Write the following steps below of the business plan.

3. Company Products and Services

Provide a detailed description of your product and/or service offering. Attributes to consider include:
• Brand name
• Convenience item vs. specialty good
• Size or Model
• Etc..
What are you going to offer customers and why? What will they get with the purchase? This is the good and the service! See the Module 2 discussions to get ideas from other companies. What makes them different? What will you offer?

 
7. Marketing Strategy

A. Target Market
Identify and describe your target market and the industry in which you will be competing, along with the market positioning and image of your product. Include a demographic and psychographic profile of significant customer characteristics.
Outside research is REQUIRED for the CUSTOMER DEMOGRAPHICS of the business plan. BE SURE TO CITE YOUR REFERENCE SOURCES BY PROVIDING DIRECT URL LINKS!
For the purpose of this assignment, you can make up information when providing a psychographic profile, only, for your target market. But, be sure to denote it with an asterisk* as made-up information, such as: This target market is brand loyal* (denotes made-up information).

1. Customer Demographics
a. Number of potential buyers; how many customers does the market contain (i.e., what is the size of the market, measured by either volume or dollar size, or preferably both).
b. Geographic location of the customers
c. Characteristics of buyers (age, income, occupation, education, sex, family size, race)

**Refer to the Demographics and Psychographics information that follows for helpful hints which, among other things, provides a great URL to a U.S. Census site to begin your research.

DEMOGRAPHICS HELPFUL HINTS

DEMOGRAPHICS include such variables as population characteristics, such as age, income, education, race, etc.

Suppose you decide to open a retail store in Denver, Colorado, which means Denver is the geographic area for your target market. The best place to obtain the demographic information you need is through the Census Bureau.
https://www.census.gov/en.html

If you go to the top of the page, you'll see a pulldown screen where you can change the county and state, and get this kind of information for every county in the nation. Be sure to cite your URL reference in your assignment when quoting statistics of this kind, as follows:

"According to the 2002 Census Bureau, the adult population in Denver is...." (insert URL).

2. Customer Psychographics
Some considerations for you to include are:
• What motivates buyers to buy?
• Can any consumer preferences be identified? Identify individual influences (attitudes, needs, motives, perceptions).
• Identify environmental influences (cultural influences, social groups, reference groups, family influences)
• Which product features influence customers’ buying decisions?
• How do buyers buy (brand specifications or not, impulse vs. planned, cash or credit, size of purchase)?
• Where do buyers buy (urban, suburban, rural, trading center, local type stores)?
• When do buyers buy; what’s the potential annual purchases and nature of buying cycle (time of week, month, and year; frequency of purchase)? Is this product a durable good that lasts for years or is it a product that is repurchased on a regular basis?
• What is the desired image in the marketplace?
• Identify individual influences (attitudes, needs, motives, perceptions)

**Remember to insert reference source and link, if you have integrated outside research.

PSYCHOGRAPHICS HELPFUL HINTS

Psychographics is the analysis of a person's daily patterns of living as expressed in that person's activities, interests, and opinions. You can think of this concept in terms of what and why buyer's buy things (a lifestyle analysis).

Why buyers buy:
• Individual influences, such as attitudes, needs, motives, perceptions
• Environmental influences: cultural influences, social groups, reference groups, family influences
How buyers buy:
• Brand specifications or not
• Impulse or planned purchase

You can do some research to populate this section, or you can make up information -- but, if you make up information, it needs to be denoted with a superscript asterisk, as follows:

The target market for a Mountaineer SUV is 34.8 years old male, married, lives in a three-bedroom home, and has 2.3 children (these are all demographic indicators). He is a community-oriented consumer with traditional values who especially enjoys spectator sports and spends much time on other family activities.* (made-up information based on an assumed lifestyle profile).

B. Promotion Mix and Sales Strategy

Specifically identify which of the following elements of the promotion mix you will use and explain why (chapters 9-10 in the e-text):

1. Publicity (pages 347-351)
2. Social networking (pages 354-361)
3. E-commerce (chapter 10)- what will your web site presence look like? What promotions will you offer? How will you communicate with the customer after the point of sale? What efforts will you put in to retain the relationship?

C. Pricing Strategy

Describe your pricing strategy and objectives, as it pertains to the product life cycle. Consider the following:
• Stage of the Product Life Cycle
• Will you enter the market as a high, medium, or low-cost provider?
• Do you plan to implement a skimming, penetration, or other pricing strategy?
• Is your objective to obtain volume or profitability?
• How does your product/service compare with that of your competition?
Will you offer discounts and allowances, cash discounts, trade-ins, and promotional allowances?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

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