Assignment #$1-$ Company Assessment

As a foundation for a digital marketing strategy, you are asked to conduct research to gain an understanding of their company's business, current marketing efforts, and market analysis. Instructors may choose to find companies for teams to work with or allow students to reach out to potential companies themselves. Students can work with a real$-$life company one$-$on$-$one or from publicly available information. In this case, as noted above, a Fortune $1000$ company is a good choice to have enough public information.

Students should be instructed to learn more about their companies through their websites, social media sites, and other marketing materials.

Students should provide a report with the following information:

Company Profile:

Name, location, and number of employees. Provide a brief history of the business and describe their business model, pipe, or platform. Include a summary of goods and$/$or services offered, and the company's value proposition. Library resources such as Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage or D&B Hoovers can often provide this information.

Report the website URL, along with a description of the website and its purpose. Note the website's age and any other relevant factors.

Report any social media profiles being used by the company.

Discuss the company's main distribution channels and subchannels $($e$.$g$.,$ the website is the company's main channel for sales, but they also have a small sales team that identifies and contacts potential customers$).$

Discuss any customer retention strategies, including email marketing, used by the company.

Report any additional relevant information.

Market Analysis:

Who are the company's current and potential customers $($this can be obtained through the company interview$).$

Who are the company's current and potential competitors $($this can be obtained through the company interview and through first$-$hand research$).$ Library databases such as D&B Hoovers can often provide this insight.

Provide a brief overview of the industry $($key characteristics, competitive$/$saturated$/$mature$).$ Library sources such as Mintel are great for this type of background information.

Note: if there is any seasonality for the goods or services that you or the company have identified.

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