Marketing Internships

Term Paper

Outline of Marketing Audit

Your assignment is to conduct a marketing audit of the organization in which you are doing your internship. This assignment is designed to apply to a broad spectrum of firms and non-profit organizations. With that in mind, below is a basic outline to follow in doing your analysis.

Your audit should be based on a combination of:

• Library research on your organization and the environment in which it's operating. This can be done either in the library or by accessing library databases through the Internet. This does not mean relying on company Web sites.
• Interviews with marketing managers
• Materials provided by your company, and
• Your own observations.

Keep in mind that your ideas count! If you disagree with what you are told by a marketing manager, be sure to say so.

Your market analysis MUST include each of the five sections presented in the outline. If you wish to make modifications in order to suit your own internship situation, you should discuss these with Ms. Harms beforehand.

Your paper should be at least 25 pages (double-spaced), but no more than 30 pages, including exhibits and a reference list. This may seem long to you at first; however, if you have done your research thoroughly, you will find that you have more than enough information to fill at least 25 pages.

I. Introduction (5%): Provide background information on your firm. This should include industry, type of ownership, location and mission statement.

II. Analysis of Organizational Structure (10%):

A. Present an organization chart. Show the structure of your firm, including positions of responsibility and lines of authority. Show how marketing positions fit into the overall structure of the firm.

B. Describe the responsibilities of persons in marketing positions. This information should come primarily from interviews with managers. Keep in mind that even if your firm or location has no marketing department, someone must perform marketing functions.

In writing the next two sections, you should plan on doing some library research. If you are off-campus, the public library will have newspapers, business periodicals, and government documents that should be helpful. Also, library databases are easily accessible through the internet.

III. Analysis of Marketing Strategy (20%):

A. Segmentation strategy. Describe the target customer. If the target customer is other businesses, present information on geographic location, type of industry, company size, and product end-use. If the target customer is the consumer, present information on socioeconomic, demographic, and psychographic characteristics. Keep in mind that your company may have more than one group of target customers.

Examples:

The National Academy Press is a leading publisher or scientific and technical books. It has two target customers. In the business-to-business market, it sells books to upscale book chains, such as Borders and Barnes & Noble. It also sells directly to upper-middle-class consumers through its catalog.

Grey Advertising is a leading full-service integrated marketing communication agency in New York. Its major accounts are large firms in the consumer products industries, such as Dannon, Konami Video Systems, and Hebrew National.

DeBeers Group, the purveyor of diamonds, aims to sell its smaller diamonds to women 30 to 54 years old, with household incomes of $100,000+.

B. Analyze the marketing mix. Include the elements of the marketing mix, as specified below. Refer back to your marketing textbook for help with this! Include detailed information with specific examples.

Listed below are examples of the type of questions you should be answering in your analysis. You can add, subtract, or modify information in this section to reflect the marketing mix of your organization. If you have questions, please contact Mary Harms.

1. Product Strategy:

a. Category or categories offered

b. Product Mix (width, depth, consistency)

c. Branding policy: Give the name(s) of brand(s) in the product mix. Does your company use individual or family branding? Show the trademark(s) of your company's brand(s).

d. Brand (or corporate) image.

e. Evidence of product innovation

2. Pricing Strategy:

a. Position in market (e.g., discount, moderate, upscale)

b. Type of pricing (e.g., cost-based, demand-based, competitor-based)

Note that if you are in a business-to-business operation, pricing may be determined by negotiation. If this is the case, discuss the process.

3. Communication Strategy:

a. Advertising: Is message institutional, price or product-oriented? What advertising messages are currently being used? What media are used? Give examples! (e.g., print, broadcast)

b. Direct marketing (e.g., direct mail, telemarketing, Internet)

c. Personal Selling: Describe your company's approach to personal selling. How do sales representatives communicate with the customer? In person, by telephone, or electronically? What efforts do the sales representatives make to develop a "relationship" with their customers?

d. Sales Promotion: Describe your company's sales promotion program. Examples of tactics include, but are not limited to: consumer promotion (coupons, premiums, contests, samples, point-of-purchase display); trade promotion (trade allowances, push money, training, participation in trade shows)

e. Customer service. What efforts does your company make to support its products after-sale?

4. Distribution:

Describe the channel through which your company's products are marketed. Provide a diagram (or diagrams) showing the location of your organization in the channel.

IV. Analysis of the environment in which your firm is operating (25%): Library research is essential in this section! The UMD library has a wealth of databases that you can access either through VBIC or directly through the University's Web site.

A. Customer trends. Identify and discuss trends that may influence the behavior of your firm's target customer (e.g., demographics, lifestyle, confidence levels, satisfaction). Be sure to give as many facts (including statistics, if relevant) as possible. Be sure to cite your references.

B. Industry trends

C. Competitive situation.

Evaluate the level of competition in the industry in which you are working. 

Identify at least two other organizations selling similar goods or services. Compare the marketing mix of those firms to the marketing mix of your firm on at least two dimensions. What element or elements of the marketing mix does your firm use to gain a competitive advantage?

D. Trends in technology. Identify and discuss changes in technology that may affect the marketing strategy of your firm

E. Legal and regulatory trends.

V. SWOT Analysis and Recommendations for strategy (35%):

Consider your analyses of environmental trends vis-à-vis the marketing mix of your company. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your firm compared to its competition? What threats do you see? What opportunities are there?3 What changes in marketing strategies would you propose for the next five years?

Format:

This paper should be at least 25 pages long (single-spaced), including exhibits and a reference list. Please use headings and subheadings to help you organize your work and improve readability. Use a 12-point font, left-justification, and 1-inch margins top, bottom, and sides. Also, be sure to include page numbers.

The citations in your paper should be specific enough so that I can locate the information easily if I need to. If, for example, you cite information from a Website, the complete URL should be included in the reference list. If you cite information from either a book or a magazine or newspaper article, a specific page should be cited.

In writing your paper, keep in mind that not all sections are equally important. In grading, the weight of the sections will vary from 5% (Introduction) to 30% (Analysis of Environment and Analysis of Marketing Strategy). Factors influencing your grade will include content (completeness and accuracy), organization, and quality and clarity of presentation. Please make your presentation as professional-looking as possible. Please note that if your paper is not carefully edited, your grade will be adversely affected. This means that your grammar, punctuation, and spelling should be of professional quality.

Helpful Hints - Try to avoid the following common grammatical errors:

Using "it's" as the possessive. "It's" means "it is". The possessive is "its."

Using singular nouns with plural pronouns. When you refer to "the firm", the correct pronoun is "its", not "their". Similarly, when you refer to "the consumer" the correct pronoun is "he" or "she".

Not underlining or italicizing the name of a periodical in either the text or the reference list (e.g., The Wall Street Journal or The Wall Street Journal).

NOTE: Failure to use good grammar will have a negative effect on your grade!

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism, which involves using someone else's ideas or words as your own, is unacceptable and will be prosecuted in accordance with University policy. Keep in mind that if you quote someone, the words MUST be placed in quotation marks. It is NEVER appropriate to copy material from annual reports, magazines, books, newspapers, or any other printed material (including websites) without placing the information in quotes.

Consistent with University Policy, please include on the cover sheet of your paper the following statement of academic integrity:

"I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment." ___________________ (your signature)

VI. Overall Presentation (5%):

A. Professional in appearance
B. Spelling
C. Grammar
D. Use of marketing terms

[1] A minimum of twleve reference sources will be expected

[2] Failure to use the library databases sufficiently in your analysis will detract from your grade.

[3] Strengths and weaknesses should be selectively derived from Section III. Opportunities and threats should be selectively derived from Section IV. Recommendations for strategy should be based on your SWOT analysis.