Guidelines for Writing Marketing Assessments

CRKC7002 - Marketing Management Guidelines on Writing the Assessments By Mark Charles and Peter McGregor (with thanks to Roy Damary) June 2020 1

Agenda The purpose of this presentation is to supplement the two Assessment Briefs, and to give some ideas on how to write them We strongly suggest you read this presentation before starting your research 2

ASSESSMENT SUMMARY Choose an organisation, preferably one you know well Demonstrate your knowledge of the Marketing Concepts by Applying them, one by one Define each concept (briefly) at the start of each section Critique existing marketing actions of the chosen organisation. Suggest improvements Do not propose a full plan 3

Choice of Organisation Choose an organisation, preferably one you know well, that is not in a monopolistic market In a monopoly, many of the marketing concepts may not apply and hence we exclude these Please avoid the following companies (for the sake of sanity of the examiners!) Apple Coca-Cola Safaricom Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and Not for Profit (NPO) organisations can be chosen; but ensure that you understand the following: In marketing terms, the Customer is the source of money. They are usually individual donors, philanthropic organisations or governments Therefore Differentiation, Competitive Advantage, Promotion, Segmentation (and possibly Place) relate primarily to donors (not recipients of the aid) The recipients of the aid (product or services) use the Product The Final Assessment can use the same organisation as the Formative Assessment However, do take note of any Examiner s comments in the Formative Assessment 4

TOPICS TO COVER Include as many of the topics taught in this course as possible: Formative Assessment Final Assessment 1000 words (+/- 10%) Marketing Mix (4P s) Differentiation & Competitive Advantage Coping with Commoditisation (& Total Product and Solution offering) Segmentation 3500 words (+/- 10%) Everything in the Formative plus Marketing Mix (7P s, 4C s) Branding Managing (especially the Service Element) Experiential Marketing, Customer Relations and Experience Management Role of Internet in Marketing Pricing and Cost Structure Stakeholders, Sustainability & TBL 5

Organisation of Assessments We recommend the following structure: Title page Table of Contents Introduction Main Text of Paper Conclusion If relevant References (NOT a Bibliography) 6

Title Page Should contain the following: name of university name of degree name and number of course purpose of paper (e.g. formative or final assessment) title of paper (your own title e.g. Analysis of H agen Dazs's Marketing Strategy") student number (note that the identity of the student is not known to the marker) word count (excluding title page, table of contents, references, tables and diagrams) A declaration that this is entirely the student's own work: there is no plagiarism 7

Introduction This sets the scene Contains the following information: The Scope of the Company / Organisation Name What the company makes or does Location Competitors The Scope of the Paper e.g. analyse according to Sustainable Marketing principles 8

Main Body of Paper Analyse the target organisation using the concepts taught in the course Suggested Structure: Concept 1 (e.g. Marketing Mix, Product) Concept 2 (e.g. Marketing Mix, Price) Concept 3 etc. Each section needs to have: Brief definition of the concept (perhaps two sentences + a citation). Analysis of the target organisation. The majority of the paper. Critique & Suggestions for Improvement, as appropriate These must be clearly identified as Ideas for Improvement (or similar) 9

Conclusion Optional, but usually included Brief summary of the key findings in the paper Do not introduce any new material Suggest no more than five sentences 10

References - 1 For a Master s level submission, you must read widely around both: marketing concepts target organisation and its market A mix of types of reference is preferred newspaper, book, journal, internet, company etc. Ensure good quality references Wikipedia, MBASkool etc. not allowed Summarize, in your own words, what someone else has said, and then cite the author, at the end of the sentence or paragraph Do not put anything in the list of references that has not been cited in the text Number of references expected In final assessments, the following has been seen: 4, with none cited in the text. A poor failure Above 30. A very good mark 11

References - 2 Style of Referencing required Harvard System i.e. no foot notes, no numbered lists etc. Recommended source of information: https://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm?harvard_id_remove=24 Example In main body of paper: and sustainable marketing typically deals with not only financial performance, but also effects on both society and on the planet (Martin and Schouten, 2012). In List of References at the end: Martin, D. and Schouten, J., 2012. Sustainable Marketing. London: Pearson Education Hints Avoid using Anon. as an author Avoid using URL s in the text We do NOT want a bibliography 12

Style of Writing - 1 This is an academic paper and the style of writing needs to reflect this. Formal, complete sentences It is not a journalistic piece, nor a presentation Avoid copy/pasting The only direct quotes, if any, should be short, pithy and highly relevant At all times let the words be your own no long quotations Do not use 1st person pronouns (e.g. I, we, my etc) Use instead the passive voice Or use the writer or the author 13

Style of Writing - 2 Do not use contractions such as can t. You will put the marker in a very bad mood if you confuse: it s and its their, there and they re your and you re Developing paragraphs: try to open the paragraph with a theme sentence and then develop the theme Avoid single-sentence paragraphs No pointless filling. Avoid such statements as it is important to note that taking all things into consideration a further very interesting point that has yet to be mentioned is 14

Style of Writing - 3 Sentences Keep sentencing simple, and generally short Do not run distinct main clauses together Make good use of joining words such as: however, therefore, thus, nonetheless, furthermore, moreover If two sentences really go together, you could use a semi- colon NB avoid overuse of semi-colons A small but irritating point: put a space after commas and full stops and not before! Do not put text into tables 15

Layout of the paper -1 Use MS Word (.docx) A4 paper size (not Letter) Portrait layout (for all pages) 12 point font Double line spacing Ensure section headings are on the same page as the first line of the following text Use spell check Proofread the paper several times 16

Layout of the paper 2 Use of MS Word Some important techniques: Force a new page using Ctrl-enter Join a heading to the following text: right click the heading, select Paragraph, select tab titled Lines and Breaks, select Keep With Next Advanced: learn how to make a table of contents in MS Word. Advanced: Consider using the Reference feature (called Citations & Bibliography in MS Word) using the style of Harvard - Anglia 2008 17

SUMMARY If you follow all the above you should be able to submit papers that are good in both content and structure You are permitted to have a friend proofread the English language. NB keep a copy of the original (unedited) version WORK WELL! 18