ASSIGNED COMPANY:REDFIN-Real Estate Brokerage

This assignment, while similar to a marketing plan, is somewhat different.  Marketing plans tend to be very detailed documents with very specific objectives and are usually replete with primary and secondary research or plans to collect data from research.  This assignment is an evaluation of the firm based primarily on strategic marketing fundamentals.

Since you are not a worker for your assigned company, it is impossible to know what their exact marketing strategy may be.  (Unless you call and ask.)  But, since they are publicly traded, by law they have to have lots of information available for investors.  Find as much information as you can about the companies.  Places to look include their websites (both customer facing websites and the investor relations web pages).  Independent analysis and research done by investment firms, the media, and general market analysis. For most of your companies, there are large amounts of information that you can find on the internet.

After you have thoroughly researched the company, their markets, their competitors, etc., you can begin to create a description of the firms marketing strategy.  Really, you can include anything that you might find in a marketing plan, but some more specific things that you may want to include are:

1. Situation Analysis (about 2 pages)

-Product/Service Description

-Market Analysis

-Competitive Analysis/SWOT

2. Marketing Plan (about 4 pages)

-Target market(s)

-Positioning Strategy

-Perceptual Mapping

-Brand Name and Logo

-Slogan

-A description of Marketing Strategies

-Multi-Channel Integration Strategy

-E-Commerce (Web Site, blogs, social networks, etc.)

-Direct

-Retail

-Advertising/PR Strategy

-Pricing Strategy

3. Final Evaluation  (about 1 page)

Make a determination on whether or not this firm (based on its marketing strategies, its current or future product(s) and the competition) has or is likely to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

Further, look for particular characteristics of the market.  For Instance, many of the firms that I have chosen to assign I believe will benefit from long-term secular trends in the marketplace.  Secular trends means that the market type in which the firm operates looks favorable for the next five years or more and that the firm would not be affected by a market downturn.