees, channel members, and top management. Customer needs and wants are the logical place to start the search. One-on-one interviews and focus group discussions can explore product needs and reactions. Technically oriented organizations can learn a great deal by studying customers who make the most advanced use of the organization’s products and who recognize the need for improvements before other customers do. Employees throughout the company can be a source of ideas for improving production, products, and services. Organizations can also find good ideas by researching competitors’ products and services. They can find out what customers like and dislike about competitors’ products. They can buy the competitors’ products and take them apart. Company sales representatives and intermediaries are a particularly good source of ideas. These groups have firsthand exposure to customers and are often the first to learn about competitive developments. New-product ideas can also be gleamed from inventors, patent attorneys, university and commercial labs, industrial consultants, advertising agencies, marketing research firms, and industrial publications. Step 2 – Developing Marketing Plan for new product/service – semester long team project Teams have to agree on product/service selection and confirm it with their faculty. For the rest of the semester, teams will be working on developing marketing plan for that product/service. The template of the marketing plan is posted in Course Content. Each week your team is responsible for completing sections of the marketing plan.
MARKETING PLAN
(
Please see Template on Blackboard
)
This is a semester-long team project focused on developing a marketing plan for an innovative,
INTERNATIONAL
product/service. Each team will come up with one innovative product/service and develop a comprehensive marketing plan, following the template is provided in Course Content. Although individual team members may take on certain management and editing task, all team members are collectively responsible for understanding and preparing materials for this assignment. Peer evaluations will be administered at the end of the course.
There will be a
powerpoint presentation
expected, as well as, a
20 – 25 minute video presentation
(all members must participate in the video presentation) of the your plan required. There
IS NOT
a paper required for this project for this is a Marketing course and therefore, needs to have a more creative flare of presenting your work (i.e. YouTube clips, commercials, advertisements, Public Relations events, etc.).
So, to sum it up, you and your group are looking at taking your new product International, and you have to create the marketing plan to support your proposal for doing so. (Please see the sample Marketing Plan posted on Blackboard under “Course Information” as to what is expected of the project and your presentation. Remember, this is only an example, not the guideline to follow).
Step 1: Coming up with Innovating Product/Service
In developing your idea for your team Marketing Plan for a
NEW INTERNATIONAL
product/service assume you are presenting your product/service idea to the New Product Development (NPD) department of “your” existing organization. This is not an “entrepreneurial” exercise, but rather a “marketing management” one consistent with the course title, Strategic Marketing Management and Innovation.
The organization you choose may be one that you decide to create on your own or as a collective group, you may pick one of your own/currently employed by organizations (only for background history purposes), but it must be an existing, well-known, and easily researched organization (usually one can find more information on publicly traded companies). The NPD Committee of the organization has asked you to come up with an innovative, imaginative idea that upon further review can lead to a new avenue of growth for the organization in an INTERNATIONAL setting. You are only responsible for generating the idea, and proposing the implementation of the plan. Although, it would be helpful for you to gain a perspective on how the NPD process would play out in any well-run organization.
Keep in mind that the products/services ideas have to come from one of the following categories:
1. New-to-the World (new products/services that create an entirely new market)
2. New Product/Service Line (new products/services that allow a company to enter an established market for the first time)
The really creative, “premium”, new product/service idea should ideally come from the “new-to-the-world” category, but your particular organizational situation might warrant considering other categories.
*NOTE: Improvements and revisions of existing products/services, repositioning, or cost reduction alternatives should not be considered.
To successfully generate viable ideas for your organization, make sure you first know and understand the organization and its position in the marketplace. Start your research by looking at the existing services and product lines related to your idea and what other organizations currently carry. Consider the target market for each product and service line while thinking of the proposed new offerings. There is no need to report on this now as your proposed product/service idea will reflect your understanding of the company and environment it operates in. Note that you will also need much of this information in the team Marketing Plan you will be developing this term.
In addition to screening your proposed organization new product, ideas can come from interacting with various groups and from using creativity-generating techniques such as Attribute Listing, Forced Relationships, Morphological Analysis, Reverse Assumption Analysis, New Contexts, and Mind-Mapping. Ideas can come from interacting with others such as customers, scientists, competitors, employees, channel members, and top management.
Customer needs and wants are the logical place to start the search. One-on-one interviews and focus group discussions can explore product needs and reactions. Technically oriented organizations can learn a great deal by studying customers who make the most advanced use of the organization’s products and who recognize the need for improvements before other customers do. Employees throughout the company can be a source of ideas for improving production, products, and services.
Organizations can also find good ideas by researching competitors’ products and services. They can find out what customers like and dislike about competitors’ products. They can buy the competitors’ products and take them apart. Company sales representatives and intermediaries are a particularly good source of ideas. These groups have firsthand exposure to customers and are often the first to learn about competitive developments. New-product ideas can also be gleamed from inventors, patent attorneys, university and commercial labs, industrial consultants, advertising agencies, marketing research firms, and industrial publications.
Step 2 – Developing Marketing Plan for new product/service – semester long team project
Teams have to agree on product/service selection and confirm it with their faculty. For the rest of the semester, teams will be working on developing marketing plan for that product/service. The template of the marketing plan is posted in Course Content. Each week your team is responsible for completing sections of the marketing plan.
© 2018 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
16.
1
16
Marketing Strategy
© 2018 Cengage Learning.® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
16. 2
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2
Marketing Framework
3
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Discussion Question #1
How can companies become more profitable?
4
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16.
Marketing Goals
Profit = Sales Revenue – Costs
Sales Revenue = Sales Volume Price
Costs = Variable Costs + Fixed Costs
Thus, Profit = (Sales Volume Price) – [Variable Costs (Unit Cost Sales Volume) + Fixed Costs]
Growing profit is the ultimate marketing goal
5
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16.
Increasing Profitability
To increase profitability, companies can
Increase sales volume
Change prices
Decrease costs
6
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16.
Profitability: Growing Sales
(slide 1 of 2)
To grow sales volume, companies can
Grow the overall market or grow the company’s market share
Up-sell current customers to more expensive offerings
Get customers to buy more frequently
Steal customers from competitors
Pursue another segment
7
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16.
Profitability: Growing Sales
(slide 2 of 2)
To grow sales volume, companies can, (continued)
Create new products
Reduce brand switching by enhancing brand
Raise customer satisfaction
Add value through a loyalty program
Raise switching costs so leaving brand is unattractive
8
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16.
Profitability: Changing Prices
To change prices, companies can
Cut prices
May bring volume in short term, but may damage brand image/equity
May create price wars
Lower price necessitates higher volume
Raise prices
Yields greater margins
Cues high quality
May need to shift to a more upscale target
9
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16.
Profitability: Decreasing Variable Costs
To decrease variable costs, companies can
Find less expensive suppliers
Outsource parts of the business to partners who are more efficient
Become a niche provider to keep units down and price higher for special customers
10
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16.
Profitability: Decrease Fixed Costs
To decrease fixed costs, companies can
Spend less on R&D
Spend less on advertising
Be more creative and efficient with spending
Milk the brand
Don’t spend on continued development or maintenance
11
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16.
Marketing Strategies
Ansoff’s product-market growth matrix
BCG matrix
General Electric model
Porter strategies
Treacy and Wiersema strategies
12
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16.
Ansoff’s Growth Matrix
(slide 1 of 3)
13
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16.
Ansoff’s Growth Matrix
(slide 2 of 3)
Market penetration: current products, current markets
e.g., Convincing our current users to drink Pepsi for breakfast
Market development: current products, new markets
e.g., Selling chalk not only to schools, but also to kids
14
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16.
Ansoff’s Growth Matrix
(slide 3 of 3)
Product development: new products, current markets
e.g., Selling dry-erase boards to customers to whom you are currently selling dry-erase markers
Diversification: New products, new markets
e.g., A bookstore selling music
15
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16.
Ansoff’s Growth Matrix Questions
Describe how Apple could implement a
Market penetration strategy
Product development strategy
Market development strategy
Diversification strategy
Which strategy do you think Apple primarily uses?
16
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16.
BCG Matrix
Brands or products are classified according to whether each has a strong or weak market share and slow or growing market
Star: high share, high growth
Cash cow: high share, low growth
Question mark: low share, high growth
Dog: low share, low growth
17
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16.
17
BCG Matrix Questions
Give examples of
A star
A cash cow
A question mark
A dog
18
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16.
BCG Matrix Strategies
Stars: Optimize or hold
Cash cows: Milk
Question marks: Invest or divest
Dogs: Minimize or divest
If stars and cash cows are sufficiently profitable, companies can carry question marks and dogs
19
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16.
General Electric Model
(slide 1 of 3)
Measures market attractiveness and business strength
Weights: How important dimension is
Constrain to 1.0
Rating: How the company is doing
1 = awful and 5 = outstanding
20
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16.
General Electric Model
(slide 2 of 3)
21
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16.
General Electric Model
(slide 3 of 3)
22
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16.
Porter’s Strategies
Porter’s strategies
Companies can dominate in 1 of 3 ways
Cost leadership
Produce more efficiently than competition
Differentiation
Distinguish one’s products as unique
Focused
Do one thing very well
23
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16.
Treacy and Wiersema’s Strategies
Operational excellence: Deliver products smoothly, reliably
e.g., IKEA, TurboTax
Product leadership: Excellent quality; innovation
e.g., Apple, BMW
Customer intimacy: Knowledge of customer needs
e.g., Amazon, Home Depot
24
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16.
Doing Strategy
Company must know its 5 Cs and understand its identity
Reasons to revisit strategic planning
To revisit assumptions
To launch new initiatives
When contextual issues change
When financial performance changes
25
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16.
SWOT
SWOT: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
26
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16.
SWOT: Strengths and Weaknesses
Understand identity in marketplace
Is the company
Innovative or conservative?
Offensive or defensive?
Leaders, followers, quick followers, also-rans, or barely-in-the-games?
Companies may behave differently in different industries
Company approach may vary with product lifecycle, 5 Cs, etc.
27
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16.
SWOT: Opportunities and Threats
Consider opportunities and threats in marketplace
e.g., New competitors, economy decline, changes in regulations
Strategies
Do nothing
Do nothing differently
Do something different
28
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16.
Do Something Differently
(slide 1 of 2)
Let’s make more money
State sales objectives in terms of currency, market share, units, change from last year or quarter, region, growth, ROI, ROE, ROM, etc.
Let’s delight our customers
Enhance customer satisfaction, create loyalty program, reward customers, offer personalization, etc.
29
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16.
Do Something Differently
(slide 2 of 2)
Let’s reposition our brand
Must integrate all 4Ps
Change product, place, price, and/or promotion
Goals beyond marketing
Charitable or community contributions
Boosting stability of local employment
Demonstrating leadership in environmentally friendly business practices, etc.
30
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16.
Marketing Metrics
(slide 1 of 3)
Measure what matters
e.g., Profitability, sales, share, average prices, levels of awareness, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction
31
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16.
Marketing Metrics
(slide 2 of 3)
Dashboard
32
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16.
Marketing Metrics
(slide 3 of 3)
33
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16.
Managerial Recap
Before making strategy changes, conduct a self-assessment
Consider what to change: target segments, product, price, place, or promotion
There are many ways to increase profitability, and some may fit corporate culture and strengths; there are goals beyond profitability
34
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16.
Key Components of a Marketing Plan
Executive Summary
Introduction of Product/Service
Missions and Goals
Environmental Analysis & SWOT
Target Market
Positioning Statement and Branding Strategy
Pricing Strategy
Distribution Strategy
Promotional Strategy
Conclusions
References
Executive Summary
Key points of the entire report
(Normally written last)
Introduction of Product/Service
Write an introduction to your company.
Describe your company, its location, and the product it makes or the service it provides
Introduce the contents of your marketing plan.
Missions and Goals
Develop your company’s mission statement.
Decide the main goals that you would like to achieve within the next year (short term) and the main goals that you would like to achieve within the next five years (long term).
Determine the most appropriate ways to measure both short- and long-term goals.
Note: Consider the following metrics: tracking downloads of website content, website visitors, increases in market share, customer value, new product /service adoption rates, retention, rate of growth compared to competition and the market, margin, and customer engagement.
Environmental Analysis & SWOT
Assess/evaluate environmental factors (competitive, economic, political, legal, technological, and sociocultural) on your business
Develop a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis
Target Market
Analyze the primary and secondary markets that you
want to target.
Include the demographic profile (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, etc.), psychographic profile, professional profile, geographic profile, and any other segmentation variable you deem necessary.
Examine the relevant consumer behavior of the target market.
Positioning Statement &
Branding Strategy
Prepare a positioning statement.
Include a perceptual map that shows your company’s position against its competitors. From this map, create a statement that depicts your position.
Develop a branding strategy for your product
brand name, slogan, logo (optional) and brand extension.
Pricing Strategy
Develop your company’s pricing strategy.
Describe type of pricing strategy
Identify factors influencing your pricing strategy
Distribution Strategy
Develop your company’s distribution strategy.
Describe channels of your distribution strategy
Identify factors influencing your distribution strategy
Promotional Strategy
Develop the integrated marketing communications plan most relevant for your product / service and audience.
Message strategy
Media strategy
Your public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling plan
Your online and direct marketing plan
Your social responsibility/cause related marketing plan
Conclusions and References
Final remarks/wrap up
At least 10 references
at least half (5) must be academic references
APA Format
Peer Review
Each member is required to complete a peer review/evaluation using the peer review rubric.
You do not rate yourself.
Deduction scale based on peer review: If you receive an average of 90% or higher from peer evaluations, no grade adjustment for the group project will be made. If you receive an average peer evaluation of 70-89%, 15% reduction will be made. If you receive an average peer evaluation below 70%, 25% reduction will be made.
