Marketing Analysis

In creating, communicating and delivering a value offering, Marketing Managers engage in a marketing planning process that is both strategic and tactical. In the assessments for this subject, we will be linking marketing management theories to practice by conducting a market situation analysis, performing needed secondary (desktop) market research, establishing goals and objectives and developing recommendations for marketing strategies and tactics for a product (good, service, experience or idea) of your choosing.

In the interim and capstone assessments, you are required to write two reports that address different stages of the marketing planning process. Both reports will require you to discuss marketing theories, collect and analyse secondary (desktop) data and make recommendations based on the data.

In the interim assessment report, you are required to identify one product (good, service, experience or idea) of an organisation (brand) of your choice. You will also use the same product (good, service, experience or idea) in your capstone assessment. We suggest you choose a product (good, service, experience or idea) of your organisation of employment. However, this is not a requirement.

In your interim assessment, start by providing adequate context for the selected organisation (brand) and identified product (good, service, experience or idea). Then, based on various theories of marketing management as discussed in Module 1-3 of the learning materials:

Analyse the current market situation, considering relevant internal and external factors using appropriate frameworks and summarising them in a SWOT analysis to identify trends impacting on the selected product (good, service, experience or idea) and relevant stakeholders, collaborators and/or competitors;
Segment the market for the selected product (good, service, experience or idea), justifying your approach based on relevant criteria for effectiveness; and,
Provide justified recommendations for the selection of a target market segment that will be the focus of your capstone assessment.
This assessment is required to be presented as a formal report. It is not an essay or personal reflection.

Use the Interim Assessment Template provided to prepare your report.

Resources
Use Modules 1-3 of the learning materials for guidance.

There are several frameworks or tools to use when conducting a market analysis:

5C Analysis
Porter’s Five Forces Model
SWOT Analysis
The above are only recommendations. Other frameworks can be used.

When considering segmentation, keep in mind:

B2C
B2B
Effective segmentation criteria
Regarding target marketing please see pages 198–199 in the textbook.

If you are working in a social context (e.g. social welfare, health, environment or education), consider taking a social marketing approach in applying marketing theories to your practice:

Basil, DZ, Diaz-Meneses, G & Basil, MD (eds) 2019, Social Marketing in Action: Cases from Around the World, Springer International Publishing AG, Cham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [9 September 2020].

Format

In terms of structure, presentation and style:

use the AIB-preferred Microsoft Word settings (see AIB Style GuideOpen this document with ReadSpeaker docReader)
use author-date style referencing (which includes in-text citations and a reference list) (see AIB Style Guide)
use the following report structure:
Title page
Executive summary
Table of Contents
1. Introduction (including company background)
2. Market situation analysis
3. Market segmentation analysis
4. Target market recommendations
5. Conclusion
References
Appendices (if any)
Requirements
The required word length for this report is 2000 words (plus a 10% allowance).

In terms of structure, presentation and style given the length of this report, you are required to follow the standard report format. The specific structure is shown above. A template is provided in the learning materials.
You are required to use at least four (4) academic references for this report.
Your references should be from credible sources such as books, industry-related journals, magazines, company documents, company websites and academic journal articles. Ideally, relevant academic journal articles should be used for academic discussion.
Your grade will be adversely affected if your assignment contains no/poor citations and/or reference list and if your assignment word length is beyond the allowed tolerance level (see Assessment Policy available on AIB website).
Grading criteria
Your assessment will be marked according to the following grading criteria:

Depth of demonstrated understanding of ways in which to analyse the market situation for the chosen product – 40%
Selecting the most relevant approach to segmenting the market and justifying that for the chosen product – 25%
Clearly shows an alignment between the market segmentation approach and recommended the target market for the chosen product – 15%
Referencing Style – 10%
Structure and presentation – 5%
Communication style and language – 5%