Developing and Implementing a Marketing Plan

Just need the first 5 questions that are highlighted below answered. Jillian Best catches you in the hallway: “Listen before I send you the case file on our new client I want to make sure you have a thorough understanding of the business-to-business relationships that will be at the core of the marketing plan you will be contributing to. Look for an email from me this afternoon.” Subject: Case Primer for Marketing Plan From: Jillian Best CEO MCSTo: YouAs you have learned through your work with MCS clients marketing is one of the most important functional areas in business. As you get oriented with the realities of business-to-business (B2B) marketing I’d like you to do some more reading on two main elements: (1) business ing behavior and (2) strategic alliances. Business ing behavior relates to how business customers and their suppliers explore different avenues to manage relationships and enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Fostering the right relationship with businesses is crucial for any holistic marketing plan. B2B relationships are affected by supply complexity of supply availability of alternatives and supply-market dynamism. In addition our new client may consider forming strategic alliances to expand its US operations. The twenty-first century has seen an increased use of long-term global strategic alliances among both producers and distribution companies. Organizations form these alliances in an effort to secure commercial advantage and eliminate waste from their distribution channels. They can be crucial to success. Please review the information linked above before going any further. This is a big client and a tremendous opportunity for MCS. Let me know if any questions arise as you get oriented with your team. Best Jillian Now that you have read the introduction to B2B marketing continue to the next step where you will learn about the components of a marketing plan. The teams marketing knowledge and data acquisition skills are crucial to the success of this project. Your team will collect and analyze the information necessary to develop a marketing plan for expanding the company’s operations within the United States. Your final marketing plan will ultimately include a situation analysis analyses of the clients market strategy and financing and an outline describing the measures to implement the plan. Use this marketing plan template to help you create your marketing plan. To carry out this assignment your marketing team needs to understand the clients customers how to acquire market knowledge (through primary and secondary research) and how to turn that knowledge into offerings that are needed and wanted by a group of customers. You must also be able to invent market offerings that not only create value for the customer but also create profitability for the client in a socially responsible and ethical way. As you will recall from the previous projects there are two types of market research: primary and secondary research. Both types of research are necessary when creating a marketing plan.As you conduct research for your marketing plan use the UMUC Library’s  Research Guides specifically (1) Business and Management and (2) Marketing. Consult these two research guides and find articles that will help you complete your assignments. It is easier if you conduct a separate search for each section of your marketing plan. Also use databases such as Hoovers and ABI/INFORM to research the client company and its industry. Now that you understand the components of a marketing plan continue to the next step where your team will learn more details about your client and its industry. Subject: Company Case File & Questions to ConsiderFrom: Jillian Best CEO MCSTo: TeamHi again. I wanted to provide you with the company case file and some pertinent questions for you to consider while you work on your B2B marketing plan. As part of the preparation necessary to complete your business-to-business marketing plan you and your team will need to do in-depth research on your clients company including its operations global reach and range of offerings. By the end of Week 8 I need you to produce a situation analysis report explaining your teams findings on the company. Be sure to include a value proposition essentially the promise that is made to the customer explaining the reason a customer purchases a product or uses a service (i.e. the value that a company delivers to its customers). Start by reading the attached case file and be sure to consider the following questions while you do additional research: When developing your situation analysis you should also understand the importance of vision and mission statements and then research the companys own vision and mission statements. Write a four-page document detailing the main findings of your research about your client including its mission and vision statement. Submit your document to your team’s study group. Thats it for nowJillian Attachments: Company Case File In the next step you will complete your situation analysis by conducting an environmental scan that takes a comprehensive look at the many factors that you need to consider exploit or defend against in your marketing plan. This situation analysis will be incorporated into your B2B marketing plan later in this project along with deliverables from the upcoming steps. Requirements: 1 page | .doc file Where is the company headquartered? What are the companys major products and/or services? What is the companys annual revenue in dollars and what is its annual production in units? Does the company own its own facilities or does it subcontract manufacturing to others? Who are the companys major suppliers of raw materials or parts and where are they located? What is the distribution of the companys workforce by country? How does the company differentiate its offering in its highly competitive markets? Does the company have exclusive marketing or distribution agreements or partnerships? Who are the companys major global and US customers? What benefits does the company offer to its customers? Who are the companys major global and US competitors? ‘