Student Name: STUDENT ASSESSMENT TASK 2 BSBMKG609 Develop a marketing plan BSBMKG609 STUDENT ASSESSMENT TASK 2 Version 2.1 XXXXXXXXXXOrange International College Pty Ltd XXXXXXXXXXCRICOS No: 03446A |...

About the template
One of the most important, yet often overlooked areas for the small business owner is the development of a marketing plan. An effective marketing plan will act as a reference document to help you to execute your marketing strategy. It will also help you to develop a methodical approach to creating services and products that satisfy your customers’ needs.
When writing a marketing plan you need to be clear about your marketing objectives and how you’re going to achieve them. A good marketing plan sets realistic and measurable objectives; includes budgets and action plans, and allocates responsibilities.
Your marketing plan will include the following elements:
· A summary of your marketingplan
· Background analysis of your business andmarket
· Marketing objectives and strategy of yourbusiness
· Your marketingmix
· Action plans andbudgets
· Organisational implications and contingencies
· Evaluation and monitoringstrategies
· Supportingdocumentation
This template has been downloaded from Business Victoria as a free template and revised for student use.
How to use this template
To complete the template: Marketing Plan
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1. Guidance text appears throughout the document, marked by the word Guidance. Where you see a guidance note, read and then delete it. Guidance has been added to help you complete the template and should not appear in your finalversion.
2. Using Word's Replace function, search for {Business Name} and replace with your companyname.
a. In Word's Home ribbon, open the Find and Replace tool, choose Replace to open the Find and Replace tool. The Find and Replace dialog opens with the Replace tabselected.
b. Enter {Business Name} in the Find whatfield.
c. Enter your company name in the Replace withfield.
d. Click ReplaceAll
3. Replace {items in curly brackets} with your own wording.
4. Once you have finished work on the template, delete this and the followingpage.
5. Lastly refresh the page numbers in the table ofcontents.
a) Right mouse click on the table ofcontents
b) In the small menu that appears, choose ‘Update Field’ then ‘Update page numbersonly’.
Marketing Plan
Contents
MarketingPlan    3
MarketingPlan Summary    5
MarketingObjectives    6
Goals/objectives    6
MarketingStrategy    7
Your strategy andmarketing mix    7
ActionSteps    8
Top 10Action Steps    8
BackgroundAnalysis    9
Business overview    10
Business structure:    10
Dateestablished:    10
Business owner(s)    10
Owner/s experience:    10
Visionstatement    10
Missionstatement    10
Business objectives    10
ShortTermgoals    11
LongTermgoals    11
Products    11
FinancialAnalysis    11
SWOTanalysis    13
SWOTactivitysheet    14
TheMarketOverview    15
YourMarket    16
Market research andenvironmental/industryanalysis    16
YourCustomers    17
Targetcustomers    17
Customerprofile    18
YourCompetitors    19
Competitoranalysis    19
Competitorprofile    20
YourMarketing    21
MarketingStrategy    23
Your PRODUCTorservice    24
The PRICING of your productorservice    26
Your POSITION (Place) inthemarketplace    28
Sales and distribution channels    28
The PROMOTION of your productorservice    30
MarketingActivity    32
YourFinances    34
MarketingBudget{YEAR}    34
OrganisationalImplications    36
Contingencies    36
Monitoring/measurementactivities    37
Marketing Plan Summary
Guidance: Complete this page last. The marketing plan summary is a snapshot of your more detailed answers from your marketing plan. It should be easy to read and simple to follow. A rationale of the objectives and chosen strategies and tactics must be includedhere.
Start writing here
The marketing plan of Polaris Software sheds light into the marketing objectives and goals. The marketing strategies framed by Polaris play a major role in achieving the marketing objectives of this small business organisation. The marketing mix of the company aids in determining the position of the company in the market. Furthermore, the ten action steps of Polaris Software along with SWOT analysis, customer details, product details, competitor profile details are elucidated.
Marketing Objectives
Goals/objectives:
Guidance: In one or two sentences, summarise the key marketing objectives for your business. Your objectives may be financial, with a goal to increase sales, marketing focused to build awareness of your product or service, or online to build engagement with online customers and business networks.
Polaris Software, a newly set up, small business company dealing with providing advanced software, has framed its marketing objectives to reach out to its potential consumers in the given market. The marketing objectives of this small business firm serve as a driving force to improve the efficiency of the products. The firm has set the following marketing objectives:
· Increasing the sales of the company by 40% in the next two years
· Achieving 35% of the market share in the industry
· Raising the awareness of the products among two-third portion of the population
· Enhancing the rate of positive customer feedback from 65% to 75% in 12 months
Marketing Strategy
Your strategy and marketing mix:
Guidance: Use this section to summarise the overall strategy and marketing mix you will use to position yourself within the market to meet your customers’ needs. Your strategy and marketing mix should take into account the activities that are relevant for your business.
Whatever your strategy, aim to differentiate yourself from your competitors to encourage customers to choose your business first.
Start writing here
The marketing strategy is a means of attaining the marketing objectives set by the small firm. According to Olson et al. (2018), the marketing strategy serves the purpose of a roadmap that aids the firm to understand its course of action, while achieving the organisational aims. The market strategy involves fetching new customers in the market as well as retaining the older ones. This can be attained by focusing on four distinct segments of target markets. The first target market of Polaris Software involves large manufacturers and corporations, dealers and brokers along with distributor networks. In this context, the second target market for this particular small business includes the non-manufacturing units possessing business to business oriented market that is characterised by its extensive network of customers such as financial planners, healthcare services and banking institutions. The third target market revolves around industry associations, which organise on a regular basis conferences, meetings, trade shows or even conventions. Finally, the last target market includes the top brands directly operating in the consumer markets with legitimate licenses for selling consumer products, including beverages.
Furthermore, launching advanced version of the software enable to draw the attention of the new customers and foster the older customers to purchase more. Interestingly, the reasonable price range of the updated versions of software a luring factor to grab customers.
Marketing mix is a concoction of certain factors that remains under the control of the company to influence the customers’ interest for buying the products. In the words of Liu et al. (2017), this marketing tool plays a crucial role in formulating the marketing strategy of a business organisation and assists in the process of implementing the strategy by means of substantial tactics. This holds true for Polaris Software as proper assessment of the product, price, promotion and place has a vital role in the holistic approach of marketing.
Products
The software of this small business firm is gaining its foot in the market not just for its advanced versions but also for successfully meeting the demands of the customers. The proficiency of the organisation has resulted in exceeding the expectations of the clients and customers. Polaris Software offers wide range of options for its clients such as advertising, calculative or calendar based software. Datta, Ailawadi and Van Heerde (2017) have remarked that swiftness of the firm in comprehending the customer needs largely determines the success of the firm. This particular small business organisation puts in effort to understand the demands and work towards manufacturing such software. The high end intangible features of Polaris Software enable it to stay ahead and enjoy an edge over others in the competitive market.
Promotion
Established in 2017, the organisation has managed to win the confidence of the customers as bulk of old customers keep reordering for the manufactured software. Massingham and Pomering (2017) have opined that for small business organisations, expenditures directed towards promotional activities must accentuate on the launching of new products via mail advertisements, journals and other forms. The remaining portion of the promotional expenditure must be for personal selling of the latest products by means of sales performance.
Price
The unique selling proposition of the Polaris products is its feature of customisation that offers the clients and customers high quality products. The premium price of the products is an evidence of its product and service value. The small business firm must adopt more sensitive approach to determine the final price and satiate the demands of the customers.
Distribution
Direct marketing strategy is applied by the Polaris Software for fetching the customers. The compact, non-perishable and lightweight attributes of the products enable seamless shipping from a particular location directly to the customer or the client.
Action Steps
Top 10 Action Steps:
Guidance: Create a list of the Top 10 action steps that will bring your theoretical objectives (your marketing strategy and objectives) to life. E.g. Finish SWOT Activity Sheet, complete marketing budget}
Start writing here
The concisely framed 10 actions steps that can significantly contribute towards achieving the marketing objectives of Polaris Software are as follows:
Step one involves remembering the mission statement of the firm that gives a definite direction to the activities undertaken by the small organisation for expansion. Cramer (2017) has opined that the mission needs to be reviewed for channelizing the efforts of the workforce in one direction and helps in driving the organisational marketing strategy. The final goal of the company involves satisfaction of the customers by meeting their demands.
Step two includes understanding the overarching organisational marketing objective that the marketing team has to meet by the end of the stipulated time period. The overarching marketing objective is nothing but the final goal of the marketing team of the organisation. This serves as the principal driving force for the goals set by the firm. In this context it can be stated that the overarching marketing objective has set the target for Polaris Software to shoot up its revenue by $2million in the next 18 months.
The third step is setting other adjoining overarching marketing objectives that include doubling the customer size within an age group between 20 to 45 years and that of manufacturers, brands and corporations.
The fourth step is about linking the SMART marketing goals with the marketing objectives. It is interesting to note that there is, indeed, a subtle difference between the marketing goals and objectives. In the words of Doppelt(2017), marketing goals serve as the basic steps for achieving the marketing objectives, whereas as the latter is the target set by the marketing team.
The fifth step is framing a suitable marketing strategy for successfully attaining the marketing objectives adopted by the company.
The sixth step involves proper implementation of the marketing strategy for ensuring increase in sale, customer base and popularity of the Polaris products. This step is achieved by creating attractive blogs for generating leads from relevant content as well as promoting the company based contents on social media platforms, email advertising and newsletters.
The seventh step is about matching the marketing goals with the marketing funnel. This step involves framing multiple marketing goals that enable the potential customers to get attracted to the products released by Polaris and purchase them. According to Paley (2017), the marketing funnel plays a vital role in triggering the customer interest and drives towards its sale.
The eighth step is about comprehending and evaluating the components of marketing funnel to encourage customers to increasingly buy Polaris products. The major components includecreating awareness, generating interest about the products, consideration that builds connection between the company products and the needs of the customers, intent that forms the first step of sales in the marketing funnel, evaluation gives an idea about the options available to the customers by the sales team and finally, purchase of the item takes place.
The ninth step is about measuring the progress in the path of meeting the objectives. This is an important step prior to preparing the final report and helps in determining the metrics that track the progress of the company.
The final step is about preparing the report of the company’s progress towards achieving the objectives.
Background Analysis
The background analysis should give a snapshot of where you are right now, where you have been and where you want to go. Undertaking this process will help you to define your business's capabilities and find opportunities within your particular market. Finally, defining your core business elements will ensure that your marketing plan and overall business strategy work together seamlessly.
Start writing here
Since, its inception in 2017, Polaris has managed to gain its footing in the market and has successfully evolved. The company began with an intention to manufacture only calendar software; however, with the passage of time, the small business firm is gradually extending its product range. As a result, the customer base can expanded with high customer loyalty towards the company. Currently, the company owners, the Richardson and Williams, have given their full commitment towards establishing the firm as a competent market player in this particular industry. In...