MKT10727 Digital Marketing

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES AND MARKING CRITERIA

Assignment 1 Case Analysis Competing in the Digital Economy

DUE DATE: Friday, Week 7 (7th August)
WORD LIMIT: 1500 words
WEIGHTING: 25%
Online submission via Blackboard
All students are required to submit this assessment via the MKT10727 SCU Blackboard learning
site. Hard copy and email submissions will not be accepted and late submission penalties will apply
to assignments that are not submitted on time via the specified Blackboard site.

This case assessment has been set to provide you with an introduction to key concepts
discussed in the unit.

This paper is to be written in an academic format, observing referencing, structure and format,
along with the ability to express yourself clearly, succinctly and without errors.

You will be assessed on your ability to construct your paper to produce a logical, practical and
purposeful digital marketing analysis.

Any articles you have found on the Internet or elsewhere need to be fully referenced.
Furthermore, sites like scribd.com or ivyessays.com (or similar sites) SHOULD NOT be used as
academic sources. Where cases of plagiarism are found, students will be dealt with harshly. All
students will be required to submit their assessments via the MKT10727 SCU Blackboard
learning site, utilising a Turnitin assignment link. Students will be able to amend and
resubmit their assessment following a Turnitin review (ie. multiple submissions are
allowed up until the due date, which will be 11.59pm on Friday 7th August). It is important to
note that it may take up to 24 hours for additional Originality Reports to be made accessible for
your reviewso dont leave it till the last minute!

Case questions appear on the following page.

Case Questions
There are four questions set for the Facebook case. Please answer all four questions. As noted in
the Unit Information Guide, you should aim to write no more than 1,500 words and roughly
equivalent word usage should be devoted to each question. You are required to provide a total
word count including headings.

1.

Discuss two or three specific examples of how Facebook is taking advantage of the Internet in
general and changing consumer needs in particular. Ensure your argument(s) are developed
through direct reference to concepts, tools and techniques evident in early topics from the unit.

2.

Based on information contained within the case document, and supplemented (where needed)
with additional (recent) sources, complete a SWOT analysis on Facebook. You should aim to list
at a minimum 4 to 5 points for each SWOT quadrant ie. 4 to 5 strengths, 4 to 5 weaknesses
etc. In addition to any written commentary used to embed/support your SWOT analysis, you
may like to present your analysis by way of a table, such as the example following:

Example SWOT table (Source: http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/swot-example.htm)

The use of a table when displaying your key SWOT attributes makes for easy reading

3.

You will recall from your readings in Topic 2 that any opportunities noted in a SWOT analysis
are in reference to external opportunities a firm may seek to pursue. Choose one of the
opportunities you have listed in your SWOT analysis, and discuss in detail how this opportunity
(or what we might call a strategy) fits with the Facebooks overall mission and business
objectives, and highlight what Facebook needs to do to ensure it is successful in its pursuit of
this opportunity.

4.

Much of Facebooks revenue (like many other leading sites such as Google and Yahoo) comes
from advertising. Supported by additional evidence from outside of the case, do you think web
advertising is effective in engaging consumers?

Assignment 2 E-Marketing Plan Report

DUE DATE: Friday, Week 12 (11th September)
WORD LIMIT: 2000 words (report format)
WEIGHTING: 35%
Online submission via Blackboard

This project requires you to produce/prepare an e-marketing plan based on one of the noted
example organisations. The available firms are:

An Australian-based clothing retail firm which is looking to sell online products to

customers in Asia, namely Hong Kong.

An Australian-based wine producer expanding into the Middle East (i.e. locations such
as Qatar, UAE, Oman etc.).

An Australian-based university (you might even like to make it Southern Cross) that is
looking to offer full undergraduate Business degrees in Asia (mainly China) via 100%
online teaching and learning structures.

An Australian high-end (i.e. premium) sports apparel manufacturer seeking to increase

sales into the US market.

Having selected (and named) your firm from the available list, you are to prepare an emarketing plan to help craft and implement the associated strategy. Of course your plan is
expected to have a strong focus on current development of the Internet (in respect to the
target region), whilst researching other firms in your industry in an effort to develop something
of a best practice electronic marketing approach.

There are seven (7) sections in the plan structure + the Executive Summary. Each section will
therefore be worth 4 marks each (ie 7 sections + Executive Summary x 4 marks each = 32
marks), with the remaining 3 marks being awarded for overall presentation of the assessment
ie. key points for consideration include consistent print, font and typeface throughout;
assessment conforms with word count (-/+ 10% allowance); reference List no errors;

parenthetical referencing in body of plan (correct format); correct use of citation and citation of
all sources; and correct punctuation.

In this unit, you will be introduced to the emarketing planning process. In Topic 3 of this unit,
you will note the identification of a seven (7) section planning structure, containing core
elements a marketer would typically discuss and research when crafting an emarketing plan.
A summation of those major seven sections (in addition to some introductory and summary
fragments) is as follows:
Table of Contents
Executive Summary an overview of the entire plan, including a description of the product
or service, the differential advantage, the required investment, and anticipated sales and
profits.
Introduction What is the product or service? Describe it in detail and explain how it fits into
the market.
Section 1: Situational Analysis
A. Situational environs
Some considerations in this part of the plan could include aspects such as:
1. Demand and demand trends What is the forecast demand for the product? Is it growing or
declining? Who is the decision maker? The purchase agent? How, when, where, what, and
why do they buy?
2. Social and cultural factors
3. Demographics
4. Economic and business conditions for this product at this time and in the geographical area
selected
5. State of technology for this class of product Is it hightech stateoftheart? Are newer
products succeeding older ones frequently (short live cycle)? In short, how is technology
affecting this product or service?
6. Politics Are politics, current or otherwise, in any way affecting the situation for marketing
this product?
7. Laws and regulations What laws or regulations are applicable here?
B. The natural environs
Some considerations in this part of the plan could include:
1. Financial environment How does the availability or unavailability of funds affect the
situation?
2. Government environment Is current legislative action in state, federal, or local
government likely to affect marketing of this product or service?

3. Media environment Whats happening in the media? Does current publicity favour this
project?
4. Special interest environment Aside from direct competitors, are any influential groups
likely to affect your plans?
C. The competitor environs
Some considerations in this part of the plan could include:
1. Describe your products, experience, knowhow, financial, human, and capital resources,
and suppliers.
2. Do you enjoy the favour of your customers? If so, why?
3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Section 2: The target market
1. Describe your target market segment in detail by using demographics, psychographics,
geography, lifestyle, or whatever segmentation is appropriate.
2. Why is this your target market?
3. How large is it?

Section 3: Marketing objectives and goals

State precisely the marketing objectives and goals in terms of sales volume, market share,
return on investment, or other objectives or goals for your marketing plan and the time
needed to achieve each of them.

Section 4: Marketing strategy and tactics

State your marketing strategy(s) chosen in terms of aspects such as the product, price,
promotion, distribution, and other tactical or environmental variables. You also need to note
how your main competitors are likely to respond when you take the action planned and what
you will then do to avoid the threats and take advantage of the opportunities.
Consider alternatives for the overall strategy; for example, for new market penetration a
marketer can enter first, early, or late, penetrate vertically or horizontally, and exploit different
niche strategies.

Section 5: Implementation Plan

In the previous step, the marketer selected the marketing mix the 4 Ps, relationship
management tactics, and other tactics to achieve the plan objectives. But how will these
elements be implemented? Devises a succinct plan for implementation across your major
marketing mix variables.

Section 6: Budget
Marketers need to determine the returns from an investment. Your text details a number of e
related costs.

Section 7: Evaluation Plan

Once the emarketing plan is implemented, its success depends on continuous evaluation
which means marketers must have an evaluation system/strategy in place before the plan is
put into action.
Summary Summarise advantages, costs, and profits and restate the differential advantage
(what difference does your strategy/product/service offer to set you aside from the
competition), and why the plan will succeed.
Appendices Include all supporting information that you consider relevant.

As noted previously, choose ONE (1) of the following example organisations from which to
base your emarketing plan (feel free to develop a name for your firm as part of your plan):

1. An Australian-based clothing retail firm which is looking to sell online products to customers
in Asia, namely Hong Kong.
2. An Australianbased wine producer expanding into the Middle East (ie. locations such as
Qatar, UAE, Oman etc).
3. An Australianbased university (you might even like to make it Southern Cross) that is
looking to offer full undergraduate Business degrees in Asia (mainly China) via 100% online
teaching and learning structures.
4. An Australian highend (ie. premium) sports apparel manufacturer seeking to increase sales
into the US market.

Having selected (and named) your firm from the available list, you are to prepare an e
marketing plan to help craft and implement the associated strategy. Of course your plan is
expected to have a strong focus on current development of the Internet (in respect to the
target region), whilst researching other firms in your industry in an effort to develop
something of a best practice electronic marketing approach.
There is a very tight word limit associated with this assessment; hence your marker is
cognisant that this will limit the amount of detail you can present in your plan. That being
said, you are expected to demonstrate your understanding of the concepts and processes
underpinning electronic marketing as a discipline in each of the sections.
Your plan should be presented in the form of a report, adhering to the structure presented
above. The word limit does include such items as headings, intext references and quotes.
It does not include the reference list at the end of the assignment, nor the cover sheet.

 Given the nature of the research material that will be contained in your report, you are
required to fully reference any sources utilised in your plan. You are expected as a
minimum to support your plan with at least ten (10) references from relevant academic
texts (can include your unit book text), academic journals, professional journals,
professional industry magazines, or relevant web commentary. As a general warning you
are asked to avoid using sources such as Wikipedia, scribd.com, ukessays.com, and
ivythesis.com these are not trusted sites, and any materials sourced from such sites will
be considered suspicious by markers.
Additional guidance will be presented by Unit Staff at the commencement of the session.

As per Assignment 1, students will be required to submit their assessments via the
MKT10727 SCU Blackboard learning site, utilising a Turnitin assignment link. Students
will be able to amend and resubmit their assessment following a Turnitin review.

Final Exam
WEIGHTING: 40%

Students will be fully advised during the study period as to when the exam will be held and the
format it will take. The exam will be closed book.