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• May 5, 2017

The 14 Steps to Writing a Great Marketing Assignment

Updated: Jun 23, 2023

Here are the only 14 steps you'll ever need to know when planning to tackle a Professional Marketing Qualification Assignment. Some of these steps you may want to change in terms of sequence, but make sure you cover each one in whatever sequence you feel fits you best.

1. Read the assignment in full

2. consider the marking, 3. choose an organisation, 4. make a timeline, 5. understand the syllabus, 6. do your research, 7. gather real-life examples, 8. bulletpoint each answer, 9. add the content, 10. presentation, 11. reference correctly, 12. get a second opinion, 13. read, read and read it backwards, 14. don’t leave it until the last minute, 1. read the assignment in full.

Reading the assignment in full a few times will help you to understand what is required holistically. Although each task and question has its own set of requirements, the idea is that the assignment is fully integrated with each question holding relevance with the others, which means they will all need to knit together.

Before even considering starting to answer the assignment, read it a few times and let it sink in. Go back and start to make some brief notes on how you think you’d tackle each question and any elements you don’t fully understand.

You are not expected to understand everything straight away, but this task can be a great way to break the ice and for you to fully understand what is required, what is known and elements that you will need to understand better than you do at the moment.

2. Consider the Marking

One thing a lot of people forget is the mark allocation for each question. This is important to factor in as it highlights the weighting of marks for each question, providing an indication of how much content is required per question to gain the most marks.

For example, if an assignment is allocated 4,750 words maximum and there are a total of 100 marks available, it would make sense that you should be looking to achieve 1 mark per 47.5 words. This can also be done per question to work out how much should be written.

Make a note of these numbers and let this be a guide to you throughout your studies.

Each Marketing assignment is usually based on an organisation of your choosing. The sooner you do this, the sooner you will be able to start to form practical answers, specific to this organisation.

This is hugely important and it will form the basis for ALL your answers. Without understanding an organisation and how the questions fit around it you are left with only theoretical answers that will not gain marks

Don’t be fooled into thinking that choosing a large organisation will be easier either as the more specific and focused you can make your chosen organisation the better your answers will be (trust me). If you are struggling with this, try picking a specific division, product or service within a company. That way you can be really focused on what you are writing.

Being accountable can be the difference between passing and failing and having something other than a final deadline to work towards can be a real asset.

Work backwards from the final deadline date of handing in your assignment and use markers at certain points leading up to this date that you will need to hit.

For example, you may want to section off weeks or a month to complete each task by, even each question. That way you know if you are falling behind and need to set aside some additional time to catch up.

You could go one further here and plot specific dates where you will have answered each question and the time you will be using to achieve this – a bit like a Gantt chart or a Project Management tool to keep you on track.

The syllabus is what all the assignment questions will be based on and each of these will cover various elements of it. Understanding what the core concepts are will help you in producing answers that gain markings.

Don’t skip this step unless you will end up writing an answer that isn’t following the syllabus.

Another reason to do this is to highlight any gaps within your knowledge that you may need to address. For example, if a learning outcome of the syllabus is to ‘demonstrate methods of generating customer awareness within a digital environment’, then the questions you need to be asking yourself are;

Do I know the digital marketing mix?

Can I evaluate methods of communication?

Do I understand keywords, content and creative?

If you don’t or can’t, better get the books out!

Following on from the above, this is where a lot of people fail as they are faced with the unknown a lot of the time, but doing your research into the gaps in your knowledge will help you not only answer the assignment but make you a better marketer.

This doesn’t have to be in book form as research comes from many different areas. This could be an ebook, video, podcast, blog, etc. As long as it’s a valid source and, if used in your assignment you reference it correctly, it can be used.

Gathering real-life examples to use throughout your assignment is essential for a number of reasons:

1 – Expands your knowledge

2 – Provides insights into what other organisations are doing that is working

3 – Applied correctly they can help in backing up any statements you may be making when answering questions

4 – A great way to gain marks

This can also be easily done by setting up some email alerts from reputable online sources such as Marketing Week. That way the examples are coming to you. Just make sure they a relevant and can be referenced!

Before diving right into your answers wholeheartedly it is much better to provide a basic structure and highlight the main points you want to get across.

I find that using bullet points is the best way to do this, which you can use as markers in order to make sure you maintain focus in your answers as well as covering all the most important elements –these may include;

Real-life examples.

Models and theory.

Specific references.

The main titles and headings required.

Most importantly the main points for context to cover within your answer.

Once you have bullet-pointed each answer, you should then be able to start to add more and more content, making each answer relevant to the question posed and the requirements of the syllabus.

If you have not done your research you may struggle with this point and one thing to avoid would be a question that rambles on and doesn’t get to the main elements quickly enough, wasting valuable word space.

A lot of people forget about the presentation, to which 10% of the overall marks can be attributed to. The best rule here is to think; if it’s easy to read, it’s easy to mark!

For each task, there will be a requirement to structure your answers to a specific style (usually in a report format or as a briefing paper or marketing plan). You’d be mad not to stick to these styles.

You want your assignment to stand out for all the right reasons, so using tables, images and screenshots does not only enhance your answer but makes an entire assignment much easier to read, understand and again… mark!

A simple point but a big one. Always, always, always, reference your work and give credit to those that deserve it.

If you are unsure how to do this, you need to review the Harvard Referencing system… ask Google. This must be done throughout your assignment as well as at the back.

Sometimes you can go copy blind, covering the same questions over and over again, so it will do you no harm to get some feedback from a tutor, your accredited study centre or even a work colleague, just to give you peace of mind that;

a) You’ve answered each question

b) It makes sense holistically

c) It is easy to read and well-presented

d) Nothing is obviously missing

Now it’s your turn. Take a few hours and read the assignment, then reread it and read it backwards. This is a great trick in spotting any spelling mistakes a spell checker may not catch – if you’re like me and a terrible speller!

One tip here- Make sure your name is NEVER on any part of the assignment, use a fake name or a job title instead.

Make sure you leave enough time (a few days) between the deadline and when you actually complete your assignment as you never know what may happen – email bounces back, sent directly to a junk folder, pigeon didn’t arrive in time. This way you have at least a day to rectify the situation and not just a few hours or even minutes

The final hidden step (number 15)

Relax and celebrate the fact you have completed your assignment, which is an achievement in itself. Well done you!

I hope you’ve found these steps useful and if any of them are unclear, let’s chat about it and clear it up so you can get on with passing your Marketing Qualification.

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10 Tips For Writing Marketing Assignments

• Post author: Cyrus Nambakhsh
• Post published: September 1, 2023
• Post category: Content Marketing

Page Contents

Everyone, from celebrities to businesspeople, relies on marketing to get exposure, add value, and increase their worth. Hence, the demand for professionals and marketing assignments is increasing rapidly. 

However, the path to becoming a marketing major and expanding your reach through organic marketing is not easy. One has to take exams, write assignments, and participate in several group activities before getting that degree. Sounds like too much work? 

In this article, we’ll introduce you to top marketing assignment tips that will allow you to maximize the effectiveness of your efforts.

Once and for all, let’s try to end the dilemma of marketing assignments. According to reports, 46% of youngsters in a survey said they would pursue a career in marketing!

Aside from hiring experts who will write your assignment for you or having group studies and sharing the burden, here are 10 other ways you can master marketing tasks quickly and write marketing assignments perfectly:

#1 Know the Assignment First

One major mistake marketing students make is not spending time dissecting the task. Often, the tasks are not just assignments but case studies, PowerPoint presentation defense , projects, dissertations, and more. This means each task demands a different kind of writing and presentation.

Hence, know the assignment type and what the topic means. Break down the topic and think of ways to cover it. What other slants can you insert to elevate the resonating factor of the topic? 

It is better to spend time on understanding the needs of the topic rather than rushing in by completely misunderstanding it.

#2 Pick an Example

First-year marketing students often fail to realize that their work will be more impactful if they add an example to strengthen the topic. Pick a brand or organization for your paper and use it as an example. This will allow you to find practical answers and develop logical results.

Also, papers with information on renowned brands and big names attract more audiences, making the paper more impactful. However, don’t think of public attention only when picking big organizations; think of your capabilities to justify them to make the paper notable.

#3 Put a Self-Deadline

Of course, your professor will allot a deadline, but setting your own will only push you to finish on time. However, do not confuse this step with rash writing. Have an organized routine and set a deadline to complete it on time before the actual date.

Students who do this don’t have to worry about late submissions. This also gives the writer extra time to revise, which is often overlooked.

#4 Research Fiercely

This tip is quite common to any other assignment type out there. Yet this is the step that makes a major difference. Research as much as you can. There will be many competitors in your class. 

Some may even pick the same topic as yours. The only way to stand out in such competition is through research. Students who are lazy with their research end up with shallow or superficial information. Such students rarely make it above the average mark.

Hence, to stand out, you must do in-depth research and find information from the deepest pits of the internet. Scout through many online and offline books, journals, and more to get the most real and deepest data on the topic. The professor will see through your efforts and hard work, and you can be awarded with grace marks for it.

#5 Real Events Make an Impression

Whether it’s marketing assignments or history assignments, real events never fail to make an impression. Your work will be read by others who always resonate with real-life examples. 

This is again where your capacity to research shows. Those who research without excuses can find excruciating facts that make the topic shine.

Find accurate figures and data that validate your work. Some like introducing these statistics and events at the beginning and slowly unfolding them later in the paper to keep the audience hooked.

Try to find some related data to your work which will bring thousands of readers to explore the topic. Some students also take the extra step of conducting surveys, interviews, and even doing online polls to find information on the topic and add it to their assignments.

#6 Choose the Correct Writing Style

Various writing styles depend on the topic and purpose. Students can pick a business writing style or a personal writing style. Pick one that your audience finds dependable. Aim for a blend of sophisticated and simple terms rather than making it entirely simple or sophisticated.

Using complicated words for the context is okay. But avoid using overly challenging words, which an ordinary audience may find difficult to work with. 

Do not forget to pick the one you are most comfortable with. Some writers can rock simple writing styles and still get good grades. Maintain writing flair and add authenticity to speak to your readers.

#7 Cite Correctly

With any assignment, finding online information is quite obvious. This is why you need to cite your sources. Citing means giving credit to the original writers whose information you have used in your paper. This gives credit to the original writer and helps the writer avoid plagiarism issues.

With marketing assignments, too, students need to cite the sources. There are plenty of citation styles, and one can pick the style which they prefer. Be cautious of different citing styles to avoid any mistakes and do it justice. 

Learning how to cite can take some extra time, so you can hand over this part to someone who can do it for you, leaving no errors behind.

#8 Get a Second Consultation

Both beginners and professionals need a helping hand sometimes. Students who are uncertain about their work can contact professionals or their professors. They can review the work and make suggestions to improve the quality of the paper.

Experts can suggest better examples and better brands to use and even offer effective writing tips. If you are uncomfortable with an expert, consult your friends, siblings, and family members to be more comfortable with them. Together, you can make a remarkable paper that meets everyone’s expectations.

#9 Use Online Tools

Although many find this tip controversial, we strongly agree with it. There are plenty of tools online, and the best thing is that they can be used. 

Students can find tools to improve their writing and grammar, find plagiarism issues, and even check the quality of their papers.

The best thing about these tools is that they are free, and several are available online, making them a favorable option for students. These tools also highlight problem areas, making it easier for students to correct them. 

Overall, find a trustworthy tool because numerous tools out there may not give you the desired result.

#10 Proofread Using Innovative Ways

Finally, the last step is to proofread your paper. Again, this is a very basic step that many people overlook. Proofread your paper before making the final submission. Do not jump into this process just after writing. 

Wait a few days to make the process fruitful. You can also use innovative proofreading techniques to make the process fun.

Some ways of proofreading are:

●       Reading it backward,

●       Reading one section at a time,

●       Having a list of mistakes,

●       Reading it out aloud.

It keeps the proofreading process simple and interesting, eliminating the chances of any errors.

Marketing assignments involve various aspects. Combining them and doing justice is not an easy job. Hopefully, the tips above will show you how to write impeccable marketing assignments and get your deserved score.

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• How to create a winning marketing plan, ...

How to create a winning marketing plan, with 3 examples from world-class teams

A marketing plan helps leaders clearly visualize marketing strategies across channels, so they can ensure every campaign drives pipeline and revenue. In this article you’ll learn eight steps to create a winning marketing plan that brings business-critical goals to life, with examples from word-class teams.

To be successful as a marketer, you have to deliver the pipeline and the revenue.”

In other words—they need a well-crafted marketing plan.

Level up your marketing plan to drive revenue in 2024

Learn how to create the right marketing plan to hit your revenue targets in 2024. Hear best practices from marketing experts, including how to confidently set and hit business goals, socialize marketing plans, and move faster with clearer resourcing.

7 steps to build a comprehensive marketing plan

How do you build the right marketing plan to hit your revenue goals? Follow these eight steps for success:

1. Define your plan

First you need to define each specific component of your plan to ensure stakeholders are aligned on goals, deliverables, resources, and more. Ironing out these details early on ensures your plan supports the right business objectives, and that you have sufficient resources and time to get the job done. 

Get started by asking yourself the following questions: 

What resources do I need? 

What is the vision?

What is the value?

What is the goal?

Who is my audience?

What are my channels?

What is the timeline?

For example, imagine you’re creating an annual marketing plan to improve customer adoption and retention in the next fiscal year. Here’s how you could go through the questions above to ensure you’re ready to move forward with your plan: 

I will need support from the content team, web team, and email team to create targeted content for existing customers. One person on each team will need to be dedicated full-time to this initiative. To achieve this, the marketing team will need an additional $100K in budget and one new headcount. 

What is the vision?  

To create a positive experience for existing customers, address new customer needs, and encourage them to upgrade. We’ll do this by serving them how-to content, new feature updates, information about deals and pricing, and troubleshooting guides. 

According to the Sales Benchmark Index (SBI) , CEOs and go-to-market leaders report that more than 60% of their net-new revenue will come from existing customers in 2023. By retaining and building on the customers we have, we can maintain revenue growth over time. 

To decrease the customer churn rate from 30% to 10%, and increase upgrades from 20% to 30% in the next fiscal year. 

All existing customers. 

The main channel will be email. Supporting marketing channels include the website, blog, YouTube, and social media. 

The first half of the next fiscal year. 

One of the most important things to do as you create your marketing strategy is to identify your target audience . As with all marketing, you need to know who you’re marketing to. If you’re having a hard time determining who exactly your target audience is, try the bullseye targeting framework . The bullseye makes it easy for you to determine who your target audience is by industry, geography, company size, psychographics, demographics, and more.

2. Identify key metrics for success 

Now it’s time to define what key marketing metrics you’ll use to measure success. Your key metrics will help you measure and track the performance of your marketing activities. They’ll also help you understand how your efforts tie back to larger business goals. 

Once you establish key metrics, use a goal-setting framework—like objectives and key results (OKRs) or SMART goals —to fully flush out your marketing objectives. This ensures your targets are as specific as possible, with no ambiguity about what should be accomplished by when. 

Example: If a goal of your marketing plan is to increase email subscriptions and you follow the SMART goal framework (ensuring your objective is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) your goal might look like this: Increase email subscription rate from 10% to 20% in H1 . 

3. Research your competition 

It’s easy to get caught up in your company’s world, but there’s a lot of value in understanding your competitors . Knowing how they market themselves will help you find opportunities to make your company stand out and capture more market share.

Make sure you’re not duplicating your competitors’ efforts. If you discover a competitor has already executed your idea, then it might be time to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm new ways to differentiate yourself.  By looking at your competitors, you might be surprised at the type of inspiration and opportunities you’ll find.

To stay ahead of market trends, conduct a SWOT analysis for your marketing plan. A SWOT analysis helps you improve your plan by identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. 

Example: If your competitor launches a social media campaign identical to what you had planned, go back to the drawing board and see how you can build off their campaign. Ask yourself: How can we differentiate our campaign while still getting our message across? What are the weaknesses of their campaign that we can capitalize on? What angles did they not approach?

4. Integrate your marketing efforts

Here’s where the fun comes in. Let’s dive into the different components that go into building a successful marketing plan. You’ll want to make sure your marketing plan includes multiple supporting activities that all add up into a powerful marketing machine. Some marketing plan components include: 

Lead generation

Social media

Product marketing

Public relations

Analyst relations

Customer marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Conversational marketing

Knowing where your consumer base spends the most time is significant for nailing this step. You need to have a solid understanding of your target audience before integrating your marketing efforts. 

Example: If your target audience is executives that spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, focus your social media strategy around placing branded content on LinkedIn. 

5. Differentiate with creative content

Forty-nine percent of marketers say visual images are hugely important to their content strategy. In other words, a clear brand and creative strategy is an essential component to every marketing plan. As you craft your own creative strategy, here are some tips to keep in mind: 

Speak to your audience: When defining your creative strategy, think about your audience—what you want them to feel, think, and do when they see your marketing. Will your audience find your creative work relevant? If your audience can’t relate to your creative work, they won’t feel connected to the story you’re trying to tell. 

Think outside the box: Find innovative ways to engage your audience, whether through video, animations, or interactive graphics. Know what screens your creative work will live on, whether desktop, mobile, or tablet, and make sure they display beautifully and load quickly across every type of device. 

Tie everything back to CTAs: It’s easy to get caught up in the creative process, so it’s important to never lose sight of your ultimate goal: Get your audience to take action. Always find the best way to display strong Calls to Action (CTAs) in your creative work. We live in a visual world—make sure your creative content counts.

Streamline creative production:   Once you’ve established a strong creative strategy, the next step is to bring your strategy to life in the production stage. It’s vital to set up a strong framework for your creative production process to eliminate any unnecessary back and forth and potential bottlenecks. Consider establishing creative request forms , streamlining feedback and approval processes, and taking advantage of integrations that might make your designers’ lives easier.

Example: If your brand is fun and approachable, make sure that shows in your creative efforts. Create designs and CTAs that spark joy, offer entertainment, and alleviate the pressure in choosing a partner.

6. Operationalize your marketing plan

Turn your plan into action by making goals, deliverables, and timelines clear for every stakeholder—so teams stay accountable for getting work done. The best way to do this is by centralizing all the details of your marketing plan in one platform , so teams can access the information they need and connect campaign work back to company goals.  

With the right work management tool , you can: 

Set goals for every marketing activity, and connect campaign work to overarching marketing and business objectives so teams focus on revenue-driving projects. 

Centralize deliverables for your entire marketing plan in one project or portfolio .

Mark major milestones and visualize your plan as a timeline, Gantt chart, calendar, list, or Kanban board—without doing any extra work. 

Quickly loop in stakeholders with status updates so they’re always up to date on progress. This is extremely important if you have a global team to ensure efforts aren’t being duplicated. 

Use automations to seamlessly hand off work between teams, streamlining processes like content creation and reviews. 

Create dashboards to report on work and make sure projects are properly staffed , so campaigns stay on track. 

With everything housed in one spot, you can easily visualize the status of your entire marketing plan and keep work on track. Building an effective marketing plan is one thing, but how you operationalize it can be your secret to standout marketing.

Example: If your strategy focuses on increasing page views, connect all campaign work to an overarching OKR—like “we will double page views as measured by the amount of organic traffic on our blog.” By making that goal visible to all stakeholders, you help teams prioritize the right work. 

See marketing planning in action

With Asana, marketing teams can connect work, standardize processes, and automate workflows—all in one place.

7. Measure performance

Nearly three in four CMOs use revenue growth to measure success, so it’s no surprise that measuring performance is necessary. You established your key metrics in step two, and now it’s time to track and report on them in step eight.

Periodically measure your marketing efforts to find areas of improvement so you can optimize in real-time. There are always lessons to be learned when looking at data. You can discover trends, detect which marketing initiatives performed well, and course-correct what isn’t performing well. And when your plan is complete, you can apply these learnings to your next initiative for improved results. 

Example: Say you discover that long-form content is consistently bringing in 400% more page views than short-form content. As a result, you’ll want to focus on producing more long-form content in your next marketing plan.

Marketing plan examples from world-class teams

The best brands in the world bring their marketing plans to life every day. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these examples from successful marketing teams.

Autodesk grows site traffic 30% three years in a row

When the Autodesk team launched Redshift, it was initially a small business blog. The editorial team executed a successful marketing plan to expand it into a premier owned-media site, making it a destination for stories and videos about the future of making. 

The team scaled content production to support seven additional languages. By standardizing their content production workflow and centralizing all content conversations in one place, the editorial team now publishes 2X more content monthly. Read the case study to learn more about how Autodesk runs a well-oiled content machine. Trinny London perfects new customer acquisition 

In consumer industries, social media is crucial for building a community of people who feel an affinity with the brand—and Trinny London is no exception. As such, it was imperative that Trinny London’s ad spend was targeted to the correct audience. Using a work management tool, Trinny London was able to nail the process of creating, testing, and implementing ads on multiple social channels.

With the help of a centralized tool, Trinny London improved its ad spend and drove more likes and subscriptions on its YouTube page. Read the case study to learn more about how Trinny London capitalized on paid advertising and social media. 

Turn your marketing plan into marketing success 

A great marketing plan promotes clarity and accountability across teams—so every stakeholder knows what they’re responsible for, by when. Reading this article is the first step to achieving better team alignment, so you can ensure every marketing campaign contributes to your company’s bottom line. 

Use a free marketing plan template to get started

Once you’ve created your marketing strategy and are ready to operationalize your marketing plan, get started with one of our marketing templates . 

Our marketing templates can help you manage and track every aspect of your marketing plan, from creative requests to approval workflows. Centralize your entire marketing plan in one place, customize the roadmap, assign tasks, and build a timeline or calendar. 

Once you’ve operationalized your entire marketing plan with one of our templates, share it with your stakeholders so everyone can work together in the same tool. Your entire team will feel connected to the marketing plan, know what to prioritize, and see how their work contributes to your project objectives . Choose the best marketing template for your team:

Marketing project plan template

Marketing campaign plan template

Product marketing launch template

Editorial calendar template

Agency collaboration template

Creative requests template

Event planning template

GTM strategy template

Still have questions? We have answers. 

What is a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a detailed roadmap that outlines the different strategies your team will use to achieve organizational objectives. Rather than focusing solely on the end goal, a marketing plan maps every step you need to reach your destination—whether that’s driving pipeline for sales, nurturing your existing customer base, or something in-between. 

As a marketing leader, you know there’s never a shortage of great campaign and project ideas. A marketing plan gives you a framework to effectively prioritize work that aligns to overarching business goals—and then get that work done. Some elements of marketing plans include:

Current business plan

Mission statement  

Business goals

Target customers  

Competitive analysis 

Current marketing mix

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Marketing budget  

What is the purpose of a marketing plan?

The purpose of a marketing plan is to grow your company’s consumer base and strengthen your brand, while aligning with your organization’s mission and vision . The plan should analyze the competitive landscape and industry trends, offer actionable insights to help you gain a competitive advantage, and document each step of your strategy—so you can see how your campaigns work together to drive overarching business goals. 

What is the difference between a marketing plan and a marketing strategy? 

A marketing plan contains many marketing strategies across different channels. In that way, marketing strategies contribute to your overall marketing plan, working together to reach your company’s overarching business goals.

For example, imagine you’re about to launch a new software product and the goal of your marketing plan is to drive downloads. Your marketing plan could include marketing strategies like creating top-of-funnel blog content and launching a social media campaign. 

What are different types of marketing plans? 

Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, what your timeline is, or which facet of marketing you’re driving, you’ll need to create a different type of marketing plan. Some different types of marketing plans include, but aren’t limited to:

General marketing plan: A general marketing plan is typically an annual or quarterly marketing plan that details the overarching marketing strategies for the period. This type of marketing plan outlines marketing goals, the company’s mission, buyer personas, unique selling propositions, and more. A general marketing plan lays the foundation for other, more specific marketing plans that an organization may employ. 

Product launch marketing plan: A product launch marketing plan is a step-by-step plan for marketing a new product or expanding into a new market. It helps you build awareness and interest by targeting the right audience, with the right messaging, in the right timeframe—so potential customers are ready to buy your new offering right away. Nailing your product launch marketing plan can reinforce your overall brand and fast-track sales. For a step-by-step framework to organize all the moving pieces of a launch, check out our product marketing launch template .

Paid marketing plan: This plan includes all the paid strategies in your marketing plan, like pay-per-click, paid social media advertising, native advertising, and display advertising. It’s especially important to do audience research prior to launching your paid marketing plan to ensure you’re maximizing ROI. Consult with content strategists to ensure your ads align with your buyer personas so you know you’re showing ads to the right people. 

Content marketing plan: A content marketing plan outlines the different content strategies and campaigns you’ll use to promote your product or service. When putting together a content marketing plan, start by identifying your audience. Then use market research tools to get the best insights into what topics your target audience is most interested in.

SEO marketing plan: Your SEO marketing plan should work directly alongside your content marketing plan as you chart content that’s designed to rank in search results. While your content marketing plan should include all types of content, your SEO marketing plan will cover the top-of-funnel content that drives new users to your site. Planning search engine-friendly content is only one step in your SEO marketing plan. You’ll also need to include link-building and technical aspects in order to ensure your site and content are as optimized as possible.

Social media marketing plan: This plan will highlight the marketing strategies you plan to accomplish on social media. Like in any general or digital marketing plan , your social media strategy should identify your ideal customer base and determine how they engage on different social media platforms. From there, you can cater your social media content to your target audience.  

Related resources

How Asana drives impactful product launches in 3 steps

How Asana streamlines strategic planning with work management

Write better AI prompts: A 4-sentence framework

What is content marketing? A complete guide

AllAssignmentHelp.com

How to Write Marketing Assignments Like a Pro

Do marketing assignments make you struggle? Do not worry, you are not the only one facing challenges while writing a top-notch marketing assignment. Marketing is a dynamic field and it needs a lot of analytical thinking, creativity, and strategic planning. At first, it might be intricate to write a marketing assignment but if you know the right approach, nobody can stop you from achieving an expert-like assignment. In this blog by All Assignment Help , we will try to educate you about some essential steps with which you can effectively compose your marketing assignment.

An Example of How Effective Marketing Can Be

Nike’s sales were $800 million in 1988. They launched their well-known “Just Do It” campaign. Within a decade, sales had surpassed $2 billion. “Just Do It” is a core message that is still relevant today, 36 years later. Just an example of what successful marketing can do to a brand. Through platforms like YouTube, you can learn about Nike’s marketing strategy to understand how Nike and all other big brands created their name with clever marketing. Also, why Marketing is such a crucial part of the business?

Also read: Pay Someone to Write My Essay for Me: Hire Professional Writers for Help

What is the Need for a Marketing Assignment?

Different marketing courses, institutions, and instructors are using marketing assignments to serve different purposes. However, given below are some of the common objectives of your marketing assignment.

• Your marketing assignment is an opportunity for the application of theoretical concepts into practice. Moreover, you will learn how you can use marketing principles in business settings and develop practical skills.
• It helps you develop your critical thinking and analytical skills as it requires you to analyze marketing strategies critically. Moreover, it also requires you to analyze consumer behaviour, market trends, and campaigns.
• When you enhance your analytical thinking ability through your marketing assignment, you can evaluate how different approaches can affect business and make informed decisions.
• Like any other assignment, marketing assignments also require thorough research. Hence, it develops your research skills. However, in case you have poor research skills then you can hire marketing assignment help experts to guide you with your assignment.
• Marketing assignments are inclusive of report writing, presentation preparations, and delivering persuasive arguments. Hence, we can say that it helps in communication skills enhancement.
• With the challenge to come up with creative solutions, marketing assignments help you develop your innovation and creativity levels.
• Ultimately, it prepares you for the marketing industry.

Also read: Facts About Homework You Never Knew- Origin & Benefits

How to Write an Effective Marketing Assignment?

Marketing as a subject has a lot of potential and has a bright future, which is why many students choose it as their graduation subject. However, writing a marketing assignment can be just as difficult as exams. Assignment writing follows a precise structure, and if you are unaware of it, you will suffer greatly in your scores every time you have an assignment due. It has its own way of evaluation and scoring grounds. Let us take you through some of the important aspects that you need to keep in mind while doing your marketing assignment.

Understand the assignment brief  

Before you begin to write your marketing assignment, it is crucial to understand the assignment brief. It means that you must know about the key objectives and the requirements of the assignment, and is there any specific guidelines given by your professor. In addition to this, pay attention to the required word count, formatting style, and deadline.

Choose the right topic

When writing a marketing assignment, it is critical to choose an appropriate topic from which you can draw a large amount of data to support your claims.

• Make sure it has enough research material.
• Do not just randomly select a topic. Try researching what is in the news and what is creating an impact.
• Choose a topic that also attracts your interest as well. You can never do justice with your work if you are uninterested in the subject you choose
• Make sure the topic you choose is popular and trending because marketing needs you to be aware of the new-age trends. For example, Digital Marketing and social media campaigns.

However, if the professor chooses the topic, you have no say in the matter at first. Once you have been given the topic, you will need to ask the professor for more resources and conduct searches using focused keywords relating to the topic to gather information. Also, there are certain things you should consider while writing your assignment.

• The topic must be tied to a specific marketing challenge, and you must remain on that topic from beginning to conclusion.
• You need to make sure to avoid deviation from the topic in pressure of word count or an approaching deadline.
• Do not use irrelevant stuff just to fill in the gaps.
• Sticking to the topic should be your primary goal.

In addition to this, to avoid the challenges of a marketing assignment and score well, you can seek professional guidance from websites providing assignment help online .

Conduct thorough research

Begin your marketing research as soon as you have chosen your topic. Find out if there is any theory about the topic that you can explain later. Moreover, find out as much as you can about the subject, including figures and data to back up your claim. You must have a very clear notion about the topic you have chosen/provided to write the assignment on to collect all of the material and digest it appropriately. If you have any questions about the issue, speak with your lecturer as soon as possible. Furthermore, if you put it off, you may develop new problems, and the fundamental ones may become buried beneath them.

Take care of the assignment structure

Making a structure of the assignment is important. This will act as a backbone and ribs, holding all of the muscle pieces together.

Introduction

If you create a strong opening to your assignment, you will undoubtedly attract your examiner’s attention and, as a result, receive good marks. Moreover, marketing is a creative field and full of mind-blowing stories of extraordinary marketing campaigns. It is advised to start your assignment with an interesting anecdote. Take a story or a popular trend getting viral on Instagram. Make sure you hold the readers’ attention from the start.

The central theme is the main idea around which your whole marketing assignment revolves. Every sub-idea, statement, facts, market research, the marketing strategy will connect to it.

Your marketing assignment conclusion should include:

• Summarized argument: It is helpful to restate your primary points for your reader by the time you have reached your conclusion, especially if you have made a long and intricate argument.
• Your takeaway: You should always mention your takeaways from the assignment you just concluded. You can include your personal opinion but keep in mind to not get too personal.

Critical analysis of marketing assignment

The goal of marketing assignments in MBA programs is to determine your vision as a multifunctional management student. Your thought process is distinct from that of your classmates, and your assignment should reflect this. If the examiner eventually acknowledges your ideas and depth of research, you can obtain good scores. In addition to this, if you find it tough to analyze your assignment critically or you miss out on other significant parameters of making your assignment expert-like, you can seek expert assistance. For many students who wonder, if is it possible to pay someone to do my assignment , assignment writing websites are nothing less than a boon. With the help of these websites, you can get professionally written error-free assignments anytime.

Cite your sources properly

Make sure to list any resources you utilized at the end of your marketing assignment by creating a separate page labelled references. Check the university’s guidelines for the reference format you have been instructed to use while putting those together. Referencing is required, and this is one of the criteria for evaluation. If you do not perform it right, you will lose some points.

This is how you can approach a marketing task. It is widely regarded as the most effective rule, and most writers and academics use it all around the world. But keep in mind that you should begin working on an assignment as soon as you receive it so that you have enough time to complete these two tasks effectively.

Proofread and edit

Once the writing portion is completed. Proofread and edit your assignment. This helps to reduce the likelihood of errors related to punctuation, sentence construction, or grammatical errors, which are a big no-no at any university. When professors notice such errors, they deduct a large number of points. There are many different software and websites like Grammarly and others that are available online for grammar, unintentional plagiarism, and punctuation mistakes.

In addition to this, the marketing assignment writing process is time-consuming and there are chances that it might cause you constraints issues in attending your marketing online classes. However, you do not have to worry about it. You can easily hire an online class helper to take your class on your behalf whilst you focus entirely on making your assignment flawless and error-free.

Points to Ponder While Completing Marketing Assignment

There are certain things that you must keep in mind while composing your marketing assignment. These are as follows:

• Every marketing assignment has a specific audience to target. Hence, you must define your audience and accordingly tailor your assignment.
• You must apply marketing concepts and theories to let the audience and professor know about your understanding of marketing principles. For that matter, you need to analyze industry trends, case studies, marketing campaigns, etc. and in case of difficulties, consult a good assignment writing help .
• To make your assignment appealing and reliable you can use visual aids like graphs, images, charts, etc. Moreover, it will also help in making the readability of your assignment better.
• We all know that the market is ever-evolving. Hence, it is significant that you keep yourself updated with industry trends, innovations, and best practices.

In conclusion, it requires critical thinking skills, theoretical knowledge, and practical application to make your assignment appear expert-like. Moreover, you can follow the steps of this blog if you wish to compose a professional-looking assignment. When you embrace the challenges of marketing assignments and face them with enthusiasm and diligence, you will not only get an expert-like assignment but also move successfully towards a fulfilling marketing career. So, go ahead and use the aforementioned strategies to compose an assignment like a pro.

Frequently Asked Question

• Fri. Sep 20th, 2024

Business Mens Edition

Keeping Businesses Informed

6 Top Tips To Write Marketing Assignments Like A Pro

The key to writing a practical marketing assignment is to use your strengths. Here we discuss the tips for writing marketing assignments like a pro.

If you have spent many hours developing your marketing profile, you know what makes a marketer successful.

Your marketing communications plan should have a framework and processes in place to avoid getting lost in the middle and missing meaningful communication opportunities.

You also need to establish clear, measurable objectives and metrics and how and when you will achieve those objectives.

• The success of your marketing thesis may depend on how you can deliver the efforts considerably.
• The project summary gives you a list of the tasks and their status. This should contain questions to write a marketing assignment that is tailored specifically for a professional marketing company.
• By creating this checklist, you’ll be sure that you get the correct answers to all your questions and that you have sufficient answers to complete your role in managing marketing effectively.

When writing a Marketing Assignment as a Professional, your primary objectives should be to

• Write a professional profile.
• Describe the project, team, and its goals.
• Describe your desired outcomes.
• Cover two types of marketing you need to define while writing a marketing assignment, online and offline.

Follow these tips for your perfect assignment to get the best results

1. Online marketing can be used for various types of social media marketing

• It consists of a few key steps: Log on to a website. Find out who your prospects are. List your services. Make an offer. Communicate offers to potential customers via email, phone, or any other communication.
• Use email marketing as your primary means of marketing, but make sure that your offers are engaging.

2. Reliability and quick turnaround of the transactions

Online marketing is the process of engaging potential buyers in one large, centralized form to get feedback, suggestions, or questions.

• The focus is on getting customers to make a decision. In the case of online shopping, one’s decision affects other people’s actions, which may affect other customers’ decisions.

3. Write the outline to the client or business owner

• business goals.
• how to create value.
• marketer persona or persona profile.
• and business process.

4. You should create an online form

5. Your content should be catchy and attractive

6. Find quotes and examples for your marketing assignment and feel free to use them

• Marketing is about what products and services are offered, the perceived success of those products and services, and the opportunity cost of the lack thereof.
• If your writing is going well and you are using good writing techniques, you may be prepared to submit the assignment. If you are unsure, it would be recommended to consult a professional and get your writing back on track by asking for marketing assignment help .

You can always follow the above guidelines to write your marketing assignment like a pro and avoid common assignment writing mistakes , but if you still face any obstacles, you can search online for help, because investing in your writing skills can pay off and you may make money online as a student with content writing .

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Home » Blog » Digital Marketing » 10 Ways to Improve Your Digital Marketing Assignment Writing Skills

10 Ways to Improve Your Digital Marketing Assignment Writing Skills

Are you overwhelmed with digital marketing assignments with your poor academic writing skills? If so, read everything you need to know to improve your digital marketing assignment writing skills in the upcoming lines. 

In the current century, digitalisation has taken over every aspect of our lives, and its advancement is rapidly increasing, including marketing. Marketing is one of the essential aspects of today’s era, mainly digital marketing. 

What is digital marketing? Digital marketing is a crucial component of traditional marketing techniques in which marketers use online-based digital technology containing mobile devices, personal computers, and laptops for running digital marketing campaigns through social media marketing and websites while using the internet.

Also, developing new strategies and digital marketing plans for online marketing and online advertising products. 

According to Oxford Reference: 

“Using digital technologies such as websites and multimedia, e-mail and digital media including mobile, and wireless, and delivering digital television for promotion, development, and distribution of a brand product and services is called Digital Marketing.”

Ever-Rising Scope of Digital Marketing 

Marketing is the most essential part of our society, and no business or brand can be successful without it. As a dynamic and promising career, digital marketing is increasing rapidly. In any case, you have seen ads on the Internet like “ do my chemistry homework ” or something similar, this is an example of marketing in fast-growing niches.

Noble Desktop represents its growing charm:

“The field of digital marketing is projected to grow up to a 10% growth rate from 2021 to 2031, with advancements in artificial intelligence, email marketing and content marketing, virtual and augmented reality for driving more revenue. Digital marketers increase the average wage of a beginner is $51,000 with 0-1 years of experience, $55,000 for 1-3 years, $61,000 for 4-6 years, and $68,000 for 7-9 years.”

All the facts and figures attracted many students to specialising in marketing, and most of them enrolled in digital marketing courses, seeking employment in sales and marketing. Even some of those who come without any prior background in marketing eventually learn the skills and knowledge to make ends meet by working in marketing departments. 

But when they encounter assignment writing, they find it hard to manage and seek a detailed guide and some proven tips. Furthermore, they can also get help from assignment writing services to tackle all the assignment writing hurdles. 

10 Tips to Improve Your Digital Marketing Assignment Writing Skills

Yes, you can get professional help from Digital Marketing Assignment writers to make your writing process effortless. But before that, you can follow our top 10 ways to improve your digital marketing assignment writing skills to get high scores. So let’s first with the most essential one: 

1. Know the Prompt and Instructions

Before you get started, it is essential that you have a complete understanding of the question that is being asked in the assignment. To understand the prompt, read it multiple times and focus on the critical phrases and action words.

Also, look over other instructions that mention the guidelines. If you find something confusing, ask your professor through email or communication for better calcification. 

2. Plan Your Digital Marketing Writing Process 

Most of the students skip this part and then try to complete the assignment with ambiguous planning till the date of submission. Therefore, it is crucial to make a schedule or a plan by dividing your whole process into small sections.

RMIT University Library represented a writing process planning followed by multiple steps from analysis to submission, shown below. 

This section will allow you to address your research question logically. You can also make a Grant chart of sculling assignments by giving these tasks a dedicated time to complete them. 

3. Choose Topics Wisely 

Topic selection seems like a tiny step in writing a digital marketing assignment, but it is the only step determining the rest of the assignment writing process. Because a wrong topic selection creates difficulties for your assignment completion, this is why students should give their full attention while selecting a topic.

For this purpose, you need to consider the following aspects: 

• Your personal interest and expertise 
• Fulfil the assignment requirements 
• Your instructor’s expectations and suggestions 
• Available research sources 
• Complete before the due date 

Further, here are some digital marketing fields you can consider to choose the topics:

• PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising
• Social Media Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Content Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing
• Influencer Marketing

By focusing on these steps, you will be able to select the best topic on which you can write your assignment easily. 

4. Brainstorming and Mind Mapping 

After selecting a topic, critically think about the topic, gather more and more digital marketing project ideas related to the prompt and then create a mind map. In this step, just sketch your brain, thinking about how your mind relates your ideas with the main topic. For generating a strong mind map, develop three to four main ideas around the subject matter. 

Draw lines by connecting each map idea to its supporting details and brainstorm digital marketing assignment ideas, tasks, and questions for each. As a sample, you can see the below mind map example presented by Agus Masrianto in “Model for Improving Firm Digital Marketing Capabilities Based on Adoption Eco-system Readiness and Digital Transformation.”

5. Conduct Extensive Research 

Conduct extensive keyword research on your specific topic to cover every query relevant to the subject matter. While doing research, collect both types of data: 

• Primary information 
• Secondary information 

Your primary data is first-hand data for better evaluation that comes from your self-observation. On the other hand, utilise secondary sources of information, which include internet search engines, library books, encyclopaedias and databases. 

6. Follow a Global Assignment Structure 

While writing any type of assignment, from essay to case study, there is a general digital marketing assignment structure that is standard to compose an effective academic paper. It includes three main sections: 

• Introduction
• Main body paragraph 

Conclusion 

Begin with a captivating introduction by stating your personal statement, continue it with a detailed explanation in the main body paragraph, and finally, conclude your assignment on digital marketing by summarising all the key points and emphasising the importance of your topic and its application. 

7. Add Reference and Citations 

If you want to make your work more authentic and trustworthy in front of your reader, then add references and citations. It is one of the best tips that enhance the worth of your assignment. There are different types of citation styles that are mostly used by institutes, such as: 

• Vancouver 
• Chicago 
• Harvard 

But in cases where your professor is guiding you to follow a specific referencing style, then make sure to follow the instructions. 

8. Filtered Your Digital Marketing Assignment 

After completing the writing process, do not submit it for revision multiple times. Filtered your assignment first against minor mistakes you skipped while drafting your work. In this step, look over the following: 

• Grammatical flaws
• Punctuation 
• Capitalisation 
• Typos errors
• Spelling mistakes

After removing all the above mistakes, you create a refined form of your digital marketing assignment to impress your professor. 

9. Check Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the most serious offence that can result in various serious consequences. To overcome all the barriers to stand out from the rest of the class, you must cross-check your content against plagiarism. Checking plagiarism is not a task to handle manually. But for this purpose, you can use a plagiarism checker or a detector. 

Submit your document by uploading it from your computer, or you can also copy and paste content. Go to get a percentage of unique and plagiarism content with just one click. You will get plagiarism reports in just a few seconds. If work is caught as plagiarised somewhere, remove it and create plagiarism-free content. 

10. Ask For Feedback 

Our last tip that makes a big impact is to look for a third eye for a bird’s eye view of your assignment. For this purpose, ask for feedback from your class fellows or any other expert. 

If you want to check your work from a professional in digital marketing, make an impressive email to deliver your message with a humble request and ask for honest feedback. This is the best way to improve your mistakes and learn from your flaws. 

Digital marketing assignment writing is a most technical process because, with the advances of digital marketing, its theory concepts and technologies become more advanced, giving a tough time to most students. Students face many difficulties in understanding its prompts and composing a good piece of paper because of a lack of good academic writing skills. 

If you are one of them and struggling with your assignment on digital marketing, follow the above ways to improve your digital marketing writing assignment skills. But if it still makes you upset, then avail yourself of beneficial assignment writing help from a suitable firm.

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Marketing is an often misunderstood profession. Peers often stereotype marketing with massive budgets, loosey-goosey timelines, haphazard tactics, high-profile influencers, and Snapchat filters. In reality, modern marketing plans are more complex and orchestrated than a Premier League-winning football team.

Businesses have big goals to hit and fine margins to walk—and they need realistic, yet imaginative, marketing plans to make it happen. Sure, bigger companies can spend all willy-nilly hiring Taylor Swift for a commercial op and dropping a quarter million on Facebook advertising, but small businesses and startups have to get downright strategic with every dollar they spend.

If your business is trying to stretch every penny, you’ve come to the right place. This article will show you how to create a marketing plan in 2024 that actually works with a down-to-earth budget. We’ve included step-by-step actions, outlines, examples, and more to give you everything you need to take an idea to the market with laser precision.

Table of Contents

What is a marketing plan?

How to create a marketing plan

Marketing plan template

Marketing plan example

Marketing Plan FAQs

What Is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a documented roadmap for how you plan to drive awareness, sales, signups, attendance, or other marketing initiatives. It outlines your KPIs, budget, and timeline, dictating everything from the critical milestones to the nitty-gritty to-do items.

Marketing plans come in all shapes and sizes. You could build an overarching marketing plan to document and guide your entire department’s annual goals and strategies for the upcoming year. Or you might create a marketing plan detailing the launch strategy for the brand-new product release coming out next quarter. Big plans can even include small plans, just like an adorable collection of Russian nesting dolls.

Plans can be short, long, fat, or thin—just remember what your plan is trying to accomplish. If you’re trying to pitch an idea to a team of venture capitalists or a local bank, you might need a chunky document with accompanying spreadsheets and financial figures. However, if you’re trying to communicate the plan to your marketing team leads, you’ll want to skip straight to the point with tactics, deadlines, and deliverables.

Regardless of your use case, the next section will give you the building blocks you need to create a marketing plan that works.

How to Create a Marketing Plan

This section will show you the 7-step process to creating a marketing plan. Plans are fluid and versatile, so we don’t recommend filling out one of these with pen and paper—get your eraser ready because a marketing plan is never perfect from the get-go.

Here’s an overview of the 7-step process:

• Establish Your Marketing Goal
• Identify Your Audience and Competitors
• Set Your Marketing Budget
• Determine Your Deadline(s)
• Pick Your Marketing Channels and Tactics
• Outline the To-Do List and Make Assignments
• Track Performance and Review Analytics

Don’t worry too much about making it all nice and pretty right now. Later, you can use our provided marketing outline to copy, paste, and format a more articulated version for widespread distribution. For now, just focus on hashing out each section and answering the thought-provoking questions.

1. Establish Your Marketing Goal

Define exactly what you’re trying to achieve. Do you want to drive more sales? How much? What about recurring customers? How many? Do you need to increase brand awareness? To whom and by how much?

Work out the details of what you want to accomplish, why, and how you’re going to measure it. Establish your KPIs early on to measure the success of your marketing campaign. You’ll refer to these numbers throughout the rest of your marketing plan, so get specific.

For example, how many website visitors you’re trying to drive will affect your marketing budget, deadlines, and tactics. And if you’re targeting a specific demographic, you may need to engage different marketing teams to use the appropriate channels and messaging.

Fine-tune your marketing goal so that you can communicate it simply in a single sentence. For example: “The goal is to drive 25,000 key decision-makers to the new product page by the end of October with a limited marketing budget of $75,000.”

2. Identify Your Audience and Competitors

Explain who this campaign is targeting. If you’ve already built out your buyer personas, you’ll just plug in the persona appropriate to this campaign. However, if this is your first time thinking long and hard about your target audience, really get to know the person you’re marketing to.

Depending on your product, industry, and market, you’ll want to know demographics like:

• Marital status

These details help you identify a broad audience, but you’ll want to narrow it down with psychographics.

Psychographics dig deeper . They cover your audience’s:

• Influencers
• Shopping behaviors

Demographics explain the “who,” while psychographics explain the “why.”

Think about if you were trying to sell a baseball glove. How you market that glove is going to be very different depending on the buyer. Are your messaging and channels targeting a college athlete, recreational youngster, mom, dad, or low-income family? It’s hard to know what to say and how to say it unless you know who you’re talking to.

Don’t just gloss over this section. Without a target audience, you’ll be blindly throwing darts at a board—sure, some plans might work out, but it’ll come down less to strategy and more to sheer luck. A target audience and replicable formula make your success a science and not a game of Russian roulette.

Once you’ve identified your audience, you need to figure out who’s also targeted the same people. Competition research is a way to understand who you are up against for eyeballs, SEO rankings, and influence, but it also can serve as an opportunity to fill gaps in our needs that your competitors are missing.

One easy way to do this is to look at comment sections or reviews of similar companies in your industry. Look for:

• Frequent complaints about product design.
• Consistent issues with customer service.
• Ads or branding language that falls flat.
• If the competitor hasn’t made a product their customers are asking for.

By identifying your competitor’s weaknesses or gaps their missing with their customers, you’ll have a treasure trove of marketing copy to use in order to differentiate your business from the pack.

3. Set Your Marketing Budget

Marketing plans need budget constraints. Without a cap, plans could hypothetically include:

• 60-second Super Bowl commercial
• Cristiano Ronaldo as a celebrity endorser
• Billboard advertisements along the entirety of Route 66

For most startups, that’s just not a possibility.

And it’s not where the magic happens. Powerful marketing plans turn tiny marketing budgets into impressive ROI. They prioritize the right channels, messaging, and tactics to stretch every dollar to the max.

Decide beforehand how much budget you’ll need to allocate to meet the goals you set in Step 1. When push comes to shove, you may need to throw additional money at the campaign later to get it across the finish line, but stay strong and do your best to create a marketing plan that works with the budget constraints.

Tight on budget but full on creativity? Check out our Small Business Marketing Guide: From Scratch to Success .

4. Determine Your Deadline(s)

Deadlines create the boundaries to your marketing campaign—you can’t have a plan without them. No deadlines mean there’s a never-ending period to achieve your objective, and it’s probably not a good idea to have a 20-year free pass to accomplish that sales goal you set.

Set your deadline. Be realistic, but also be ambitious. The faster you achieve this goal, the faster you can move on to the next one—and each progressive goal should be moving your business forward.

Establish the final deadline for achieving your primary KPI. Then, set the necessary milestones along the journey. For example, you might set milestones for launching different aspects of your campaign, such as hosting 4 webinars, publishing 10 supporting blog posts, or earning a callout in 2 prime news outlets.

Finally, set the start date for when you’ll need to get the ball rolling to meet your deadlines. Don’t assume it’s ASAP—you might have a few weeks to get your ducks in a row instead of immediately heading off into a chaotic marketing battle.

5. Pick Your Marketing Channels and Tactics

This is arguably the funnest part of creating a marketing plan. This is the step where you get to choose the channels, tactics, and deliverables. The right channels and tactics will vary depending on your audience and product or service, but here are the most popular ones to consider:

• Email Marketing: Email marketing is one of the tried-and-true tactics of the digital marketing world. It generates an average ROI of $40 for every $1 invested —you can’t get much more bang for your buck than that. (Check out our complete email masterclass to learn how to conquer this lucrative channel.)
• Social Media Marketing: Whether you’re running organic strategies or targeted paid campaigns , social media marketing is an excellent modern-day tactic for reaching consumers where they’re most comfortable: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, or TikTok.
• PPC Marketing: Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing lets you run advertising campaigns on search engine pages and other websites across the internet. It’s a competitive way to get your content in front of the right eyeballs.
• Content Marketing: Content marketing paired with a solid search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is a long-term tactic that can drive organic traffic (read: free) to your website for years to come.

And do you know what all these channels have in common? They each give you the ability to monitor your results and track your progress to prove if a channel is worth your time and money. Unlike traditional outbound advertising and its estimated impressions and influence, you know exactly what you’re getting with these digital marketing strategies.

6. Outline the To-Do List and Make Assignments

Here’s where you get into the nitty-gritty of your marketing plan. Step 6 is where you’ll outline everything that needs to get done:

• Launch meeting
• Recurring meetings and syncs
• Creative assets
• Promotional channels
• Post-mortems

And that’s just the start. Outline everything that needs to happen to make your plan a reality. Once you know what needs to happen, it’s time to start making assignments. Someone needs to be responsible for every deliverable.

Here’s where you may run into roadblocks. You may discover that your creative team is overwhelmed and won’t be able to handle the creative requests until later, or you may find that other email campaigns or social media advertisements are the top priority.

If that’s the case, go back to Step 4 to revisit your timeline. Make adjustments to ensure there’s bandwidth available to make your marketing plan a reality.

7. Track Performance and Review Analytics

No marketing plan will go off without a hitch. That’s why you need your ear to the ground to understand what’s working. Through analytic tools, you can understand if your marketing plan’s target audience, messaging, or creative needs adjusting. Thankfully, most digital tactics allow you to do this on the fly.

Make sure you familiarize yourself with these basic marketing analytics tools:

• Facebook Ads Manager
• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• Semrush or Ahrefs for SEO

For more on analytics, read our marketing metrics guide .

Marketing Plan Template (Copy/Paste)

Marketing Plan Template: [Name of Project]

Marketing Plan Example (Filled Out)

Here’s a fake content marketing plan example for a fictitious shoe company.

Marketing Plan Template: [Project Zeus Running Collection]

Marketing Goal Drive $200,000 in sales for the new Zeus running collection within the first 4 months of launch day.

Target Audience The primary audience is 35 to 50-year-old male recreational runners who tend to run 30-40 miles a week at an average page of 8:00-10:00 minutes per mile. They’re not overly competitive, but they like to race 5K and 10K races occasionally throughout the year and are always trying to beat their personal best. Many have experienced mild injuries over the last few years that the Zeus Running Collection can help alleviate.

Marketing Budget We have a budget of $40,000 for the initial launch period. If we can prove out the Zeus Running Collection, we’ll allocate additional budget after the first 4 months.

• Launch Day: June 1
• Marketing Assets Ready to Go: May 28
• Pre-Launch Teaser: May 24
• Creative Assets Finished: May 21
• Product Beta Tester Reviews Submitted: May 10
• Written Content Creation Period: April 12 – May 7
• Enlist Beta Testers: April 12
• Project Kickoff Meeting: April 5

Marketing Tactics

• Social Media Marketing: Target runners on Instagram and Facebook with paid ads featuring our endorsed runner racing in the shoe.
• Email Marketing: Email existing customers with a 15% off discount code on the new Zeus Running Collection. Email prospects with a link to the product breakdown page with a code for free shipping.

Responsibilities and Assignments

• Lizzy K: Creative assets
• Mark B: Blog post announcement + product page
• Spencer S: Beta tester outreach
• Larry G: Email and social media marketing campaigns
• Carly M: Project manager

Do I need to write a marketing plan for everything?

As stated earlier, marketing plans can come in all shapes and sizes. But that doesn't mean you need one for every single Facebook ad or whitepaper your team creates. The best marketing plans serve as a source of truth for your team to reach a goal. Within the marketing plan, you should have enough wiggle room to adjust your strategy and tactics. Marketing is an art and science, so there are bound to be surprises once you start executing your plan.

How do I know if my marketing plan is a success?

One of the most common mistakes marketers make is creating a seemingly perfect marketing plan and then going off script as soon as there's a sign of trouble or distraction. Using the SMART goal method (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound) is a simple way to ensure your marketing plan is applicable. Every marketing plan should be a success, whether you hit your goal or not, because you'll learn something new about your customer, tactics, and business throughout the process.

Who should make a marketing plan?

If you're reading this article, ideally you. A marketing manager or marketing team member typically writes marketing plans, but marketing strategy should start at an enterprise level. The more people understand the marketing plan for your business, the more you can work together (not in silos) to achieve a common goal. You'll see this happen in larger organizations where the marketing team works plan that the product or sales team have no idea about.

Plan It Out—Make It Happen

Every great campaign starts with an even better plan. Don’t leave your startup’s success up to chance—give it all the thought and attention you can.

With the right plan in place, you won’t be crossing your fingers on launch day or during the quarterly review. You’ll be sitting confidently, knowing that everything is running according to plan.

Need a high-level plan for your startup? We got you covered with our foundr+. Get access for $1. .

About Jesse Sumrak

Jesse Sumrak is a writing zealot focused on creating killer content. He’s spent almost a decade writing about startup, marketing, and entrepreneurship topics, having built and sold his own post-apocalyptic fitness bootstrapped business. A writer by day and a peak bagger by night (and early early morning), you can usually find Jesse preparing for the apocalypse on a precipitous peak somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

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Marketing Assignment Topics

Table of Contents

The Importance of Marketing Assignments

99 marketing assignment topics, 📱 digital marketing, 🛍️ consumer behaviour marketing, 📺 telemarketing, 📣 word-of-mouth marketing, 📧 personalized marketing, 💬 influencer marketing, 🤳 social media marketing, 📍 local marketing, 📔 print media strategies, 🏷️ niche marketing , narrowing things down helps.

Regardless of whether you are majoring in Digital Marketing, MBA, or Sociology, taking a look at the various marketing assignment topics will be essential for your success. The most important is to determine what kind of sub-topic you require or what promotional take is studied. Starting with the case study ideas to analysis and comparison of the different methods, you must explore your initial requirements and think about a good topic. Our friendly marketing assignment writing service has collected a selection of relevant marketing ideas to keep you inspired. Take your time to explore them and choose the one that fits!

In simple terms, digital marketing relates to promotion and advertisement of certain ideas and services via electronic means. While it’s mostly related to Internet technologies, digital marketing also covers mobile phones, digital street banners, online intellectual property protection, and anything where electronic platforms are used. It makes exploring digital marketing assignment topics a rather popular choice for college researching as can be seen below:

• How has content marketing changed during Covid-19 times?
• The pecularities of search engine optimization and political bias.
• The legislation in the United States used to protect intellectual property online.
• Google Ads vs YouTube advertisement systems: the pros and cons.
• The role of website design for the digital marketing.
• Sustainability of Internet of Things.
• The role of Machine Learning technology for the digital marketing.
• The use of Livestreaming in education.
• Leadership styles through the lens of account-based marketing.
• Telling a story online vs physical interaction in 2022.

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The purpose here is to estimate and understand how people (customers) make certain decisions when they choose particular services or puchase what they want. It’s a study of their needs and related behaviors. See some consumer behavior assignment topics below:

• How important is the variety of available products for behavior patterns?
• The use of AI-based tools to predict consumer behavior.
• The role of family influencing for consumer choices.
• Available resources through the lens of Maslow’s Theory of Needs.
• Search for information and the reasoning to purchase things.
• Consumer behavior and tourism marketing during pandemic times.
• Perception of risks when dealing with unknown products.
• Evaluation of product alternatives: analysis vs experience.
• Recognition of needs: what drives consumers in 2022?
• Modern data collection method: digital means vs word-of-mouth.

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Also known as the phone marketing, this type of sales is still quite popular these days. It involves both initiation and closure of commercial operations by making a call to certain customers. It is usually based on already existing services where specific groups of people are targeted.

• Establishment of strong customer relations in outbound vs inbound practices.
• Dealing with technical issues and the role of recommendations.
• Selling things from a distance: global vs local sales approach.
• Transformation of a phone call into a deal: the role of the time factor.
• What does represent a quality lead in 2022?
• Cold calling vs inside sales: persuasive rhetorics.
• Setting objectives in telemarketing: how long should an introduction be?
• Business to Business approach: why does taking a special niche helps?
• Improving marketing data: the most efficient method to study your customers’ needs.
• Analysis of modern telemarketing methods via online messengers.

It’s one of those areas where every college student majoring in marketing can turn to personal experience or focus on various case studies. When marketing data is being passed from person to person, among friends or family members, it belongs to word-of-mouth. See the subjects below for inspiration:

• Product giveaways: how much risk does it include?
• Brand ambassadors and the degree of honesty in marketing.
• Sharing buzzworthy skills: is using psychological processing acceptable?
• Referrals on social media: can one person become an influencer?
• Pinterest: the network that uses individual marketing approach.
• Coca-Cola and the branding strategies: popularity factor.
• Identification and nurturing: professional word-of-mouth marketing vs amateur techniques.
• Word of mouth for the small business: should testimonials be obligatory?
• How to create personal recommendations using marketing management?
• Brand generation methods: like-minded individuals or knowing your audience matters.

While it can take virtually any form thesedays, turning to personalization in the field of modern marketing is essential. It always starts with a detailed research of the target market by focusing on individuals that are already interested in services on offer. For example, promoting car safety tools among street racers or cargo companies can be one of the examples.

• The pros and cons of the “always on” marketology.
• Targeted emails: is email marketing still relevant in 2022?
• Custom video messages and online learning.
• The phenomenon of the fear of missing out.
• Product recommendations based on data mining methods.
• Adjusting brands to investor’s expectation: target market changes.
• Amazon’s case study: content personalization.
• Privacy of the purchase history online: what are the safety guarantees.
• Purchase recommendations based on artificial intelligence.
• In-store personal guidance vs online customer service marketing methods.

This type of marketing is one of the most relevant and important these days when we have celebrities, bloggers, and various athletes using their status to promote certain products. At the same time, every college student can become an influencer by setting a positive example. Here are some ideas to consider:

• The negative influence of celebrities for promotion of low-quality products.
• Quality matters: why do customers ignore quality concerns when the fame factors comes up?
• The role of YouTube marketing mix feature for promotion of influencers.
• Child influencers: does it help to promote business skills and responsibilities?
• Marketing agreements: what are the limitations of being an influencer?
• Social campaigns: the most important social marketing campaigns.
• Negative body image and marketing influencers: beauty models and healthcare concerns.
• The culture of shout outs by media personalities: a “sponsor me” controversy.
• Branded hashtags: what are the pros and cons of digital branding?
• The role of online bloggers for promotion of products and services.

Contrary to the popular belief, social media marketing (SMM) is not limited to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We also have platforms like TikTok, LinkedIn, and Snapchat that also generate a lot of traffic. SMM is further divided into six sub-sections that are: social networking, creation of bookmarks, sharing social news, media sharing, addressing blog posts, and participating in online forums like Reddit and Quora. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Transition of Facebook into Meta Inc: what marketing challenges became apparent?
• Instagram and the role of intellectual property protection online.
• Twitter and the political bias encountered in microblogging.
• LinkedIn’s approach to business networking: marketing research case study analysis.
• Methodology of attracting new users via Instagram’s feed.
• Discord and the ethical limitations of promotion.
• The use of trends and the youth culture for modern marketing.
• Publication of news on social media: the problem of a primary source.
• Motivational posts: cryptic media promotion methods.
• Generation of social lift in 2022: from green energy to the rules of engagement.

Local marketing represents a special market niche where your products and services are advertised within a limited geographic area. Unlike global digital marketing, in most cases, you are focusing on the local customers by using street advertisement methods and even various print outlets like promotional leaflets and flyers.

• The use of promotional coupons: what information must be included?
• Creation of the local marketing plan and the prognosis aspect.
• Brand perception by the local audience vs national marketing’s vision.
• The challenges of Local Relevance in the rural areas of the United States.
• What customer data is acceptable to ask for locally?
• Cooperation with Google for local marketing.
• The role of public relations and territorial television for promotional purposes.
• Legal sources of data collection that are acceptable for regional marketing.
• The use of governmental funding for localized marketing.
• Socio-cultural factor of the brand perception of the American South.

The use of print media still remains relevant today, which became even clearer during the times of social distancing when people have turned to explanatory materials and various print outlets that they had available. These include manuals and promotional data that has been sent. The examples include real estate advertisement techniques and product manuals.

• Are newspapers in print becoming obsolete?
• The role of marketing in print for the fashion industry.
• Magazines and the role of business promotion.
• Healthcare articles and promotion of pharmacology.
• Politics and the role of leaflets for elections.
• The role of frequency of publications.
• Limitations of print media strategies.
• The use of questionnaries in the print advertisement.
• The art of telling a story: the unique benefits of print media.
• The tactile factor: why marketing requires something one can hold.

As the name implies, niche marketing aims for those areas where we have specific, limited appeal with low competition. At the same time, it represents a strong demand and the needs that have not been met. For example, specific sports equipment or ethnic musical instruments. Here are some good topic ideas to consider:

• Creation of brand loyalty in 2022.
• The most efficient methods to improve one’s outreach.
• The use of monetization and digital solutions vs in-store contact.
• How to analyze one’s target audience when dealing with global markets?
• Faster business growth vs cost-effective methods.
• Reverse engineering and study of the competitors.
• Content creation system: simplification with the AI.
• SEO optimization and conversion of contacts to sales.
• The art of the thought leadership method for niche marketing.

Choosing assignment topics for marketing, remember that you should narrow things down for the best results as it will help you to focus on particular events or practices. It makes it easier to set an example and provide at least one piece of evidence for your marketing assignment. Take your time to research the subject first and play with the wording to make your paper’s title reflect your thesis statement. By doing so, you will be able to create a strong hook for your introduction and the topic sentence for each relevant paragraph. Solve your problems with assignment writing help from AssignmentBro

Social Studies is an interdisciplinary field that looks at the many facets of human society and culture, from history to economics, political science to anthropology. It seeks to help...

Social Studies is an interdisciplinary field that looks at the many...

Canada is a land with a history that involves numerous interesting events that are worth exploring. Starting with the first gatherings of the First Nations People to Candian history...

Canada is a land with a history that involves numerous interesting...

Consumer behavior is a complex phenomenon that has significant implications for businesses and marketers. Understanding why consumers behave in certain ways and how they make purchasing...

Consumer behavior is a complex phenomenon that has significant...

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Marketing 101: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners

Updated: August 27, 2024

Published: July 28, 2023

If you're new to marketing, you might have a skewed perception of it. You might imagine a multimillion-dollar Super Bowl ad or a glowing billboard in Times Square.

Marketing is much more than that. It encompasses a variety of channels, tactics, and formats — and can work for any business at any budget.

The key to getting started is knowing the fundamentals. Here, I'll walk you through some beginner-friendly marketing channels and how to build your first marketing strategy.

Cost-Effective Marketing Channels

Building your first marketing strategy.

If you're just getting started with marketing, here are a few cost-effective channels to consider:

Content marketing

The entire premise of content marketing is to provide valuable content to your audience. This can be blog posts, videos, podcasts, e-books, and more. Unlike a pop-up ad, this type of marketing isn't disruptive. It's supposed to feel natural, organic, and helpful.

Consider this: you want to market your product, a productivity app. On your blog, you publish articles brimming with tips and tricks for staying productive at work.

To take it one step further, you include a sign-up form for a free trial of your app at the top of every article — giving readers a chance to convert into customers.

Content marketing is a long-term investment. But with patience and the right strategy, you can drive brand awareness and nurture customer relationships without significant financial strain.

The State of Marketing in 2024

HubSpot's Annual Inbound Marketing Trends Report

• Top Marketing Channels
• AI in Marketing
• Managing Privacy
• The Future of Marketing

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Email marketing

Email marketing is relatively affordable compared to other marketing channels. Many email service providers offer free plans or tiered pricing to appeal to different budgets. For example, HubSpot's email marketing software is easy to use, secure, and free.

With email marketing , you‘re reaching people who’ve already expressed an interest in your business. This puts you in a great position to build relationships, promote your products, and share offers. You can also set up trigger emails when someone completes an action, such as making a purchase or downloading a content offer.

Looking to bulk up your email list? Check out this helpful guide .

Social media marketing

These days, consumers expect brands to have an online presence — so if you haven't already, sign up for a business profile on a few social media sites.

Once you're up and running, you can begin to share content. Experiment with different types of content until you have a better idea of what gets the most traction. Remember that social media is all about connection, so interact with customers, initiate conversations, and leverage user-generated content . These tactics can help you ​​foster relationships and build loyalty around your brand without spending a dime.

However, if you decide to run paid ads, social media offers incredible reach that can generate immediate results.

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide advanced ad targeting, enabling you to narrow down your audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. And with flexible budgeting options, you can allocate your budget strategically and maximize your ROI.

Online advertising

One of the biggest benefits of online advertising is that it's often cheaper than traditional advertising. Consider TV ads, which cost anywhere from thousands of dollars to even millions .

Now, think of an ad running on social media for $1 a day, and you can see why online advertising is a great option for small businesses.

Online advertising encompasses a few areas, including:

• Display ads : these include banner ads, images, and videos that you can buy on Google Ads.
• Pay-per-click : PPC is an advertising model that falls under search engine marketing . These ads appear at the top of search engine results, and you only pay when people click them.
• Social ads : these are ads that appear on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. You set a budget and specify your target audience.
• Remarketing : this involves tagging your website visitors and targeting them with content after they leave your site. Think of an email from an e-commerce store reminding you of your abandoned cart.

Unlike traditional advertising, online ads offer powerful analytics. You don't have to wonder if an online ad is effective since you can track metrics like impressions, click-through rates, conversion rates, and more.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

The goal of SEO is to boost your website's presence in search engines like Google. While SEO trends come and go, the key principles stay the same:

• Create and publish valuable content on your website
• Strategically insert keywords in the content
• Improve your website's page speed
• Offer a great user experience to website visitors

Like content marketing, SEO is a long-term game. But when you consider 95% of search traffic goes to the first page of search results, it becomes a critical strategy for driving traffic and generating leads.

You can think of a marketing strategy as a roadmap, helping you make the most of your marketing. Here are the basic principles of a strong marketing strategy:

1. Start with your goals.

Before you can build a marketing strategy, you first need to set clear goals. What does your business want to accomplish? Are you aiming to increase brand awareness? Generate leads? Or enhance customer loyalty?

Goals provide direction and purpose for your entire marketing operation. Plus, they determine the effectiveness of your efforts.

When defining your marketing goals, ensure they align with business objectives. For example, if your main business objective is to build brand awareness, your marketing goal might be to reach X-number of social media followers in the next six months.

Further Reading:

The 9 Goals to Consider When Creating a Marketing Strategy

Free Template: Determine Your SMART Marketing Goals

2. Know your target audience

Who is your customer? What are their challenges or pain points? Are they price sensitive? Do they shop online?

Knowing your audience is key to building effective marketing strategies. The more you know about your audience, the better you can craft compelling messages that respond to their interests, needs, or preferences.

Your target audience will also play a huge role in influencing which marketing channels you decide to leverage. For instance, suppose you sell home security devices and your target audience is adult homeowners. Based on this information, you might pass on Snapchat, where nearly half the user base is under 25.

Target Audience: How to Find Yours

How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Business

3. Decide your marketing mix

In a nutshell, marketing is about promoting the right product to the right audience at the right price and time. That's a tall order.

To nail this balance, you need to define your marketing mix. Your marketing mix consists of four key components (otherwise known as the “Four Ps of Marketing”): Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

To state the obvious, your product is key to your business. But in order to market it effectively, you need to know what makes it unique. How is your product different from others on the market? What “problems” does it solve? What are the key features? These questions can help you formulate a unique selling proposition .

Landing on the right price for your product can be tricky. Price too high, and customers walk away. Price too low, and you leave money on the table. A good place to start is by looking at your competitors to see how much customers are willing to pay for a similar product. You can also conduct focus groups or surveys to determine the right price.

Where will you sell your product? Ultimately, you need to meet your customers where they are — whether that's an e-commerce store or a retail location. Consider where your competitors sell their products and how they differentiate themselves.

What tactics will you use to reach your target audience? And on which channels? This could be a billboard on a busy road or a promotional email sent to someone's inbox. The way you promote your product will depend on your budget and target audience. For instance, if your target audience skews younger, you might prioritize paid social ads over, say, television ads.

Further reading

The Ultimate Guide to Pricing Strategies

How to Write a Great Value Proposition [7 Top Examples + Template]

How to Launch a Successful Multichannel Marketing Strategy

4. Monitor the right KPIs

Establish a system for tracking and analyzing the results of your marketing efforts. If you're running an email marketing campaign, for instance, you might track open rates, click-through rates, and subscribers. These are known as key performance indicators (KPIs).

Your KPIs serve as benchmarks that reflect your progress toward your goals. By tracking them, you can pinpoint which strategies are working and which need improvement.

What is a KPI? How To Choose the Best KPIs for Your Business

Marketing Effectiveness: How to Measure It & Present to External Stakeholders

The marketing landscape is always evolving. Just in the last decade, we‘ve seen the rise of TikTok, artificial intelligence, and smart devices. All this to say, a good marketing strategy is one that’s adaptable. Be open to testing new ideas, experimenting with different tactics, and adapting your strategy.

The Top Marketing Trends of 2023 & How They've Changed Since 2022 [Data from 1000+ Global Marketers]

5 Marketing Trends That Might Not Survive in 2023 [HubSpot Research]

Back To You

While frustrating, there‘s no "one size fits all" marketing strategy. What works for one business may not work for another. That’s why experimentation is key, especially when you‘re just starting out. Don’t be afraid to test different marketing channels, tactics, and strategies to find what resonates best with your target audience.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Blog Marketing What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]

Written by: Sara McGuire Oct 26, 2023

A marketing plan is a blueprint that outlines your strategies to attract and convert your ideal customers as a part of your customer acquisition strategy. It’s a comprehensive document that details your:

• Target audience:  Who you’re trying to reach
• Marketing goals:  What you want to achieve
• Strategies and tactics:  How you’ll reach your goals
• Budget:  Resources you’ll allocate
• Metrics:  How you’ll measure success

In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about creating a marketing plan . If you need a little extra help, there are professionally designed marketing plan templates that’ll make the process much easier. So, let’s ditch the confusion and get started!

Click to jump ahead:

What is a marketing plan?

How to write a marketing plan , 9 marketing plan examples to inspire your growth strategy.

• Marketing plan v.s. business plan
• Types of marketing plans

Marketing plan FAQs

A marketing plan is a report that outlines your marketing strategy for your products or services, which could be applicable for the coming year, quarter or month.  

Watch this quick, 13-minute video for more details on what a marketing plan is and how to make one yourself:

Typically, a marketing plan includes:

• An overview of your business’s marketing and advertising goals
• A description of your business’s current marketing position
• A timeline of when tasks within your strategy will be completed
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) you will be tracking
• A description of your business’s target market and customer needs
• A description of how you will measure marketing plan performance

For example, this marketing plan template provides a high-level overview of the business and competitors before diving deep into specific goals, KPIs and tactics:

Learning how to write a marketing plan forces you to think through the important steps that lead to an effective marketing strategy . And a well-defined plan will help you stay focused on your high-level marketing goals.

With Venngage’s extensive catalog of marketing plan templates, creating your marketing plan isn’t going to be hard or tedious. In fact, Venngage has plenty of helpful communications and design resources for marketers. If you’re ready to get started, sign up for  Venngage for Marketers   now. It’s free to register and start designing.

Whether you’re a team trying to set smarter marketing goals, a consultant trying to set your client in the right direction, or a one-person team hustling it out, Venngage for Marketers helps you get things done.

As mentioned above, the scope of your marketing plan varies depending on its purpose or the type of organization it’s for.

For example, you could look for performance marketing agency to create a marketing plan that provides an overview of a company’s entire marketing strategy:

A typical outline of a marketing plan includes:

• Executive summary
• Goals and objectives
• User personas
• Competitor analysis/SWOT analysis
• Baseline metrics
• Marketing strategy
• Tracking guidelines

Below you will see in details how to write each section as well as some examples of how you can design each section in a marketing plan.

Let’s look at how to create a successful marketing plan (click to jump ahead):

• Write a simple executive summary
• Set metric-driven marketing goals
• Outline your user personas
• Research all of your competitors
• Set accurate key baselines & metrics
• Create an actionable marketing strategy
• Set tracking or reporting guidelines

1. Write a simple executive summary

Starting your marketing plan off on the right foot is important. You want to pull people into your amazing plan for marketing domination. Not bore them to tears.

One of the best ways to get people excited to read your marketing plan is with a well-written executive summary. An executive summary introduces readers to your company goals, marketing triumphs, future plans, and other important contextual facts.

Basically, you can use the Executive Summary as a primer for the rest of your marketing plan.

Include things like:

• Simple marketing goals
• High-level metrics
• Important company milestones
• Facts about your brand
• Employee anecdotes
• Future goals & plans

Try to keep your executive summary rather brief and to the point. You aren’t writing a novel, so try to keep it under three to four paragraphs.

Take a look at the executive summary in the marketing plan example below:

The executive summary is only two paragraphs long — short but effective.

The executive summary tells readers about the company’s growth, and how they are about to overtake one of their competitors. But there’s no mention of specific metrics or figures. That will be highlighted in the next section of the marketing plan.

An effective executive summary should have enough information to pique the reader’s interest, but not bog them down with specifics yet. That’s what the rest of your marketing plan is for!

The executive summary also sets the tone for your marketing plan. Think about what tone will fit your brand ? Friendly and humorous? Professional and reliable? Inspiring and visionary?

2. Set metric-driven marketing goals

After you perfect your executive summary, it’s time to outline your marketing goals.

(If you’ve never set data-driven goals like this before, it would be worth reading this growth strategy guide ).

This is one of the most important parts of the entire marketing plan, so be sure to take your time and be as clear as possible. Moreover, optimizing your marketing funnel is key. Employing effective funnel software can simplify operations and provide valuable customer insights. It facilitates lead tracking, conversion rate analysis, and efficient marketing optimization .

As a rule of thumb, be as specific as possible. The folks over at  VoyMedia  advise that you should set goals that impact website traffic, conversions, and customer success — and to use real numbers. Complement your goals with website optimization tools (e.g., A/B testing speed with Nostra – check Nostra AI review to learn more) to further improve conversions.

Avoid outlining vague goals like:

• Get more Twitter followers
• Write more articles
• Create more YouTube videos (like educational or Explainer videos )
• Increase retention rate
• Decrease bounce rate

Instead, identify  key performance metrics  (KPI) you want to impact and the percentage you want to increase them by.

Take a look at the goals page in the marketing plan example below:

They not only identify a specific metric in each of their goals, but they also set a timeline for when they will be increased.

The same vague goals listed earlier become much clearer when specific numbers and timelines are applied to them:

• Get 100 new Twitter followers per month
• Write 5 more articles per week
• Create 10 YouTube videos each year
• Increase retention rate by 15% by 2020
• Decrease bounce rate by 5% by Q1
• Create an online course  and get 1,000 new leads
• Focus more on local SEO strategies
• Conduct a monthly social media report to track progress

You can dive even deeper into your marketing goals if you want (generally, the more specific, the better). Here’s a marketing plan example that shows how to outline your growth goals:

3. Outline your user personas

Now, this may not seem like the most important part of your marketing plan, but I think it holds a ton of value.

Outlining your user personas is an important part of a marketing plan that should not be overlooked.

You should be asking not just how you can get the most visitors to your business, but how you can get the right visitors.

Who are your ideal customers? What are their goals? What are their biggest problems? How does your business solve customer problems?

Answering these questions will take lots of research, but it’s essential information to get.

Some ways to conduct user research are:

• Interviewing your users (either in person or on the phone)
• Conducting focus groups
• Researching other businesses in the same industry
• Surveying your audience

Then, you will need to compile your user data into a user persona  guide.

Take a look at how detailed this user persona template is below:

Taking the time to identify specific demographic traits, habits and goals will make it easier for you to cater your marketing plan to them.

Here’s how you can create a user persona guide:

The first thing you should add is a profile picture or icon for each user persona. It can help to put a face to your personas, so they seem more real.

Next, list demographic information like:

• Identifiers
• Activities/Hobbies

The user persona example above uses sliding scales to identify personality traits like introversion vs. extroversion and thinking vs. feeling. Identifying what type of personality your target users tend to have an influence on the messaging you use in your marketing content.

Meanwhile, this user persona guide identifies specific challenges the user faces each day:

But if you don’t want to go into such precise detail, you can stick to basic information, like in this marketing plan example:

Most businesses will have a few different types of target users. That’s why it’s pertinent to identify and create several different user personas . That way, you can better segment your marketing campaigns and set separate goals, if necessary.

Here’s a marketing plan example with a segmented user persona guide:

The important thing is for your team or client to have a clear picture of who their target user is and how they can appeal to their specific problems.

Start creating robust user personas using Venngage’s user persona guide .

4. Conduct an extensive competitor analysis

Next, on the marketing plan checklist, we have the competitor research section. This section will help you identify who your competitors are, what they’re doing, and how you could carve yourself a place alongside them in your niche — and ideally, surpass them. It’s something you can learn to do with rank tracking software .

Competitor research is also incredibly important if you are starting a blog .

Typically, your competitor research should include:

• Who their marketing team is
• Who their leadership team is
• What their marketing strategy and strategic marketing plan are (this will probably revolve some reverse-engineering)
• What their sales strategy is (same deal)
• Social Media strategy (are they using discounting strategies such as coupon marketing to get conversions)
• Their market cap/financials
• Their yearly growth (you will probably need to use a marketing tool like Ahrefs to do this)
• The number of customers they have & their user personas

Also, take as deep a dive as you can into the strategies they use across their:

• Blog/Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• SEO Marketing
• Video marketing
• And any other marketing tactics they use

Research their strengths and weaknesses in all parts of their company, and you will find some great opportunities. Bookmark has a great guide to different marketing strategies for small businesses if you need some more information there.

You can use this simple SWOT analysis worksheet to quickly work through all parts of their strategy as well:

Click the template above to create a SWOT chart . Customize the template to your liking — no design know-how needed.

Since you have already done all the research beforehand, adding this information to your marketing plan shouldn’t be that hard.

In this marketing plan example, some high-level research is outlined for 3 competing brands:

But you could take a deeper dive into different facets of your competitors’ strategies. This marketing plan example analyses a competitor’s inbound marketing strategy :

It can also be helpful to divide your competitors into Primary and Secondary groups. For example, Apple’s primary competitor may be Dell for computers, but its secondary competitor could be a company that makes tablets.

Your most dangerous competitors may not even be in the same industry as you. Like the CEO of Netflix said, “Sleep is our competition.”

5. Set accurate key baselines & metrics

It’s pretty hard to plan for the future if you don’t know where your business stands right now.

Before we do anything at Venngage, we find the baselines so we can compare future results to something. We do it so much it’s almost like second nature now!

Setting baselines will allow you to more accurately track your progress. You will also be able to better analyze what worked and what didn’t work, so you can build a stronger strategy. It will definitely help them clearly understand your goals and strategy as well.

Here’s a marketing plan example where the baselines are visualized:

Another way to include baselines in your plan is with a simple chart, like in the marketing plan example below:

Because data can be intimidating to a lot of people, visualizing your data using charts and infographics will help demystify the information.

6. Create an actionable marketing strategy

After pulling all the contextual information and relevant metrics into your marketing plan, it’s time to break down your marketing strategy.

Once again, it’s easier to communicate your information to your team or clients using visuals .

Mind maps are an effective way to show how a strategy with many moving parts ties together. For example, this mind map shows how the four main components of a marketing strategy interact together:

You can also use a flow chart to map out your strategy by objectives:

However you choose to visualize your strategy, your team should know exactly what they need to do. This is not the time to keep your cards close to your chest.

Your strategy section may need to take up a few pages to explain, like in the marketing plan example below:

With all of this information, even someone from the development team will understand what the marketing team is working on.

This minimalistic marketing plan example uses color blocks to make the different parts of the strategy easy to scan:

Breaking your strategy down into tasks will make it easier to tackle.

Another important way to visualize your marketing strategy is to create a project roadmap. A project roadmap visualizes the timeline of your product with individual tasks. Our roadmap maker can help you with this.

For example, this project roadmap shows how tasks on both the marketing and web design side run parallel to each other:

A simple timeline can also be used in your marketing plan:

Or a mind map, if you want to include a ton of information in a more organized way:

Even a simple “Next, Now, Later” chart can help visualize your strategy:

7. Set tracking or reporting guidelines

Close your marketing plan with a brief explanation of how you plan to track or measure your results. This will save you a lot of frustration down the line by standardizing how you track results across your team.

Like the other sections of your marketing plan, you can choose how in-depth you want to go. But there need to be some clear guidelines on how to measure the progress and results of your marketing plan.

At the bare minimum, your results tracking guidelines should specify:

• What you plan to track
• How you plan to track results
• How often you plan to measure

But you can more add tracking guidelines to your marketing plan if you see the need to. You may also want to include a template that your team or client can follow,  for  client reporting ,  ensure that the right metrics are being tracked.

The marketing plan example below dedicates a whole page to tracking criteria:

Use a task tracker to track tasks and marketing results, and a checklist maker to note down tasks, important life events, or tracking your daily life.

Similarly, the marketing plan example below talks about tracking content marketing instead:

Marketing plan vs. marketing strategy

Although often used interchangeably, the terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” do have some differences.

Simply speaking, a marketing strategy presents what the business will do in order to reach a certain goal. A marketing plan outlines the specific daily, weekly, monthly or yearly activities that the marketing strategy calls for. As a business, you can create a marketing proposal for the marketing strategies defined in your company’s marketing plan. There are various marketing proposal examples that you can look at to help with this.

A company’s extended marketing strategy can be like this:

Notice how it’s more general and doesn’t include the actual activities required to complete each strategy or the timeframe those marketing activities will take place. That kind of information is included in a marketing plan, like this marketing plan template which talks about the content strategy in detail:

1. Nonprofit marketing plan

Here’s a free nonprofit marketing plan example that is ideal for organizations with a comprehensive vision to share. It’s a simple plan that is incredibly effective. Not only does the plan outline the core values of the company, it also shares the ideal buyer persona.

Note how the branding is consistent throughout this example so there is no doubt which company is presenting this plan. The content plan is an added incentive for anyone viewing the document to go ahead and give the team the green light.

2. Social media marketing plan

Two-page marketing plan samples aren’t very common, but this free template proves how effective they are. There’s a dedicated section for business goals as well as for project planning.

The milestones for the marketing campaign are clearly laid out, which is a great way to show how organized this business strategy is.

3. Small business marketing plan

This marketing plan template is perfect for small businesses who set out to develop an overarching marketing strategy for the whole year:

Notice how this aligns pretty well with the marketing plan outline we discussed in previous sections.

In terms of specific tactics for the company’s marketing strategy, the template only discusses SEO strategy, but you can certainly expand on that section to discuss any other strategies — such as link building , that you would like to build out a complete marketing plan for.

4. Orange simple marketing proposal template

Marketing plans, like the sample below, are a great way to highlight what your business strategy and the proposal you wan to put forward to win potential customers.

5. One-page marketing plan

This one-page marketing plan example is great for showcasing marketing efforts in a persuasive presentation or to print out for an in-person meeting.

Note how the fact sheet breaks down the marketing budget as well as the key metrics for the organization. You can win over clients and partners with a plan like this.

6. Light company business fact sheet template

This one-page sample marketing plan clearly outlines the marketing objectives for the organization. It’s a simple but effective way to share a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

What really works with this example is that includes a mission statement, key contact information alongside all the key metrics.

7. Marketing media press kit template

This press kit marketing plan template is bright and unmistakable as belonging to the Cloud Nine marketing agency . The way the brand colors are used also helps diversify the layouts for each page, making the plan easier to read.

We like the way the marketing department has outlined the important facts about the organization. The bold and large numbers draw the eye and look impressive.

8. Professional marketing proposal template

Start your marketing campaign on a promising note with this marketing plan template. It’s short, sharp and to the point. The table of contents sets out the agenda, and there’s a page for the company overview and mission statement.

9. Social media marketing proposal template

A complete marketing plan example, like the one below, not only breaks down the business goals to be achieved but a whole lot more. Note how the terms and conditions and payment schedule are included, which makes this one of the most comprehensive marketing plans on our list.

Marketing plan vs. business plan

While both marketing plans and business plans are crucial documents for businesses, they serve distinct purposes and have different scopes. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

Business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines all aspects of your business, including:

• Mission and vision
• Products or services
• Target market
• Competition
• Management team
• Financial projections
• Marketing strategy (including a marketing plan)
• Operations plan

Marketing plan on the other hand, dives deep into the specific strategies and tactics related to your marketing efforts. It expands on the marketing section of a business plan by detailing:

• Specific marketing goals (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, sales)
• Target audience analysis (detailed understanding of their needs and behaviors)
• Product:  Features, benefits, positioning
• Price:  Pricing strategy, discounts
• Place:  Distribution channels (online, offline)
• Promotion:  Advertising, social media, content marketing, public relations
• Budget allocation for different marketing activities
• Metrics and measurement to track progress and success

In short, business plans paint the entire business picture, while marketing plans zoom in on the specific strategies used to reach your target audience and achieve marketing goals.

Types of marketing plans that can transform your business strategy

Let’s take a look at several types of marketing plans you can create, along with specific examples for each.

1. General marketing strategic plan / Annual marketing plan

This is a good example of a marketing plan that covers the overarching annual marketing strategy for a company:

Another good example would be this Starbucks marketing plan:

This one-page marketing plan example from coffee chain Starbucks has everything at a glance. The bold headers and subheadings make it easier to segment the sections so readers can focus on the area most relevant to them.

What we like about this example is how much it covers. From the ideal buyer persona to actional activities, as well as positioning and metrics, this marketing plan has it all.

Another marketing plan example that caught our eye is this one from Cengage. Although a bit text-heavy and traditional, it explains the various sections well. The clean layout makes this plan easy to read and absorb.

The last marketing plan example we would like to feature in this section is this one from Lush cosmetics.

It is a long one but it’s also very detailed. The plan outlines numerous areas, including the company mission, SWOT analysis , brand positioning, packaging, geographical criteria, and much more.

2. Content marketing plan

A content marketing plan highlights different strategies , campaigns or tactics you can use for your content to help your business reach its goals.

This one-page marketing plan example from Contently outlines a content strategy and workflow using simple colors and blocks. The bullet points detail more information but this plan can easily be understood at a glance, which makes it so effective.

For a more detailed content marketing plan example, take a look at this template which features an editorial calendar you can share with the whole team:

3. SEO marketing plan

Your SEO marketing plan highlights what you plan to do for your SEO marketing strategy . This could include tactics for website on-page optimization , off-page optimization using AI SEO , and link building using an SEO PowerSuite backlink API for quick backlink profile checks. Additionally, incorporating a rank tracker can help monitor keyword performance and track the impact of your optimization efforts.

This SEO marketing plan example discusses in detail the target audience of the business and the SEO plan laid out in different stages:

4. Social media marketing plan

Your social media marketing plan presents what you’ll do to reach your marketing goal through social media. This could include tactics specific to each social media channel that you own, recommendations on developing a new channel, specific campaigns you want to run, and so on, like how B2B channels use Linkedin to generate leads with automation tools and expand their customer base; or like making use of Twitter walls that could display live Twitter feeds from Twitter in real-time on digital screens.

For B2C brands, you can target Facebook and Instagram. Gain Instagram likes to build trust for your brand’s profile and post engaging content on both platforms. Leverage AI social media tools to automate and scale your content plan..

Edit this social media marketing plan example easily with Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor:

5. Demand generation marketing plan

This could cover your paid marketing strategy (which can include search ads, paid social media ads, traditional advertisements, etc.), email marketing strategy and more. Here’s an example:

What should marketing plans include?

Marketing plans should include:

• A detailed analysis of the target market and customer segments.
• Clear and achievable marketing objectives and goals.
• Strategies and tactics for product promotion and distribution.
• Budget allocation for various marketing activities.
• Timelines and milestones for the implementation of marketing strategies.
• Evaluation metrics and methods for tracking the success of the marketing plan.

What is an executive summary in a marketing plan and what is its main goal?

An executive summary in a marketing plan is a brief overview of the entire document, summarizing the key points, goals, and strategies. Its main goal is to provide readers with a quick understanding of the plan’s purpose and to entice them to read further.

What are the results when a marketing plan is effective?

When a marketing plan is effective, businesses can experience increased brand visibility, higher customer engagement , improved sales and revenue, and strengthened customer loyalty.

What is the first section of a marketing plan?

The first section of a marketing plan is typically the “Executive Summary,” which provides a concise overview of the entire plan, including the business’s goals and the strategies to achieve them.

Now that you have the basics for designing your own marketing plan, it’s time to get started:

More marketing design guides and templates:

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How to Get Better Quality Leads with Assignment Selling [Endless Customers Podcast Ep. 63]

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This transcript has been generated by AI and not checked for accuracy.

Chris Duprey 0:00:00 If you want to know how to take control of your sales destiny with one single approach, Chris Duprey 0:00:12 check out our conversation. Alex Winter 0:00:23 for Impact Live 2024 in Hartford, Connecticut this October 14th through the 16th. Over three days, business owners, CEOs, and marketing and sales leaders will learn proven strategies to drive business growth. Attend expert-led sessions on marketing, Alex Winter 0:00:39 sales, leadership, and AI, and get a chance to network with industry pros just like yourself. Discover how companies like yours are dominating their markets. Secure your spot at impactplus.com backslash impact-5. And for all of our endless customers listeners, we have an exclusive discount code that'll save you a hundred Alex Winter 0:01:00 bucks. So when you're on the checkout page, just enter the code ECPOD100 in all caps for a hundred dollars off. We'll see you there at Impact Live 2024 up in Hartford, October 14th through the 16th. Welcome back to Endless Customers, the show that teaches you how to earn trust and win more business in the age of AI. I'm your host, Alex Winter, and today we're joined by Chris Dupre. He's a principal coach here at Impact. Chris Duprey 0:01:26 Chris, welcome back to the show. Alex Winter 0:01:28 Hello, my friend. Hello, my friend. It's great to have you back. Thanks. Today, you've got an important one. Yeah. Alex Winter 0:01:35 We're talking about assignment selling. Yep. But more specifically, we're talking about assignment selling and how important it is with endless customers and what business leaders need to do in order to implement this effectively get everybody drinking the proverbial Kool-Aid getting excited about it. So what is a good place to start? We define assignment selling for people out there that don't know and then we'll get into how you actually get the line. leverage content to help educate buyers throughout the sales process, right? Chris Duprey 0:01:55 Foundationally, it starts like Marcus doing the pool thing and finds that, hey, if somebody's read 30 articles on my website, they buy a pool 80% of the time. So he starts sending them a 30-page buyer's guide before he meets with them, right? And so that's the foundation Chris Duprey 0:02:26 today It's really about Helping folks be prepared for the meeting you're going into it's about educating them on the decision making them aware of what what's going on and All the same stuff is true the more that people are educated the more they're gonna buy and we can influence that in the sales process if we simply do it correctly. Chris Duprey 0:02:53 And... It's actually pretty amazing how much it changes the sales process and cycle when people are educated, when people already have trust, when you've already given them the info before you talk to them, so you're not on the call Alex Winter 0:03:06 having the same conversation over and over Alex Winter 0:03:08 and over and over again. Chris Duprey 0:03:09 Yeah, it's this whole idea of I can read or I can watch a video and if I can come to a meeting prepared I'm going to do that. Absolutely. So one of the things if you take a look at sales calls when people don't know what to expect they show up cold and defensive or like the alpha dog that's going to take charge of the call. Alex Winter 0:03:42 Totally. Chris Duprey 0:03:43 All those scenarios are not good if you're a seller. Alex Winter 0:03:48 No. Alex Winter 0:03:49 They're not. No, it's the opposite of what you want as a salesperson. Chris Duprey 0:03:52 Correct. Chris Duprey 0:03:53 Yeah. So one would say it would make, it would totally behoove us to get ahead of people's fears, apprehensions, or their desire to guide the conversation before the conversation Alex Winter 0:04:06 happens. Yeah, no, I mean, to me it seems pretty common sense. Like, yeah, anybody that's a sales professional or has ever done sales would want that, and it makes sense. So with that in mind, how do people, how do leaders implement this with their sales teams? How do they get the buy-in that they need? Alex Winter 0:04:22 Because I feel like even though it sounds pretty self-explanatory. It may not be as easy to implement as one thinks. Chris Duprey 0:04:29 Facts. Alex Winter 0:04:30 Yeah. Chris Duprey 0:04:31 Okay, these are facts. Yeah. So, first off, if you didn't start with Alignment Day, and everybody doesn't understand why educating buyers makes sense, and how they're buyers just like them, Chris Duprey 0:04:42 that they'd like to understand what's happening before, like, if you don't do that work, you're gonna struggle. Alex Winter 0:04:49 Right. And we have a whole episode that we did with Chris earlier all about alignment days. If you're not sure what that is, make sure to go back and check that out to get a reference Alex Winter 0:04:56 point for that. Chris Duprey 0:04:57 Right. Chris Duprey 0:04:58 So let's say you've done that. Alex Winter 0:05:01 Now what? Alex Winter 0:05:02 Right. Chris Duprey 0:05:03 Now what? Chris Duprey 0:05:04 So, a couple of things that get in the way. is sales folks, and this is gonna sound so funny, don't like to be assertive or don't like to tell people what to do. Really? Chris Duprey 0:05:20 I mean, a big majority of them. Chris Duprey 0:05:22 Okay. And so their language is usually like very soft. I mean, that makes sense Alex Winter 0:05:28 because otherwise you get like categorized into that pushy salesperson. Right, right. Chris Duprey 0:05:33 So they're so trying to swing the other way, that they don't want to tell people what they actually need to hear, sometimes. So that's one piece. Another thing that totally gets in the way is, the most effective way to do this Chris Duprey 0:05:44 is to leverage one-to-one video in email. And a lot of people do not want to use video. Like, they just don't. Chris Duprey 0:05:53 So you gotta get over that. Chris Duprey 0:05:54 Right, and what is a one-to-one video? Yeah, so, I mean, it's a video. So if I was sending you a one-to-one video would be a video from me to you not a video like the the other type of video be a one-to-many so this is a classic one-to-many video share we are talking to a huge audience we can send this to multiple people it is not Chris Duprey 0:06:21 specific but if I'm about to meet with you and I'm gonna send you like, hey Alex, Chris here from Impact, so fired up to talk to you about, ba ba ba ba ba, here's ba ba ba ba ba. That is for you. Alex Winter 0:06:32 It's personalized. Chris Duprey 0:06:33 It's personalized. It shows folks that we're actually invested in them. Alex Winter 0:06:38 Yeah, that makes sense. Chris Duprey 0:06:39 So that's a hurdle. And then the next hurdle, so there's two more. One is like, well should we even start doing this if we don't have content yet, we're going to talk about that. By the way, the answer is yes. And then the last one is, Chris Duprey 0:06:56 we just don't know what to send or say or when to do those things. Alex Winter 0:07:02 Sure. Chris Duprey 0:07:03 Right? Chris Duprey 0:07:04 Actually, one last one that just popped into my mind is like, we want everybody to execute it at the same level all at the exact same time. These are all different things that get in the way. Alex Winter 0:07:17 Got it. Chris Duprey 0:07:18 Right? Alex Winter 0:07:19 Yeah. Chris Duprey 0:07:19 So if we want to unpack those. Alex Winter 0:07:21 Yes, let's do that. Chris Duprey 0:07:22 Right, so I think the biggest one to unpack, well, let's go in order. Chris Duprey 0:07:28 So. Alex Winter 0:07:28 You had said that people don't want to make these videos. They don't want to tell people, yeah. And there's a mix of reasons why. Sometimes it's a technical piece, sometimes people just don't like seeing themselves on camera Chris Duprey 0:07:36 or hearing themselves or like there's all these video let's video let's take one step back and go first they don't want to be assertive because they don't want to be the pushy salesperson okay cool I think the biggest thing to get across everybody's mind is you're not telling them to go do something that's gonna be harmful to them okay right hopefully you're helping them be So look at it from that standpoint, but don't say things like, Chris Duprey 0:08:04 it would be great if you could. Say things like, for us to have the best meeting and make the most use of our time together, I need you to X, Y, and Z. Alex Winter 0:08:16 Right, so if you're sending a one-to-one video, don't say like, hey, if you have a minute, maybe we can watch this video. Chris Duprey 0:08:22 I know you're busy. Like those things auto-delete, right? Like they just don't get, they don't happen. Alex Winter 0:08:28 Weak language, yeah. Chris Duprey 0:08:29 Yeah, so we gotta make sure our language is good, right? That's an easy hurdle that with a little coaching, you're gonna get past. Sure. This video thing that was for real. People are like, I don't like the way that I look. Chris Duprey 0:08:40 I don't like the way that I sound. And I feel that. I'm like, listen, I was not always comfortable being on video. Alex Winter 0:08:47 Hi, me too. Alex Winter 0:08:49 You told me I was going to be hosting a podcast a couple years ago. Chris Duprey 0:08:52 No. Right, but here's the thing. It's not like you can change what you look or sound like when you walk into a meeting. That's a fact. It is what it is. So if you're like, why do you want my stuff in person? I don't like how I look on camera. You look the same. You sound the same. Yeah, it's you right and so so sometimes you know as a coach I might get people with a two by four of truth of like you're just you man yeah lady like this is it right right so it's practice and practice and Alex Winter 0:09:28 practice yeah but it that plays into the ultimately we're trying to be authentic and in order to be authentic you just have to embrace embrace who you are yeah Chris Duprey 0:09:36 and again go back to what are we trying to do? We're trying to make the buyer Ready and more comfortable for a sales conversation, right? So if they see you and hear you and you've helped them know what to expect They're gonna be pretty freaking happy. They're gonna be way more open and inclined to talk to you. Yes without a doubt But so here's the thing that the best companies do the leaders Chris Duprey 0:09:57 Only they start responding to people only video who so they basically show their sales teams like we're embracing it to its uncomfortable yes I could send you an email about this but I'm gonna send you a quick video addressing your concern and that is that's one of the tricks like as you start Alex Winter 0:10:19 you start having that's great leadership though because when you leave you lead by example Chris Duprey 0:10:23 people are way more likely to follow so if you're going to make people make videos you shouldn't be exempt from that from that. Exactly, so you start doing that and then you also start seeing a few people on the sales team do it and they get a meeting booked, they have a great demo call. Now it starts to, now people get over it. Alex Winter 0:10:53 Right, exactly. Chris Duprey 0:10:54 Oh, it's starting to work? Chris Duprey 0:10:54 Yeah. No way. Chris Duprey 0:10:56 So that's how you get over the video piece. Alex Winter 0:10:57 Sure. Alex Winter 0:10:58 Right? Chris Duprey 0:10:59 Then, when we go into, well I don't have any content. Chris Duprey 0:11:04 I mean, you do. Chris Duprey 0:11:06 It's the video that you're creating, right? So if somebody asked you a question that yes your content manager your videographers working on that piece of content but it likely started from a common question that you've already been asked and that you answer 10,000 times right create the content yeah just do it in one video right right but again go back to like what's the overarching thing at the beginning, setting the conditions to have the sales conversation Chris Duprey 0:11:39 you want to have. If all you do when you start doing assignment selling is going, hey, Chris here from, insert company name, we're meeting on Friday, here's what we're basically going to talk about. Here's some things that might be helpful for you to have with you before that conversation. We're going to record the conversation so that we don't make any mistakes, so that you and I know what's going on. Chris Duprey 0:12:07 I'm looking forward to talking to y'all about why you reached out to us. That is just gonna, nobody in your industry's probably doing it. Yeah. They're starting from a different point. Chris Duprey 0:12:18 Now, you're humming on Endless Customers, you got content, you're going, Alex, can't wait to see you. Before we get started, we've got this video. In this video, it answers eight of the 10 questions that we most commonly get asked. Chris Duprey 0:12:38 And I'm gonna tell you, of the eight questions in this thing, I guarantee that five of them, at a minimum, are rolling through your head. So, before that meeting, I need you to watch that video so that you come in ready to talk about the specifics around why you reached out to us knowing the answers that I know are top of mind Chris Duprey 0:13:00 but might not be the most important. Right. So I'll see you Friday. Yeah. Right. That's powerful. Alex Winter 0:13:06 Right? Yeah, it's powerful. And so we just we can do it without the content it's and then we can do it with the content yeah but it's twofold too because on the front end just from the perception of whoever you're sending this message to its potential client whoever that whatever the case is right you seem really buttoned up there's a video that there's another video for me to watch answer my questions it's gonna get me prep for this meeting it just seems very buttoned up so there it starts to build confidence Alex Winter 0:13:34 and trust and then also when you get in the meeting you don't have to have that 15, 20 minute dialogue of those those questions that everyone asks you are already past that. And you can have a way more meaningful exchange, Chris Duprey 0:13:44 you can add value and get the information you need. Exactly. Right. So then we go into not knowing what to send when and all those things. This gang is about you and your teams fully understanding your sales process. So what are the outcomes you hope to achieve at the end of the different steps? And what is the buyer feeling, thinking, Chris Duprey 0:14:08 at those same stages? So you gotta do that work eventually, like as you adopt it. But you don't have to know all of that stuff to get started. You wanna work on it, but the first thing I get started Chris Duprey 0:14:22 is getting people comfortable with one-to-one video. Alex Winter 0:14:24 And then we're just setting the conditions for that first meeting, okay? Do you ever have people sales folks because I you coach and train a ton of people on this right? Do you ever have sales folks that are like I don't want to give people homework I don't want to give people too much beforehand that they have to like watch these videos and do all this stuff is there Yeah, I never come up. Yeah, I Educate them in the call Chris. Oh, oh, that's a good one Alex Winter 0:14:45 Yeah, I mean listen and maybe they do these are facts. Chris Duprey 0:14:48 Sure. This happens. I mean, shoot, I sell stuff and totally do that. But the idea is, how much time does it take and how much is that me now talking about me versus me understanding you? Chris Duprey 0:15:03 Yeah, and that's a big shift. That's a big mentality shift. Chris Duprey 0:15:05 Yeah. Chris Duprey 0:15:06 So, listen, do sales teams just adopt this and go, woo-hoo, we're ready? No. Alex Winter 0:15:16 This takes time. Alex Winter 0:15:17 Well, unlike anything, you have to practice it and you hone your skills and you get better with it. Yeah, yeah. Chris Duprey 0:15:22 But the idea is, you have to be good at one-to-one video and build that culture of doing that. You have to get good at knowing what are the outcomes you wanna have in sales meetings and what are the inputs that would help with that? Right, and that's understanding your buyers more. Chris Duprey 0:15:41 Then it's as you launch this, do you launch it with everybody or do you launch it with a small group? This is where it's gonna depend on your company and the way that you all operate. But I've seen the best things I've seen Chris Duprey 0:15:52 is when you have one or two people that really crush it and start to do well with and share how their videos are going over and then everybody wants to get on board very quickly. Alex Winter 0:16:03 Right. It creates that sort of domino. Chris Duprey 0:16:04 Big momentum. Chris Duprey 0:16:05 Yeah. Alex Winter 0:16:05 When I feel like I used to do sales, uh, you know, in a previous engagement where if I saw somebody else that was leveraging a new tool or doing something that was helping increase their sales, I would want to know everything that they're doing and how they're doing it. So I could do the same thing. You know, it's a very competitive space in a good way. Healthy competition. Chris Duprey 0:16:21 Yeah. Chris Duprey 0:16:21 And so as we go, how do we get people to adopt this? Again, you understand why we're doing it, right? So, why, huge piece. Hey, we're trying to educate buyers to help them move through our sales process and buy our stuff. Chris Duprey 0:16:40 Yep, cool. Okay, then we gotta go to video. How do we get good and comfortable? Comfortable's better than good. How do we get comfortable doing one-to-one video? How do we make sure the message is right? Chris Duprey 0:16:53 How do we know when and where to use it? If we do those things, we can start doing assignment selling week one of your endless customers journey. I would argue that if you're listening to this and you're the owner that still sells and you've got a discovery call tomorrow. Do what I just said. Yeah, try it out. Tell your buyer what to expect on the call and then tell us what Chris Duprey 0:17:28 happened when they showed up to the call. Yeah. Because I'm gonna tell you, when buyers know what to expect, they're in a better position for you as a sales professional. Chris Duprey 0:17:39 Yeah. Alex Winter 0:17:41 I feel like when you set the expectation and you give people a chance to see who you really are, you get to see your personality, you get to hear your voice, it just builds trust. And that's ultimately what we're trying to do here is build trust. Chris Duprey 0:17:51 Because it takes away the unknowns. Chris Duprey 0:17:52 Right. Chris Duprey 0:17:53 Right? Alex Winter 0:17:54 Totally. Chris Duprey 0:17:55 When you don't know who you're about to talk to. Alex Winter 0:17:58 It's an extra layer of uncertainty. Alex Winter 0:18:00 Yeah. Chris Duprey 0:18:01 And it just adds a little bit of anxiety maybe sure so the more we can remove that stuff at sales professionals The more we're going to move deals forward the more we're gonna close the more we're gonna win Winning is good. I like that. I love winning Alex Winter 0:18:14 So again you train a lot of companies on this you've been doing this for years now Do you have a story you could share where? Company or leadership team somebody adopted assignment selling in just where it took them from like a to b uh... as far as increasing sales or something so Chris Duprey 0:18:32 so but one of my favorite favorite examples of the whole world's opus partners i don't listen and i've been working with them for ever i've got a really terrible they make people do work before the first meeting they got a fill out some forms they got a reader buyers guide Chris Duprey 0:18:50 but here's why. If they don't fill out the form beforehand that has their financial data and some of that stuff in it, we're going to spend 20 minutes doing data fill. Alex Winter 0:19:01 Yeah, doing that, which is so much fun. Chris Duprey 0:19:03 Which is a waste. Alex Winter 0:19:04 I know. Chris Duprey 0:19:04 Doesn't everyone love doing that? And then if you don't read the buyer's guide, now the property partner's got to educate you for another 20 minutes. Well, their calls before they started really doing this well, they were doing 90-minute discovery calls. Alex Winter 0:19:19 Wow. Chris Duprey 0:19:20 Right. They called them portfolio planning sessions, like 90 minutes. That's a long time. And some of them, some were long, some were shorter, but their call time to get to the outcome they're trying to get to was really, really long. They start doing assignment selling. Alex Winter 0:19:33 Right, everything we've been talking about. Chris Duprey 0:19:35 immediately made the time on call less. And then as I worked with them on some other things, it all got really tight. But the idea here is, everybody knew what they were going into in that first call. You could tell if somebody really wanted to do the thing, Chris Duprey 0:19:52 or they just wanted to talk to somebody because if they didn't do the work, they're really not that serious. Chris Duprey 0:20:03 They may not be as qualified. Chris Duprey 0:20:04 And so Opus would like reschedule the meetings. Chris Duprey 0:20:07 Gotcha. Right. Chris Duprey 0:20:08 And so as all this happens, they just start having better educated, better qualified. And they could know, so let's say that somebody wasn't ready to do their program. They knew it before they got in there. So now the conversation is different. Because hey, you're actually like three years away from being ready to do this based on your financial standing. Chris Duprey 0:20:33 Here's a program that can help you to make you ready. Alex Winter 0:20:36 Right. Chris Duprey 0:20:37 Right. And so it allowed them to be even more helpful, which then made them build more trust, which is why they are one of the best companies that does endless customers in the world. Alex Winter 0:20:48 Yeah. Well, when you talk about building trust, when you don't hard sell somebody like that, you give them some information to say, hey, this will help you and it nurtures you. And in two or three years from now, hopefully you'll come back and do business with that person most likely will because you didn't hard sell them. Alex Winter 0:21:01 You didn't force them to do things that they weren't ready for, you know, and that's, that's really the beauty of, of this whole system. Chris Duprey 0:21:07 And it shows them who you are and it breaks through some of those things. Yeah. And so Opus is my is my favorite Example you know I've seen it from but I've seen it with work with IT companies. I've seen it work with Roofing companies with home improvement companies like insurance companies first when people know Chris Duprey 0:21:29 What to expect? They just and they're told and they know who they're talking to, they generally show up in a better way, and you get better outcomes. Absolutely. So. Alex Winter 0:21:44 So what's the one thing that we should leave folks here with assignment selling, obviously besides the elephant in the room, which is you should be doing assignment selling. Chris Duprey 0:21:52 I think it's a deeper one that is, don't accept that sales could work or not work. Like don't be a victim of the experience. Take charge, be a master of your own destiny. Step one is setting the conditions to have the conversations that you want to have. Chris Duprey 0:22:18 And if you do that, Alex Winter 0:22:19 you will be the master of your own destiny. Well said, Chris, thanks for your insights. Thanks for being on the show. Love having you, man. Thank you. All right. And for everybody out there watching and listening, this is you, man. Thank you. All right. And for everybody out there watching and listening, this is Endless Customers. I'm your host, Alex Winter. See you on the next episode.

About This Episode 

If you’re a business leader, you’ve probably faced the challenge of getting your sales team to fully embrace a new strategy. One of the ways we’ve seen this play out at IMPACT is when leaders try to get their sales team to adopt Assignment Selling , a concept that leverages content throughout the sales process to inform and engage buyers. Despite its proven effectiveness, many companies struggle with getting their team on board. But as discussed in a recent episode of Endless Customers featuring Alex Winter and Chris Duprey, mastering Assignment Selling could be a game changer—if you can overcome the initial resistance.

What is Assignment Selling?

At its core, Assignment Selling is about integrating educational content into the sales process. Rather than relying solely on traditional pitches and meetings, Assignment Selling gives prospective buyers resources—like blog posts, videos, and guides—that answer key questions before a sales conversation even begins.

Chris explains the concept best: “We leverage content to help educate buyers about the sales process... The more people are educated, the more they’re going to buy. And we can influence that in the sales process if we do it correctly.” This strategy allows sales teams to prime their prospects with knowledge and, as a result, shorten the sales cycle and increase conversion rates.

The foundation of this idea comes from Marcus Sheridan's "They Ask, You Answer" philosophy . In fact, one of Marcus’ early revelations was that customers who read 30 articles on his pool company’s website converted 80% of the time. From there, the company began assigning content proactively—such as a 30-page buyer’s guide—before meeting with prospects.

Why Assignment Selling Works

One of the biggest challenges in sales is walking into a meeting with an unprepared buyer. They might not know what to expect, or worse, they might come in defensive or even try to control the conversation. When buyers are in the dark, sales conversations often become repetitive and ineffective.

Assignment Selling flips that script by preparing buyers ahead of time. As Chris put it, “When people don’t know what to expect, they show up cold and defensive, or like the alpha dog that’s going to take charge of the call.” Neither scenario is ideal for closing a sale.

With Assignment Selling, potential clients are given the content they need before the meeting, answering common questions and easing anxieties . This not only builds trust with prospects and makes them feel more confident but also positions the salesperson as an expert and trusted advisor, setting the stage for a more productive and focused conversation.

The Hurdles of Implementing Assignment Selling

While the concept of Assignment Selling seems straightforward, getting your sales team to adopt it can be a challenge. Chris outlined some common hurdles leaders face when introducing this strategy:

• Sales teams resist being assertive. It’s a bit ironic, but many salespeople shy away from being direct because they don’t want to come across as pushy. Chris explains, “Sales folks don’t like to be assertive or tell people what to do... They don’t want to be the pushy salesperson.” Instead of soft-pedaling, Chris encourages leaders to coach their team to use firm but helpful language, like: “For us to have the best meeting and make the most of our time together, I need you to review these materials before we meet.”
• Many salespeople dislike using video. One of the most effective ways to execute Assignment Selling is through personalized, one-on-one video. However, some salespeople are uncomfortable with how they look or sound on camera. Chris reminds us that prospects see and hear you the same way in person: “It’s not like you can change what you look or sound like when you walk into a meeting. It’s you.” By practicing, your team will get more comfortable—and once they see the impact on their sales, they’ll be hooked.
• Lack of content. Many companies hesitate to start Assignment Selling because they feel they don’t have enough content. But as Chris explains, you can still start the process with simple, personalized videos or existing resources. He recommends recording a short video for a prospect outlining what the meeting will cover and why the content you’ve sent is important. Over time, more content can be developed, but the initial steps are doable even without a full content library.
• Consistency in execution. Leaders often struggle to get every salesperson on the same page with Assignment Selling. It’s crucial to offer support and guidance, but as Chris notes, “The best way to get buy-in is to have one or two team members start using it successfully, then share their wins with the rest of the team. This creates momentum.”

The Benefits of Assignment Selling in Action

To illustrate the impact of Assignment Selling, Chris shared one of his favorite examples: a company called Opus Partners. Before implementing Assignment Selling, their sales meetings were long—sometimes 90 minutes or more—because prospects would show up unprepared. Once Opus required prospects to complete pre-call assignments, including reading a buyer’s guide and filling out forms, the entire sales process became more efficient.

Prospects were better informed and, as a result, more serious when they finally got on the call. Opus could also weed out unqualified prospects, saving time and effort. Their sales cycle shortened, and they found that better-qualified leads led to more closed deals.

This shift in approach transformed the company’s sales process and ultimately improved their results . Chris points out that this method works across industries, from IT to roofing companies, because when people know what to expect, they show up better prepared and more engaged.

Getting Your Team to Embrace Assignment Selling

So, how can business leaders get their sales teams to fully adopt Assignment Selling? It starts with strong leadership and setting an example . Chris suggests that leaders start sending one-on-one videos themselves to show that they’re embracing the process too. If your team sees you doing it, they’re more likely to follow suit.

“When leaders respond to people only in video, it shows the sales team that they’re all in. It’s uncomfortable at first, but once a few team members see success, the whole team gets on board,” Chris shared.

Assignment Selling isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a transformative approach to sales that can reduce the length of sales cycles and improve conversion rates. By sending personalized content and leveraging one-on-one video, you can educate prospects before they step into a meeting, creating trust and positioning yourself as an expert.

The most important takeaway from this episode? Assignment Selling helps your buyers feel more educated, which leads to better conversations—and ultimately, more sales. If you’re ready to take control of your sales process, start with small steps, coach your team, and lead by example. And don’t forget, consistency is key. Your team won’t adopt this overnight, but with patience and leadership, you’ll see the payoff.

Connect with Chris Duprey

Chris Duprey is a sought-after speaker and business coach with over two decades of leadership experience. 

Get to know Chris through his IMPACT bio page

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn

Keep Learning

• Watch: How to Create Industry-Disrupting Content That Will Turn Heads
• Learn: What You Should Actually Measure to Have Better Closing Rates
• Discover: Leveraging AI Tools To Close More Deals

Endless Customers is a podcast produced and distributed by IMPACT , a sales and marketing training organization.

We coach businesses to implement our They Ask, You Answer framework to build trust and fill their pipeline. 

For inquiries about sponsorship opportunities or to be considered as a guest, email  [email protected] .

Want to tell us about a challenge you’re facing? Schedule a free coaching session with one of our experts.

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What Students Need to Know About A Marketing Plan Assignment

by  Antony W

June 24, 2024

Have you ever spent hours or days working on an assignment, only to realize that you were doing the exact opposite of what you were supposed to be doing? It’s not a good feeling, especially when that assignment is due in a few days and you realize that you have to start all over again.

When it comes to marketing plan assignments, it’s easy to make this kind of mistake because every school and instructor has their unique ways of approaching the course. However, there are still some underlying principles that remain common in all kinds of marketing plan assignments no matter where you go.

Marketing plan assignments are part of the curriculum for students taking courses in business and finance. Your teacher may have taught a lot about the course in class, but the assignment is likely to throw a few curveballs your way.

With these two facts in mind, we thought that a comprehensive guide on what marketing plan assignments are about might help many students gain confidence. And, if you still feel lost by the end of this short piece, we promise to offer an even better solution to your problems.

Here are the facts to know about marketing plan assignments, but before that:

Take time to research and find quality sources .

The first step towards writing a top-quality marketing plan is to prepare. The preparation phase allows you to read the assignment guidelines and look into what the teacher needs. After that, find your data sources so that you will have all the resources you need for reference once you sit down to start writing.

Preparing early also helps in easing the pressure that comes with the last-minute rush. You will have all the time to research, write and edit the marketing plan assignment. Start as early as possible, even if it seems like you have more than enough time ahead.

1. A Marketing Plan Assignment Has Six Key Sections

A marketing plan is structured writing with a clear format. Every marketing plan will have six major sections, although your instructor may add or knock a few out. These six key sections of the marketing plan assignment are;

• Executive summary – This is the introduction to the marketing plan. It contains information on the need for the marketing plan. It allows the audience to analyze how sound the project is without having to read it all. It is a concise summarization of what the marketing plan is about
• Situation analysis – This is the real-world analysis in regards to the marketing plan. The write-up at this point will depend on the marketing plan assignment instructions. The analysis covers everything on the industry you have chosen to write on. It looks into the market trends, environmental factors, and other sales and price forces.  It is also the point to analyze competition, customers, and sales.
• Marketing objectives – The market objectives depend on the situation analysis. At this point, you will write on the goals you want the company to achieve. You detail the goals and the current market position.  The objectives details quantity, timeframe, direction, and rationale. The objectives must neither be too ambitious or too non-ambitious.
• Marketing strategy – The strategy details how to achieve the objectives. It looks into the opportunities and obstacles in meeting the objectives. For that, it also relies on situational analysis. Some of the possible strategies would be to use the competition or target a new segment.
• Financial documents – writing about the financial documents tests your accuracy. You have to use correct figures to ensure the work makes sense. It is where you will need the research skills to determine the industry specifics. Consider including some elements like charts and graphs.
•  Monitors and controls – The marketing plan assignment is never complete without indicating who to monitor the project. Failing to have a manager means no one would take responsibility in case of any mishap.

2. Proofreading is Key

Even though it seems the content has the most of the marketing plan assignment, revision takes a bit of time. Most students tend to be so exhausted by the time they finish the writing. that they would rather turn the paper in without giving it another look. That is how they end up scoring low grades.

The best way is to include the revision time when planning. Take time away from the paper once you are done. You can then come back with a fresh brain to go through it one more time.

The editing process allows you to note gaps and other mistakes like grammatical and typing errors. An error-free marketing plan assignment sets you apart as a keen and focused student. This increases your chances of scoring highly.

3. Seek Help for Marketing Plan Assignments

Never be afraid of asking for help when you need it. With an assignment such as marketing plans, the help of expert marketing plan writers can put you squarely on the path to that target GPA. You can always seek help from your classmates or the teacher in form of clarification on areas you are less conversant with, but only a student services company like Help for Assessment can go that extra mile for you.

A professional marketing plan writing service will handle the whole assignment for you upon request, submitting a fully completed assignment in only a few hours or days depending on your deadline.

With such a comprehensive solution to marketing plan writing needs, it’s surprising that not more students opt for this straightforward solution. We do know that some students fear getting caught, and we have a guide on that if that is what you are afraid of.

In most cases, however, the fear of high costs involved in marketing plan writing services online is one of the reasons most students avoid professional companies like ours. In truth, an agency like Help for Assessment is more affordable than you think. We even offer custom pricing for those with unique circumstances such as very urgent deadlines, all tailored to ensure the perfect student experience.

Using a professional marketing plan writing service is both time and money-saving. It frees you up the time to concentrate on the other topics you perform well. You are also assured of high grades hence won’t spend any money for retakes in case of failure.

You can opt to take the risk of making mistakes with your marketing plan assignment, or you can have the right academic experts handle it for you. You can even submit your half-done assignment to us for review and checking before you submit it to assure yourself of top grades.

As a top marketing plan assignment agency, Help for Assessment has all you need to ace your marketing plan assignment. We are a team of qualified writers ready to handle that work for at very affordable rates. Contact us for the best marketing plan assignment writing.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

Chapter 14: Marketing Mix

Assignment: i can see the four ps of marketing, preparation.

For this assignment you will write a product report focused on a single product of your choice. Your submission will follow the formatting and address the questions/issues specified in the Product Report Outline.

Go to the store where your product is sold. This can be your local grocery store, Walmart, Target, or wherever your product is sold and displayed alongside competing brands and products. When selecting your product or good, keep in mind that in this assignment you will be analyzing the product based on the four Ps of marketing.

Gather the information necessary to complete your Product Report. Among the information you will need to collect is the following:

Name of product and company: Use the proper corporate name, not a nickname. For example: Tide Pods by Proctor & Gamble. Include pictures if you’re handy with uploading/inserting images.

• Product description: Briefly describe the product you’ve selected along with any relevant history that led you to choose this product/brand.
• Product : Describe the want or need your product addresses.
• Placement : Describe the physical location of the product among its closest competitors (a quick picture of the shelf would tell a good story!), and describe what this placement says about the marketing strategy.
• Pricing : Describe the pricing strategy. A good description would include observations about the closest competitive product and its relative pricing.
• Promotion : Describe how the product is being promoted. You could include any obvious physical/in-store promotions seen on the shelf, as well as flyers, coupons, social media, online advertising, etc.
• Other factors : You might notice other important factors about your product that lie outside the four Ps. You can include them in your report here. One example might be a unique distribution system for your product.

When putting together your assignment for submission, it should follow the format and organization shown in the Product Report Outline provided below.

Product Report Outline

Introduction to Business Marketing Report

Company/Product Name Here

Introduction

Briefly describe the product you’ve selected along with any relevant history that led you to choose this product/brand. Minimum of three, maximum of five sentences.

Four Ps of Marketing

Describe the key marketing strategies of your selected product. You should base your evaluation and report on what you can observe about how the four Ps are applied to the product you chose. You should write a minimum of three sentences about each aspect.

Conclusion and Recommendation

In this section you should draw a conclusion about the proven or possible success of your selected product. How has the company used the four marketing Ps to try to ensure the success of your selected product? This should be a minimum of three, maximum of five sentences.

• Assignment: I Can See the Four Ps of Marketing. Authored by : Linda Williams and Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

Foundations of Marketing (Riley)

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• Company Information
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The Thomas Mahaffey, Jr. Business Librarians

Ask a Business Librarian

Mahaffey Business Library L001 Mendoza College of Business University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 46556

(574) 631-9098 [email protected] Business Library Website

When considering a line extension or a brand extension, it is important to have a well researched understanding of the company under which the brand operates alongside that brand's current product catalog. Resources on this page will serve to support a deep dive into the specific company which owns your brand.

In addition to the library resources provided, don't discount the information that can be found via a company's official web site. This is usually the best place to get a quick view of their brand catalog at a glance.

Company Profiles

These resources are your best bets for finding company profiles and other information. Mergent Intellect and Business Insights: Essentials are good places to start for establishing the company context in which your brand operates.

• Mergent Intellect An excellent resource for analyzing the financial health of a public company. If you know the name of the company that owns your brand, you may be able to find annual filings with revenue segmentation specific to your brand. Note that not all companies will disclose information at the brand level, and you may need to make estimates based on the broader company finances.
• Capital IQ Access via the Capital IQ icon when signed into okta.nd.edu. Excel Plugin available for Windows OS. Instructions available here. If you experience issues with access contact us at Ask a Business Librarian. Provides access to data on public and private companies, investment firms, capital transactions, and executives. Great for financial statement analysis, comparable analysis, sector analysis, and charting.
• Business Insights: Essentials (Gale) This database provides a considerable amount of contextual information on public companies including company histories, SWOT's, and brand lists.

SWOT Analyses

S trengths,  W eaknesses,  O pportunities, and  T hreats! A SWOT analysis is a great resource that gives you a quick overview of a company's strategic situation. Business Insights: Essentials offers SWOTs for public companies. Business Source Complete  offers SWOTs for public and some private companies. Performance of specific brands may be mentioned in these types of reports depending on the company.

• Business Insights: Essentials (Gale) If your company is public, search for it by name or ticker symbol and then look for a link to 'SWOT Reports' from the results. Not all public companies will have SWOTs available.
• Business Source Complete (EBSCO host ) Select 'SWOT Analysis' from "Publication Type."
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• Last Updated: Sep 19, 2024 1:47 PM
• URL: https://libguides.library.nd.edu/foundations-marketing-riley

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