From what you have studied so far you should be well aware that the value of Market Research cannot be overstated in making sure that the product or service a business is hoping to bring to market will be a success. Market Research companies or agencies are often paid huge sums of money by leading global businesses to put together a comprehensive marketing plan to ensure that research into a product or service is so thorough so that if it proves viable, success is almost guaranteed. Some businesses will choose to do this research in-house and depending on the size of the business, budgets will differ drastically as to what can be spent on the whole marketing process.
P4 - Use marketing research for marketing planning.
P6 - Develop a coherent marketing mix for a product or service.
M2 - Explain the limitations of marketing research used to contribute to the development of a selected organisation's marketing plans.
M3 - Develop a coherent marketing mix that is targeted at a defined group of potential customers.
D2 - Make justified recommendations for improving the validity of the marketing research used to contribute to the development of a selected organisation's marketing plans.
Tandy suggests that using publisher to produce the article would be the best option with a 3 column per page format. The article should use the following headings.
Select a popular product or service that you know well and ideally use. Examples are cereal brands, foods such as package meals or snacks, drinks, clothing or footwear and technology such as phone innovations or gaming variations. Services that could be focused on are numerous, including delivery/transport services, home help or cleaning services.
Write a short introduction to explain the existing product or service you have chosen to focus on. You should comment on the company that produces the product/service it and the history of the product/service, for instance how long has it been around and has the product or service changed much since it was initially launched.
P6
From recent analysis such as primary sales data and the strength currently seen in that particular market for all other products or services, the company producing that brand feels that it's life cycle may be in decline and wants to look at introducing a modification or change to the product or service in the hope that this will breathe new life into its sales. A classic example of this being the Kellogg's launch of crunchy nut brands see in the case study above.
By adding to your product introduction (task 1), under the heading task 2, either describe or draft design the modification or change that you have thought of. For example, if it is a modification to a popular brand of jeans then you may wish to take an image and explain the change or draw out the modification.
P6
Prepare a presentation together with a survey/questionnaire that is to be handed out to your presentation audience this being the other members of your chosen company's research and development committee.
The presentation should be used to detail all parts of your marketing plan;
NOTE - to achieve M3 all other parts of the marketing mix mentioned in your presentation need to be consistent with the particular target market your product is aimed at.
The survey/questionnaire should allow the audience opportunity to comment on all elements of your marketing plan;
Use the feedback you have received from your audience to help refine you marketing plan.
Following on from your written work for Task 1 and Task 2, under the heading Task 4, summarise the feedback you have received from the committee members and conclude by describing any changes that you intend to make to your marketing plan.
P4;P6;M3
The market research you have performed in terms of this product or service has not been in any real depth and as a result any such launch based on this would have a strong chance of failure. Explain the limitations of the marketing research that you have used as part of your marketing plan and how the marketing mix developed from this could lead to an unsuccessful launch for your product/ service. M2
Using the links below to other unsuccessful product launches, explore the above further to make justified recommendations as to how the validity of your research could have been improved. D2
Top 25 Product Flops of All Time