| Marketing Information
Services Spring 2000 |
| Marketing Information
Services Spring 2000 |
MARKETING PROJECT ASSIGNMENT
Part I: Description of Organization in Marketing
Terms
Overview. This assignment is the first part of an term project in which you will first describe and evaluate an organization in marketing terms (Part I) and then design an improved approach for marketing that organization as Part II. Part I (which counts for 15% of your grade) constitutes the framework. It will include descriptive information similar to that touched on in your first Overview Assignment plus a bit more detail.Part I comprises four sections: Market Audit, Resources and Dependencies, Market Segments, and Market Positioning. These are described in more detail below. Each section may be submitted at a specified date for feedback (and opportunity to revise) if you wish. One final grade will be given for the submission of all four sections on March 8.
The project may be done individually or in teams of two (preferable) or three (also possible but less desireable).
Section A: Market Audit. May be turned in for feedback and opportunity of revision on Feb. 9. Select and describe an organization with which you are familiar. Include in your description similar information to that requested in the Overview Assignment. The market audit consists of collecting information to answer as many of the following questions as you can:
- What is the organization's mission statement (stated or as you infer it)?
- Who are the publics being served?
- Characterize the staff and their expertise. Does the organization use (or rely on) volunteers to any extent?
- What products/services does the organization offer?
- What price do customers pay for products and services?
- How are these products and services delivered to the customers?
- What kinds of promotional activities does the organization engage in?
A market audit also includes some evaluative opinions, such as:
- In your opinion, what kind of image does the organization project?
- In your estimation, is the price of products and services perceived by customers to be high, average, low, or free?
- In your view, how satistifed are the publics (the customers and other stakeholders) with the organization?
- Is the image that the organization projects congruent with its mission, in your opinion?
- In your view, how satisfied are the staff with the organization?
- How effective do you find each promotional activity the organization currently engages in?
- As a summary evaluation, do you think the organization is correctly positioned, has an appropriate image, and is effectively marketing its services and products? If not (or not completely) what aspects do you think need to be addressed for improvement?
Does the organization raise funds through some kind of development activity (e.g., gifts, grants, use of endowment funds)?
- Does the organization rely on volunteer labor to any extent? Who is the public from whom volunteers are recruited? What benefits do the volunteers receive in exchange for their work?
- Does the organization partner with one or more other organizations -- in the private sector? in the public sector? What benefit does each partner from the partnership accrue? What do they offer in exchange?
- Does the organization rely on funds supplied directly from its parent organization? What benefit does the parent organization perceive in supplying funds?
- Who are the competing organizations in each of these areas? How do the benefits the competitors confer compare to the benefits offered by your organization?
Section C: Market Segments. May be turned in for feedback and opportunity for revision on Feb. 23. Identify and list the various "publics" served by the organization. Some will be stakeholders, that is, people interested in the organization who are not necessarily customers; others will be customers and potential customers. How are the publics segmented publics into markets? What are some other ways that the publics might be segmented? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages in alternative ways of segmenting the markets?
Section D: Market Positioning. May be turned in for feedback and opportunity for revision on March 1. Characterize the marketing goals and positioning strategy for your organization, as best you can determine or infer. Consider whether the marketing goals are of either or both of the following two types: Action goals producing specific, measureable results (Example: A help desk operation wishes to continue answering 500 assistance questions each year) and/or Image goals how the organization wishes to be perceived by its various publics (Example: A library reference dept. wishes to be seen by faculty as the best place to send their students for assistance in preparing research papers). Positioning means finding and establishing a niche or unique role in the community or environment in which the organization wishes to operate. Look for clues to the organization's current positioning strategy in phrases like the following:
If you don't find any clues, use your best judgment in terms of existing clues to fashion a position statement that you think the organization would find acceptable.
- "We're the people who ...
- "No one can ___________ as well as we do."
- "We want to be seen as ... "
- "We're number one in __________."
Submission of Part I. Please turn in the four sections as revised by March 8.. Your submission can be a web document (or several), an email attachment, or a print-out. [Note: I will create a print document so that I can write comments on it if you submit it in a different way] If it is a team effort, both (or all) members of the team will receive the same grade unless there is overwhelming evidence that it should be otherwise.
If you have any questions on this assignment or any part of it, please email Evelyn Daniel.
Page revised Jan. 18, 2000.
