This benchmark assignment assesses the following competencies:

Competency 5.2: Evaluate internal and external environments and consumer and business buying behavior that affect marketing strategies.

The purpose of this assignment is to utilize what has been learned about the consumer decision-making process for the brand and its targeted consumers to make recommendations for marketing and communication strategies that will increase sales and profits for the brand.

Part 1

Continuing in the role of a marketing professional who has been tasked with using the study of consumer behavior to develop and effective marketing and communication strategy for a client, consider all of the brand research you have completed in previous assignments as well as what you have learned about the consumer decision-making process. Create a client-centered PowerPoint presentation (10-12 slides) that addresses the following.

1. Provide a brand summary based on the Topic 1 assignment research.
2. Describe the brand target market based on the Topic 3 assignment research.
3. Discuss consumer responses to the current marketing communications and provide examples of these strategies.
4. Summarize brand influencers and describe how they affect the consumer decision-making process. Include examples of these influences.
5. Discuss how marketers have applied the diffusion of innovation model to their marketing communications for the brand.
6. Discuss the brands marketing and communication strategy as it relates to ethics and the principles of conscious capitalism. Would you consider the brands messaging ethical? Does the brand implement principles of conscious capitalism? Could the brand potentially improve its messaging by focusing more on either of these? Why?
7. Using your evaluation of the internal and external factors that affect consumer buying behavior and your knowledge of the consumer decision-making process, summarize how the brands target consumers make the decision to buy the product. (C. 5.2)
8. Make two or three recommendations for marketing and communication strategies the brand could employ to increase sales and profits for the target market. Justify your recommendations with specific reasons, facts, and examples from your research and the course materials.