In my hypothetical scenario, I am the owner of a small to mid-sized business. I am currently developing a marketing plan for the upcoming year.

The marketing plan will include both the tactical and strategic plan elements. I also need to discuss the implementation and evaluation of the strategic marketing plan.

I need to outline my scenario and details about the firm and/or product line.

I need to discuss which of Michael Porter’s basic strategies I will use to market this product and why.

Consumers have different product needs and use products differently. Segmentation seeks to group different demands and needs into clusters with similar demand patterns.

Using the dimensions of market segmentation, I need to determine which markets I will target with my marketing plan and I need to outline my target market in detail.

I need to outline the stages in the consumer decision making process for my selected product or service. I need to also discuss how consumers evaluate alternatives and what mediums they use in the information search stage.

Research to determine where improvements should be made to my product or service line. Discuss these improvements and the estimated cost in developing and launching these enhancements. This could be a product line extension,

a service improvement, new packaging, Web site enhancements, etc. The purpose of this element of the marketing plan is continuous improvement. I should justify the need of these enhancements based on my research, such as a review of the competition, feedback from customers, or a review of the marketing environment.