This week you will submit to me your marketing plan topic. It can either be an existing product or service or you can create one. This week is to submit by an attachment the product idea and/or company you wish to use for your Marketing Plan. You can develop a new product idea or you may also develop a plan for an entirely new company that does not exist. If you want to come up with a new product idea, you need to decide what company might manufacture and distribute this for you. (For example, you wouldn't tell me you will be coming up with a new product for Rubbermaid. You would tell me you have come up with a product that can clean under appliances in the kitchen, and Rubbermaid will manufacture and distribute it.) Come up with something new, fun, interesting, or maybe something you've always wished you had but isn't "out there". You can also be an entrepreneur and develop a plan for a new business (it must not currently exist)

Cover Page The following information will be included on the cover page: Principles of Marketing Marketing Plan Name of your Product or Service Picture of Your Product or Service

Business Mission Statement

A business mission statement answers the question What is our business? More specifically it should describe the type of business your organization represents including what type of products or services you offer as well as the customers you service. Executive Summary An executive summary, or management summary, is a short document or section of a document, produced for business purposes, that summarizes a longer report or proposal or a group of related reports in such a way that readers can rapidly become acquainted with a large body of material without having to read it all. It usually contains a brief statement of the problem or proposal covered in the major document(s), background information, concise analysis and main conclusions. It is intended as an aid to decision-making by managers and has been described as the most important part of a business plan. Situational Analysis or SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Its important for organizations to understand the Strengths and Weaknesses that are inside the organization as well as the Opportunities and Threats that may be present outside of the organization. Armed with this information organizations are able to strategically plan to compete in the marketing environment. Goals and Objectives Another way of thinking in terms of objectives is goals. What objectives are needed to be pursued within the organization? Here are just a few examples.

• To invest 15% of net profits into a direct advertising campaign
• To capture 20% market share within the next year
• To distribute the product regionally

Marketing Strategy In this section of the plan, How will the organization market the product? Its important in this section of the plan to address the consumers needs. Its important to note that consumers do not buy what the organization sells, but what they believe adds value.

Target Market Strategy The target market strategy list those explicit group or groups of customers that you want to sell your product to. But there is a strategy involved in this section. A strategy simple means describing how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources). An example of a marketing strategy might be to; market to consumers who use your product or mention a specific advertising campaign that might be used to promote the product or service. Marketing Mix A gentleman by the name of Neil Borden first coined this phrase in 1953. This is a technique that allows businesses to apply the four different choices of Product, Price, Place and Promotion when determining its plan to market a product to customers. It is worth mentioning that there are however 7 ps that can be applied as well when adding Physical Environment, Process, and People. However, we will discuss the 4 Ps and their content. There are a number of items that exist within each portion of the marketing mix.

• Product:
  • What type of product does the consumer want?
  • What is the name of the product?
  • How is the product branded?
• Price:
  • What does the product cost?
  • What Value Proposition does this price offer the consumer?
  • How does your price compare to competitor pricing?
• Place:
  • Where could possible buyers look for your product?
  • Which type of distribution channel will you use to distribute the product?
  • Will a sales force be needed?
• Promotion:
  • What type of marketing message will you use?
  • Which type of medium will you use to promote your product? T.V., Social media.
  • Which type of promotional efforts are your competitors using?

The whole purpose of a marketing mix is used so organizations are able to control the marketing plan.

Important Notes:

• Include a cover page.
• Do not include the first two headings. Start with Business Mission Statement.
• In the Marketing Mix section, include all of the questions in each section. Justify your answers.
• All headings are 14 font size bold and underlined
• All text will be 12 font size.
• References will be on the last page of the plan.