Write a maximum four-page, single spaced marketing plan for an imaginary
company / firm. If you already have a company you are considering for Capstone, please talk
with me before you start so I can steer you away from Capstone subjects that probably wont fly.
Use placeholder data for revenue, expenses, net income and all demographic and other
needed information. Follow this outline; you must include each of these as subsections to your
marketing plan. A cover page does not count as one of your pages! I expect excellent grammar;
use the Writing Center if you need help. Do not delay on this Marketing Plan. It will take you
most of the seven weeks to figure it out. Start outlining by at least the second class. If you have
not started, you are behind! There are no exceptions to the due dates on the Marketing Plan in
the syllabus. PLAN AHEAD!
Marketing and Sales Plan Elements All MUST be included in your document
1. Overview — Show a quick snapshot of your marketing and sales objectives.
2. Main positioning / message — who you are / what your product is. Describe the
problem, your solution and most importantly why your solution is superior. Product
must exist in real life — you cannot create an imaginary product (e.g., no antigravity
wrist watch). We will do a creative brief exercise that will help clarify this greatly.
3. Marketing & Sales funnel (the engine) — Demonstrate how you turn your
advertising dollars into impressions (traffic), prospects and customers, and
reference (normally this is researched) sources for all of your conversion rates
(impressions to prospects to sales)1
.
4. Product / Service Pricing Strategy — Why are you priced higher, lower, the same
as others in the market? What is your pricing and compare your pricing to
competitors.
2 How are you allowing for sales (e.g., Presidents Day sale, Valentines
Day sale, etc.) or other discounts (e.g., quantity discount, discounts for early
payment, coupons or other promotions)? How does your pricing align with your
companys overall strategy?
5. Ideal Customer Profile — Who will you be advertising to? Need demographics
(income range, age range, education, etc.) and psychographics (hobbies, lifestyle,
culture, values, etc.). Be sure to mention any generational biases / differences and
how you are taking those into account.3
6. Annual Advertising Plan, including budget expenditure, per advertising platform
(Facebook is an ad platform, so is Google. You need a budget for each platform, and
you need to show how many customers from each platform you will acquire, and explain how you arrive at those figures based on industry research, competitor
estimates or other source).4
7. Customer Acquisition Cost. Be sure to compare your CAC with industry averages.
Youll need to research this, or estimate (guesstimate) it.
8. Monitoring — Monthly Key Performance Indicators, including target goals for
impressions, conversions, prospects and customers. How many sales calls per
month should your sales team complete? Think of this as your marketing monitoring
system. Explain your intention, and summarize your KPI in a table. Be realistic!
9. Contingency — What will you do if your ad plan and sales forecast dont work
out like you expect?
10. Ethical considerations What ethical / moral landmines potentially exist, and
what will you do to prevent them from happening?