Assignment: A Maternity Line for American Apparel
Key Questions to Answer:
o What is the brand name of your for-profit business/organization?
o What is the new product, not currently in existence, that will generate revenue for which you will prepare a marketing plan and strategy during this class? Give the product a name and briefly describe it.
o Look up "brand extension" in your Kotler text and describe whether your product is considered a line or a category extension.
o How will you acquire information to prepare your marketing plan during this class? What research will you undertake? Be specific.
o Describe the key customer market (i.e., who are you targeting?).
o Will your new product be marketed domestically or globally? Why?
Once complete with identifying your new product for a new market along with addressing the outlined questions, continue by identifying and assessing marketing opportunities.
Identifying and Assessing Marketing Opportunities
1.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS
Write a 1-paragraph summary of the current situation - write this section after completing the following sections of the Situation Analysis, but put it in this order.
1.1 Market Summary
In a 1 to 2 paragraph summary, address:
o What are your target customer groups? Why?
o What are your projections for the growth of this market?
1.1.1 Market Demographics (refer to Chapter 8 of your Kotler text for helpful definitions/explanations).
o Carefully define the demographic profile of your target market.
o In a similar fashion, define the geographic target area you are choosing.
o What are the behavior factors that will influence your decision-making?
o Define the values and lifestyles (psychographics) of your target market.
1.1.2 Market Needs
o What are the benefits that are important to your customer base?
o What needs to they have and how do you know this?
1.1.3 Market Trends
o Identify and explain at least three trends that will influence how your customers view your product. These should be trends going on in the industry or the environment; these are trends that your company/product can respond to in some way. Remember: Trends are long term; fads are short term.
1.1.4 Market Growth
o Is the market growing, static, or diminishing? What are the growth trends?
o What is the evidence? What research are you using to determine market growth?
o How will you address the market if it is growing, static, or diminishing?
1.2 SWOT Analysis (refer to Chapter 2 of your Kotler text for a thorough explanation of a SWOT analysis)
1.2.1 Strengths: List and describe at least three positive internal aspects that add value.
1.2.2 Weaknesses: List and describe at least three negative internal aspects that place you at competitive disadvantage.
1.2.3 Opportunities: List and describe at least three opportunities external to your business that will lead to your success.
1.2.4 Threats: List and describe at least three threats external to your business that will threaten your success (Note: It is common to include unexpected acts of nature, government and regulatory concerns, and competition in this section of the SWOT).
1.3 Competition
o Describe your competition.
o Why will customers prefer your product?
o How will you compete with your competition and win?
o What is the marketing mix (price, place, promotion, product, you know them as "the 4 P's of Marketing") of at least one of your competitors?
1.4 Product Offering
o What are the current products you offer?
o How will your new product fit in with existing products? Is there a good fit between them?
1.5 Keys to Success
o List and describe at least three factors that will determine your success.
1.6 Critical Issues
o How will you leverage your SWOT strengths and opportunities to your advantage?
o How will you lessen the impact of your SWOT weaknesses and threats?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
o The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
o The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
o Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.