What is unique or distinctive about the product or service that separates it from substitutes and competitors?

Product innovation and marketing are the only enduring competitive advantages that companies can use to survive and thrive in the marketplace. In the next 7 weeks, you are going to participate in designing and writing a marketing plan for a business, product, or service of your choosing. Your active participation in this project, first, is essential to building your understanding of marketing; secondly, you can use a well-written marketing plan to show prospective employers a sample of your work.

A marketing plan is a guide for the marketing activities of an organization for a specified period of time, typically about 5 years. The plan can be used internally to guide the marketing activities or it can be used to communicate with external audiences to raise capital. There are important questions to keep in mind as you design your plan.

1.    Is the marketing idea valid?

2.    What is unique or distinctive about the product or service that separates it from substitutes and competitors?

3.    Does a viable market exist for the product or service?

4.    Are the financial projections sound?

5.    Is the management team competent?

6.    How will the investors get their money back with a return on their investments?

In order to help you answer these questions and many others, the course provides the following items.

·         “Building an Effective Marketing Plan” as Appendix A on page 48 of your textbook (it includes an example of a marketing plan)

·         “Financial Aspects of Marketing” as Appendix B on page 368 of your textbook

·         A marketing plan outline located in Doc Sharing

·         A grading rubric for the marketing plan

Guidelines

Your final marketing plan should be between 4,000 and 6,000 words and must follow all APA guidelines. In Week 1, you will submit a two-page description of your business, product, or service for instructor approval of your topic. In Week 4, you will submit a substantial draft of your marketing plan for instructor feedback. In Week 5, you will submit a breakeven analysis for your business, product, or service. Your completed marketing plan is due at the end of Week 7.