Marketing Plan Development: Understanding Concepts and Models

Key Learning Objectives

On completion of this unit you should be able to:

1.Demonstrate the following knowledge and understanding;

A defined range of popular concepts and models used to inform planning decisions in marketing

2.Demonstrate the following skills and abilities;

Formulate a competent integrated data-justified marketing plan.

What am I required to do in this assignment?

The single assessment on this unit takes the form of a formal open book exam in which you will write up into a marketing plan that you have developed over the course of the unit.

The case study topic will be released in Week 4 of the unit.

Is there a size limit?

There is no formal word limit although the UoB guideline is 700 words for each hour. The exam lasts for 2 hours.

What do I need to do to pass? (Threshold Expectations from UIF)

In order to pass Assessment 1 you will need to:

·Using found data, carry out a competent contextual analysis and identify appropriate and sensible marketing objectives

·Select and apply suitable recognised models and theories to construct a justified, integrated, measurable plan

How do I produce high quality work that merits a good grade?

We will discuss this in Sessions 4 & 11

We would expect students to complete this section on the lines of the following:

Students achieving higher grades will demonstrate good understanding of the process of marketing planning and will include application of the marketing literature beyond the required models and frameworks.

To produce my plan I need to follow the order of the workshop materials

This is a marketing plan, so should be focused on a particular target market

I need to write up a plan that demonstrates ROI

How does assignment relate to what we are doing in scheduled sessions?

The assignment task draws on and explores your understanding of the various aspects of marketing planning that we explore in class.  You should address the case study using a similar order of topics to the weekly themes.

How will my assignment be marked?

Your assignment will be marked according to the threshold expectations and the criteria on the following page.

You can use them to evaluate your own work and estimate your grade before you submit.

·If the exam should be on-campus then you will be permitted to take in a non-programmable calculator and no more than four A4 pages of handwritten (not typed) notes into the examination room. These will be checked during the examination.

·Some extra instructions will be contained in your exam paper.

·The rubric which will be used to mark your examination paper is included in the assignment brief and you should use this to ensure that what you submit is on track.

·For the purposes of this submission you may assume that snack food development costs are sunk and do not need to be taken into account. You should identify your likely manufacturing, stock and simple distribution costs.

·If your product is to be sold through a third party then you should identify the trading relationship including trade pricing.

·Since the plan is for a new product you should focus on market testing, seeing the project as a pilot

·You should use appropriate marketing theories to support your plan. You will want to refer to the materials covered at Level 4 in Principles of Marketing to support your plan.

·You should provide references for all market information and theories.

·You may discuss with other students the retail snack market. However, the product that you propose should be based on your own ideas, your own products and your own secondary research.

·Marketing Plan templates can be found online, at the back of the core text, in Guided Learning on BREO, there is even a Microsoft Word marketing plan template. Feel free to use any of these.