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Assessment 2 – Marketing Report

This document contains the details for the second assessment for BUMK1501 Introduction to Marketing. Included are aspects such as:

• The assignment overview;
• The assignment instructions;
• How the assignments are to be formatted; and
• How it will be assessed by using an Assessment Criteria Sheet (now in a separate Word document, to be downloaded from Moodle along with this document)

You should read this in conjunction with the Course Description, which contains other pertinent information on submission, etc. It is your responsibility to fully acquaint yourself with these requirements. If you are not clear on any aspect, please speak with your lecturer who will be happy to clarify any questions. ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW

Overview of the Assignment

Marketing, as you will learn this semester, is a very purposeful activity. It’s no accident that you, as a consumer, are exposed to the Marketing communications you see every day across numerous channels. Behind these messages and campaigns, notably those that target the correct consumers and are well-executed, is a huge amount of research. Marketers draw on information from a variety of sources to develop a clear understanding of the value their product or service provides, how to reach their target market, and how changes in the environments will impact their Marketing efforts. This information and more is usually uncovered by conducting a Situation Analysis, which is designed to identify trends within the Microenvironments and Macroenvironments to better understand the current business environment, customers and the business’ capabilities. The Situation Analysis then forms the foundation for the decisions marketers go on to make. This includes activities like Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning, and then making key decisions surrounding the 4 Ps (all of which we will discuss in class, so don’t worry if these terms are unfamiliar now).

To begin, you and your partner will select a brand with a good online presence (mainly because this makes them easy to find, and therefore complete an assignment on). You will then suggest a new product that the brand could introduce to the market. The product doesn’t need to be ‘new to world’ (e.g. brand new, never before seen), just new to the brand (e.g. the brand doesn’t currently make and sell such a product). Ideally your choice will be approved by your lecturer, as they will have some foresight as to how suitable it will be for such an assignment. Once you have determined your new product, you will then create a detailed marketing strategy following the structure listed in the following pages.

Such an assignment is designed to meet a number of objectives:

• Demonstrate your understanding of Marketing theory and its application in practice
• Integrate Marketing theory with research to provide an in-depth discussion of the relevant marketing environments, STP process and the 4 Ps
• Apply what is being learnt in this course directly to a real-life example
• Create a deeper understanding of the content from the course as it relates to the assignment

General Formatting Requirements for the Report

For those students who are unfamiliar or do not feel confident with academic writing, there are a number of sources on the Federation University and Library websites. Broadly speaking, the formatting of assignments should adhere to the following requirements:

• Report format—business (not an essay)
• Follow the headings outlined under the Assignment Instructions section
• Use a report Title page containing all of the relevant information
• The Executive Summary is placed before the Table of Contents and does not contribute to the word count
• The Table of Contents can be inserted using the following steps in Word: click on References, click Table of Contents and automate the process. If you have tables and figures you may want to consider having a Table of Tables and a Table of Figures shown after the Table of Contents. It’s usually easier to take this approach rather than try and format them manually when the assignment is finished
• Correct page numbering (e.g. the Cover Page is not numbered, the number format for the Executive Summary and the Table of Contents is i, ii, etc. The body of the report starting with the Introduction is numbered 1, 2, 3, etc.)
• Do not write in the first or second person (I, we, our)—write in third person only
• Proof-read before submission for spelling, grammatical and logic errors
• Fonts should be plain and easy to read (e.g. Tahoma, Arial, Times New Roman)
• Font size is typically between 10 and 12 for the body of the assignment
• Paragraphs are to be fully justified
• Paragraph spacing typically uses one space before and after a paragraph
• Line spacing should be set to single
• Any tables and diagrams used should be labelled (they do not form part of the word count)
• APA referencing style to be used (information on this can be found at the following link: http://federation.edu.au/current-students/learning-and-study/online-help-with/referencing)

Individual Assignment: Situation Analysis (30 Marks)

Assignment Instructions

Students are to use the following format for the assignment:

Title page

Executive Summary

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Industry Background
3. Marketing Environment

3.1 Microenvironment

3.1.1 Company

3.1.2 Customers

3.1.3 Competitors

3.2 Macroenvironment

3.2.1 Relevant Macroenvironment 1

3.2.2 Relevant Macroenvironment 2

3.2.3 Relevant Macroenvironment 3

3.2.4 Relevant Macroenvironment 4

4. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

4.1 Segmentation

4.2 Targeting

4.3 Positioning

5. Marketing Mix

5.1 Product

5.2 Price

5.3 Place

5.4 Promotion

6. Conclusion

References

Appendices (if applicable) ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW

The assignment begins by students briefly explaining the industry that their chosen organisation competes within, mentioning key characteristics such as its dollar value, how competitive it is domestically, whether it is growing or contracting and so on. The Microenvironment is then explained, notably the three key areas listed in the above format. Although the other environments are also relevant, those that are arguably ‘front and centre’ for an organisation are chosen for this assignment due to restrictions imposed by word limits. In these sections, students should lead with a small amount of theory to explain the environment, then delve into research to explain each of these environments as it relates to their business.

A similar approach is then to be taken for the Macroenvironments. For the Macroenvironments, often there are some that are more relevant to a given context than others. This is sometimes industry-specific, and sometimes there are simply some environments that provide quite a weak discussion for a prohibitive word count. If suitable, students can choose to just focus on those that are most applicable, hence listing the Macroenvironments as ‘Relevant Macroenvironments 1-4’. These will require research drawn from industry reports, journal articles and other relevant sources to adequately explain the nature of that environment relative to the chosen business and its core offering.

Students then discuss the Segmentation approach to be taken, followed by the Targeting and Positioning activities for the organisation. The report then shifts into the 4 Ps, which is where students will explain, in detail, their new product in relation to each of the 4 Ps.

For a report of this size and calibre, students should aim to have approximately 16 original references. This is particularaly important to mention in the context where students are discussing a business they are quite familiar with, as from previous deliveries of this course I’ve seen many students rely heavily on what they know about the business, as opposed to investing a suitable research effort to provide adequate justification for suggestions being made.

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