To begin drafting a creative and practical marketing plan, including a mission statement, SWOT analysis, and marketing objectives.

This is your opportunity to play the role of marketing manager and gain valuable, first-hand experience in writing, organizing, and polishing a marketing plan. Over the course of eight assignments, you'll apply what you're learning about marketing and make decisions about either an existing product (a good or a service), a new product to be launched, or a product or company suggested by your instructor.

The point of this project is to develop a single marketing document for use incommunicatinga clear marketing vision to guide decisions,clarifyingobjectives and priorities,delineatingmarketing activities, andmonitoring and evaluatingmarketing performance. As you move from one assignment to the next, you may find yourself returning to earlier answers and adding or revising as new or different ideas occur to you. Save all of your answers and notes, so you can refresh your memory throughout the project.

If you're making decisions about an existing product, choose one that's well known so you can research the product's competition, features and benefits, customers, distribution, promotion, and pricing. If your marketing plan is about a product that doesn't exist yet, consider whether anything like it is already being marketed, who buys that type of product, and the competition in that industry. Make a plan for a particular product or company,

1. In the spaces provided below, start by briefly describing the good or service you're marketing, why your product is needed, and the customers who are likely to buy it. Also sketch out the company's situation and what you want to accomplish with this marketing plan. Save these answers and be prepared to refine it into two paragraphs later in this project. In the final assignment, your overview will become part of the Executive Summary.
   1. The product is: (such as a highly durable mountain bike, a nutritious and tasty snack product, or a scanning service for digitizing fragile photos)
   2. Why the product is needed: (such as needing a sturdier bike for rocky terrain, needing a snack that's healthy and convenient, or needing a way to save old photographs by scanning them)
   3. The customers for this product are likely to be: (such as mountain-biking enthusiasts, parents buying snacks for children, or people who want to digitally preserve fragile family photos)
   4. In a few sentences, the company's situation and the purpose of this marketing plan are:(such as: a startup company preparing to launch an innovative new product; a division of a major corporation putting more marketing support behind a particular product; or an international company planning to introduce a product in the United States)
2. Stakeholders are people (individuals and groups) who have a "stake" in some aspect of your product, operations, markets, industry, and outcomes. Customers are stakeholders, as are employees. What other groups might be important to the success of your marketing plan? Identify two other stakeholder groups with whom you will aim to build a positive, long-term relationship. Write about these stakeholder relationships in 2-3 sentences.
3. The mission statement represents a long-term vision for the organization, identifying its purpose, who it exists to serve, and what its core competencies are. The mission is important because it serves as a foundation for marketing objectives and strategy. In 2-3 sentences, state the mission of the business behind the product being marketed, and explain what the mission means for customers and other stakeholders.
4. Next, you will begin a SWOT analysis, assessing the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.Strengthsare internal core competencies (such as having award-winning product designers on staff) that give it a competitive advantage.Weaknessesare limitations inside the company (such as lacking production capacity for higher output) that might hamper its ability to achieve objectives.Opportunitiesare situations outside the company (such as unexpectedly high demand for a product the company can produce) that can be favorable for the product's marketing.Threatsare possible barriers outside the company (such as new competitors) that might prevent it from achieving its goals. Start with strengths,insidethe company. In a four-cell matrix like the example, list 2-3 bullet points about the company's core competencies, what it can do better than any other competitor, and any unique resources that it can access for competitive advantage.
5. Continue with your SWOT by considering which limitationsinsidethe company you consider to be its weaknesses. List 2-3 bullet points about these weaknesses, explaining why each might be a problem. Separately, write 1-2 sentences explaining how you can improve and try to convert these weaknesses into strengths.
6. For your SWOT analysis, look at opportunitiesoutsidethe company that you may be able to exploit by matching them with strengths. Consider what these opportunities mean for competitors, as well. List 2-3 bullet points about these opportunities and how they fit with your firm's strengths.
7. The final element in your SWOT analysis is assessing threatsoutsidethe company that you can try to convert into opportunities. In what ways could these threats change the market or the competitive landscape? List 2-3 bullet points about these threats. Separately, write 1-2 sentences about possible approaches to minimizing threats or converting them into opportunities
8. This is a good time to establish your marketing objectives. Take a moment to review your SWOT matrix. Think about resources (raw materials, expertise, etc.) the company can access, and the approximate size of the marketing budget. Also think about the potential market for your product and what that means for higher market share, revenue, brand awareness, and other frequently-used measures of marketing success. Draft a series of objectives, stating each clearly, making it measurable, and specifying a time frame. Be sure your objectives make sense in the context of the mission and the company's situation, and the strengths and weaknesses you've identified. Here's an example: "Our company will sell 200 units per week during the first six months after product introduction." Write at least 2 (and as many as 4) specific objectives you will seek to achieve by implementing this marketing plan.
9. Look again at the objectives you've just set. What standard(s) will you use to measure actual performance against expected performance? For example, if you set a goal of selling 200 units per week, your standard would be how many units the company really sells each week during the period covered by your marketing plan. Write a sentence or two describing your performance standard(s) for each objective.
10. Optional, as your instructor directs:In a team or individually, identify a highly successful, real-world competitor to the product in your plan. Why is this competing product so successful, and what are its vulnerabilities? What features and benefits does it emphasize, and how do these fit with customers' needs and preferences? What can you learn from this product's success and any serious challenges it faces now or may face in the near future? Write a paragraph or prepare a brief (five-minute) presentation about this competing product and how you can use your marketing plan to compete effectively against it.
11. BUILDING YOUR MARKETING PLAN:For now, leave your answers to Question #1 aside, to be reviewed, revised, and summarized in your "Executive Summary," later in this project. Transfer your answers to Questions #2 and #3 to a Marketing Plan document (feel free to download the template provided below), arranging them under the "Environmental Analysis" section. Transfer your answers to Questions #4, 5, 6, and 7 to the "SWOT Analysis" section of your Marketing Plan Document. Transfer your answers to Question #8 to the "Marketing Objectives" section. Transfer your answers to Question #9 to the "Performance Evaluation" section. Save your file to a place you can easily access and add to for future parts. Upload and submit the work you have completed on your Marketing Plan so far.