Marketing Paper and Discussion
4 pages total. 2 pages for Paper and 2 pages for discussion….1/2 page per question/topic. Please label all paragraphs. Paper and Discussion are separate documents.
More details on paper and discussion are attach as a word doc.
Written Assigment Instructions:
· Remember, you have a two-page limit so be judicious in your responses, do not report anything the company is or has done. You are now in charge at your
company. We (your boss) are only interested in your thoughts at this point.
· Prepare your assignment by answering the following four areas of inquiry related to the learning outcomes noted above.
1. Segmentation. Using the various criteria of the segmentation bases described in the week’s readings and in Table 4.1, identify at least two distinct market
segments for your product or service. Each market segment description must include at least three (more if needed) of the characteristics from amongst any of the four
bases categories, e.g. one from demographic variables, one or two from psychographic variables, and one from behavioral variables, or a similar scheme. Be sure to
explain your choices based on what customer need the product or service offering can fill for each segment.
2. Target market. Select one of the market segments you described in (1) above as the one you believe is or can be the most profitable for your product or
service offering and explain why you feel they can represent growth for the company. Refer to the six criteria for an attractive market segment as described in course
content under ‘Selecting Target Markets’. Name your target market so you can use this name throughout all of your remaining writing assignments. Your name should be
descriptive of the segments characteristics like ‘savvy young shoppers’ or ‘educated baby boomers’, or ‘urban hipsters’, or the like. The goal is for your faculty
member to get a mental image of your target market for the remainder of the semester.
3. Target market strategy. Should the company focus all their resources on this new target market (concentrated marketing) or should they continue to pursue both
the new and the existing target market as well as other market segments (multi-segment marketing)? Alternatively, is the market so saturated might they be more
successful by focusing solely on an even more narrow market segment, perhaps an even narrower version (niche marketing) of your selected target market, as their best
chance for growth? What is your reasoning?
4. Positioning. Draw yourself a perceptual map as illustrated in the week’s readings or use the websites noted in the directions. Be sure to pick two criteria
that are important to your new target market for your two axes, perhaps two of the criteria you used in Week 1 in your competitive analysis. Map at least the two
major competitors you noted in Week 1 and add any others that you may have discovered since then. Describe what the perceptual map is telling you regarding how each
product is perceived in the minds of the new target market you described above. You may have to make a series of educated guesses for some of the data points.
Ideally, you want to find uncontested space. If your product overlaps with a competing offering discuss whether or not your product or service should try for an
‘uncontested’ space on the map and ‘reposition’ itself; or if it should keep the same position and compete head on with the other product. (You will have a chance to
make changes to the product, the pricing and the distribution to change the product’s positioning and find uncontested space in the coming weeks).
Be sure to follow all of the submission requirements outlined in the syllabus and provided below again for your easy reference:
• Prepare as a word processed document (such as Microsoft Word).
• Your assignment should be the equivalent of two pages of double spaced text, approximately 1/2 page for each of the four questions.
• Be sure your name, writing assignment number, and the name of your product or service are on the first page of your writing assignment.
• Use a simple 12-point font such as Times New Roman. Use black ink for majority of your work and only use colors if it enhances your ability to communicate your
thoughts.
• If the writing assignment requires external research, be sure to use footnotes and include a bibliography. You may use APA style, college-level style guide.
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Discussion Instructions:
Instructions: 1/2 page response per topic. Use proper APA format if citing sources.
Topic 1 Targeting vs. Mass-Marketing
Think of a product you believe is mass marketed. How did you arrive at this conclusion? You might want to comment on classmates’ posts with your opinion as to
whether they have selected a mass-marketed product, and if not, why you think their choice is actually a segmented market.
Topic 2 How Markets Are Segmented
Your job in this Discussion Thread is to find an ad, print or TV, and tell us who you think is the target market. The hints are in the type of music used, the
spokesperson’s persona, the approach to the marketing communications message, the types of people used in the ad, the words chosen for the ad, etc. All this should
tell you to whom the marketing communications is intended to influence.
Here’s a link to the top ads for 2013–2014 as chosen by Ad Week, the industry trade publication.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/worlds-26-best-commercials-2013-14-158533
First thing you’ll notice is that most of them are foreign, most of them tell a story, and most of them don’t even mention the advertiser until the end. You can choose
your print or broadcast ad from one of these. Or, search youtube.com for your favorite commercial.
If you find your own ad to analyze, be sure to embed or link it when you post it to the Discussion Forum. Then identify at least three of the characteristics you think
comprise the target market. Make your choices using Table 4.1 from the main text as your framework. But, don’t merely say demographic/age. Tell us what age, or
psychographic/values. Specifically note the value such as family or thrifty.
Then, take a look at some classmates’ posts. Are you seeing similarities that put you in the same market segment, or are there other market segments that seem to be
emerging from our course population?
Topic 3 Repositioning
Can you think of an existing product that has been repositioned by finding a new market with a different need than the original product? Think of Croc’s Shoes, for
example. They repositioned from a casual, fun shoe to a practical work shoe for nurses and others on their feet all the time.
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