COURSE: Diploma of Business & Enterprise
UNIT OF STUDY: Marketing
ASSESSMENT TITLE: Marketing a local product-service
ASSESSMENT TYPE: Part 1 - Individual Assignment (20%)
Part 2 - Individual Assignment (20%)
Instructions
? This assessment is in two parts, each worth 10% of your final result for this unit of study
? A front cover page must be used that shows the title of the assessment
? Your name, VU student ID and group ID must be on the front cover page
? If you do not pass either assignment with a mark of 50% or greater you will be able to do it again and resubmit it, but you will only be able to achieve a mark of 50% or a pass for this second attempt
? If your assignment is late it will be marked as a resubmission.
Resources required
? Please use the Student Manual, the Internet and Marketing text books
Description of Task
Objectives
• Analyse the way a organisation or business markets its products or services
• Understand key marketing concepts that are important in the marketing strategy of the business or organisation
• Collect marketing research about the business from observations, interviews and desk top research.
• Apply key marketing concepts in analysing your business
• Understand the marketing challenges faced by a company
Outcomes
• After completing this assignment you will be able to understand key marketing concepts and apply these concepts to a company.
Due Dates
Confirm the due dates with your teacher
Assessment task
Before you begin this assessment you will need to choose a small local business within an Industry that will enhance your career development. Consider local businesses and / or Government departments that provide services to the local community. Prior to completing this assessment visit local business areas or retail shopping centres to identify a business or organisation and undertake marketing research.
Your marketing research should be based on collecting marketing information, observations, brochures, interviewing the manager or staff, taking pictures of the business and online research.
Presentation of your work should be structured on using a heading for each of your responses
There are many, equally valid but different, formats for a Marketing or Promotional Plan. However in order to facilitate a fair and accurate marking of each part of the Assignment, you are instructed to use the following format:

Overall plan to look like this: Completed
as Assignment
1. Executive Summary – Part 2
2. Introduction – Part 1
2.1 Purpose of the plan
2.2 Scope.
2.3 Methodology.
3. Situation Analysis –Part 1
3.1 Market Analysis
3.2 Company summary
3.3 Products overview
3.4 Environmental Analysis
3.5 Customer Analysis
3.6 Competitors Analysis
3.7 SWOT Analysis
4. Marketing Objectives - Part 2
5. Target Market. - Part 2
6. Proposed Marketing Strategy - Part 2
7. Marketing Budget -Part 2
8. Conclusion - Part 2

COURSE: Diploma of Business & Enterprise
UNIT OF STUDY: Marketing
ASSESSMENT TITLE: Marketing a local product-service
ASSESSMENT TYPE: Part 1 - Individual Assignment (20%)
1. Introduction.
It is not yet possible to write the Executive Summary, which will precede this introduction in the final report.
The Introduction merely introduces the purpose of the report, for whom it is being prepared, and the period of time it is in respect of.
The introduction sets the scene for the whole plan. It establishes what is being marketed, who is doing it, to whom they are doing it, where they are doing it, when they are doing it, why they are doing it and the period that the campaign will cover.
2. Situation Analysis
2.1 Market Analysis
a) Research whether or not your industry is growing, maturing or declining. As many companies charge for the latest market information you may rely upon the latest freely available market information.
b) Acknowledge the problems and challenges of the marketplace you are entering.
c) Identify to what extent your market is threatened by newly emerging technologies and business approaches.
d) Your focus should also turn to the local scene, since local markets may or may not follow the greater industry trend.
e) Recognize the position your local competitors have taken in the local market; the clientele they serve, the product they produce, the price they expect to charge for their products and services.
f) Finally, relate your own businesses position to the position of others, reflecting on the maturity and experience of your business competitors.
2.2 Environmental Analysis
a) Conduct an environmental analysis that looks at and comments on your local area and your network of business contacts, competitors and customers.
b) Conduct an environmental analysis to look at and comment on the world in which you will be operating. Opportunities and Threats due to changing environmental conditions (like unemployment, layoffs, recession, high interest rates) directly affect consumer activity, and should be identified
c) Political and Legal.
Identify the regulations, permits, insurance, liability and taxation requirements that you must follow in order to operate your business.
d) Demographics
1) Describe the population base that exists to support your product. Identify the market size for your product, and the people that make up your product/service's consumer group. Provide information about:
2) Where they live, What products do they buy, How much they spend on similar products each year,
3) Where they shop for these products, etc. Indicate whether or not your product is geared towards a specific age group, with spending patterns and consumer demands. Indicate whether this group is shrinking, expanding or yet to be tapped into.
e) Suppliers
Identify your sources for direct purchasing by describing their locations, the frequency of your orders and the type and amount of supplies you will be ordering.
a. Social/Cultural
Explain any specialized consumer groups that can be identified apart from the general public. Identify the influence this could have on your projected sales.
2.3 Company / Product Analysis
Long and Short-Term company-wide goals.
In this section, the plan provides a brief description of the company, including perhaps its mission statement, background, and competitive advantages.
a) Product Attributes
Describe the main product features, major benefits received by those using the product, current branding strategies, etc.
b) Pricing
Describe pricing used at all distribution levels such as pricing to final users and to distributors, incentives offered, discounts, etc.
c) Distribution
Describe how the product is made accessible to final users including channels used, major benefits received by distributors, how product is shipped, process for handling orders, etc.
d) Promotion
Describe promotional programs and strategies in terms of advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and public relations, how product is currently positioned in the market, etc.
e) Services Offered
Describe support services provided to final users and distributors before, during and after the sale
2.4 Customer Analysis
a) Identify your existing customers – when, where, why and how- their ages, backgrounds, values and lifestyles, etc.
b) Identify your target market, describing how your company will meet the needs of the consumer better than the competition does. List the expectations consumers have for your type of product. Since demands may be different, products and services will vary between competitors. Product range, size, quality, price, distribution and after sales service are just some of the areas where this difference occurs.
c) Identify the segment of the market that you aim to benefit from your product and area of expertise as well as your approach to selling your product or service.
d) Predict the sales potential that may be realized by tapping into and holding onto your target market, and attracting others through different strategies and approaches. These different approaches can be all done at the same time or be more incremental - obtaining a core audience for your product or service first, then expanding into the rest of the market. Identify the sales potential for each of these target groups.
2.5 Competitor Analysis
Identify your direct competition by naming their business, describing, photographs are useful, their facilities and operations, identifying their share of the consumer market, realizing support for their product and by reviewing the weaknesses of their approach.
Bear in mind that your SWOT Analysis will wish to compare and contrast your Marketing Mix with that of your competitors and therefore you will need to have researched your competitors Products, Prices, Promotions and methods of Distribution and in the case of Retail and Service based businesses their People and Presentation.
2.6 SWOT Analysis
Strengths
• List the strengths of your business approach when compared to your competitors in terms of your marketing mix.
• List other assets of your operations such as flexibility, innovativeness, response to external pressures, creativity and company stability.
• Relate your experience (professionalism, duration and diversity) and the contacts you have made in all areas of your businesses operations - from suppliers to clients, government officials to business professionals.
Weaknesses
• Describe the areas of weakness in your company's operations, when compared to your competitors in terms of your marketing mix.
• Capital financing, credit, loans and other financial debts should be identified, with strategies to control their effect on your business.
• Recognize the limited impact of a new product on the market - its lack of recognition may be attributed to the company’s inexperience in promotion.
Opportunities – i.e. things that have not yet happened!
• Taking advantage of changes in demographics, product range, prices, promotional activities, distribution, new technologies etc.
• Examine how proper timing, as well as other factors such as your company's innovativeness, may improve your business's chances of success.
• Relate your company's focus to a segment of the present market that is being overlooked.
Threats – i.e. things that have not yet happened!
• List the external threats to your business' success, such as changes to existing competitors marketing mix, newly emerging competitors, the performance of the overall economy, and your dependency on other businesses such as suppliers, retailers and distributors for market access and support.
COURSE: Diploma of Business & Enterprise
UNIT OF STUDY: Marketing
ASSESSMENT TITLE: Marketing a local product-service
ASSESSMENT TYPE: Part 2 - Individual Assignment (20%)
Now to complete the Marketing Plan:
1. Executive Summary
Not all managers or executives have a large amount of time to read the whole report word for word, so would they like to read a brief overview of the plan to obtain a perspective of it before reading the details.
The executive summary is found at the very beginning of the report, usually after the title page, contents and acknowledgments, and just before the introduction.
3. Marketing Objectives
a) Objectives should be ‘Structured’ - each objective is guided by a -larger- objective or feeds into a -smaller- one. Thus, a business objective drives a marketing objective, which serves the larger business objective.
b) Objectives should be ‘Precise’ - written in a way that clearly defines a specific action and a definite period of time.
c) Objectives should be ‘Measurable’- in some way that enables the writer and user to determine whether or not or the degree to which the objective was met.
d) Objectives should be ‘Realistic’. Campaign objectives must be feasible given the constraints of time, budget, product and market factors.
e) Objectives should be ‘Flexible’ - often it is necessary to adjust to unforeseen and unpredictable circumstances.
f) Objectives should be ‘Long term’ - it is important that they contribute to long term progress and performance.
g) Objectives should meet ‘Legal & Ethical Considerations’ -Campaign objectives must also be set in the light of all legal and ethical requirements
4. Target Market.
The concept of target markets is one of the most basic, yet most important aspects of marketing. There is no such thing as the -one message- fits all marketing message. It is unrealistic to think that you can attract everyone. Defining your target market or segmenting your market helps you decide where to commit resources and what kinds of promotional methods and messages to use.
5. Proposed Marketing Strategy
Marketing Strategies are action steps that detail how the marketing variables of product, price, place and promotion are used to attain the marketing plan’s objectives and overall strategies
In addition, because of the growing customer emphasis of marketing, marketers have added, where appropriate, new customer-oriented components to the marketing mix: personnel / people, presentation, customer sensitivity, customer convenience, and service.
The Marketing Strategy has to answer the question as to how the company is going to reach the target audience i.e. the media it will use, the positioning that is appropriate and the message that is believed will prove effective.
6. Marketing Budget
Marketing budgets ensure that your marketing plan or campaign is realistically costed. Some pre-budget research into your industry and market, your competitors and your business's historical marketing metrics helps marketing managers make a more informed calculation. You should cost out all general marketing and marketing communications expenses, so that the client can compare the costs to the intended outcomes to judge whether the ends justify the means.
Conclusion
This is an expanded version of your Executive Summary.
It draws together the marketing report by summarizing the marketing problem that was identified, the proposed solution and the reason the writer has that the action recommended will achieve the stated marketing objectives.