Establish your goal

As you prepare to work on your assignment, you need to clearly establish your goal: If you're

planning to become an entrepreneur, professional or artist, then you'll ultimately be

marketing a good or service to potential customers and clients. If, on the other hand, you're a

job seeker and your goal is to find employment with a company or other organization, you'll be

marketing yourself to potential employers. Make sure you're clear as to what your desired

career path is and stick to it for the entire assignment.

How can you tell which perspective to adopt? Here are some guidelines.

You'll be a job seeker if

your paycheque will be signed by someone else

your workload and conditions will be decided by someone else

you'll be reporting to someone else (like a boss!)

You'll be an artist if

the majority of your income will come from the sale of your creative output to individual or

business customers, whatever art form you pursue

You'll be a professional if

the majority of your income will come from the sale of your services - for example,

consulting, dentistry, interior design, personal fitness training - to individual or business

customers services in some cases, you may be self-employed (and thus be like an

entrepreneur) or work for someone else (and thus be like a job seeker)

You will be an entrepreneur if

the majority of your income will come from the sale to individual or business customers of

goods or services for example, owning and operating a restaurant, a landscaping

business, a clothing plant or a communications company that you produce and/or

distribute yourself.

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Part A: My current & future self (20 points)

Question 1 My current self: who am I?

Provide, a quick overview of your current actual self. Write this paragraph so that someone who

doesn't know you, (such as an interviewer, a potential customer, or your instructor!) could get a

sense of what your personality is like.

Question 2 My superpower

What top three strengths do you possess that will make you attractive to potential employers,

customers and/or clients? Focus on the strengths that make you special and/or unique.

Fill out the VIA Strength Finder (provide your results in the appendix of your report):

Via Character Strengths: https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register

For each strength: show how it is a strength using concrete examples in your everyday personal

and/or workplace life. Then, identify the one strength that could be thought of as your most

awesome SUPERPOWER. This is the skill/quality/competency/ability that will set you apart from

your competition and impress clients or employers, so you must nurture as you go forward. It's

the one thing you must make sure to emphasize and put forth in your self-marketing efforts.

Question 3 My Weaknesses

Which top three weaknesses will you need to address as you move to through the exercise of

implementing your personal marketing plan and launching your career? Don't do a surface job

here; drill down and clearly identify three weaknesses that could make you vulnerable to

competitors' efforts. For each weakness, clearly show how these are weaknesses using 2-3

concrete examples in your everyday personal and workplace life.

Question 4 My future self

Close your eyes and visualize yourself, your life and your career in the future. Where do you

see yourself in 12-month after graduation, 3 years after graduation? What have you become?

What type of person are you? What is important to you (e.g., starting a family, discovering the

world, focusing on your career, leisure, hobbies, etc.)? What type of work would you like to be

doing? What industries and sectors therein are attractive to you? What location(s) are attractive

to you; where would you like to live and work?

Part B: Situational analysis of my chosen field (20 points)

Question 5 My industry/sector

Identify and briefly discuss the three most relevant macro or micro-level factors/trends

affecting the opportunities in the specific field that you would like to enter. What environments

and issues, factors and dynamics are influencing your chosen field and thus affecting the

number and types of opportunities therein? Clearly and concisely show the impact of each

factor or trend on your chosen field.

Question 6 My competitors

Against whom will you be competing to get job interviews and offers (or to sell your goods or

services)? Be thorough and show that you can think broadly. Put yourself in the shoes of your

prime prospects and ask yourself how they would go about satisfying their needs and solving

their problems. Make sure to describe 1) direct and main competitors and 2) indirect or

secondary competitors. For each competitor, highlight what they are good at, their main

differentiating quality.

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Question 7 My Opportunities & Threats

What are the two key opportunities that you should explore and leverage as they relate to the

area(s) in which you would like to work? What are the two key threats that you need to be

aware of and address prior to finalizing your marketing objectives?

Question 8 My Window

Give your answers to questions 5 through 7, where do you see a window of opportunity for you

to carve a niche or name for yourself within your chosen field? Where, amidst these

opportunities, threats, factors and trends, could you create a successful career or start to your

career?

Part C: My marketing strategy (20 points)

Question 9 My Objectives

The goals that you create will determine the nature and content of your marketing strategy: your

selection of target markets and how you will appeal to and satisfy your target markets using the

marketing mix. Remember that good objectives should be specific, time-defined, measurable,

and realistic but challenging. They should also be consistent with your overall goals and values,

be in line with your resources and competencies, and appropriate given the external

environment (especially opportunities and threats). Begin the objective-setting process by

reviewing the Situation Analysis that you've completed so far, including your self-assessment.

What you want to do/achieve/become in the 3 years following graduation? Clearly state your

chosen career path (i.e., artist, entrepreneur, professional, or job seeker) and then describe your

overall marketing objective and what you want to do. Be clear and specific. E.g. "Within three

years of graduation, I will have started my own Montreal-based company that will import and

distribute upscale pre-made convenience frozen foods for the foodservice, hotel, restaurant and

institutional markets across Quebec" is clear and focused.

Twelve-month and three-year outlooks: Within twelve months and within three years of

graduating, what type of work would you like to be doing? What job would you like to have?

What industries and sectors within these industries are attractive to you? Be specific.

Region: In which regions (countries, provinces, states or cities/neighborhoods do you want to

work upon graduation? Within twelve months of graduation? Within three years?

Question 10 My Target(s)

Who are you targeting? Who will you be your prime prospects and most likely to buy from you in

the near future to help you meet the objectives you set out above in Question 9? The target

market selection is crucial to the ultimate success of your marketing plan. Be clear on who your

targets will be. Who are your potential employers or clients (organizations and/or individuals)?

What are the relevant characteristics of your target market? Focus on the one or two target

market(s) that are most likely to pay the bills and generate your desired level of sales/income

within the time horizon of your objectives. Describe the key characteristics of the organizations,

clients or individuals that you'll be targeting. If your goal is to find employment with a company

or other organization, then focus on the key characteristics of the employers you'll be targeting

(e.g., industry, size, location, ownership, organization structure, desired benefits, hiring

practices, etc.). If your goal is to become an entrepreneur, professional or artist, then think in

terms of your future customers or clients and describe their demographics, psychographics,

benefits sought, media preferences, and purchase behaviours.

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Question 11 The problem you solve

What problem are your prime prospects hiring you or buying your goods or services to solve? If

you're within a business-to-business context, how can you help your clients make money or

save money? Here you need to show that you can think and feel like your target market. Show

that you understand the benefits that your prime prospects are seeking and that you understand

what a benefit is.

Question 12 MY Value Proposition

Think of yourself or your product as a brand. What will be your brand's "VP" or value

proposition? Remember that a VP is NOT a slogan. It is a clear, concise and compelling

statement of the benefits you promise to deliver to your target(s).

Question 13 MY Marketing Mix

Identify the two most critical Ps to achieve the objectives your outlined in Q9. Make sure

there's a connection and that it's clear: why those two Ps? You need to be strategic and

opportunistic in your thinking here (show you have a "marketing mindset"). Think of the 12 to 36

months after graduation: what aspects of your marketing mix (what Ps) is likely to top your

agenda and mobilize your time and resources to get you closer to your objectives? For each of

those two Ps, outline your objectives, strategies, and then tactics and control measures (making

sure to properly label/identify each one).

.

For Product, what would be your

Objectives: What are your core and augmented products and what are your objectives for

these? Where do you want your product to be in say 3 years? What improvements or

innovations would you tackle?

Strategies: What strategies will you use to attain your product objectives? How will you

develop and/or improve your core and augmented products so that they will satisfy your

target market's needs? Make sure these are strategies, not tactics, and that they're logically

connected to the objectives you outlined above.

Tactics & Control Measures: What tactics will you use to execute your product strategy?

What specific activities will you engage in to put your strategy into action and by when?

What control measures do you intend to use? How will you evaluate your own progress?

For Place, what might be your

Objectives: Where would you like to work upon graduation and in the next three years?

What are the key geographic locations in which to be present in your chosen field? To get a

handle on these questions, research the placescountries, regions, provinces, states,

cities, neighborhoodswhere the markets are strongest and most promising in your chosen

field. If you're an entrepreneur, artist or professional, then your place is where you would like

your product to be accessible to potential clients. If this is to be a physical location (e.g., as

in the case of a location-based service such as a restaurant) then be as precise as possible.

What is your plan B? That is, besides your number one location of choice, what other place

would be appropriate given your chosen path and industry of choice.

Strategies: What strategies will you use to attain your place objectives? If you're going to be

an employee, would studying or working abroad help you attain your place objectives? If

you're an entrepreneur, artist or professional, what strategies will get you closer to achieving

your place objectives? For instance, if you're an artist and you would like to be showcased

and sold in the most prominent gallery in town, what strategies will get you there?

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Tactics & Control Measures: What tactics will you use to attain your place strategies? What

specific activities will you engage in to put your strategy into action and by when? What

control measures do you intend to use? How will you evaluate your own progress?

For Promotion, what might be your

Objectives: Typical objectives include creating awareness, knowledge, liking, preference

and trial. For job seekers, trial could mean securing job interviews, internships and part-time

or contract work. For entrepreneurs, artists, and professionals, this means attracting future

clients and getting them to act by purchasing your good or service. For job seekers,

entrepreneurs, artists, and professionals, this also invites you to think how this portion of

your marketing mix will support your branding efforts.

Strategies: What promotion strategies will you use to attain your promotion objectives?

What strategies will you use to communicate your brand and establish a clear position in

your prime prospects' minds? Which promotional toolspublic relations, direct marketing,

advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, word-of-mouth and electronic/digitalwill

you use?

Tactics & Control Measures: What tactics will you use to execute your promotion strategy?

What specific promotion activities will you use and when? What control measures do you

intend to use? How will you evaluate your own progress?

For Price, what might be your

Objectives: For job seekers, think of how much you would like to be earning upon

graduation and within the next three to five years. For entrepreneurs, artists, and

professionals, think how much you would like to earn personally, and how much your

product (art, service, production output) would be selling for. What is your price objective for

your product? Will that be sufficient to satisfy your personal income objectives?

Strategies: What price strategy will you use to attain your price objectives? With your three

year objectives in mind, how should you price yourself or your product now to reach those

goals, to support your brand and your value proposition? Is your price strategy aligned with

your brand's VP and desired positioning?

Tactics & Control Measures: What tactics will you use to execute your price strategy? What

specific activities will you engage in to put your strategy into action and by when? What

control measures do you intend to use? How will you evaluate your own progress?

Format

Word file

APA style

Title page, table of contents, the actual report, references, appendix

Arial or Times New Roman 12-pt font

Margins set at 1 inch all around

For each section use appropriate headings and sub-headings

You may answer using bullet point

You'll be graded on your clarity, insightfulness, completeness, understanding, conciseness,

cohesiveness, grammar & spelling, professionalism

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