Final exam. Marketing Strategy. Situational Analysis. Marketing Plan

Marketing Strategy
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Marketing Strategy
This paper aims to provide the necessary guidelines before making a marketing strategy. Developing a marketing strategy requires certain rules and procedures. The paper sums up the ideas necessary to conduct a situational analysis. A high consideration has been given to the decision making, attitudes and motivation of the target market. Considering the focus group research, it pertains to have high importance in creating a marketing plan (Carey & Asbury, 2016). The paper will help the marketing manager for company X to understand the necessities for developing an effective marketing strategy.
Situational Analysis
Before developing a marketing strategy, I will have to make a clear understanding of the current capabilities and position of company X within the business environment. In such a scenario, the situational analysis would act as a vital tool for understanding the organization precisely (Garcia & Middleton, 2016). In order to conduct a situational analysis on company X, there are certain methods that will help me to arrange the required data in the right order which in turn will act as a guidance towards decision making. One such method is SWOT Analysis which will allow me to understand the threats, opportunities, weaknesses, and strengths of company X. After conducting a SWOT analysis, I will apply PEST Analysis on company X as it will help me to identify the external factors affecting company X and its business. After this, the 5 C’s will uncover certain areas that are directly linked with company X i.e., company, competitors, climate, collaborators, and customers (Gupta, 2017). The fourth method that will help me in conducting situational analysis is ‘Porter’s Five Forces Analysis.’ The forces will help me to analyze the industry and competitor of company X.
Marketing Plan
The marketing plan will help in providing details of everything that is required to know for successfully promoting the business of company X (Gupta, 2017). In order to make the marketing plan effective, there are certain steps that will be required. Following up these steps will provide company X with an edge to achieve success.
Understanding the Business
The foremost thing to consider is to develop an understanding of company X's business. This is undoubtedly the most important step before implementing a marketing plan. Here, considering this as an initial step, it will be thought of as an opportunity that will help me to get an overview of the current operations within the company X (Kotler et al., 2015). The situational analysis done previously will act as a source of guidance.
Identifying the Target Market
In this portion of the marketing plan for company X, I will try to list out each and everything I know about the ideal customer of the company. By doing this, it also includes demographic information. However, a higher consideration will be given to the decisions and behaviors. A set of questions about the target market will be answered which will help to understand them more deeply (Gupta, 2017). The questions may include: Why do the customers buy from company X? From where do they get information abo...