Assignment 2 Marketing Management

This assessment entails to submit a written marketing plan (40%). Your analyses and discussion in the marketing plan report must show how your new / improved offering fills a marketing gap in the Oman market snack category.

Marketing Plan (Group)

Using the ideas from your opportunity analysis and other secondary data research, you are required to write a marketing plan for your new / improved product offering in the snack category for the Oman market.

As in the opportunity analysis assessment, you are required to develop your new improved product offering and support your idea with relevant secondary research and demonstrate that your new product offering is taking an advantage of a gap in the Oman market snack category.

To demonstrate analysis, you must not only present relevant data, but also explain clearly what it means. However, you must not contact sales & marketing personnel in any company in your chosen industry either directly or via contacts on a website. All information must be obtained from secondary research.

After you have selected and analysed your product and thoroughly understand its growth pattern, you need then to make a decision about how the industry can be expanded or developed. To do this you either take the perspective of a new entrant to the industry, or one of the established players. You must consider appropriate objectives, develop a marketing strategy and the marketing mix strategies you will need to achieve the objectives and strategy.

Maybe you could consider a new product line, a new variety, new distribution methods, and/or new advertising initiatives. For example, If you wish to reach a new consumer group, then you need to show that they exist. If you believe that a lower (higher) price is a key then you need to show that there is a trend to low prices, or evidence of economic pressures, that make the strategy sensible

A marketing plan is a structured way of presenting ideas to develop a product or service within its market space. We strongly suggest that you follow the marking criteria set out below to structure your marketing plan. There are many outlines, pro-formas and checklists available; a good example can be found in your text book.

The marking criteria for the individual opportunity analysis and the group marketing plan are found at the end of this brief.

Please note that you must reference all your sources carefully.

The following headings and sub-headings may assist you in identifying relevant issues for your secondary research, application of relevant marketing concepts for both your written marketing plan the oral presentation parts of the marketing plan assessment.

Introduction –

· Literature review

· Clear product description.

· Briefly outline your key differential unique selling point(s) or value proposition(s) for selected target market (to sign-post to your reader)

Market Analysis

Micro & macro factor analysis

· selecting the relevant factors and assessing why and how these factors contribute to the development of the opportunity

Customer analysis / segments /target markets –

· What segmentation variable(s) are useful for profiling your customer segments?

· Which segments are being targeted for the marketing plan?

· Competitor analysis – who are the three main competitors for the new / improved offering

· Why do these three companies pose such a threat? What are their strengths?

Industry or category definition

· Does the new/improved offering align with the snack food category/industry?

· If not discuss set out an explanation why this new offering fits into this category.

· A clear identification of your product category (industry) enables the business to identify your closest competitors and how best to position the new (or improved) offering in the market

Identifying a gap in the market for your product offering (positioning your new offering in the market

· How does the new offering create value for your customer groups? What is the differential value for the new improved product?

· What are the attributes that differentiate your offering from the competitors?

· These points highlight the value proposition and demonstrate the difference(s) for your new / improved offering.

Marketing Strategy

· Objectives of marketing plan

· Strategies to achieve marketing objectives, for example are there plans to adopt market penetration, market development strategies to grow your market

· SWOT analysis may be useful in thinking about strategy development

Action Plan – Marketing- Mix tactics

· Discussion of your marketing-mix tactics to achieve your business objective and strategy for the new / improved offering. (For example product, price, place, promotional activities to operationalise positioning / marketing strategy

· A hypothetical timeline for the marketing plan

· Action Plan – Marketing Mix tactics

· Integrated marketing-mix strategies discussion

· In-text citation

· Correct reference list