Marketing Plan for Dasini Bottled Water

Order Description

Final Paper

Focus of the Final Paper

Develop a 12- to14-page marketing plan (not including the title and reference pages, charts and/or graphs) for any product of your choice. Your marketing plan must:

Analyze the specific marketplace situation in detail, including organizational strengths, weaknesses, environmental opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis).
Develop an organizational mission statement, and forecast performance goals using your situational analysis.
Design a marketing strategy based upon your objectives.
Create an appropriate integrated marketing mix, which will include your ability to effectively appeal to the specific market segments you will be targeting.
Develop a written summary and specific recommendations for the implementation of your plan.

Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper:

Must be 12 to 14 double-spaced pages in length (not including the title and reference pages, charts and/or graphs), and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Must include a title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
Must use at least four scholarly sources, in addition to the text.
Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Marketing Plan Outline
The marketing plan outline consists of 11 sections. It begins with an executive summary that provides a preview of the main points of the plan. Section II describes the current situation confronting the firm and includes an assessment of the competitive environment. This is a pivotal section insofar as it forces marketing managers to develop a comprehensive understanding of the markets in which they are competing. The section that follows presents the results of any market research that has a direct bearing on the viability of the plan.
Sections III through V describe all of the strategic decisions and goals related to the pursuit of this market opportunity, with particular emphasis on market segmentation and product positioning. Sections VI through IX provide a breakdown of how the marketing mix will be used to accomplish those strategic goals.
The final two sections of the marketing plan include forecasts of the financial results anticipated from the execution of the plan and a summary of the long-range plans for this product.
SECTION I: Executive Summary
The executive summary should provide an overview of the entire plan, including a description of the product, the differential advantage, the required investment, and anticipated sales and profits.
SECTION II: Situation Analysis and Assessment of the Competitive Environment
This section of the marketing plan needs to:
•    Provide a review of past performance for existing programs covered by the plan.
•    Discuss any issues within the macro-environment that are pertinent to demand for your product, markets, and the proposed marketing plan. Do you intend to profit from any changes taking place in the marketplace? Macro-environmental dimensions may include: demographic shifts, legal/political factors, changing lifestyles, social changes, economic trends, technological changes, or shifts in cultural/religious values.
•    Describe your competitors, their products, and strategies. What are their advantages in the market? What channels do they use? Identify their strengths and weaknesses. Prepare a SWOT chart illustrating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relevant to the plan.
SECTION III: Researching Market Opportunities and Market Potential
This section of the marketing plan will present any information that indicates the viability of this product. This could include either primary or secondary data that describe the size or potential of this market.
Fully describe your market research plans. What types of research would you conduct prior to introducing this product? Be explicit when explaining the purpose or intent of this research plan. Describe your research methodology as completely as possible.
SECTION IV: Market Segmentation, Product Differentiation, and Positioning
Present your segmentation analysis by identifying the market segments, segment name, and descriptive characteristics. Include a chart presenting this information and the purchase determinant attributes, features, or benefits for each of the following:
•    Target Market Selection/Strategy. This should be based on the preceding analysis, specifying target market(s) by name and buyer characteristics. Describe your target market segment(s) in detail by using demographics, psychographics, geography, lifestyle, or whatever segmentation variables are appropriate. Explain why this is your target market. Describe the size and other relevant group characteristics.
•    Product Differentiation. This should be a description of the essential difference between your product and its closest competitors. Indicate any potential for attracting other groups of consumers in the future: Why is it a superior alternative for some buyers . . . specifically your target market? What is the motivation of buyers and users of competing products? What would be their motivation for buying your product?
•    Product Positioning. Here you should prepare complete positioning maps or comparable charts for your product and competing products on relevant dimensions.
SECTION V: Statement of Marketing Strategy and Goals
Based on the analysis presented in Sections I through IV, specify your overall marketing strategy for the product. In this section you need to state your goals for the product in terms of sales volume, market share, return on investment, or other measures, and the time needed to achieve each of them. Sections VI through IX will describe your implementation of this strategy—how you will deploy the marketing mix to carry out your strategy.
SECTION VI: Product Planning
This part of the marketing plan should discuss your firm’s product planning issues. What is your brand management strategy? Describe your rationale for this choice. Discuss product packaging and the purposes your packaging serves. Include a discussion of relevant product features that were not described previously.
SECTION VII: Pricing
Here, discuss the nature of your pricing strategy and tactics for this product relative to competing brands and substitute products. Organize this section to stress any factors or strategies that are important to the success of your marketing plan. Be certain to address the issue of “skimming” versus penetration pricing.
SECTION VIII: Place, Physical Distribution, or Location Strategy
In this section, you should specify the details of your distribution strategy, compare your system of product delivery to those used by competitors, and describe where your service will be offered or how the service will be delivered to the buyer. How important is the choice of location? Discuss the relevance of push versus pull strategies with respect to your goals.
SECTION IX: Promotion
State the goals of your promotional strategy and identify your promotional campaign theme clearly and concisely. Remember to explain how the choice of goals and themes will accomplish the objectives stated in Section V. You should also discuss how the elements of the promotions mix are interrelated in your promotional efforts. Where do your priorities lie?
SECTION X: Projections of Sales, Costs, and Profits
You will need to determine project or product launch startup costs and a monthly operations budget. Calculate the break even point for alternative price levels and provide sales and cash flow projections for same.
SECTION XI: Summary and Conclusion
In addition to a summary overview of the plan, you should also provide a description of your long-range plans and expectations for this product. This section also offers an opportunity to highlight the strengths of your marketing plan and acknowledge its weaknesses.