Marketing communications strategies and tactics

Select an organisation or a brand, analyse its situation and current Marketing
Communications and Suggest a New Marketing Communication Strategy and Tactics.

Report structure:
1. Executive summary: A summary of the key issues raised in the report. The Summary should
commence with a general description of the current communications organised by the firm. It
should also include the NEW key communication aim and subordinate communication
objectives. It is a summary of the key propositions for the campaign, as well as a summary of
how plans will be implemented. It should be presented in a separate page on its own and
should not be longer than 1 page long.
A table of contents should follow the executive summary.
2. Situation analysis (presented in the text but approached as APPENDIX material – since it is
used as a basis for communication decisions): An examination of the current position and its
offer. This analysis of background information is the research that provides the basis for the
objectives, strategy and tactics. It refers to the analysis of the current communications of the
selected firm. It could include areas such as:
? Company’s analysis (i.e. brand and product analysis, current marketing communications,
particular strengths of the company)
? Customers’ analysis (i.e. target markets, target audiences and a good description of
them)
? Competitors analysis (i.e. identification and analysis of the competitors relevant to
marketing communication decisions)
You should focus on situational issues that are related to the communication strategy.
Information in this section may derive from primary or secondary sources.
Useful tips for the section:
? You are expected to demonstrate a good understanding and analysis of the situation.
? Organise the market information and APPLY the theoretical concepts in a manner that you
will provide input to the communication strategy.
? Use relevant models and frameworks to organise the information in diagrams and tables,
where possible. This material will be produced for this assignment and will be based on the
collected information.
3. Objectives: The objective are goals or aims or end results that communicators should seek to
achieve. Marketing communications objectives typically refer to the desired affecting of the
mindset and the behaviour of the target audience. They should be Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic, Relevant, Targeted, and Timed.
Objectives are typically should be presented in a hierarchy:
? Marketing Objectives
? Integrated communication objectives.
? Objectives of the various tactics. Think of the contribution of the various integrated
marketing communications tactics in the achievement of the overall objectives. You might want to also present clearly subsets of Advertising objectives or Other Communications
Mix Elements’ objectives, but this is not necessary. What is expected is to present how
the objectives of each tool relate to the overall communication objectives.
Link the objectives with the suggested communicational tools in point 4.
4. Marketing Communications Strategy and Action Plan: The tactics selected explain the
framework that should be used to achieve the objectives. A detailed presentation of what
EXACTLY will be used and the specific choices to the level of execution for each one of the
suggested marketing communication tools is expected to be presented here. All choices should
be justified based on the theory and the information presented in the situation analysis.
The structure of this section per each component of the mix can be broken down to something
like this:
4.1 Advertising tactics
4.2 Sales promotion tactics
4.3 PR tactics
4.4 xxx
You do not necessarily have to use all the elements of the marketing communications mix.
Your suggestions should very much depend on justification provided on the basis of the chosen
product, the objectives of the campaign (point 3) and the situation (point 2).
When the suggested communication tactics are presented, all the details on the execution and
the creativity, the specific activities and events that are going to be undertaken to address the
objectives, so the action plan should be slotted. Some areas that you should think about
include:
? Support of the creativity choices
? Media choices
? The development and continuous monitoring of the campaign
? Campaign flow (what are the functions to be performed)
? Resource management (do we need internal or external resource?)
? Briefing (what do we need from our internal/ external suppliers?)
You are expected to include a detailed Schedule of the marketing communications plan. Here a
comprehensive calendar describing when each one the activities for each component of the
communication mix should take place.
The final suggestions should be in a form that is readily executable by the company.
Make sure that you are thinking of the situation the company faces and the marketing
communications objectives (that you have presented earlier in your assignment) as you are
developing your suggestions.
5. Campaign evaluation. The campaigns need to be evaluated in terms of their efficiency – how
productive is the campaigns in terms of achieving what is supposed to be achieving (point 2).
6. Budget. In this section a break down of all costs need to be presented. This should be linked
with the method used to determine the promotional budget. Detail the cost associated with
specific activities.
7. References. Both on theory and on market data (i.e. media costs, trends in consumer
behaviour, academic references that support your encoding choices etc). You are expected to
have read academic articles that will support the choices you are making and not just
textbooks.
8. Appendices: This section should be used to present details or examples of all the issues
raised in the rest of the campaign plan.
Important information:
This is an INDIVIDUAL report. The report should produce a marketing communication plan that it is
ready for implementation from the company and NOT broad suggestions and that are not ready to be implemented.
You are advised to choose a SMALL TASK (both company and objectives), rather than a big
company and all its potential communication objectives and activities in the year. This will facilitate
your effort to produce a plan that is readily executable. Examples of good ideas could be a small
independent restaurant, a personal trainer, a small independent animal breeder (i.e. dogs, cats,
horses), a childminder, a small independent jewellery designer an independent hairdresser, and
independent beauty salon or any REALLY SMALL brand). If you decide to go for a slightly bigger
brand, then select something really specific (i.e. the introduction of a new product, a specific
seasonal campaign such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day or something else that is very specific
and of a small scale). Avoid big international brands, since it is unlikely that you will manage to
develop the totally executable suggestions required in this work.
Reference should be made to relevant theories, concepts or frameworks as well as to current
Marketing Communications practices and examples, but only in the way that they are applied and
not as theories themselves. Presenting theories will not add to the mark.
The reports should be clearly divided to the pre-mentioned sections. The emphasis should be on
the marketing communications plan, rather than the situation analysis. Details on the choices made
on the communication approach is expected.
Students should use relevant diagrams, models and figures throughout the report.
All references should be cited and a bibliography detailing the source be positioned at the end of
the report.
The length of the reports should be around 3,000 words (excluding executive summary, table of
contents, situation analysis, appendices, tables and references). Only the marketing
communication objectives and action plan counts in the word limit, not the situation
analysis. However, you are expected to provide all the necessary background information that
made you make these communication choices and link the situation analysis with your
suggestions.
Please make sure that you follow the required procedures for the assignment submission. More
information on how you can access this facility will be send to you from the administrative staff. If
your submission is delayed, it will be penalised according to the information in your handbook.