MARKETING PLAN GUIDELINES

Your team is expected to complete a rough draft as per the assignment given in class. You will select a local company as guided and provide a rough draft marketing plan for review and discussion with your professor. The plan should follow the guideline example given at the end of the Textbook for WESTJET. (Please see marketing plan in the index to find the correct pages and other related information).

Below I have also attached a link to a sample international marketing plan. This is in more detail than we need for this course, however, it provides a broader insight for you. As discussed in class, a marketing plan forms part of a business plan. It provides the strategic positioning of a company allowing others to understand how you intend to use the marketing mix to achieve your corporate goals. The outlines are fairly consistent with creativity left for you to present your analysis and ideas the way you see best (order can vary as needed). You should  include with your plan a cover page; table of contents; (executive summary - not required in this course) Current Situation Analysis (would include a SWOT analysis discussing yourself and competitors and any environmental factors considering both micro and macro); Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Analysis; Objectives, Recommended Marketing Strategy including your Marketing Mix Tactics, and a Financial Plan (for the purposes of this course we need only see the variance analysis - a break down of incremental expected customers, units sold, and gross margin per unit sold to provide us with a total sales forecast as well as a discussion of any variable expenses or changes in fixed expenses that may result from your initiative -- feel free to discuss these considerations with your professor). The paper should have inline citations followed by a list of references. After your references you may include any appendices to help support your work.

FORMATTING TO USE:

Please DOUBLE SPACE all work in ARIAL 12 pt. font.

Use Business Report Format = FLUSH LEFT margins (no indents), with an extra line space between paragraphs. Titled sections are most beneficial without a need for an introduction or conclusion as this is a plan to work by, not an essay.

Current referencing style is APA (make sure all image sources are properly cited and referenced as well).

There is no specific word count expected. You can make the body more concise by prudent use of appendices.

Here is a sample cover page (should include, assignment name and due date, course number and section number, student names and student IDs, team names, University Name, and your professor's name).

SAMPLE INTERNATIONAL MARKETING PLAN (more detail than needed for our course) - just another guide.