Marketing Report Checklist Discussed

Yesterday I received the marketing report checklist, so I will now reiterate what I learnt from that session, in order to embed this into my mind.

Content: To allow people to navigate to the right information.

Abstract: A short synopsis of the content of my report, this should include a statement about your campaign.

Methodology: How I will go about conducting my research and what methods I will use to carry these out – this should not include the results.

Introduction: Describe the product or service I have chosen to promote. Give the rationale behind the choice of the product/service. General information giving the background relating to the market content and any relevant research points.

Market Segmentation/context (main body): How is the market broken down, where does my product/service sit? Market level, e.g. designer/high street? Who are my competitors? Do they pose a threat/how come I overcome these? Target market – analyse my consumer. Profile my target customer’s lifestyle currently and for the future. What sort of demand is there – will it be wanted/needed/ desired?

Objectives: Consider the elements of SMART objectives.

Product: What are the features of your particular product/service what have made you want to promote it? What is the USP/ESP? Are there different styles/colours/ranges/features/brand extension etc that can add variation to my product/service? What is the life span of my product?

Price: The price of my product/service should reflect it’s positioning – look at competitors. Price strategy e.g. a premium price to support a quality product or a budget price to reflect wholesale/quick turnover. Will it make profit? Do prices reflect any special features? E.g. limited edition items, new desirable products.

Place: A good campaign could be let down if the product is not available from the right places. Where will the product be sold? Flagship stores/department stores/ catalogues/websites etc. Is it available on a global or national scale? Why is your product available from these particular places?

Promotion: Above the line e.g. TV, press, radio, cinema, outdoor advertising, such as billboards and adshels. Below the line e.g. Sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, viral marketing, direct mail, text messaging, guerrilla marketing.
I must also include: budgets/costing, methods to measure success, media plan, campaign plan, time plan.

People: Will the staff employed have specialist skills? Will they be trained in a special way? Will they have a particular selling technique? What type of customer service will they offer? Will they have a uniform or corporate clothing?

Persuasion: How will my selected forms of promotion persuade the minds of the customers? What message will the promotion communicate? Do the brand values = the consumer lifestyle values, and what methods are used to tell them. I must include reference to customer lifestyle/profile.

Illustration/Visuals: Visuals can be used to illustrate points discussed in my report, and also to enhance the overall presentation.

Conclusion: SWOT analysis – summarise and evaluate my campaign. Can I recommend any future developments where the campaign could be further enhanced?
Bibliography.

Literature Review: Review the key texts which have been beneficial and informative.

Now that I have successfully discussed what the report should include, I should consider the most efficient way to move towards this outcome. This weekend I aim to visit more places for primary research, and I shall have these annotated by the following week. My primary research is coming along nicely, however I need to make more progress on the secondary research – although this is the easiest to tackle. For the rest of today I will be photographing bits and pieces which I have collected over summer and over the last few weeks. I will then annotate these with regards to their significance linking to my project.