708 Strategic Marketing
Final Assignment
Title of the Final Assignment
Lecturer: Prof. Victor Alves
Student ID:
252 L7SM
Student Name:
Liza Haj Hassan
Student ID:
132 L7SM
Student Name:
Amr Ragab Hassan
Submission Date:
10-06-2020
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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Acknowledgment
I certify that this assignment is my own work, based on my personal study and/or research, and
that I have acknowledged all material and sources used in the preparation of this assignment
whether they be books, articles, reports, lecture notes, any other kind of document, electronic
or personal communication.
I also certify that the assignment has not previously been submitted for assessment in any other
course or at any other time in this Course, unless by negotiation, and that I have not copied in
part or whole or otherwise plagiarised the work of other students and/or persons. I have read
the policy on plagiarism and understand its implications.
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to build a strategic marketing plan for Quality Icon Consultancy
Company which will provide consultation for hospitals and prepare them for accreditation
Based on the analysis of the market trends which will be studied using many types of analysis
such as quantitative analysis that would consider the target market, demographic, consumer
behaviour, customer persona, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and competitive analysis would
be done as well To make the VALUE PROPOSITION of our service which considered
the most important item in our marketing strategy. Objectives and Goals of Marketing Plan
were develop then Sales forecast, budgeting, break even and monthly sales estimates would
be conducted. Placing KPIs and benchmarks on the marketing plans to figure out how to
measure them successful.
The recommendations can be: This report offers a simple and detailed understanding of the
marketing strategy built for consulting companies, as they can achieve high market share and
excellent market place according to the mission and strategic marketing plan undertaken.
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgment ........................................................................................................... 2

Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... 3

Introduction .................................................................................................................... 5

CHAPTER 1: MARKET SUMMERY RESEARCH .................................................... 6
1.1 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 6
1.2 QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS .................................................................................. 9
1.3 SWOT ANALYSIS ................................................................................................ 10
1.4 COMPETITION ..................................................................................................... 11
1.5 VALUE PROPOSITION ....................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER 2: MARKETING STRATEGY ................................................................ 12
2.1 MISSION, VISION, AND VALUES .................................................................... 12
2.2 OBJECTIVES BASED ON MARKETING PLAN ............................................... 12
2.3 SALES FORECAST .............................................................................................. 13

CHAPTER 3: FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES ................................................................ 14
3.1 BRAND POSITIONING ....................................................................................... 14
3.2 MARKETING MIX ............................................................................................... 15
3.3 MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGY ............................................ 166

CHAPTER 4: FINANCIAL ASPECTS..................................................................... 199
4.1 BREAK-EVEN POINT ......................................................................................... 19
4.2 MONTHLY SALES & MARKETING BUDGET ................................................ 20
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CHAPTER 5: CONTROLS ......................................................................................... 23
5.1 SUCCESS MEASUREMENTS TO EVALUATE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE
PLAN ........................................................................................................................... 23

Conclusion & Recommendations ................................................................................ 26

References .................................................................................................................... 27

List of Figures & Tables .............................................................................................. 29

Appendix ...................................................................................................................... 30
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Introduction
Background
Quality Icon Company is Healthcare quality consulting company providing consultation for
healthcare institutions and preparing them for accreditation, established 2019 in Saudi Arabia
and covering the gulf region countries
They company will conduct Accreditation education, training and mock surveys by expert team
from different specialities with deferent background who had long experience in health care
organization’s accreditations
The goal of this marketing plan is provide market analysis for this company and find out the
opportunities and obstacles and how to develop the market strategy with clear objectives
utilizing the marketing tools in order to find out the marketing mix and the communication
strategy, with proper financial study and analysis for breakeven point and marketing budget
and develop the right measurements to evaluate the plan objectives and make sure that
financials are realistic and based on right figures
The purpose of this plan is to serve more customers in the Saudi Arabia and gulf region to
achieve its vision by building the trust with them and acquire their loyalty.
By completion this marketing plans and strategies for our healthcare consulting services firm,
you will be able side from your qualifications and experience, it is important to clearly state in
practical terms what you have been able to achieve in time past as it relates to the healthcare
consulting services industry and the organizations you have worked for. This will help boost
your chances in the market place when sourcing for clients.
(Starting a Healthcare Consulting Firm | ProfitableVenture, 2020)
Aims & Objectives
The main objectives of this marketing plan is to help our company in achieving its strategic
objectives, below are the main objectives:
 To gain full access to GCC market based on the target market analysis and competitive
analysis
 To develop the company branding and have reputable name in the market based on the
conducted qualitative analysis
 To overcome all the challenges and get benefit from the opportunity based on the
conducted SWOT analysis.
 To increase the customer loyalty by improving the value delivered.
Scope:
This plan is covering the marketing strategy which will include
 Market research based on quantitave, qualitative analysis, SWOT analysis, competition,
value propsition
 Marketing strategy which include the mission, vission, objectives and sales forcast with
cost estimation
 Financial objectives related to brand positioning, understanding the marketing mix and
marketing communication strategy
 Financial aspects like break even point and monthly sales and marketing strategy.
 Control’s maeasurments to evaluate the plan’s objectives and its sucucces
(Software, 2020)
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1. CHAPTER 1: MARKET RESEARCH
Market research is essential part of any new business in order to develop the appropriate
marketing strategy plan. (Marketing without market research is like driving with your eyes
closed) as Dan Zarrella said. So in order to make sure that this marketing plan will be
beneficial, the following steps and actions need to be done
(Qualitative and quantitative market research: differences and use cases, 2020)
1.1. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
It is important to carry out quantitative research before starting any new business, or
introducing new product.
Quantitative analysis studies are used to quantify, count, estimate and classify marketing
needs, through structured interviewing of target markets audiences, then the
received feedback will be evaluated to make well-thought-out decisions in order to enhance
the services, understand a business' actions and results, set future priorities and targets of our
objectives, lastly
Assists in estimation of financial instruments that will help the managers in making
their informed decisions, which eventually will increase the degree of customers’ satisfaction.
(Quantitative Market Research: The Complete Guide | QuestionPro, 2020)
There are several different types of data collection in quantitative market research such
Surveys, Interviews, using Email, Face-to-face, Telephone or Online / web (What is
performance management? A super simple explanation for everyone, 2020)
Target market
Target market by definition are the customers to whom we are potentially selling our
services, for our company, our target market is all healthcare organizations who are
seeking national or international accreditation.
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In order to catch our target market, we need to do the following as part of our market
research, and answer the five W’s:
Who: our customers are healthcare institutions in gulf region who are preparation to
get their national or and international accreditations
What: we are going to provide our customer with different types of services, from
assessment, gap analysis and preparation for accreditation and education.
When: we provide the service anytime in the year based on customer needs and our
marketing material will be availed in social media.
Where: our customers are located in all the gulf region countries
Why: we are team consisted of the pioneer people in the field with longer and wider
experiences more than our competitors.
It is a three-step process.
The first step is to describe and profile distinct customer groups -- market segments -- that
may respond to different product or service offerings or to a unique communication
message and media mix. The second step is to select one or more of these market segments
for targeting. Finally, you want to develop positioning strategies that communicate unique
product or service benefits, which are relevant to those individual target audiences. Steps
two and three in the process clearly pivot on accurate descriptions of your target market
segments. This requires a thorough analysis of the two principal target market components:
demographic and psychographic segmentation (Kappel, 2020)
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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A.
Geographic location: as our customers will be located in the gulf region, and having
the easy access of Saudi Arabia national consultants and easy to get visa for foreigner
consultants, which will make it easy to provide the consultations visits and surveys,
without forgetting the use of the online education during the preparation for
accreditation, Using the data of potential interested customer will help us to predict
the number of required consultants and their future assignment based on the location
B.
Demographics: Our customers are all health care organization , hospitals, primary
care, home care, extended care…., the location and the size of the healthcare
organization will be beneficial for the marketing campaign
Consumer behavior: The unique about accreditation consultation is increasing the
needs to be accredited organizations as being mandated by governmental authorities,
In order to reach to good data base for our customer we conducted survey to find out
the need for consultation for new accreditation or maintaining the current one.
The collected data from the survey will be revised in order to develop our Customer
persona which will help us to understand their locations, needs and the pricing we will
provide, So gradually we will prepare our marketing plan based on the consumer
behavior, demographic data and persona, with emphasis on the needs.
The needs are categorized into a hierarchy, in which certain needs must be met before
others (Maslow, 1943), Initial practice will be focused on addressing the necessities to
fulfil the least need, and afterward will advance to higher needs are fulfilled
 Physiological needs: what our consultant know, basic working environment and
available skills in the company.
 Safety needs: the company’s consultants need to know that we have long-term
plans and they are fully engaged
 Social needs: to grow the consulting company need a strong culture and vision, so
having meet-ups, after works, skills groups, lunch dates between consultants. This
makes the sense of community stronger.
 Esteem needs: Feedback-culture to let the staff feel appreciated and get
compliments, which will create a positive momentum, which make the company
unique to the industry.
 Self-actualization: the highest level on the Maslow hierarchy, be creative, Do
new things together, encourage your employees to share their expertise, and create
clear career paths. (Where is your consulting firm on Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs?, 2020)
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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(Academy, 2020)
Competitive analysis (or competitive research) is a field of strategic research that
specializes in the collection and review of information about competing firms. It's an
essential tactic for finding out what your competitors are doing and what kind of
threat they present to your company's success.
As Competitive analysis is crucial for our marketing plan the following questions
need to be answered:
 Who are our competitors? To find out our competitors we ask our marketing
manager to do search and find our competitors in the market and he uses
the SEMrush software, were we find 19 companies who are working on similar scope
and he is looking for as well as what differentiates them from us.
(Arxiv.org,2020 )

What are their strength and weaknesses? After identifying our competitors and
analyze and compare competitor content help us in determine what opportunities you
have to help beat our competitors and determine the quality, and see how it compares
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to us, most of the competitors we compare with have more than one marketing article
per week while we are doing one article every 2 weeks, so we need to find out where
to focus? Blogs, Case studies…, newsletters, YouTube channels, or podcasts.
While our strength is having more experienced consultant from different backgrounds
and nationalities, which an area where we need to market
Most of our competitors are focusing on one accreditation body, where we have
advantage by having the experts in different experienced consultants.
(How to do a competitive analysis in 5 easy steps, 2020)
1.2. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
Qualitative analysis studies seek to define, Investigate and understand the complexity of the
market to find business opportunities and make decisions.
Qualitative market research provides reasoning for consumer actions, opinions, wants and
needs; it helps the marketer to understand why a consumer has acted and purchased in a
certain way.
This type of market research differs from quantitative market research as it does not follow a
predetermined set of questions. Instead the research sets out topic, or discussion guides, to
ensure that the research aims are still met and the appropriate questions are asked to the
participant. During the research, the researcher is able to explore the discussion guide in great
detail allowing for long discussions to develop; revealing a vast amount of information.
Further to this, qualitative market research can be difficult for researchers to obtain all
information discussed during the interview. As a result of this, qualitative market research is
usually recorded to ensure all information is collected for analysis.
Qualitative market research, as with quantitative market research, has several different
methods; Focus groups to ‘One on one’ depth interview
It is important to carry out qualitative market research as it highlights target market opinion
on the business idea, product or service. By understanding these views it can allow a manager
to alter and adapt their idea to ensure consumer satisfaction and competitiveness within the
market; the product or service is needs the customer needs and wants which will allow them
to be competitive.
(business2community, 2020)
A.
Market trends in healthcare accreditation need to be analyzed to evaluate the
changes in the market and using new market trends in order to see how the
market of our business is growing and where we are expecting to go, such as
 Digital Marketing on social media platforms.
 Video Content – on surveys and tracer
Perceived service quality refers to the customer’s assessment of the superiority or inferiority
of the services provided by the organization (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988). Service
quality is the heart and soul of any service organization. It is a contributing factor to the
success and survival of our company (McCain, Jang, & Hu, 2005). In the healthcare industry,
receiving good quality care is a right of all patients and providing good quality healthcare is
an ethical obligation of all healthcare providers (Zineldin, 2006).
So preparing the healthcare organizations for accreditation, It is too important to improve
their service quality
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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B. Perceptions towards brands
 Brand perception is owned by customers. It is how they view your business.
 the first are the concepts and images that leap to mind when someone thinks of our
service. Another is the words people use when asked to describe our company service.
Still, another is the emotions people feel when they interact with your brand.
C. Measure and control Brand perception
So we need to ask straightforward questions that get to the heart of a person’s emotions
about your brand. For example:


What two or three words come to mind when you think of our brand?
What emotions do you feel when you interact with our brand?
Another way of finding out how well you do in terms of brand perception is to directly ask
what brand the customer prefers within your niche industry. You can leave this one openended or supply a list and ask them to pick a favourite.
(Why Your Personal Core Values Matter, 2020)
D.
Company image, it is crucial for any consulting company to have a strong an
trusty image, to sustain this image in the market we are going to conduct:
 Success stories presentations
 Accreditation award celebration events
 Posting Testimonial statements from the healthcare institutions in the social media
1.3. SWOT ANALYSIS
Conducting SWOT analysis is essential and beneficial to develop the company strategy so we
can prepare our marketing plan,
Internally the strength is reflecting our positives and success factors that we can utilize and
increase it, while weakness is reflecting the areas we can work to improve it.
Externally the opportunities can be utilized to promote our services, while the threats we need
to be prepared to overcome it with good solutions
based on our assessment which we need to repeat it at least annually or more often when
there are new risks or regulations rised, we have the following:
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Strengths:
- Availability of expert Surveyors in different accreditations (CBAHI, JCIA,
ACHSI, ISO, AABB, CAP….)
- Availability of local specialized consultants for Education
- Cost packages are affordable comparing with international consulting bodies
- Availability of on site and online educational courses.
Weakness
- Availability of automated system for scoring
- Availability of good marketing plan
Opportunities
- Accreditation become mandated for Healthcare organizations licenses
- Lack of available expert in the Gulf region
Threats :
- Economy status due to Covid-19 pandemic status
- Travel ban due to Covid-19
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1.4. COMPETITION
The competition for management of consulting companies is a challenge in the marketplace,
below few challenges:
A.
B.
Need for new skills: one of the top concerns as identified by 44% of companies
which is due to new technologies and techniques , where the company need to
keeping up by upskilling their consultants/ workforce; and or hiring new talent who
has those skills.
Increased competition: from new firms or larger competitors, which lead to think
about future merging.
(What is performance management? A super simple explanation for everyone, 2020)
1.5. VALUE PROPOSITION
It's considered the most important item in our marketing strategy,
A value proposition is about why the customer are going to contract us rather than
Our competitors and makes clear the benefits and advantages of our services.
A. Expert Knowledge
Consultants can provide management with the expertise needed to address specific business
problems. For example, a company that needs specific or subspecialty accreditation such as
blood bank accreditation need an expert were we have access to such experts.
Expert knowledge is very valuable and can form a vital part of a consulting company’s value
proposition and can be something worth fighting over.
B. Individual consultation:
The consultants can provide Individual consultation as they are not employed staff
C.
Cost Effective: availability of different consultant with different backgrounds from
different locations will help in saving the cost for both the consulting company
and the health care organization.
(The Consulting Value Proposition – Tom Spencer, 2020)
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2. CHAPTER 2: MARKETING STRATEGY
2.1. MISSION, VISION, AND VALUES
Our mission: We provide Accreditation consulting services for Healthcare provider's
organizations by our expert professional consultants to our clients across the gulf region
Our vision: to be the best known provider of accreditation consulting services gulf countries
by 2022
Our values:

Professional integrity: deliver outstanding work that meets company ethical standards
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Communication and team work: Emphasis on teamwork and open communication;
Excellence and continues improvement: Strive for excellent performance and always
raise the bar;
2.2. OBJECTIVES BASED ON MARKETING PLAN
Based on the company strategic plan and the market analysis, after conducting quantitative,
qualitative and SOWT analysis and looking to the market competition and the value
proposition, we developed our plan objective and goals
A.
Strategic Marketing Plan
Marketing strategy as a functional strategy represents procedure/way how the
company wants to achieve the marketing and company goals. It includes
specific strategies for market segment and target markets to which the company
wants to focus with regards to its features. The part of marketing strategy is the
product- market mixture, competition strategy and separate tools of marketing
mixture (Lesáková et al., 2014). Among the competition strategies, we mostly
meet the strategy of diversifications in the consulting companies.
Marketing as a Part of Strategic Management of Consulting Companies
Hanuláková, Eva & Bečková, Ina. (2016).
B.
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Objectives and Goals of Marketing Plan were developed:
Generate 10 Leads Per Year on new established lines of business
Complete 5 deals per each consultation business categories yearly.
Generate 5 new potential predictions to the Sales database every month.
Close a minimum of 10 new accounts for the year
Maintain a minimum of 20% profit Margin per deal.
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2.3. SALES FORECAST
Sales forecast is based on the assumption that most of the revenue will be the result of
consulting bids. The growth in retainer revenue is about 30% lower than the expected yearly
growth in consulting bids of 80%/year. This may seem like an aggressive number at first
glance, but this is not a large company being discussed in this business plan. The smaller the
company, often the larger the opportunity for exponential sales growth, and especially if the
firm uses sound sales and marketing strategies to take share from the larger, less nimble
consultancies.
The Needs Analysis service is listed only to highlight the fact that some outside information
gathering firms/consultants will be used to compile the necessary information. This poses
some risk because there are no costs associated with the Needs Analysis efforts.
Nevertheless, GMS is confident that this product will set the company apart from the
competition, and generate sales far in excess of the costs incurred.
Expected Revenue
The quarterly expected revenue from new contracts (average cost/ contract is 220,000 SAR)
Quarter 2020
Qtr. 1
Qtr. 2
Qtr. 3
Qtr. 4
Contracts per
staff per Qtr.
8
7
5
4
No. of marketing
Quarterly expected
staff
revenue
2
16 * 220,000 = 3,520,000
2
14 * 220,000 = 3,080,000
2
10 * 220,000 = 2,200,000
2
8 * 220,000 = 1,760,000
Total per year
10,560,000
Average per month
880,000
Table 1…: Revenue Forecast
The monthly expected cost for the consulting company
Quantity Average cost
Expenses
20
10,000
Salaries (staff & consultants)
1
2,000
Domain
1
20,000
Office expenses including rent
1
30,000
Digital Marketing
Total Cost per Month
Table 2…: Expense Forecast
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
Total cost
200,000
2,000
20,000
30,000
252.000
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3. CHAPTER 3: FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES
3.1. BRAND POSITIONING
A.
Brand positioning strategies
The following strategies will be implemented to maintain Brand positioning:
Establish an emotional connection with prospects and customers —

Reinforce your brand’s differentiating qualities — with a strong brand position, the
differentiating properties of your company’s offering should be easy to understand and refer
to.

Create value —main goal should be to help prospect solve a problem or overcome a
challenge they are experiencing. Ideally, the company offering is part of the solution
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3.2. MARKETING MIX
Marketing mix of our consulting companies Marketing planning allows making system of the
marketing which has its characteristics.
The characteristics of the marketing mixture and the position of consulting company created
by seven “Ps” [Product, Price, Place, Process, Promotion, People, Physical environment]
A.
The product of consulting companies are is the specialization, professionalism,
knowledge which is brought to the customers, They are the specific professional
services provided by qualified professionals, with high level of education and
professional qualification – advisory, consulting to accreditation education services
(Biech, 2003).
B.
Price for consulting services is usually set based upon individual consulting acts on
hourly rate, or based on agreement on a total price for consulting, taking in
consideration the variation related to qualification, practice as team leader of the
survey team and seniority.
C.
Place or distribution in the marketing mix of consulting consultants based on the
organization and its location which will lead to creation of positive image and
strengthening of the brand name of the consulting company.
D.
Process: The consulting process starts from first contact between the consultant and
the organization till the relationship is terminated, this will participates on creation
of positive image and increase the trust
E.
Promotion is helping in reaching out our target market through different platform of
social media,
F.
People are all the consultant the employee and the members of the organizations.
The consultants are the guarantee of the quality and of the success of consulting
company, and is an inseparable part of its product, brand name and image. The
marketing staff and their negotiations skills and lately the organization
members and their feedback
G.
Physical evidence is the seventh P, and the availability off and on line education and
training sessions in order to satisfy all needs.
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3.3. MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
The six major modes of communication in marketing include advertising, digital marketing,
direct marketing, personal selling, public relations and sales promotion. You may depend
on one or two of these mediums more than the others, but over the lifespan of your small
business, all of them will probably play a role in drawing new customers through your front
door or your “internet door.”
(What Are the Six Major Modes of Communication in Marketing?, 2020)
A.
Advertising: Advertising has always held the promise of reaching these mass
audiences to achieve one of four basic objectives: to inform, persuade,
differentiate and remind, especially about the features and benefits of a
product. through the force of repetition, which is why marketers often counsel
against “one-hit wonders.” , fewer people are gravitating to traditional
broadcast and print mediums;
Your good name, image and reputation should be worth establish a marketing department,
or hire a professional services firm.
B.
C.
Digital Marketing: providing the right offer at the right time and in the right
place such using the compatible formats for smart phone. As it is is portable,
interactive, shareable, targetable and adaptable, having fast web page
Direct Marketing through letter, postcard, coupon, and catalog directly in
his hands.
takes time to cull. And because it takes time, it requires money, in terms of
staff time. the business model that underscores direct marketing – business-toconsumer – requires a company to keep a steady focus on customer service,
both to retain existing customers and also to win new ones.
D.
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
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Personal Selling the flexibility of personal selling is one of its chief
attractions; it can be done anywhere, at virtually any time.
Field calls (in someone's home or office).
In-store consultations.* Demonstrations.
Trade shows.
Virtual (online) demonstrations.
message content, pitch and consistency are paramount.
How you can expect to pay: Personal selling costs can vary widely – from being wrapped
up in the salary you're already paying someone on your support staff to the commission you
may be paying a full-time sales person. Then there are the potential costs of travel and
lodging. But even these costs can pale to the expense of retraining, which is why keeping
motivated, loyal and can-do people is vital to so many small businesses.
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E.
Public Relations: seems to be everywhere and gives presentations. He's a
fixture in the schools as a guest speaker, and he sponsors a youth sports
league. You see him working at charity events and neighborhood barbecues,
and he marches in community parades.
Just when his name has faded from your conscious thoughts, he flashes before your eyes
most expansive component among the six modes of marketing communications. If you're
really ambitious, public relations can become a full-time job for someone who works on
your behalf to:
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Promote your business. Burnish your image. Elevate your business
profile. Cultivate community relationships. Position you as an industry expert and go-to
source of information.
Deal with a public crisis, should one develop.
Convene press conferences.* Pitch media representatives to write about you – to generate all
that “free advertising.”
Organize tours and open houses.* Nominate you for awards and other forms of public
recognition.
Bolster sales.
Challenges it poses: This is by no means an exhaustive list, though some small-business
owners consider public relations to be exhausting. It's not because of a lack of excitement
or variety but a lack of control. In other words, you can stage the most newsworthy press
conference, distribute the most polished press kit and offer the most riveting visuals. But
still there is no guarantee that any “free advertising” will materialize.
Even in the most skilled, professional hands, public relations is a gamble. This is why
marketing professionals try to head off disappointment by warning their clients: If it's a
guaranteed placement you seek, purchase an ad instead.
How you can expect to pay: Clearly, you can spend as much or as little as you wish on
public relations. You will see results, but only if your PR is threaded strategically and you
give the initiatives time to work.
F.
Evaluate Sales Promotion for Your Communication Mix
Opportunities it presents: Few tactics can pique curiosity and generate sales like
promotions. They run the gamut and can include coupons, discounts, sample and premium
give-aways, two-for deals, loyalty programs, free shipping, sweepstakes, contests and
rebates. Sales promotions are often the lifeblood of new businesses, which must find a way
to stand out and make their presence known in a crowded marketplace.
Challenges it poses: Over the long term, sales promotions require a deft and restrained
hand. It's true that consumers love “freebies.” But it's also true that consumers can become
sceptical of a business that hands out too many. In other words, an abundance or a steady
stream of sales promotions can run the risk of impugning a brand and undercutting its value
and prestige. This helps explain why frequent flyer programs have been so successful for
the airlines; the programs are singular and focused on only one goal: rewarding loyal
customers.
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How you can expect to pay: Savvy small-business owners see this dynamic on the horizon
– and work hard to integrate sales promotions in their marketing communications mix in a
limited way. A business consultant or dispassionate third party might be in the best position
to offer the type of strategic advice that focuses on achieving your long-term marketing
goals – and the kind of loyal, long-term customers that every small-business owner needs
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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4.
CHAPTER 4: FINANCIAL ASPECTS
4.1. BREAK-EVEN POINT
This is an analysis that tells you how many products you need to sell to cover your costs. this
analysis shows how the marketing plan affects the number of necessary sales it must make
before turning a profit, or breaking even.
Break-Even Quantity (BEQ) is equal to fixed costs divided by average sales price per
product, minus average cost per product.
BEQ = SR 222,000 / (220.000 – 30.000).
BEQ equals this: = 1.1 contract per month per staff
Business needs to make 2 contacts monthly to cover all its expenses. Any contacts above 2
will be pure profit.
A break-even analysis helps illustrate the relationship between profits, revenues and
costs
(Why Your Personal Core Values Matter, 2020)
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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4.2. MONTHLY SALES & MARKETING BUDGET

The budget for sales and marketing refers to all marketing costs, (advertising, digital
marketing, direct marketing, personal selling, public relations and promotion of sales).
Anything else
could ,cover
on AdWords,
a daily basis
under
the very
broad-based
network called
'marketing':
sponsorshipResources
foryou
example
Google
social
media,
print
advertisements,
A.
Monthly Sales
To meet the monthly sales goal of 4 new customers/contacts, it is necessary to get 2,000
visitors each month to t website. They need to convert to leads 2.5 per cent of these website
users, for a total of 50 per month. Of these 50 leads per month, the company needs to convert
4 percent of these leads to clients hitting their new business goal.
B.
Marketing Budget
The budget as a general concept based on experts and experiences we should spend average
5% of our sales revenue on marketing.
The organization have to spend more up to 12 % to get its objective of high revenue
wordstream.com
Marketing Budget
If marketing from a fairly static annual budget, marketing as an expense. Good marketers
realize that it is an investment. – Seth Godin
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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(How Much Should You Be Spending on Marketing? - Nuphoriq, 2020)
C.
Social media marketing budget and plan
5.
The challenge of social media marketing is that everything you put into it will be
consumed! There is always more to do, there are more ways to connect and reach,
there is more to convert. A general rule is that B2B companies are better served by
allocating about 2-5% of marketing revenue; this rises to 5-10% for B2C companies.
That is for marketing as a whole: how much of that should be devoted to social
issues? CMO Survey 2019 shows that B2Bs and B2Cs are spending the following
percentages of their social media marketing budgets:
B2B Services: 20.5%
B2C Services: 24.7%
1. CONTENT
The creation of content is likely to account for a large chunk of
social media advertising budget (50 per cent or more). Particular line elements
include:
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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• Photography. Putting aside some money on at least some of your visual assets for
a talented photographer is money well spent.
• Images. Equally. This is your image, and it needs refining and polishing.
• Photo below. This is practically obligatory given the appetite for video! Talent factor
(e.g., actors, models, influencers) cost of production (e.g. travel, meals)
• To copywrite. Brands often outsource this to content creators and/or independent
contractors.
2. AD
It's hard to achieve all of your brand goals with organic social media marketing alone;
financing paid options is important:
• Payable advertisements (Facebook, Facebook , Instagram, LinkedIn , Pinterest, Twitter ,
YouTube, etc.)
• Action influencer
The budget for digital marketing & social media marketing will be SR 30,000 as outlined in
the company plan
(Why Your Personal Core Values Matter, 2020)
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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CHAPTER 5: CONTROLS
5.1. SUCCESS MEASUREMENTS TO EVALUATE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE
PLAN
To assess the effectiveness of Strategies, it is important to analyze how it
connects goals with the way we plan to accomplish them and the means we
plan to use. OBJECTIVES are successful if they use the resources allocated in
compliance with the plan to provide the planned outcomes to constantly review
the use of resources and output to test if OBJECTIVES reach targets.
Marketing plan implementation controls
In order to maximize the return on a marketing plan, controls must be in place to
monitor the progress of the plan. The indicators are continuously evaluated as a
marketing campaign goes forward to assess how the actual output of the strategy
is relative to the estimates. Any improvements that need to be made will be made
based on a marketing strategy report. Understanding what the controls are in a
marketing campaign should help you develop useful metrics for evaluating success
(Examples of Controls in a Marketing Plan, 2020)
The following controls will be taken:
1. Monitor Customer Feedback
2. Target Market Sales
3. Budgeting and Monitoring Spending
4. Market Share Milestones
5. The link between Planning and Implementation
6. . Resources
Tangible resources are equally important including financial capital, intangible
capital such as marketing experience , customer loyalty , brand equity, corporate
goodwill, and public relations / strategic alliances.
During the planning process, a thorough and truthful evaluation of available
resources will help ensure that marketing strategy and marketing execution are
within the realm of possibility.
(MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION AND CONTROL, 2020)
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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Marketing plan success metrics
KPIs to Assign to Marketing Objectives
If you know your marketing objectives and expectations, it's time to find out how to
quantify them. Effective setting of goals includes placing KPIs and metrics on your
plans. Each of your marketing objectives must be assigned numbers, deadlines, and
metrics.
KPIs and marketing metrics allow you to measure progress along the way, and to analyze
performance at the end of your campaign. Without benchmarks to your goals, you won't
have any way to know if your work has been successful.
Examples of KPIs you could use include the following metrics.
1. Sales Growth Have an eye on your revenue (amount of money coming into your
business) and/or number of units sold while trying to boost sales.
Monitor changes to see trends and fluctuations over specific time frames as well as
during the duration of campaigns or marketing initiatives.
2. Changes in Profit
Profit changes, or ROIs, do not necessarily mean revenue or sales increases. It tracks the
profit margins directly, which is how many you take in after expenses and costs. .
3. Market Share
Market share is a part of a market dominated by the company or the product. This metric
helps to compare companies to others and find ways to meet the potential for growth.
4. Lead Generation
Metrics of lead generation are calculated in several respects. Determine what metrics can
better assess performance, based on the marketing objectives.
• Number of leads: Total number of leads introduced
• Increase in leads: change in percentage of lead generation compared to other timescales
• Cost per lead: amount spent on acquiring one new lead
• Conversion rate: percentage of your traffic that becomes a lead following your visit to
the website
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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5-Lifetime Value of a Customer
Consider these metrics if you're focused on marketing targets that appeal to your existing
consumer base and keep those shoppers and customers happy.
• Number of repeat customers: number of returning customers;
• Customer retention rate: percentage of returning customers
Lifetime spending: On average, customers spend a lifetime with a company
6-New Customer Acquisition
Keep an eye on new customer acquisition and the metrics that help you monitor growth
when you are at a growth phase. The following metrics include KPIs which measure
customer acquisition.
• Number of new customers: number of new customers gained over a given period of
time
• Increase of new customers: change in percentage of new customers compared to other
timescales
• Cost per new client: the amount of money spent on acquiring a new client
7-Social Media Engagement
Using KPIs as they pertain to social success when participating in interactive appro aches
when they relate to social media.
• Rise in fans / followers: the amount of new fans / followers gained during a given time
• Comments total: number of comments left on the posts or updates
• Number of shares: Content shared a number of times
• Number of opt-ins: the number of leads produced by social campaigns and/or posts
• Website traffic from social media sources: proportion of website traffic that the social
media platform points to
8-SEO Performance Search Engine Optimization
Where marketing strategies include enhancing search visibility, track KPIs that display
change in SEO status.
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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Conclusion & Recommendations
The main goals of this marketing plan are to help our company achieve its strategic goals and
below are the main goals:
• To gain full access to the GCC market based on an analysis of the target market and
competitive analysis
• Build business identity and provide a respected reputation in the industry based on the
qualitative research conducted
• Take advantage of the potential based on the SWOT review to resolve all obstacles.
• Increasing consumer satisfaction by growing the value generated.
This report is for the development of a strategic marketing plan for the Quality Icon
Consultancy Company. Based on the study of industry patterns that would be analyzed using
several forms of research, such as quantitative analysis that would take into account the target
market, demographics, consumer behavior, customer profile, Maslow's needs hierarchy and
competitive analysis, our service's value proposition that was considered the most important
thing in our marketing strategy Marketing Plan targets and priorities were established then
revenue prediction, budgeting, break even, and monthly sales forecasts would be carried out.
Place KPIs and benchmarks on the marketing plans to determine how to successfully measure
them.
The recommendations can be:
Proper measures and controls would be taken care of to make marketing plan a great success
Based on the marketing plan developed we have come up with some recommendation for
marketing:
a.
Don’t underestimates the power of digital media
b.
Use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is very crucial element of our marketing
plan
c.
Proper information in the form of video has to be delivered, as video has the highest
Engagement.
d.
Always look what competitors are doing and how they are doing it.
708 –Strategic Marketing– Sample Assignment 2019
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References
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Impactbnd.com. 2020. How To Do A Competitive Analysis In 5 Easy Steps. [online] Available at:
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Nuphoriq. 2020. How Much Should You Be Spending On Marketing? - Nuphoriq. [online] Available at:
<https://nuphoriq.com/create-a-marketing-budget/> [Accessed 13 June 2020].
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2020].
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List of Figures & Tables
Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Figure 2:
A break-even analysis
Figure 3 : Marketing Budget
Table 1
Table 2
Expected Revenue
The monthly expected cost for the consulting company
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Appendix
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