Fundamentals of Marketing

This course presents the current intricacies of marketing, including product production, selling and marketing concepts; marketing-mix factors; decision-making on product distribution; purchasing processes; market segmentation and competition; and environmental forces.

My company is Starbucks. 

Assignments

1. Content Analysis on Media of Choice

Tasks

• Choose one form of media to analyze: radio, television (broadcast or cable), newspapers, magazines, or the Internet.
• Use the outlines that are provided in PDF format for this assignment.
• Fill in the information required in the outline, be careful not to delete the questions of your classmates will not be able to understand your responses.
• Of the outlines you download, remember that your assignment is to choose one type of media that you are familiar with to analyze. 

2. Project—Choose a Company and Provide a Rationale

 Each week of the course, you will be asked to complete a phase of a project that reflects your learning from that week. For this project, you will imagine that you are the company's Marketing Manager. The project will culminate in a complete Marketing Plan Outline
This week, your assignment is to choose a company that is a favorite of yours—a company that produces something you buy and use regularly. You will not be able to change companies, so choose very wisely.
In this week’s submission you will write a 250-450 word rationale explaining:

• What about the company’s marketing attracted you?
• Why does this company appeal to you?
• What do you think of when you think of this company?
• How often do you use this company’s products or services?

• The business model used
• The business to business side as well as the consumer side of the company if applicable
• Define what the company does, do they sell a product or service?
• Are there multiple brands associated with the company-focusing on the specific brand you will use for your project
• Is the company large or small, what is their corporate culture (how the company is run/ethics/company mindset)? 

3. Project—Define Main Products and Target Audience

 Create a simple PowerPoint presentation that represents the target audience of your selected company and the specific brand/product that you have chosen. Remember that you need a specific target market-usually a gender, age range of about 20 years, income range of  about 25K, marital status and education at minimum. You do not want to use subjective terms such as “wealthy” and “older” when defining your target market. 

 4. Project—Choose a Company and Provide a Rationale

Now conduct a SWOT analysis for your company and a Competitive Analysis for one of their key competitors. 

• Develop a SWOT analysis for your chosen company (specific to the brand/product chosen.)
• Review the format for a SWOT and pay close attention to Internal and External factors.
• Use bullet points to list each Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat.
• Provide a minimum of five Strengths, five Weaknesses, five Opportunities and five Threats.
• Choose a key competitor and gather some data and research on this company. 

5. Project: Diving Deeper—Understanding Your Brand's Components

Using the techniques you have developed thus far in the course, research your company and:

• Explain the emotional and functional relationships your company’s products have with its target consumer base. Label each section clearly.
• You will have seen creative themes being implemented for this brand over time. Which of those themes do you think were effective? How did they effectively reach you, or not?
• Explain the 4Ps of one of your company’s products. Label a section for each of the 4P’s and describe each in relation to your chosen product. Be detailed in your discussion.
• Suggest at least one “creative strategy” that you think would lead to interesting and effective marketing campaigns.
• This means that you should think of themes that would appeal to your brand/product target audience – ideas include the “Dodge Different” campaign or the current “Nissan Shift” campaign.
• Explain how your theme should appeal to the consumer and what it is trying to represent about the brand.
• Be detailed in your explanation, include what the ads will look like, where they may be placed and what the message might be.

6. Project: Brand Foundation

• Research your company and develop your brand foundation of 750-1000 words. Include have each of the following sections:
  • Brand vision
  • Brand definition
  • Brand position
  • Brand stakeholders and target
  • SWOT analysis
  • Current brand situation
• Each section should have its own header and the brand foundation should include each of these sections presented in a professional way.
• Explain how you reached these conclusions and provide the sources upon which you've based your findings.
• A minimum of three sources beyond the company website must be used.

7. Summary: Using AIDA to Build Brand Awareness

• Write a brief summary (300–500 words) about how you could implement the AIDA process in building brand awareness, identity, loyalty and equity in your selected company.
• Clearly identify each section of AIDA: Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action, and the steps you would take to move a consumer through each stage.
• Consider what marketing techniques you would use and how they would best achieve your goals.
• In a 100- to 200-word summary, explain the five to seven times "rule" and how it relates to AIDA.
• Discuss how the five to seven times rule has been applied to your plan for AIDA

8. Summary: Planning Marketing Objectives, Strategies, Tactics

Part I
Consider your brand and research how they currently employ Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Consider what you have read about the sales process this week.

• Explain the relationship between sales and marketing at your chosen company, specifically relationship marketing—how does the marketing team support and encourage sales’ relationships with customers?
• How does the sales team support marketing? 
• Explain your findings in a 100- to 200-word submission

Part II
Determine basic objectives, and make suggestions for strategies and tactics—which may include direct marketing, event marketing, advertising, etc. Remember, this is an outline that presents your ideas for objectives, strategies and tactics.  Your submission should be 250-500 words

• Research your company and make suggestions for the following items in your Marketing Plan outline:

• At least two corporate objectives
• At least 2 strategies and 2 tactics to achieve these objectives

• Two marketing objectives
• At least 2 strategies and 2 tactics to achieve these objectives

Explain how you reached these conclusions and provide the sources upon which you’ve based your findings. Please provide a separate response to the subject in each of the bulletpoints.

9.  Project—Cultural Marketing in the United States

• Choose just one of the following: a state or region, an ethnic group or a gender
• Research  your choice in detail, examining their preferences, habits, the population of the audience, and any other key specifics related to the group you have chosen.(The Census Bureau information can be very helpful)
• Write a summary of 400-600 words, discussing the strategies and tactics you would use to market your chosen company’s products to this target audience.
• Explain how you reached these conclusions and provide the sources upon which you’ve based your findings. 

10. Project: Zero-Based Simple Budget and Initial Submission

A method of budgeting in which all expenses must be justified for each new period. Zero-based budgeting starts from a "zero base" and every function within an organization is analyzed for its needs and costs. Budgets are then built around what is needed for the upcoming period, regardless of whether the budget is higher or lower than the previous one. 

• Discuss how you would select the appropriate marketing tactics.
• Explain how you reached these conclusions and provide the sources upon which you’ve based your findings.
• Using the Excel spreadsheet provided at the link below, create a simple Zero-based budget for your selected company.
• You should research actual media costs, such as magazines, radio, etc. and use the rates located to help you develop your plan. Ask your instructor if you need help locating or understanding the rates needed.
• Use the strategies and tactics you already put into your marketing plan. Explain your rationale for the strategies and tactics you have selected and how they are represented in your budget.

11.  Project Final: Marketing Plan Outline Presentation

 

• Use the marketing plan you provided in W5: Assignment 2 as the basis for your presentation.
• Take each section of the marketing plan and put them into a simple PowerPoint presentation.
• Make any changes necessary based on feedback from W5: Assignment 2
• The idea is to present key elements in bullet forms but in a way that anyone going through the presentation can understand. This is an important practice in the real world.
• Include these elements from your marketing plan:
• Brand Foundation
• Corporate Objectives
• Strategies
• Tactics
• Marketing Objectives
• Strategies
• Tactics
• Creative Strategy
• Cultural Marketing
• Zero-Based Budget Spreadsheet
• Zero-Based Budget Written Explanation
• All sources in MLA format