- Marketing Plan Task for Mercedes- Benz Oman
According to Clive Hammond, CEO of Zawawi Trading Company Automotive, Mercedes-Benz Oman
has a “continuing commitment to delivering the Best Customer Experience” (12 th June, 2016).
Based on the aforementioned, you have been approached by Clive Hammond, in your capacity as a
Marketing Consultant, to develop a marketing plan for Mercedes-Benz Oman, with the objective of
enhancing customer experience and satisfaction for the next two years.
Your Marketing Plan must include the following:
Executive Summary
Current market and company situational analysis, including the competition, consumer behaviour,
SWOT and/or PEST analyses.
Market Segmentation- this should emanate from your market situational analysis. You must identify
current and possibly new market segments for Mercedes-Benz Oman. I would suggest that you focus only
on the motor car segments.
Marketing Plan Objectives – must be specific and realistic.
Marketing mix strategy recommendations- these should stem from the market and company situational
analysis. Your recommendations must be relevant to the segments identified in your market situational
analysis.
Evaluation and Control – how would the plan be monitored? What tools would you employ?
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Budget- provide a costing for each of your marketing mix strategy. I do not expect you to come up with
specific figures, but your costing should be based on research.
Specific Guidance on the Marketing Plan Report
1. Objectives – objectives need to be SMART but it is unnecessary to explain in detailed how smart
they are.
2. The balance between market analysis and the actual planning/actions– ensure that your
submissions are balanced with regards to analysis and planning. For example, do not use a lot of
space summarising the analysis, at the expense of setting objectives and planning objective-
specific marketing strategies and tactics.
3. Vagueness – planning needs to be very specific; stating that you will use ‘social media’ for
promotion because it is the ‘most efficient tool’ is not enough. You need to explain the social
media tool (s) – what they are, why you are using them and how you would use them.
4. Academic content – you are expected to apply models, and not just describe or define them.
For example, your SWOT or PEST analyses should not read like textbooks in which you explain
what SWOT or PEST are – this is essentially incorrect. You need to apply them and not describe
them.
5. Executive summary – an executive summary should be written in a way that allows the
executive who reads it to know what the problem is and how it is to be solved. Essentially, it is a
summary of your problem statement, objectives and how to achieve them (i.e. how to solve the
problem).
6. Secondary data use – Analysis should be supported with secondary data (from the literature).
You should demonstrate wider reading and acknowledge the sources of your information, both in
the main body and in your bibliography. Avoid making very bold but not substantiated statements,
such as ‘the only Car Company in Oman’ or ‘massive campaign’ or ‘massive customer segment’.
Give numbers if you think the segment is large and compare it to other segments to give an idea
of the size of it. Worth noting that your product offerings must relate to your chosen segments.
7. Presentation and structure – to achieve an excellent grade, your presentation needs to be
immaculate – this includes numbering tables, referencing correctly etc. Do not present a lot of
data and information in tables as appendices. Data or statistics that refer directly to your
discussion in the main body, should be presented in the main body. Tables and figures – tables
and figures need to be numbered and each should have a title that is self-explanatory. Your
analytical content must be high, demonstrating critical thinking and the ability to apply relevant
marketing concepts (refer to the marking criteria).
8. Word limit – 2,000 words. This will exclude your references in the bibliography , the
appendices, and the cover page. Please, note that your cover page must have your Full
Name and ID Number.
