| Course | BUSI 330 Principles of Marketing (BUSI330) |
|---|---|
| Module/Week | 8 |
| Assignment | Collaborative Marketing Plan Final Draft |
| Paper type | Group marketing plan, final draft |
| Length | about 528 words, 2 double-spaced pages plus title page and references. Course guide: the final draft of the group marketing plan for a new product concept at a Fortune 500 company, prepared collaboratively with content from every member |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| Points | 60 |
| School | Liberty University Online |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Where it sits | Module/Week 8 in Liberty's published BUSI 330 course guide; current sections can differ |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUSI 330 Week 8
Deere SoilSense Marketing Plan, Final Draft: Promotion, Implementation, Budget and Evaluation
[Student Name]
School of Business, Liberty University
BUSI 330: Principles of Marketing
Collaborative Marketing Plan: Final Draft
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
SoilSense is an imaginary product concept; its budget, targets and schedule are proposals written for the assignment, and the textbook, public company facts and research cited are real.
Deere SoilSense Marketing Plan, Final Draft: Promotion, Implementation, Budget and Evaluation
1. Executive Summary
SoilSense is a proposed subscription service from Deere and Company that places solar-powered soil probes in farm fields and turns hourly readings into fertilizer and irrigation recommendations inside Deere's Operations Center software. The plan targets mid-sized corn and soybean farms of 500 to 2,000 acres in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana that already use Deere's software. SoilSense is priced at $4.00 per acre per year, with a $3.00 introductory price, and is sold, installed and maintained by Deere dealers. The first-year goal is 800 farms covering 600,000 acres, with 85 percent renewal. A coordinated promotion program centered on proof from local fields, a first-year marketing budget of $2.1 million and an evaluation plan with holdout markets complete the plan.
2. Strategy Summary From Drafts 1 to 3
- Situation: Rising input costs and lower precision technology adoption on mid-sized farms create an opening (McFadden et al., 2023); rural connectivity is the main threat.
- Target and positioning: Mid-sized corn and soybean growers using Deere software; SoilSense is the dealer-installed service that turns field readings into recommendations.
- Product: Probes, hourly data and recommendations, with installation, maintenance and an agronomist hotline.
- Price: Value-based, below the estimated $4.50 per acre of savings for a typical target farm.
- Place: Deere dealers sell and service; software is delivered online; online sign-ups are credited to local dealers.
3. Promotion Program
Following the textbook's integrated approach (Kerin & Hartley, 2020), every SoilSense touchpoint repeats one idea. SoilSense's single message is: see what your soil needs before you spend. Farmers trust a neighbor's field more than any advertisement, so every promotional tool points back to local proof.
- Dealer training and incentives: two-day sessions for sales and service staff before launch, plus demonstration kits.
- Field days: pilot farms host summer events where neighbors see probes and compare their own records.
- Personal selling: dealers present SoilSense during fall equipment service visits, when they already meet customers.
- Digital advertising: targeted ads inside Operations Center and on farm news sites, measured against holdout groups.
- Public relations: pilot results shared with farm media and extension services.
- Referral program: a one-season credit of $0.50 per acre for farms that refer a neighbor who subscribes.
4. Launch Timeline
| Period | Activity |
|---|---|
| Months 1-3 | Complete field pilot data; train dealers in three states |
| Months 4-6 | Field days at pilot farms; begin dealer selling during service visits |
| Months 7-9 | Digital campaign; installations before spring planting |
| Months 10-12 | First recommendations delivered; renewal outreach after harvest |
5. First-Year Marketing Budget
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Dealer training and demonstration kits | $600,000 |
| Field days and pilot farm support | $350,000 |
| Digital advertising | $500,000 |
| Public relations and farm media | $150,000 |
| Referral credits | $300,000 |
| Market research and evaluation | $200,000 |
| Total | $2,100,000 |
6. Evaluation and Control
- Sign-ups and acres: tracked monthly by state and dealer against the 800-farm, 600,000-acre goal.
- Renewal: measured after the first harvest against the 85 percent target.
- Agronomic results: average nitrogen applied per acre among users, compared with their prior three years in Operations Center.
- Promotion effectiveness: the digital campaign runs in two of three states, with the third serving as a holdout during the first two months, so that incremental sign-ups, not just clicks, can be measured. The eBay experiment by Blake et al. (2015), in which switching off brand-name search ads barely dented sales, is the reason SoilSense measures promotion against a holdout state.
7. Stewardship Commitments
The plan treats farmers' data and land as entrusted resources. Farmers own their field data, Deere will not sell individual farm data, and recommendations are designed to reduce excess fertilizer that can reach waterways. These commitments support trust, which the target buyers value highly, and reflect the responsibility the course's ethics chapter describes.
8. Member Contributions
- Executive summary and strategy summary: Member D.
- Promotion program and timeline: Member A.
- Budget and evaluation: Member B.
- Stewardship section and final editing: Member C.
References
Blake, T., Nosko, C., & Tadelis, S. (2015). Consumer heterogeneity and paid search effectiveness: A large-scale field experiment. Econometrica, 83(1), 155-174. https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA12423
Kerin, R. A., & Hartley, S. W. (2020). Marketing: The core (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
McFadden, J., Njuki, E., & Griffin, T. (2023). Precision agriculture in the digital era: Recent adoption on U.S. farms (Economic Information Bulletin No. 248). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
What the BUSI 330 Week 8 instructions ask
The finished SoilSense plan is the last group deliverable in BUSI 330, worth 60 points in Module/Week 8, as students read the closing chapter on advertising, sales promotion and public relations. The group assembles the complete plan for introducing its approved new product at its chosen Fortune 500 company, revising earlier drafts in light of the instructor's feedback and adding the remaining sections, especially promotion, implementation and evaluation. As in every draft, each member must contribute content to receive credit, and the final document should read as one coherent plan rather than four separate pieces.
How this BUSI 330 Week 8 example is built
The final draft begins with an executive summary that a manager could read alone, then condenses the decisions from Drafts 1 to 3 into a short strategy section. The new material comes next: a promotion program that coordinates dealer training, field days, digital advertising, public relations and a referral program around one message, a month-by-month launch timeline, and a budget table. The evaluation section sets metrics for each objective and a holdout design for measuring promotion. A short stewardship section and a list of member contributions finish the plan, so the instructor can see how the whole plan fits together. Tables keep the timeline and budget readable.
BUSI 330 Week 8 grading rubric: where the points go
The final draft is graded on completeness, coherence and quality: whether the plan covers the situation analysis, target market and positioning, the full marketing mix, implementation, budget and evaluation, whether its decisions are consistent with one another and with the evidence, and whether it reflects the instructor's earlier feedback. Instructors look for a promotion program tied to objectives, a realistic budget and measurable evaluation criteria. Every member's contribution matters to that member's credit. Plans that simply staple drafts together, leave the budget vague or offer no way to measure success lose points. An executive summary that matches the details inside the plan shows careful final editing. Stewardship commitments that connect to specific practices, such as data ownership, show the plan's ethics are more than a statement.
BUSI 330 Week 8 help: mistakes that cost points
Write the executive summary last, after all sections are final, so it reflects the actual plan. Reread every earlier draft and fix contradictions, such as a price or target that changed. Build the promotion program around one clear message and choose tools that reach both the end customer and any intermediaries. Put a timeline and budget in tables. Define how you will measure each objective, and include a fair test of whether promotion caused results. Have one member edit the whole plan for a single voice, and list each member's contributions. Make the SoilSense summary's figures match the budget and timeline tables exactly. Read the final plan aloud once as a group to catch contradictions.
Related BUSI 330 sample papers
Other BUSI 330 weeks
- BUSI 330 Week 1: Forum 1 Thread and Replies
- BUSI 330 Week 2: Marketing Plan Draft 1
- BUSI 330 Week 3: Forum 2 Thread and Replies
- BUSI 330 Week 4: Marketing Plan Draft 2
- BUSI 330 Week 5: Forum 3 Thread and Replies
- BUSI 330 Week 6: Marketing Plan Draft 3
- BUSI 330 Week 7: Forum 4 Thread and Replies
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BUSI 330 Week 8 questions, answered
What is the BUSI 330 Marketing Plan Final Draft?
The last SoilSense submission, worth 60 points, merges the three earlier drafts and adds the promotion program, launch timeline, budget and evaluation plan.
Where can I find a free BUSI 330 Week 8 sample paper?
Find the finished BUSI 330 Week 8 SoilSense plan here, from executive summary through promotion, timeline, budget and holdout-based evaluation. It is the group's final draft.
What goes in the final section of a marketing plan?
Implementation and control: a timeline of who does what and when, a budget, and the metrics and methods the company will use to judge whether the plan is working.
How should a marketing plan measure promotion?
Tie each campaign to an objective, measure incremental results rather than raw clicks or reach, and where possible compare markets that received the campaign with markets that did not.
What else is due in BUSI 330 Module/Week 8?
The eighth and final quiz, on advertising, sales promotion and public relations, is also due. The final marketing plan carries the most points of any assignment in the course.
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