Clients And Markets

 
General focus
The assignments for Clients & Markets involve a real life case study, which will enable you to apply your newly acquired understanding of marketing and customer behaviour to the development of appropriate marketing strategies and marketing initiatives, in both business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) contexts.
 
Company focus

1. The company selected for your assignments in this unit will be presented to you in the face to face and online classes. For background see https://www.nissan.com.au/vehicles/browse-range/leaf.html

 
The selected company offers a particularly relevant and interesting case study, not least since its promotion involves significant B2C and B2B marketing activities that target consumers, as well as businesses.
 
You won’t find the answer on the web and you will need to engage with the unit in order to do well in your assignment.
 
Assignment description
In the early weeks of this unit you will be introduced to the customer oriented market segmentation, targeting and positioning process, as well as relevant models of buyer behaviour and related concepts.
 
Assignment 1 requires you to initially identify and evaluate the range of potential B2C and B2B customer segments that make up the selected company’s market.
 
Having described these you then pick one specific niche B2C, as well as one specific niche B2B segment, for targeting and provide rationale for your selections, as well as insights into the buyer behavior dimensions that should be considered in subsequent marketing mix planning stages.
 
Please note that assignment 1 involves marketing segmentation and targeting stages only. Positioning forms the focus of assignment 2, in which you provide in depth analysis of the behaviour of the chosen target market segments and appropriate marketing mix recommendations.
 
Specific assignment tasks
 
This assignment requires you to complete several tasks:
 
Segmentation & targeting (approx. 350 words)

• Briefly describe the customer oriented segmentation and targeting process, acknowledging its relevance to B2C and B2B marketing.

 
Segment evaluation (approx. 1000 words – 500 words on B2C & 500 words on B2B)

• Identify and describe company’s market, acknowledging the various existing and potential B2C and B2B customer segments in terms of ‘typical’ market segmentation dimensions (e.g., behavioural, psychographic and profile data for consumer markets, and in terms of micro and macro segments for organisations).

 
B2C target (approx. 500 words)

• Identify and describe the specific B2C niche customer segment for the company marketing team to focus on.
• Explain the rationale for its selections in terms of distinctiveness / size / accessibility / stability / match with the company strategic orientation.
• Outline the buyer behaviour concepts and theories* relevant for further investigation (you will apply these in assignment 2) to ensure an effective buyer behaviour focused marketing mix can be developed.

 
B2B target (approx. 500 words)

• Identify and describe a specific B2B niche segment for the company marketing team to focus on.
• Explain the rationale for its selections in terms of distinctiveness / size / accessibility / stability / match with the company strategic orientation.
• Outline the buyer behaviour concepts and theories* relevant for further investigation (you will apply these in detail in assignment 2) to ensure an effective buyer behaviour focused marketing mix can be developed.

 
*Relevant concepts and theories include:

• Stages in decision making process
• Level of involvement
• Decision making unit
• Aspects of psychology theory (Perception, Learning and memory, Personality and self-concept, Motivation & needs, Attitudes, Group and peer influences)

 
Positioning & customer behaviour (approx. 150 words)

• Acknowledge the importance of understanding customer behaviour to the positioning stage of the STP process. This section sets up the tasks you will complete in assignment 2.

 
 
Assessment format
To successfully complete this assignment, you should prepare a report that:

• Is a Microsoft Word document and not a pdf.

• Includes:
  • Title:  “as per the assignment heading on page 1”
  • Student name(s) and ID number(s)
  • Unit title and code
  • Tutor name
  • Date

• Is well written and properly spell-checked and proof read.
• Follows the assignment instructions closely and uses the same headings. (If it does not specifically ask for an Executive Summary don’t include one).
• Indicates the number of words written in each section, as well as the total word count.
• Uses a recognized business journal style of referencing format such as Harvard or APA.
• Is 2500 words long (excluding figures, appendices, bibliography – please note that appendices do not contribute to the marks). There is a considerable amount to cover, so it will be important that you write clearly and concisely.