Unit 4.

2 Group Marketing Project Assignment

Much of the writing produced in the professional world is not the work of a single author, but rather
the product of collaboration. It is important you understand how you work in a group setting, what
you bring to a group setting, and how to work with others who have different skills and ideas from
you on a singular project. For this reason, you will be working on a collaborative marketing project
with two or three other students that will ask you to promote a civil initiative for Fargo/Moorhead.
The civil initiative for this assignment is in finding ways to improve life for young professionals in
the FM area.
I will assign you to a group (based on your responses to your group activity reports) because one of
the expectations of the working world is that you are able to collaborate with a variety of individuals
with different backgrounds, viewpoints, skills, and experiences. Your group assignments will be
made based upon your work in the Group Work Activity Report and any other information I may
receive from you. It is your responsibility, along with your teammates, to ensure that you work
productively as a cohesive group. You will be graded on this project as a group; the cooperation of
your fellow group members is important to complete the required tasks on time and at a satisfactory
level. You will also individually compose a reflection at the end of the unit in which you describe
what your group did, your role in this project, and any problems you had to overcome. Finally, your
group will present your proposal as if you are pitching your idea to a real client.
As part of the beginning stages of working in your group, you will want to have some meetings in
which you do the following:
Identify your target group, i.e. who counts as a young professional? Think about
demographics and do some research.
Research the FM area. What do we already offer that attracts young professionals? What
could we improve on? Please dont think about projects that are too expensive (i.e. building
an entirely new venue) because these projects are less likely to be supported. Instead, use the
resources our area already has and find ways to improve/build upon these already existing
resources, or turning present weaknesses in our available resources into strengths. Think
about building potential partnerships between businesses or other resources. Think about
new marketing plans. Think about what we can do with what we already have.
Learn about the specific resources the cities of Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo have to
build on for whatever focus you are creating for this project. These resources need to be
geared toward whatever you choose to focus on (i.e. activities for families, music, local
companies, public art)
As you conduct this research, track what information you gathered from each sourceyou will
likely use some of this information in a written document later, and it will need to be cited. After
your group has identified your target audience, researched the FM area, and learned more about the
specific resources already available in the community, you will use this information to design tools
for market research. Market research will be gathered through a survey and a focus group
questionnaire, which are explained in section 4.2.1.

4.2.1: Market Research

40 points
When organizations and businesses make efforts to promote services, ideas or products to their
audiences, they often find it useful to learn more about the interests, opinions, values and desires of
those audiences, much like successful writers attempt to tailor their messages to the needs and values
of their readers. As an initial step toward completing your group marketing project, you will engage
in some market research that will require you to not only determine what you need to learn from
and about your target audience, but will also require that you produce questions and research
documents that you can use to obtain this information. The market research stage of the group
marketing project will have two key components. Please make sure to read these instructions
carefully as they are fairly detailed and have multiple components in each stage.
A Survey (20 points for completing this in its entirety)
Your group needs to compose a series of questions (8-10) for a survey. The purpose of the
survey is to learn more about the needs, interests and hopes of young people in the FM area
in regards to the marketing initiative youre working on. Design your survey so that it
contains at least 6 multiple-choice or Likert-scale questions and at least 2 open-ended,
qualitative questions. You may also decide to collect demographic information (major, age,
hometown, gender, etc.), but demographic questions will not count toward the total 8
question minimum. At a minimum, your group will gather 12 responses to the survey from
people outside our class. You may distribute the survey in person, online, or through a mix
of the two. A copy of your survey questions will be included as an appendix to the formal
proposal.
A Focus Group (20 points for completing this in its entirety)
Each group will prepare a focus group questionnaire to better understand how life could be
improved for young professionals in the FM area. Each group will be expected to have 5-10
qualitative questions prepared for the focus group. The focus group questionnaire will be
shared on Blackboards discussion board. Only one group member needs to post this
questionnaire. After posting the questionnaires, your group needs to answer the other
groups questionnaires. Please note the same group member does not need to answer every
questionnaire; you can split this work between a number of you. A copy of your focus group
questionnaire will be included as an appendix to the formal proposal.
The information generated by both the survey and the focus group will be used in the next step of
the group marketing project, the formal proposal, which will require you to utilize the information
you gained in your market research as justification for your planned market initiative. You will also
need to conduct some secondary research for this proposal, so you should prepare to do that as well.

4.2.2: Formal Proposal

100 points
Having completed market research designed to help you identify the interests and needs of young
professionals, the time has come for your group to decide what sort of marketing campaign you will
pursue, what media it will utilize, and what specific audience it will target. As in most business
activities, before youre are allowed to embark on a major project, you will be required to complete a
formal proposal that does the following:
Clearly states the problem or opportunity your campaign is meant to address
Provides a clear analysis of your market research
Clearly explains what exact marketing initiative you propose (including what media you will
use, what content your initiative will cover, and who your target audience will be)
Clearly explains how this initiative will solve the problem/meet the opportunity and directly
links your proposed initiative to the findings of your market research
Provides steps you will take in completing this project
Provides a description of your qualifications for this project
Provides a conclusion that sums up your information
Follows proposal format and makes use of the conventions of the genre. Refer to chapter 8
in your book. Page 197 has an at a glance organizational layout of the proposal genre.
o For front matter, I am requiring a cover page.
o Note that you may make up your qualifications.
o Also note that I am not requiring you to make a detailed budget for this projectbut
still include a space for where the budget would be detailed. I still expect the
benefits section to be detailed.
o For back matter, include references, appendices (survey and questionnaire), and any
other material you deem relevant.
Meets American writing standards in terms of
o clarity,
o organization,
o flow,
o concision, and
o grammar/mechanics/usage.
Before you submit the formal proposal, I need to approve your groups marketing initiative idea.
Your proposal should run between 4 to 5 single-spaced pages, not including sources or appendices.
To turn in this assignment, (1) bring a print copy to class and (2) upload a copy to Blackboard.

4.2.3: Individual Evaluation of the Group Marketing Proposal

45 points
The ability to provide a self-evaluation and evaluate team members on a project is an important
professional skill. Often, companies will ask for annual self-evaluations and at times you may be
asked to evaluate the performance of a colleague. In this vein, I am asking you to evaluate your own
performance for the marketing project, as well as evaluate the performance of your team members
in a brief reflective memo written to me. The memo should be between 1-2 single spaced pages.
This memo should include the following:
The typical genre components of a professional memo (See the handout memo genre
review on Blackboard)
A section that discusses your contribution to the group marketing project. Share what you
did for the project and your evaluation of your own work for the project.
A section that shares what other group members contributed to the project. Give an
evaluation (about one paragraph per person) of how well each person completed their tasks
A section that tells me how you feel the project went overall. Share any suggestions you have
for the group project as well.
A section that describes how you will use your reflection to improve group dynamics for the
group presentation. Starting Dec. 5, groups will be pitching their proposals. What can you
do to make sure your group is able to successfully deliver a presentation together?
You will be graded on how well you complete this assignment with all the component parts listed
above and following genre conventions. Ignoring a component or choosing not to do a part of this
assignment will result in losing a number of points, based upon what you left out. For an idea of
how many points you could lose, if you leave out the self-evaluation section, for example, you could
lose up to 20 points.
Make sure you do NOT complain about your group herethat would be returned ungraded; this is
asking for you to be introspective about your own skills and abilities and to do some end-of project
assessment that will allow your next interaction to be more effective. In all groups, you are the
ONLY person whose attitudes and behaviors you can control. Your satisfaction with group work
depends upon your ability to develop strategies to shape group interactions and your own responses.
To turn in this assignment, (1) bring a print copy to class and (2) upload a copy to Blackboard.
Evaluation Notes: (create a grid for each team memberto develop materialdont turn in)
Performance criteria (should Exceeded
Met expectations Didnt meet
match those listed in team
expectations
(examples)
expectations
contract)
(examples)
(examples)
1.
2.
3.
4.

Unit 4.2 Schedule

Note: all reading and writing assignments are due on the date they are listed.

Reading assignment

Writing assignment

Wed. Oct. 26, 2016

Read Chapter 3 in TCT,

Working in Teams, pp.
39-59.

Fri. Oct. 28, 2016

Read Chapter 8 in TCT,

Proposals, pp. 195-225.

Mon. Oct. 31, 2016

Read Chapter 12 in TCT,

Strategic Planning, Being
Creative, pp. 329-342.

Wed. Nov. 2, 2016

Read Chapter 14 in TCT,

Researching in Technical
Workplaces, pp. 364-393.

Group contracts due. Email them to me

because I will use them when evaluating
your work.

Mon. Nov. 7, 2016

Read Chapter 15,

Organization and
Drafting, pp. 394-418.

Surveys and focus group

questionnaires due. Start distributing
your surveys to people outside our class.
Post focus group questionnaires to group
discussion board on Blackboard.

Wed. Nov. 9, 2016

*Nov. 10 is the last
day to drop with
W record

Read Chapter 16, Using

Plain and Persuasive Style,,
pp. 421-443.

Group focus group responses due. By

this date, your group will have,
collectively, responded once to each of
the other focus group questionnaires on
Blackboard. Again, you may split this
work among your group members. Have
one person respond to Group A and B,
another person respond to Group C and
D, etc.

Group work activity report due.

Fri. Nov. 4, 2016

Fri. Nov. 11, 2016

Veterans Dayno class
Mon. Nov. 14, 2016
Wed. Nov. 16, 2016
Fri. Nov. 18, 2016
Mon. Nov. 21, 2016 Read Creating a Portfolio
section in TCT, pp. 317-9.
Wed. Nov. 23, 2016

Group marketing proposal due. Print

copy + electronic copy on Blackboard.

Individual evaluation memos due.

Print copy + electronic Blackboard copy
*This schedule is subject to change. You will be notified of any changes in a reasonable amount of time.