Marketing:
Select an organisation or a brand, analyse its current Marketing Communications and Suggest a New Marketing Communication Strategy and Tactics.
Report structure:
1. Executive summary summarises key issues raised in the report. The Summary should commence with a general description of the current communications organised by the firm. It should also include the NEW key communication aim and subordinate communication objectives. It is a summary of the key propositions for the campaign, as well as a summary of how plans will be implemented. It should be presented in a separate page on its own and should not be longer than 1 page long.
A table of contents should follow the executive summary.
2. Situation analysis. An examination of the current position and its offer. This analysis of background information is the research that provides the basis for the objectives, strategy and tactics. It refers to the analysis of the current communications of the selected firm. It could include areas such as:
Companys analysis, Brand and product analysis
Customers analysis (target markets, target audiences)
Competitors analysis
You should focus on situational issues that are related to the communication strategy and APPLY the theoretical concepts in a manner that you will provide input to the communication strategy. Try to organise your thoughts in tables as much as possible.
Information in this section may derive from primary or secondary sources.
3. Objectives are goals or aims or end results that communicators should seek to achieve.
Marketing communications objectives typically refer to the goals that marketing communications have in affecting the mind of the target audience. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Relevant, Targeted, and Timed. They should be presented in a hierarchy:
Marketing Objectives
Communication objectives. Within these communication objectives, think of the contribution of the various elements of the integrated marketing communications in achieving them. You might want to think about subsets of Advertising objectives or Other
Communications Mix Elements objectives:
Link the objectives with the suggested communicational tools in part 4.
4. Marketing Communications Strategy and Action Plan. Strategy provides the direction for all those involved in the campaign to follow. It provides the framework within which they should operate. It is a means by which it is intended to achieve the objectives stated. You should think of the DETAILED decisions on each one of the suggested marketing communication tools.
The structure of this section per each component of the mix can be broken down to something like this:
4.1 Advertising Strategy and tactics
4.2 Sales promotion strategy and tactics
4.3 PR strategy and tactics
4.4 Direct Marketing and tactics
4.5 xxx
You do not necessarily have to use all the marketing communications mix element. It very much depends on the chosen product, the objectives of your campaign and the target audiences.
You should state the objectives for each communication tool. Think how these objectives relate to the overall communication objectives (see point 3). You should also analyse the suggested tactics. The Tactics section of the planning process details the specific activities and events that are going to be undertaken to address the objectives, so the action plan should be slotted.
Some areas that you should think about include:
The development and continuous monitoring of the campaign
Campaign flow (what are the functions to be performed)
Resource management (do we need internal or external resource?)
Briefing (what do we need from our internal/ external suppliers?)
You should also include a detailed Schedule of the marketing communications plan. Here a comprehensive calendar describing when each one the activities for each component of the communication mix should take place.
Make sure that you are thinking of the situation the company faces and the marketing communications objectives as you are developing your suggestions.
5. Campaign evaluation. The campaigns need to be evaluated in terms of their efficiency – how productive is the campaigns in terms of providing value for money and their effectiveness – how productive is the campaign in terms of achieving what is supposed to be achieving.
6. Budget. In this section a break down of all costs need to be presented. This should be linked with the method used to determine the promotional budget. Detail the cost associated with specific activities.
7. References. Both on theory and on market data (i.e. media costs, trends in consumer behaviour, academic references that support your encoding choices etc)
8. Appendices: This section should be used to present details or examples of all the issues raised in the rest of the campaign plan.
Important information:
This is an INDIVIDUAL report. Reference should be made to relevant theories, concepts or frameworks as well as to current Marketing Communications practices and examples, but only in the way that they are applied and not as theories themselves.
All references should be cited and a bibliography detailing the source be positioned at the end of the report. Students should use relevant diagrams, models and figures throughout the report.
The reports should be clearly divided to the pre-mentioned sections. The emphasis should be on the marketing communications plan, rather than the situation analysis. Details on the choices made on the communication approach is expected. The length of the reports should be around 3,000 words (excluding executive summary, table of contents, situation analysis, appendices, tables and references). Only the marketing communication objectives and action plan counts in the word limit, not the situation analysis. However, you are expected to provide all the necessary background information that made you make these communication choices.