Structure for the Marketing Plan

Introduction – approx. 100 words

The second assessment on this module is a 2,500-word outline marketing plan. It’s called an outline marketing plan because it’s shorter than a marketing plan in real life practice!

This plan will provide a situational analysis for an organisation of your choice (this could be the organisation you work for*), set out objectives and a recommended strategy, and provide detail on the operational elements of the tactical marketing mix for the next 12 months for ONE geographic market and one target segment. Remember, this is an integrated marketing plan so all sections need to link together logically, as if you are telling a story!

*Should you not be employed in an organisation that you wish to use as the basis of the assessment, please contact your OLF to discuss a suitable alternative.

The purpose of this assessment is to assess your ability to employ concepts and theory from the field of marketing to practice for an organisation and industry of your choice.

To support your learning in week 4 you will submit a draft of your SWOT analysis and you will receive feedback which you should use to improve your final submission.

The word count includes everything in the main body of the text (including headings, tables, citations, quotes etc). It does not include your reference list. The word count should be clearly stated on the first page of the assignment.

In your Appendix, you are allocated 4 pages for additional tables with excessive word count. The appendix should not be used to circumvent the word count and should be used appropriately. It is suggested that you include your PESTEL analysis and any risk assessment data here. Your SWOT should be in the main body of text.

This is a suggested layout for your marketing plan:

Keep this short. Introduce the selected organisation, who they are, brief history, size, type of business, location, etc.

This is where you explain the organisation’s current position. You worked on this in Weeks 1-3. Present your SWOT analysis as an image, and key drivers / challenges analysis here. You may also want to draw on the analysis you did for your audit to tell this ‘story’, using your PESTEL, competitor analysis, marketing mix analysis, product and stakeholder analysis, etc. Small tables/models can be presented in the main body as images, refer to larger tables in the appendix.

You may wish to draw on the organisation’s real strategic objectives to support the development of the marketing objectives. Write them out in appropriate language – see Week 3.

What strategy will you take to achieve those objectives? Use theory to help you to justify your approach. Think about competitive strategies, segmentation, targeting and positioning. We have a limited word count for this assignment, so you have been advised to restrict your activities to the next 12 months, ONE geographic market and one target segment. You could use your positioning map if you write one in this section.

What tactics will you use to follow the chosen strategy and help you to achieve the objectives? Again, use theory to support the justification of the approach. This is where you will set out a plan for the marketing mix – product, price, place, and promotion, then people, physical evidence and process for the service Ps. Try to keep it integrated so the choices make sense – e.g. a high end brand would have a premium price and provide a luxury shopping experience.

How will you make this happen? You could include a timeline, an illustration of the breakdown of tasks, allocation of human resources, etc. A budget is not necessary for this assignment as it would be very difficult to estimate costs of promotions, etc.

How will you measure and control performance? This is where consideration of risks, market scanning and performance metrics will be helpful.

Reference List – Harvard Referencing must be used.

Additional Tables – 4-page limit... should include PESTEL analysis, risk assessment data, large tables / illustrations, etc.