describe one business – English language school for foreign students.

• 2000 words (+/- 10%) comprises the marketing mix plan
• Opportunity Analysis is attached to this letter. It’s the first part….
• The title page, executive summary and table of contents are not included in the word count. Figures and tables should be used where appropriate, and are not included in the word count, nor are quotes and references. All figures and tables should be labelled.
• A reference list should be included. Both academic and non-academic sources are acceptable. This includes websites.
• You must use either American Psychological Association (APA 6) referencing style.
• All the necessary documents are attached to this message.

This piece of assessment comprises of two components: (1) Opportunity analysis and (2) Marketing mix plan; which together form a complete Marketing Plan. For this reason, students are required to complete the Opportunity Analysis first and then following this, they will be required to complete the marketing mix plan.

The Opportunity Analysis and the Marketing Mix Plan are individual assessment tasks.

Both the opportunity analysis and marketing mix plan are due on different dates as detailed on the course site.

Purpose

The purpose of this assessment task is for students to demonstrate their understanding of the components and processes involved in a marketing plan. This is shown by completing a marketing plan for a particular scenario.

The marketing plan is divided into two sections as stated above. We have structured the marketing plan in this manner to enable students to receive feedback on their first submission (opportunity analysis) to build into their second submission (marketing mix plan).

Scenario

Australian university students often find it difficult in their first year of studies. This is due to a range of factors including lack of knowledge of university procedures, lack of academic skills and lack of personal and family support.

You will create a tutoring service that will assist first-year university students as they transition in to their higher degree studies. Overall, the aims of the business are to increase academic results and personal wellbeing of first year university students across Australia. The tutoring service can be specific to one geographical area or all of Australia, can be offered online or face-to-face or a combination, can be specific to one type of student (eg. Mature age or international students) and you have a great degree of flexibility of how the service will be offered.

You have great scope here to choose:

• The business name, values, mission, branding, logo, slogan etc
• Exactly who their target market will be (first-year university students is your starting point, but this is quite broad. We will narrow this down in Assessment 2)
• What the new marketing mix for the business will look like (focus on the 4 P’s: product, price, place, promotion). We will write the marketing mix in Assessment 2. Further hints will be given in online classes and in seminars.

Step 1: Opportunity Analysis (A1)

First you need to better understand the macro and micro issues affecting the marketplace. You will undertake research to find out what main issues students face when beginning university, which will assist you to develop the marketing mix that will provide the solution (value) to these students.

Don’t worry too much in this assignment about knowing what you will write for the marketing mix (4 P’s) – that’s assignment 2. Instead, make the focus of this task understanding the marketplace and your customer, so that you develop a solution that best suits their needs and wants.

You will undertake research using a variety of sources to identify the specific opportunity you will pursue in Assessment 2. There is no right or wrong answer here; every student will narrow the scope of focus down differently. For example, you may find during your research that Chinese students comprise the largest cohort of international students in Australia. You may choose to focus on assisting international students from China to better settle into their first year of Australian studies. Others may choose to focus on helping the specific issues mature age students face.

The research you undertake will largely be online research on websites and databases. This may include using Euromonitor (demonstration given in week 2 online classroom), reading Government reports on the education industry, and research on similar tutoring services (your competitors).

You can submit a draft of your assignment to the tutoring on demand service multiple times for feedback (please allow 24 hours. You can also ask questions during the online classes, email your tutor, and book in a telephone chat with your tutor.

You will submit your opportunity in your assignment by the due date, and you will receive feedback on how to improve your idea for Assignment 2 (A2).

Step 2: Marketing Mix Plan (A2)

You are then to identify a specific target market (as mentioned previously) and develop a marketing mix campaign that can be used to launch your new service.

This is a real world case study requiring you to apply the knowledge you obtain through this course to your new service. We would like to see you learn from and, importantly add value to your “client” in the context of marketing.

Assistance Provided to you

• Discussion of the assessment task will occur in the online classroom sessions. You should orient yourself with the template and criteria before attending the first online class.
• A template to guide you on the structure and content required
• Week 2 librarian led class to show you how to research information
• Help guides in the A1 and A2 sections of the course site, including templates
• Previous student assignments
• Referencing guide
• Marketing criteria rubrics for both A1 and A2

Assessment Guidelines

Students should open in a separate document the (1) situation analysis template and (2) the marketing mix plan template. It is advised that students download, save and subsequently use these templates to guide both assessment items.

The templates will detail all the sections that students are required to complete. By following the templates, students will ensure that they do not miss any sections for which they are required to complete. Please do not delete sections from the templates. You are welcome to change the style and look of the template as you see fit. You can also add anything you like to the template, however you should ensure that you adhere to the word count given.

Word counts for each section will not be given, as we encourage you to use words freely in the sections you deem to be most important to your project. However it is important that you get straight to the point. You need to be mindful that the decisions that you make need to be supported to justify that decision being made. In such cases, relevant and current references should be included. This will give validation to their proposal/idea and also show depth of application. You must use a minimum of 10 references in Assessment 1, and 10 additional references in Assessment 2 (being a minimum of 20 references across the 2 assessments).