Assignment 1 - Marketing audit
Assignment 2 - Strategic marketing plan
Background
Reflective writing is the evidence of reflective thinking and reflective thinking is part of the critical thinking process where people analyse, evaluate and make judgements from new information and knowledge to ultimately arrive at an informed perspective. It is also known that managers who make sound decisions based on fair and ethical judgement are seen by those they manage as credible, effective and trustworthy. Managers are required to exercise sound judgement in many of their daily tasks and yet few have had the opportunity to understand the process of developing good judgement skills.
The practice of reflective and constructive judgement will be introduced in this first assessment task through the concept of peer review. In this assessment you will be asked to read and critique the work of two other students against the marking rubric and your feedback and judgement will also be evaluated.
There are a number of sources of information to assist you in this task provided in the glossary for this assessment task found on the study desk.
The Task
The Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce would like to increase its membership base and has asked the Marketing class at USQ to assist it in this endeavour. The best assignments from this semester will be provided to the chamber to incorporate into their marketing plans for 2015.
To commence this assessment task, you have been asked to write a short 500 - 700 word commentary for the board of the Chamber explaining what the value proposition is for their product (membership). You need to explain yourself in such a way that the board members, who may have never heard of the concept, would understand why an understanding of the value proposition is a critical first step in effective marketing and what potential challenges it may pose for them. Your commentary can take any form that would be acceptable to this audience.
Additional Resources
Find here some additional resources for your assignment. The first is the current strategic plan for the Chamber, the second file is a 2012 member survey and the third file is an Excel file with the member survey data for you to analyse. You will also find in the glossary the current survey being conducted with members and non members (2014) and shortly you will be provided with the data file from this survey as well for your analysis. Please also watch the video with the CEO and President of the Chamber found on the course study desk.
File 1 - Strategic Plan - https://usqstudydesk.usq.edu.au/m2/mod/resource/view.php?id=299085
File 2 - Member Survey - https://usqstudydesk.usq.edu.au/m2/mod/resource/view.php?id=299086
File 3 - Survey data- https://usqstudydesk.usq.edu.au/m2/pluginfile.php/437012/mod_folder/content/0/Survey%20 Responses.xlsx?forcedownload=1
Assignments 1 and 2 overview
This semester the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce has asked us for some marketing advice to expand their membership. You have been tasked with developing a marketing plan for them to achieve this goal. The marketing planning process has been divided into two components: Assignment 1 and Assignment 2. Even though the two components are linked you are required to submit them separately and you will be graded on each component separately. Assignment1 will essentially provide the background information and analysis that will be then used to develop your plan and recommendations in assignment 2. You do not necessarily need the feedback from assignment 1 to complete assignment 2 but it will help.
In addition to your prescribed text, you will find many useful texts in the library and additional readings in the glossaries provided on the study desk. You should supplement your work and your reading with other sources of information and not just use your text as a reference source.
Assignment 1 requires you to conduct some research and prepare a marketing audit, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation and its product offering, identification of a potential target market/s and a competitor analysis. In assignment 2 you are then required to develop a marketing plan designed to achieve the goal of increased membership for one specific target market from the analysis conducted in assignment1.
Assignment 1 detail
Word Limit: 2500 words maximum.
Before you can develop your marketing plan and recommendations you need to know more about the product offering, possible competitors, market opportunities and other environmental factors that are likely to impact your strategy and implementation plan. This review and analysis is known as a Marketing Audit. In assignment 1 you are required to conduct a Marketing Audit that includes an analysis of the internal and external factors that will be relevant to the development of a marketing strategy for the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce (2500 words maximum - excluding references, refer to the Communications Skills Handbook for more information about what is and what is not included in a word count).
Section 1 - Organisational Overview
A marketing audit should always commence with an overview of the company, its vision, mission and brand value. In this case the company is the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and information is provided later in this document for your analysis about the organisation. Please also watch the short video interview with Ms Helen Jentz - the CEO.
Section 2 - Environmental Scan
In reviewing the organisation you are studying it is also important to consider and review the organisation in terms of its internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats it faces. SWOT, TOWS and PEST analyses are good tools to assist this stage of your analysis as are environmental scans and it is recommended that you use these. You may also use any other additional analysis to provide you with the information for your audit. Next you would consider the market in which the firm operates in terms of both competitors and customers.
Section 3 - Customer, Competitor and Stakeholder analysis
1. A Target Market Analysis - Who are the target markets for membership of the chamber? There are a number of possible target markets which you will deduce from the information provided, whilst you need to list them all in this part of your audit and to analyse their priority and relevant merits, for your marketing plan (assignment 2) and for your customer analysis (the next step) you are only required to focus on one target market.
2. A Customer Analysis - Once you have selected and justified the target market you wish to focus on, outline any demographic and/or behavioural characteristics of this segment. You would need to comment on:
i. the relative size of the segment;
ii. potential market share and opportunities for growth and development; iii. any information relating to a psychographic profile (how this segment spends its time, money and attitudes);
iv. any other information including their likely purchase behaviour and motivations for membership and what the product offering would be for this segment (what are they buying and why); and
v. include the information you provided in your marketing reflection about the relevant value proposition for membership of the chamber for this segment.
3. A Competitor Analysis - Given how you have defined the product offering and value proposition for your chosen target audience in terms of its benefits or features, this section would focus on how membership of the Chamber compares to alternative purchase choices? This would include an analysis of the products/services/substitutions that are likely to be competition for this product offering in this market segment. How are competitors likely to react to an increase in marketing activity to attract new members in this segment?
4. A Stakeholder Analysis - You need to consider any other stakeholders who might have an interest in or be able to impact the marketing of this product offering in this segment.
Section 4 - Conclusions and Recommendations
Once you have completed these steps you are then required to summarise the main points and salient elements of this analysis to a concise statement of the overall
1 strategic approach you will be recommending for your marketing and implementation 1 plan (which is assignment 2).
You need to defend your final decisions using both theory and practice references and the content and learning activities presented in modules 1-5 will support this assessment task. You should try to have a good list of references showing where you have found your information and it is important to cite all work and websites you have visited. Check with a USQ reference librarian if you are having trouble finding appropriate information.
Guidelines on writing reports are provided in chapter 3 of the 4th edition of the Communication skills handbook which is a set text for this course. Your report should comprise:
1. An executive summary and introduction (approximately 200 words);
2. A body that includes all the analysis of business, current marketing and internal firm environments, customer analysis, external environments, competitor analysis and any other analysis. (Approximately 2000 words); and
3. A conclusion. This includes the statement of issues you have found, the gaps identified, overall strategic approach and future recommendations. (Approximately 200 - 300 words).
The report should present logical, sequential and persuasive arguments, justified or supported by secondary sources of evidence. The purpose of your audit is not to simply reword or describe the Chamber or to provide direct quotes from the literature, but to offer a thorough understanding of the marketing issues, challenges and opportunities facing the Chamber in their goal of growing the Chamber's membership base. Assignment 2 will then outline the proposed marketing plan to take the next step forward to market
You will be assessed on:
1. Ability to locate, assess and research material related to current marketing planning process and environmental scanning requirements. You will need to use logic and read widely to identify issues and leads to where you should research for this firm. These are important skills for a marketer to develop;
2. Ability to demonstrate an understanding of the current marketing planning
i. process and environmental scanning requirements;
3. Ability to identify and assess relevant theoretical and management issues in the environmental scan and audit (PEST, SWOT, PESTL, TOWS, customer, competitor and stakeholder analysis);
4. Presentation of a logical arguments and gap analysis - where are the opportunities for growth;
5. Ability to justify your position with use of supporting references; and
6. Communication style, including correct spelling, grammar and referencing. Your report should be in Times New Roman 12 point with one and a half line spacing.
Assignment 2 - the strategic marketing plan
Word Limit: 3,000 words.
This assignment leads on from assignment 1. Essentially you are required to establish a marketing plan to increase the membership of the Chamber of Commerce for the target market you have focused on and given the situational analysis you have conducted in assignment 1.
This assignment should commence with an overall summary (about one page) of the context that you established in assignment 1. This will allow the marker to come up to speed on your analysis and thinking as the baseline for your recommendations in this assignment. You DO NOT need to include the full assignment 1 here but you may wish to replicate some of the analysis tables in appendices to this assignment if they are relevant.
This assignment should then commence with a specific statement of the marketing objective/s you are going to plan for based on the context you have set from assignment one. You will then show how each of the marketing mix elements will contribute to the achievement of this objective/s in your plan. Each of the elements of the marketing mix are to be considered (product, place, price and promotion) and for each you will need to discuss the strategy you will adopt (with appropriate justification from theory and other sources), and the tactics you would recommend.
Finally, you will conclude with consideration of a timeline for this plan indicating the ordering of your tactical elements which will result in the achievement of the overall objectives of the plan. You also need to present a contingency plan which would consider any threats or potential reactions from competitors that you identified in assignment one as potentially having a negative impact on your plan and how you would propose these be dealt with if and when they arise.
In writing your objectives be specific and avoid generic terms such as "increase," "decrease," implement as soon as possible", and other non-specific and non-analytical language. Be sure to attach all pertinent documents to your report such as any relevant tables and analysis from assignment one, to support your recommendations. Before submitting your document, ask yourself the question, "Does this contain all of the information that would be needed for someone else to make a decision in my favour and adopt the recommendations I have made?" If not, revise your work.
Your report needs to include the following:
? An overview or summary of assignment one - no longer than one page (this is not included in word count), the summary should briefly describe the target market you selected and the summary of the issues identified in assignment one about the product offering, the target market's decision making process and any other psychological factors that are relevant, competitor analysis and the overall marketing strategy you suggested be adopted in the development of the marketing plan.
? Include any relevant tables and analysis you conducted in assignment one as evidence to support your recommendations here in assignment two. These can be included either as appendices to the assignment or they can be incorporated into the body of assignment two as you deem relevant. Regardless of which approach you take, it is important that it is clear that these are the tables and analysis from assignment one.
? The marketing plan then needs to begin with a statement of the specific marketing objective/s for your target market. Make these objectives realistic, achievable and measurable (SMART objectives). Your objectives should align with the context established in assignment one and consider and be directed to the target market, in the location you have identified in that assignment.
? The marketing objectives for this campaign will then need to be translated into specific strategies and tactics for each element of the marketing mix (the 4 Ps). Whilst you need to be reasonably specific here remember you are constrained by a word limit and we are really looking for evidence that you have considered each of the elements and that you know how and why each suggestion fits with your overall objectives and goals for this campaign and how the elements fit with and complement each other (justification is essential and use the analysis you conducted in assignment 1). You need to provide enough detail to ensure we can see your thinking. Use tables here to assist with the word count (tables are not counted in the word count).
? Next consider the order or sequencing of activities with a marketing timeline related to your marketing tactics (i.e. what needs to occur first etc.).
? After you have developed your plan you then need to consider marketing contingencies, or what are the risky parts of your plan and are there any actions that need to be considered or prepared to counter these if they were to occur.
? Finally, provide an overall conclusion for your work that brings it all together and re-enforces your case for this plan.