Marketing Planning

Marketing Planning assignments, academic questions.

Marketing planning is about defining activities, based on a detailed analysis of the company and its environment, which will support the various business goals. It also involves setting up a timeline for the work.

Questions and Answers

Question: Classify the following as either internal or external factors: Marketing expertise & knowledge, Financial position, Changes in business tax, Product range, A fewer competitors, Change in government, Brand name, Service quality, Customer base, Rapid technology change, Good relationship with stakeholders, Distribution system.

Question: Carry out situation analysis on your selected business organisation by doing the following:

• Research market sources for information on each element of SWOT. Try to collect as many factors as you can and list them under each element.
• Construct TOWS strategy matrix using SWOT factors.
• List all PEST (PESTLE) factors that might impact on your business organisation.
• Find out two main competitors and identify their strengths and weaknesses
• Reference all sources according to the Harvard Referencing style.
• Your draft report should be completed in about a week to show your

Question: Irish multinational fast fashion retailer Primark, with headquarters in Dublin, has various stores spread across Europe and in the United States. Primark sells a very wide range of products across various product lines: Women, Men, Kids, Home and Beauty. There are a number of products within each of these product line.

Use the above information and any information you might have on Primark and the retail clothing market, conduct a situation analysis for Primark by answering the following questions: 1. Conduct a SWOT analysis for Primark by listing the main factors for each of the four elements; (S) Strengths, (W) Weaknesses, (O) Opportunities and (T) Threats. Then prepare a TOWS matrix to assess the business attractiveness of the company. 2. Conduct a PLEST or PESTEL analysis for Primark. 3. In a memo to your class tutor outline your recommendations for the company’s potential market development.

Question: Marketing Planning Report of 2500 words.

The Task:

1. Write a report which evaluates The Spice Kitchen’s marketing activities and approach. Your report should draw on relevant marketing theory and provide a critical commentary of the organisation and its key findings. Make sure to define key terms used i.e. Marketing Mix, STP etc. You should ensure you reference your work using Cite them right/ Harvard.

Definitions and theoretical models should be from textbooks. ( Baines, Wood and Kotler)

Section 1: Introduction to your report

Introduce the Spice Kitchen. You should briefly explain how you went about collecting evidence for your report. You should also set the scene theoretically by summarising changing conceptions of marketing in recent years. What should you write:

Company Introduction (include the fact how they went from offline to online due to pandemic and they met success. How did you go about collecting evidence for your report. (eg website., spice kitchen videos, blogs, passport, Mintel etc- you can create a smart art.)

Section 2: External analysis of the sector using a PESTEL framework

Task: Using a PESTEL framework, conduct an external analysis of the sector (business context), highlighting key factors which may be a threat or an opportunity for the organisation going forward. This part of your report should summarise your understanding of key concepts relating to the sector. You should then explain how you undertook the analysis and identify the key factors that emerged from it. The completed PESTEL itself should be placed as an appendix item.

What should you write : Define PESTEL analysis and why it is done. Define the factors and mention one or two key things that impact the business sector positively or negatively. Also mention a couple of lines about how you undertook the analysis and the final take away from this PESTLE analysis.

Section 3: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Strategy (500 words)

Task: Using the STP framework, describe the organisation’s Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning approach, identifying one target consumer and the specific needs and wants of that segment. You should clearly apply Kotler’s (1984) DAMP model to your targeting strategy, you must also include a perceptual map for your organisation and its competitors. This part of your report should show your understanding of key concepts relating to consumers and end-users. You should then briefly discuss theories of market segmentation, targeting and positioning before applying the STP framework to the Spice Kitchen.

What should you write :

Define Segmentation. Discuss broadly and conceptually the 4 variables used for segmentation geographic, demographic, behavioural and psychographics.

Define Targeting. Define the segment which SK is targeting (above segment) and discuss the needs and wants of this segment. Also discuss why they targeted this segment with the help of Kotler’s (1984) DAMP model. ( Justify why this target segment is Distinct, Accessible, Measurable and Profitable ( DAMP)

Define positioning and positioning strategies. Discuss which positioning strategies have they (SK) adopted and why? Draw a perceptual Map based on the positioning strategy, explaining the perceptual Map.

Also mention a couple of lines about how you undertook the analysis and the key lessons and final take away from this STPs analysis

Section 4: The marketing mix

Task: Marketing Mix Analysis: Using the 7P Marketing Mix framework, detail how marketing tactics could be employed to attract one key consumer segment. Your report should include the discussion and application of theoretical concepts e.g ‘customer segmentation’

This part of your report should show your understanding of key concepts relating to marketing activities. You should explain how you used the 7P Marketing Mix framework to analyse the Spice Kitchen’s marketing activities and summarise the key findings.

Define Marketing Mix. Define each of the P’s and discuss theoretical concepts around each P. For Spice Kitchen, under each P, analyse and evaluate Spice kitchen’s marketing activities, discussing how they are meeting the needs of the target customers.

Section 5: Provide an internal analysis using a SWOT

Task: Using the SWOT framework, provide an internal analysis of the organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in successfully meeting the needs and wants of the target consumer segment. Review the implications of your findings for the Spice Kitchen. As appropriate, you should summarise the effectiveness of current marketing arrangements and indicate areas for further development.

This part of the report should bring together the findings from the previous analysis and, using the SWOT framework, provide an internal analysis of the Spice Kitchen’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in successfully meeting the needs and wants of the target consumer segment. As appropriate, you should summarise the effectiveness of current marketing arrangements and indicate areas for further development.

Define SWOT analysis. Do a SWOT analysis for Spicekitchen. You will need to bring in factors from your PESTLE analysis / External analysis for the SWOT. Based on the SWOT analysis, evaluate and summarise the effectiveness of current marketing arrangements of SK. Also indicate areas for further development. ( Do this from the perspective of Marketing activities mainly).

Section 6: Recommendations

Finally, you should summarise the key findings from your analyses and make some recommendations in terms of the Spice Kitchen’s marketing approach. Based on the analysis that you have done till now, you need to give in recommendations with justifications. Your Recommendations should be linked back to the issues analysed/ gap that you have indicated earlier. You should also comment on your conduct of the evaluation, identifying any limitations in the evidence gathered and techniques used.

Section 7: Conclusions

Build a final conclusion ( a summary) on the report about how you went about doing the reports, data sources, your findings and conclusions.

Sources of Information for Market related data:

a) Passport – for Industry and sector related data b) Marketline Advantage-– for Industry and sector related data c) Mintel- for Consumer related Data on habits, preferences etc

Sources of Information for the company:(Company websites, blogs and social sites