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How Can I Improve My Report

The document provides guidance on how to improve a marketing report by following 6 steps: interpreting the brief, introducing the organization, analyzing the macro and micro environment, analyzing the organization's STP strategy and value proposition, suggesting improvements in marketing communications, branding and sustainability, and ensuring proper writing, presentation and referencing. Students are advised to follow the marking scheme and provide sufficient details and analysis for each section based on its weightage.

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7 views2 pages

How Can I Improve My Report

The document provides guidance on how to improve a marketing report by following 6 steps: interpreting the brief, introducing the organization, analyzing the macro and micro environment, analyzing the organization's STP strategy and value proposition, suggesting improvements in marketing communications, branding and sustainability, and ensuring proper writing, presentation and referencing. Students are advised to follow the marking scheme and provide sufficient details and analysis for each section based on its weightage.

Uploaded by

S S Creating
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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How can I improve my report?

Getting it right

Step 1 - Interpreting the brief

The first aspect of analysis starts with the title. In this case it is clearly a piece about the
marketing of an organization plus recommendations related to three areas of marketing. So
we’d expect an introduction and background to the organization, a section on their current
marketing, but there needs to be detail on the recommendations.

Also a marking scheme is provided. Students are always advised to follow the marking
scheme in order to ensure they have the right content in the right proportions to score the
highest marks from the specified 4000 words.

Step 2 – The introduction to the organization (10%)

You must consider the marking scheme when generating reports. With a weighting of 10%
we’d expect about 350-400 words. You need to provide a strong, succinct introduction:

 What is the organization? What market(s) are they in? What do they actually do?
NOW – not historically. The company’s history is only important in terms of the
knowledge and resources it has created relevant to the business NOW.
 What is their mission? Are their current activities congruent to this?
 It is too easy to offer a generic, descriptive element about companies. You do not
score marks for describing a company.

Step 3 – Critical analysis of the chosen organisation’s macro and micro environment
(15%)

Approximately 600 words. This needs to use external secondary information.


 See the sources available through the library. Reference appropriately
 Use relevant models to assist your analysis. Reference appropriately
 Build this around your chosen organization – remember one man’s threat can be
another man’s opportunity.

it will be easy to see who has understood the core subject matter and those who clearly
have not put the time or effort into their studies.

Step 4 - Critical analysis of your organisation’s STP strategy and value proposition
(40%)

At least 1500 words. If your Organisation has a range of products and services chose just
one area to allow you to focus
 What is their STP approach?
 Is it working? Are they clearly positioned in the minds of the customers?
 Are they competitive?
 What role is its’ marketing communications and branding strategy playing in this?
 Is its’ approach to sustainability relevant here?
Again, use appropriate theory to underpin your analysis and external secondary information
as required.

Step 5 – Suggest improvements in the areas of marketing communications, branding


and sustainability (30%)

Perhaps 1200 to 1400 words here.


 What aren’t they doing?
 What can they do better?

A SWOT and a TOWS might help you to understand a way forward for your organisation, but
(if used) only put this in the appendices and refer to the key points in the report.

You must use appropriate theory (correctly referenced) to help you show your answers.
Don’t try ‘guessing’ at the answers, the use of core knowledge/theory and demonstrating
application, is now required.

It is all too easy to offer lightweight, generic recommendations often being half a page long
and in the worst cases only a line of two. This is not sufficient for 30% of the marks!

Step 6 – Writing, presentation and referencing (5%)

 This is a professional report – make it look like one!


 You should have a professional-looking cover page
 Please ensure your Cover Page has the key features e.g. the date, word count etc.
You need to include your seminar tutor name on your cover page.
 There should be an Executive Summary and Contents Page before you even start.
 The Executive Summary should come before the contents page. It should be a one-
page précis of the whole piece: no more than 300 words and is not included in the
word count.
 Pagination should not start until the main body of the report, so “1.0 Introduction”
should be on page 1.
 This is a report, not an essay. As marketers we don’t write essays! This may be
acceptable on other courses say in the humanities however in Business Schools we
expect reports and attention to detail.
 Diagrams should be applied rather than generic. They must have a Fig No’s and a
title.
 There should be a correctly constructed bibliography showing your references so
please provide one.

As a reader we’re not interested in what you ‘feel’ about a product, marketing activity or the
organisation. At university students are asked to become much more analytical with
subject/theoretical content and application, and sound basic skills are required to
demonstrate this effectively.

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