The Marketing Plan $($Chapter $2$ & page $551$ & $552)$

As a marketer, you will need a good marketing plan to provide direction and focus for your brand, product, or company. With a detailed plan, any business will be better prepared to launch a new product or build sales for existing products.

For the final project, you should develop a marketing plan. You can decide specifically what you want to market. The paper should be in APA format $($double spaced, Times New Roman, $12$ pt font, a cover page that includes all group members' names$)(10$ points$).$

The marketing plan should include each of the sections below $($read each section$\text{'}$s instructions carefully and provide a thorough description$)$:

Product$-$ Identify what you want to market, $($we will refer to this as your product$-$ it can be a business, a product, an idea, an organization, etc.$)$ Briefly describe your product. $(10$ points$)$

Customer Segments$-$ Create a list of $4$ to $5$ customer segments that this product could appeal to$,$ provide a brief description of why your product would appeal to this market. $$This is an important step because it will help guide the rest of the work you do on this project. $(15$ points$)$

Target Market$-$ Based on the list of customer segments you identified, select one of these segments as your target market. Explain why you chose this group to be your target market. What was more appealing about this group than the other segments? What features and benefits does your business$/$product offer to this target market that would appeal to them? $(15$ points$)$

SWOT Analysis$-$ Conduct a SWOT Analysis$-$ Define what you think the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats may be for the organization. Make sure this section is thorough$-$you should provide a list for each of these factors. $(10$ points$)$

Positioning$-$ How will you position your product? To determine your position, think about how you will differentiate your product. What makes your product different than the competition that could lead to value for the consumer? For example, you could position the DMI as 'Nashville for Indie Singers,$\text{'}$ or the MBA program as 'the most valuable MBA in the state.$\text{'}$ Just make sure your claims are legit! $(10$ points$)$

Objectives$-$ Determine what objectives your marketing campaign will try to achieve. Make sure they are reasonable objectives. For example, if your plan is to market the College of Business and Aviation, your objective could be to grow enrollment in the College by $5\%$ each year for two years OR if you are marketing DMI, your objective could be to bring in $$10,000$ a year in revenue from renting recording studios, etc. $(5$ points$)$

Issues$-$ What are the main issues that could hamper your objectives? Are there ways around these issues? $(5$ points$)$

Marketing Communication Strategy$-$ how will you promote this product? Will you use personal selling, will you purchase ads on social media, will you use public relations$/$sales promotions$/$traditional advertising, etc. I want you to come up with the best ways in which you think your product could be promoted. This should be a pretty detailed and thorough section as it is very important! Remember, you can have the best product in the world but if people don't know about it$,$ it won't be successful. $(20$ points$)$