This assignment consists of two sections:

1. Marketing plan and sales strategy (an MS Word document).
2. Marketing budget (using the Business Plan Financials Excel Template).

To successfully complete this assignment, you must attach both documents to the submission area as separate files and then click Submit.

Reminders

• Your company, whether it’s a startup you created or one based on the snack food company scenario, will operate in a 100-mile radius from your home address. Your goal is to reach $1 million in sales by the end of the second year.
• Be sure to follow the guidelines, whether you chose the snack food company or your own startup company.
  • Snack Food Company Guidelines [PDF].
  • Company of Your Choice Guidelines [PDF].

Section 1: Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy

In MS Word, write the 3–5 page marketing plan and sales strategy section of your business plan, in which you:

1. Revise the company’s target market based on the feedback received in the Week 3 discussion thread.
   • Be sure to include demographic, geographic, lifestyle, psychographic, purchasing patterns, and buying sensitivities in the target market description.
2. Assess your chosen company’s market competition.
   • Use the factors listed in the graphic in your textbook labeled “Assess the Competition” (page 125), to assess the company’s market competition.
     • When assessing the competition, specify the exact company and particular product or service you are competing against. For example, Coca Cola offers a portfolio of products, such as water, fruit juice, and cola. Are you competing against Coca Cola’s fruit juice product? Or its cola product?
   • Be sure to detail your plan to differentiate yourself from the competition.
3. Outline the company’s value proposition and create a marketing slogan/tagline for the product.
   • The value proposition tells your customers why they want to do business with you.
   • You need to know what message you want to convey in your marketing slogan before selecting the marketing vehicles in the next step.
4. Specify the marketing vehicles you will use to build your chosen company’s brand and justify the key reasons they will be effective.
   • Marketing vehicles are ways to promote your product. Examples include social media, sponsored events, trade shows, and sampling. You will use a combination of these tactics.
   • Planning to use online marketing tactics? Consult the “Online Marketing Tactics” worksheet on page 177 of your textbook to guide your response.

Formatting

Format your assignment according to these requirements:

• This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course.
• Typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
• You must include headings in your paper for each major topic.
• Include a cover page containing the assignment title, your name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
• Include a source list page. All sources used must be listed in the source list page and have a corresponding in-text citation. Citations and references must follow SWS format. The source list page is not included in the required page length.
  • Note: There is no minimum requirement for the number of resources used in this assignment.

Section 2: Marketing Budget

In this portion of your assignment, you will develop a marketing budget. This budget is critical to helping you determine how much it will cost you to reach your market and achieve your sales goals. To create your marketing budget, you will use the Business Plan Financials Excel Template. This is the document you downloaded using the access code you purchased from the Strayer Bookstore.

Reminders

• You will complete only the Setup and Marketing Budget worksheets for this assignment; be sure to submit the entire Excel Template, however.
• You have already worked on your marketing budget in the Week 5 discussion. Incorporate information from your post and the feedback you received into this section of your assignment.

Instructions

Develop a marketing budget, supporting your marketing plan and sales goals, in which you:

1. Prepare the Setup worksheet for your selected company based on the appropriate guidelines instructions.
2. Prepare the Marketing Budget worksheet for your selected company based on the appropriate guidelines instructions. When filling out the Marketing Budget worksheet in the Business Plan Financials Excel Template, do the following:
   • Begin with the current year and complete a marketing budget for the business’s first two years.
   • Leave at zero any marketing vehicles you do not plan to use.
   • Reminder: All marketing activities involve costs. If social media represents a significant portion of your marketing plan, assume you will incur advertising costs; reflect these in your marketing budget. Even if a social media site charges nothing to use it, you will need to use company resources to manage the site, execute your social media marketing campaigns, and most likely pay for ads on that site.
   • Do not leave the Marketing Budget worksheet blank assuming you will not have any marketing costs.
   • Do not complete all the rows; only fill in the costs for the marketing vehicles you will actually use. These must match the content you described in Item 4 of Section 1 of this assignment.

Learning Outcomes

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:

• Create a marketing plan for a company that identifies a target market, market competition, a company message, marketing vehicles, and a budget.