The assignment is to complete an on-line abbreviated marketing plan with the collaboration of team members. The assignment includes the instructions for the launching of a new product or service. Most of the instructions are concerned with formatting, style, with some links to other hints on how to succeed. This module on developing a marketing plan, part of a Principles of Marketing Course, focuses on helping students understand the practical need for a marketing plan as well as practice the development of a marketing plan for a new product.
Type of Material:
Drill and practice.
Recommended Uses:
As a major, semester-long project in an online Introductory Marketing course.
Technical Requirements:
Computer access and literacy is necessary.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
To learn the process for developing a coherent marketing plan in language and style consistent with what business professionals expect. To integrate the principles of maketing by developing a marketing plan for a new product. Also, students are expected to learn in teams, using electronic media (rather than face-to-face contact. Students will gain practice writing for a business context.
Target Student Population:
Undergraduate marketing students in an Introduction to Marketing class; the assignment is designed for an online class, but could be adapted for a traditional class.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Good written communication skills would be essential to completing the work effectively. Teamwork experience would also be useful, as well as general computer literacy, requiring the use of electronic media for accessing the assignment and communicating with team members
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The instructions for completing the marketing plan are thorough. Various links to successful and unsuccessful past plans are helpful. The tie between the text (Kotler/Armstrong) and the assignment should also guide students through the project.
Concerns:
There is redundancy in the guidelines that detract at times. One reason this is a noticeable issue is that the students are instructed to be concise in their own writing, yet the instructions for this assignment do not model concision for students.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This assignment would be effective in showing students the general format and style of a marketing plan. Use of the Kotler book would seem to increase the effectiveness.
Concerns:
The key element of effective marketing is solid ideas. The instructions indicated that the idea itself is unimportant. That is the "MOST" important part of the plan. Almost any decent student can take a marketing plan, with many examples online, and within 24 hours produce a marketing plan for a bank officer, etc. The real learning is in "what to market, where to market it, when to market it, etc."
If an instructor wanted students to work as a team in a face-to-face setting, modification of the instructions would be needed--primarily as related to the written work students submit.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The instructions are clear, and the plans are probably easy to grade.
While students would find completing the assignment challenging, they should not have difficulty in its use.
Concerns:
The instructions seem designed for ease of grading, rather than for showcasing the creativity and inventiveness of the students.
At times there was overkill with the strictness of the instructions and some professors may not want to be so specific in the guidelines provided to students. An element that would need to be modified before use are the references to the author's university and her requirements for submission of materials.
Other Issues and Comments:
A very thorough job in instructing the students on how to construct the marketing plan.
Creative Commons:
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