Guidelines for Marketing Project
Summary
You will be assigned to a group of 5 students each. You and your team members
will complete a marketing plan for a new business of your choice, as if you
are starting a small business together. The marketing project is separated
into two components: Mid-term report and the presentation.
- Mid-Report (10 Points): Report must be e-mailed to Professor Ro by 11:59PM
on 11/5/2012
- Final Presentation (20 Points): 11/28, 12/3, and 12/5/2012 (20 minutes per
group; 15min presentation, 5min Q&A)
Note
To prevent free riding, each member of the group will assess their team
members’ contributions to the project. Individuals can receive deductions
if their team members indicate a lack of contribution. Peer evaluation
instructions will be provided to you toward the end of the semester. You
will turn in peer evaluations twice (for mid-report and final
presentation).
Important Tips
- Apply the marketing knowledge you learned in class to your project. This
will help you develop a strong marketing plan, and will also give you a
higher grade.
- Stay focused: ONLY present directly relevant information in your papers
and presentations.
- Be as specific as possible. For example, instead of saying the prices will
differ across order sizes, give specific numbers (1: $10, 2: $18, etc)
- Provide an argument for your decisions. For example, if you are going to
charge $20 for your service, also states WHY you think that price is
reasonable or optimal.
Choosing a Business
For your business, completely new good or service would be better, but at the
minimum, it has to be something currently not served in Austin.
A few pointers to keep in mind when choosing a business (simply suggestions -
not requirements - for what have made good projects in the past):
- Something small. This will help you be more focused and make it easier for
you to apply marketing concepts in straightforward manner.
- Start with your own problem - is there a need that you have as a consumer
that is not met by any product in current market?
Mid-Term Report Paper
Contents
Business
- Start by selecting a business.
- Identify a marketing idea - an unsatisfied consumer need (please see the
above section for pointers on choosing a business).
- Creative thinking is encouraged, but your plan must be realistic and
executable. Respect reasonable constraints (i.e. resources) and
environmental forces (i.e. the economy).
- Once you discover a consumer need and a target market, describe what good(s)
or services(s) you plan to offer to satisfy this need.
Market Situation
- Analyze your target market.
- Who are they? What are they like? What are their needs?
- Including the size and growth of the market.
- Environmental Forces: describe any of the social, economic, technological,
competitive, and regulatory trends that may be pertinent to the performance
of your business, both currently and in the future. Apply concepts from your
textbook chapter 3.
- Include SWOT analysis
Marketing Research Plan
Note
Remember it is MAXIMUM 10 pages. Number of pages will not be a factor in
grading.
Final Presentation
Format
- 15 minute presentation
- 5 minute Q&A
- You can freely choose who is going to present - one presenter, a couple of
presenters, or each members of your group taking turns - all fine
- Please upload the pdf version of your slides on the file exchange of your
group in the Blackboard
Contents
- Please keep in mind that essentially the evaluation of your the presentation
depends on how convincingly you argue that your product will be successful
in the market
- You will present your business plan with marketing mix
- Please address issues raised in the feedback
- Since you have not conducted marketing research, you should provide
reasonable arguments for your decisions
- In addition to the materials from the Mid-Term paper, your presentation
should include the following contents
Marketing Research Plan
- Describe what are the research objectives and what kind of research you
would do
Marketing Mix
- Specify and describe the proposed decisions for each marketing mix element
- (the 4 Ps)
Product
- Your offerings. What is the need you discovered, and how will you
satisfy it?
- Since you would have already described product in earlier sections, you can briefly summarize your product here
Price
- Describe how you will price your product(s) and why
Promotion
- What is your promotion strategy and why
Place
- How will your company deliver its goods/services to its customers (e.g.,
stores, direct mail, online, etc) and why