Marketing Guidelines

Format and Guidelines for Writing Executive Summary Reports (and writing in general!)

Goal: To give you practice writing in a short, disciplined manner, please use the following organization and format in your writing for this class.

Assume your audience is the VP of Marketing of your organization or the sponsor organization.

Organization

1. Introduction/Key Issues. State the purpose of the report and specify the key issues in the business situation that will be addressed in your analysis. Why is the reader reading your report?

2. Recommendations. State the manner in which each of the issues you have identified should be resolved. What do you want the reader to do after he or she has read your report? In this section, only your recommendations should be given. Reasons for the recommendations should appear in the analysis.

3. Analysis. This is the heart of your report. It entails marshaling evidence that supports your problem identification and your recommended course of action.

4. Conclusion. At the end of your report, use a paragraph to reiterate your key points and what you want the reader to do after reading it.

5. Exhibits. Place charts, tables, and specific analyses that are better presented in a standalone fashion than within paragraphs of text here. Charts and tables can be powerful devices for conveying key ideas while paragraphs full of numbers are hard to read. It is better to explain your point, then refer readers to an exhibit for specifics. Your cases have good examples of exhibits and their use in business reports.

Note that this organization is good for persuasive business writing in general. (In reports outside this class, exhibits will often be embedded within the text rather than placed at the end.)

Guidelines:

* The executive summary is limited to no more than two pages, single spaced.

* You have the option of including an additional page with a diagram or table to support your answer.

* Memo format is acceptable.

* Bullets are NOT acceptable.

* Do not recite facts already presented in the case, unless they support a strategic implementation you are suggesting.

* Remember to properly cite any reference material you have used.

* No late submissions will be accepted

Format and Length

 Provide a cover sheet for your report with names of authors.

 Use