Unit 6 Assignment
Positioning, Branding, and IMC Strategy Evaluation
In this unit you will evaluate your branding strategy, product positioning strategy, and integrated marketing communication (IMC) strategy.
Each of these marketing elements can be evaluated in-depth, but in this exercise, you will out outline your mix elements and then evaluate the synergies created by your mix elements as related to the market segments you have identified in Unit 3 (READ ATTACHMENT LABELED UNIT 3 ASSIGNMENT).
This assignment will have you create strategies for your primary market identified in Unit 3 (READ ATTACHMENT LABELED UNIT 3 ASSIGNMENT). It is important for you to justify your strategic decisions based on relevant research from credible sources (PEER REVIEWS OR ACADEMIC JOURNALS).
Ultimately, you will need to convince others of your strategy. These others could be marketing managers, investors, bankers, etc.
Be sure you use the supplemental text Marketing: An Introduction by: M. C. Cant and the supporting unit material in developing your strategy. (ATTACHED LABELED UNIT6SUPPTEXT)
These same questions can be used to evaluate competitive products and can give you a basis for analyzing their competitive strengths and weaknesses.
Positioning
A positioning strategy would normally be based on consumer research and the companies desired for a perceptual position in the customer’s mind. Customers will normally use a multi-attribute model in their purchase decision. This basically means that there is normally more than one criterion that are used in the purchase decision. The first part of this assignment is to determine the two most important criteria used in the purchase process. The two criteria will be used in the positioning map design below. The most important part of this part of the assignment is to justify your positioning map.
Note: This positioning map is created in Word’s Drawing Canvas. It works like a drawing canvas in PowerPoint or other Microsoft tools. You can click on each graphic and edit the text. You can move and resize each bubble to represent the relative position and size of the market share. When you are working in the drawing canvas, you can click on the outside border and copy and paste as a drawing canvas or picture.
I. Positioning Strategy
SBU Position Desired in The Marketplace: (How should the project SBU be positioned in the marketplace? This summarizes your branding strategy.) (½ page)
Identify and justify Anchor Elements 1 & 2 for a positioning map: (Justify why you chose the anchor elements. They should be related to the primary customer choice elements identified in Unit 3 (ATTACHED UNIT 3 ASSIGNMENT). The anchors have two sides, Element 1, Element 2 opposite.) (½ page)
Justify the SBU and Competitive positions: (Place and resize the SBU bubbles. Justify why you think these positions and sizes reflect actual positions.) (½ page)
Strategic Implications from the Positioning Map: (Describe the strategic implications from the map you have created including recommendations for changes in position.) (½ page)
Positioning Map USE POSITIONING MAP ATTACHED IN FILES TO PUT INFO IN. THAT COUNTS AS PART OF THE PAGES.
Note: This positioning map is created in Word’s Drawing Canvas. It works like a drawing canvas in PowerPoint or other Microsoft tools. You can click on each graphic and edit the text. You can move and resize each bubble to represent the relative position and size of the market share. When you are working in the drawing canvas, you can click on the outside border and copy and paste as a drawing canvas or picture.
II. Branding
Your branding strategy supports your desired SBU market position. Branding is a multi-faceted process to support your marketing mix strategy. Respond to each of the branding elements in the table below.
Branding Strategy ((Describe and evaluate the brand features for your SBU.) Include:
Brand Name (Brand Name Strategy: Corporate umbrella, Family brands, individual brands, etc.)
Brand Mark/Packaging (½ page)
Other Brand Attributes (½ page)
Other Relevant Branding Strategies (½ page)
Describe and evaluate the brand equity strategy for your SBU. (Justify how your strategies above increase the overall value of your brand.) (1 page)
III, Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy
To this point, you have evaluated the marketing mix product, price, place concepts (Unit 5)(RELATED ORDER 781585) and the target market (Unit 3)(ATTACHED UNIT 3 ASSIGNMENT) for your SBU. You have also looked at your product position and branding strategy. You will now develop an integrated marketing communication (IMC) campaign to support these strategies.
An effective IMC campaign should be based upon firm communication goals and objectives. The communication system for a business requires that the message should be complex and include factors such as business and product positioning, competitive advantage, competition, the segment to be to communicate to and how can that message best reach the market.
The full development of promotional strategies requires setting marketing objectives and advertising objectives, developing a communication message, evaluating media, determining the communication message, and developing the advertisement.
IMC Strategy
IMC Objectives: (Describe your IMC objectives {such as to inform about X, persuade the customer to…, remind about X}. Justify your objectives given your target market and SBU.) (½ page)
Communication Message: (Write out a message you would like to communicate to your market segment. This could include information from Tables 1 & 2 above such as branding, positioning, and communicating a competitive advantage over the competition.) (½ page)
Media Strategy: (Recommend a media strategy that would carry your message identified above. This could include a sales strategy. A media strategy should include more than just one media outlet. Identify all media you plan to use and justify your media choices.) (½ page)
Justification: (Justify the overall rationale for the IMC strategy you have recommended above. This should include references to sources of information to back up your ideas.) (1 page)
