WEEK 3
Assignment:
Target
customers and how to reach them deliverable
From
your reading, research, and any insights from the discussion, you are to create
a new 3 PG
deliverable exploring the target customers and the best way to sell to them as
well as a list of potential enhancements to your previous vision statement.
(Don’t enhance your vision statement now. Rather, produce a set of potential
enhancements and let them accumulate. You will consider all of them and refine
your vision your vision during the final module.)
a.
Your goal with this week’s deliverable is to characterize the customer, what is
prompting them to action, the process you believe they will employ to evaluate
potential solutions including the purchase and use of your solution.
b.
You must describe the major characteristics of your customers (e.g. are your
customers individuals or business), the reasons supporting this selection, and
your recommendation of the best way to reach and support them throughout at
least the purchase, deployment, and initial operational phases of the product
usage life cycle. What influences their buying decisions and what can you do to
help them make better and more informed decisions? (E.g. Management has made it
clear that satisfied customers and their willingness to buy again and recommend
the product or service to others are key measures of success your employer will
use.)
c.
For this deliverable, you are expected to explain how you will gather and use
key data to assist you produce appropriate sales aids as well as purchase and
usage products and services, such as purchase evaluation and selection tools,
adoption tools and services, roll-out and initial use planning, assistance, and
support tools and services. Not all products and services require or benefit
from such tools and services. Experience has shown, however, that products that
significantly change work flows or require the use of new knowledge or skills
typically benefit from adoption and usage support (e.g. training and skill
development.) There is a great deal of shelfware cluttering offices around the
world and that is not your employer’s vision or goal for this program.
WEEK 4
Assignment:
Enhanced
target customers and how to reach them deliverable
In
this week’s virtual marketing team meeting, a suggestion for producing this
week’s deliverable was discussed. You came away happy that you were taking
notes. You were advised to identify the critical points that you need to make
for this deliverable first, prioritize them, and then preform a thorough a
review of the previous deliverable, the feedback you were provided, and select
the topics and material that is no longer as important or relevant given these
new requirements and insights. Determine where the new material logically fits
into the flow of your previous submission and iteratively refine the content
ensuring the high-priority items are explained well and are adequately
supported by references.
a.
What process elements do you believe are critical to ensure your organization
understands the target market and its needs today and remains knowledgeable and
informed about trends as your business grows and technology and market forces
change the market? Are there specific tools (e.g. CRM, big data tools) that
should be part of your firm’s toolkit? If so, explain what value they bring,
how they fit into your process, and way they are worth the investment of time,
money, and mind share during the critical startup phase.
b.
You also heard that your ability to justify your targeting and segmenting was
going to be valued highly, so you need to be sure that you understand and can
properly apply the segmenting lessons learned from your reading and any
research you may have performed. Historically, how has segmenting been used to
address individual and business customers? Are there new trends that might
change the way you might use segmenting?
c.
It is also clear that those evaluating your work have a bias toward the use of
data in marketing, selling, and product development activities. You need to
convince your readers that you have truly considered the relevant market
research options (e.g. big data), have evaluated each, and have come to a
well-reasoned and defendable conclusion.
Finally,
list any issues or specific changes you now believe need to be made to your
vision based on the insights you have gained from this week’s activities. This
deliverable should be consistent with the others you have produced and should
be 3 pages in length.
WEEK 5
Assignment:
The
product, the product line, and the life cycle deliverable
This
important deliverable further develops the nature of the business over time by
addressing the following items.
a.
Would a product, a service, or maybe some sort of combination better serve the
customers’ needs? What options are there and provide a defendable rationale for
your choice, making it clear that you considered the other options.
b.
Is the future of the firm a product line or set of product lines or is the
future a collection of products that don’t fit into the product line concept?
Describe and provide a rationale.
c.
What aspects of the “whole product” concept, including branding and packaging,
are and are not relevant, and why?
d. From what you have learned, what is your
plan to stay ahead of your competition and keep your business relevant
and healthy?
e.
As the business grows, what changes in roles, processes, life cycles, and
products do you see being needed and why? Support your position with references
from your reading and any research you may have done.
Are
there any potential changes to your vision based on any new insights from this
week’s work? If so, be sure to capture them so you can address them at the end
of the course.
This
deliverable should be consistent in style and format with the others you have
produced and should be 3
pages in length.
WEEK 6
Assignment:
The
supply chain deliverable
This
document requires you to compare and contrast the business you are imagining
with some other existing business that you know and believe will end up having
similar supply chain issues as yours, even if the actual product and market
space is totally different. Your goal is to use a concrete example to help you
reason about a number of issues that are new to you, but are also critical.
a.
Identify the company or organization that you believe has supply chain and
distribution issues that are likely to be similar enough to those that you
believe it should serve as a model. Given what you have read and the research
you have performed, why do you believe this firm is a good match?
b.
What are the key processes at the heart of the supply management segment of the
business, how are they similar, and why do you believe these processes will be
crucial to your business’ success as you start up, grow, and mature as a
business? Be sure to address the various options for selling (e.g. direct as in
retailing or indirect via other distribution channels.)
c.
What do you believe are the new and important trends in supply chain and
customer relationship management that you believe your model business has done
right and why do you believe these aspects are similarly important to your new
business?
d.
How does your model organization deliver product and/or service to it’s
customers and deal with the up, downs, and changes in the technology, the
consumers, and the marketplace? What lessons have you learned and how did they
influence your vision?
e.
At some point, someone has to sell something to the actual consumer. How would
you ensure that those individuals, whether they be your employees or those of
some distributor, partner, or franchisee, provide the kind of pre-sale, sales,
and post-sales experience you believe is important for your current and
long-term success? How does your model firm do it? Are their any examples
of anyone doing significantly better? If so why do you believe it?
Are
there any potential changes to your vision based on any new insights from this
week’s work? If so, be sure to capture them so you can address them at the end
of the course.
As
with the previous, this deliverable should be consistent in style and format
with the others you have produced and should be 3 pages in length.
WEEK 7
Assignment:
Proposed
marketing plan deliverable
Now
that your vision for many of the key aspects of your business is coming clear,
it is time to develop your firms approach and key processes to ensure it will
it hit mark with its first offering, continue to deliver significant and
growing value moving forward, and remain the supplier of choice in a highly-competitive
world. As soon as you become successful, others will notice you. The greater
your success the more others will choose to compete in an effort to claim a
piece of this growing opportunity. If your vision is to lead, how will you use
the tools at your disposal to remain a market leader? If your vision is to
follow, how will you ensure that there are distinctive benefits that warrant
customers selecting your firm’s offerings over those of the market leader?
This
deliverable requires you to find a relevant marketing plan template and use it
to create this plan. Many good sources do not require you to create an account
or pay money to see and benefit from their insights. Similarly, many marketing
plan templates suggest that you need to provide all of the elements of a
business plan. Clearly, business plan information is critical, but you only
need to focus on the marketing aspect for this deliverable; you already have
produced many of the key elements of a business plan in the prior deliverables,
so do not duplicate it here.
a.
How will your firm go about establishing actionable insights and developing a
deep understanding of the needs of those who could benefit from what your firm
will produce? How will your firm appreciate the changes the end customer and/or
their firm must implement in order to truly benefit from your firm’s offerings?
How will your firm understand the trends that might influence the concepts that
drive the whole product that should be produced and help your firm prioritize
work on the whole product, resolving issues with element of current products,
and prepare for and work on future product?
b.
What is the right mix of communication, advertising, promotion, and information
gathering goals, methods, and processes, and how might they change as your firm
goes from startup to a single product firm with no legacy products or services,
to a more mature firm with an array of products and services at various stages
in their life cycle? Does it make sense to provide self-assessment and performance
improvement support materials as part of the advertising and promotional
support in order to help improve the probability that the ultimate consumers
will be successful using the products and services and realize the envisioned
benefits? Are there cases where aspects of self-assessment, education,
training, and practice support should be thought of as communication,
advertising, and promotion as opposed to salable products and services?
c.
Are there likely to be changes in the nature of the relationship between the
firm and its customers as the business matures? If so, what might these changes
be, why will they develop, and how should the firm prepare for them, should the
firm be proactive to help shape these changes? If not, what is it about your
product or service that makes you believe that the needs and requirements of
more knowledgeable and sophisticated customers are the similar to those of
first time buyers? Is such proactive manipulation of customers ethical?
Consider
these questions and how you would answer them in the context of a market plan
designed to convince your reader that the investment in realizing this
marketing plan is a crucial aspect of making your firm successful.
Are
there any potential changes to your vision based on any new insights from this
week’s work? If so, be sure to capture them so you can address them at the end
of the course.
This
deliverable should be consistent in style and format with the others you have
produced and should be 3
pages in length.
WEEK 8
Assignment:
Signature Assignment Title: Module 8 Signature Assignment
Assignment
Description/Directions:
Tactical
and strategic revenue generation deliverable
The
final new addition to your work is a focus on how your proposed firm will
initially make money and then continue to do so over time in the face of so
many unknowns. At the heart of this deliverable, you need to be sure to address
the following:
a.
What are the potential sales strategies that could be employed and how would
their approach and process into your business vision? What factors and
aspects are most important for your business goals and why?
b.
New technology in the creation, development, sales, delivery, deployment,
usage, and sustainment can disrupt even the best-laid plans. What management
processes are needed to make sure that such disruptions are good as opposed to
bad new for your firm?
c.
What are the key pricing and selling strategies that you might initially use
and why? How might they change over time and what would force this change? What
factors would drive the selection and change of these strategies and given what
you know today which would you initially employ and why? (One must be aware of
legal and ethical issues that could be issues if they not careful considered
and the implementation not done most carefully.)
d.
As your business grows are there changes that must be considered and why?
Are
there any potential changes to your vision based on any new insights from this
week’s work? If so, be sure to capture them so you can address them at the end
of the course.
This
deliverable should be 3
pages in length.
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