Brand Marketing Report and Report Writing

The basics of report writing in an academic structure.

Everything needs a beginning, middle and end, everything needs to be logical.

Need to critically analyse.

Outline
·      Title page
·      Contents page
·      Introduction – what is report about?
·      Mid-section of the report- deals with the key issues under discussion
·      Conclusion – can sound repetitive but that is OK.
·      Recommendations (from report research and findings)
·      Bibliography - references
·      Appendices – extra research that isn’t used in report but still needs to refer to part of the report e.g. see appendix 5 – can put results of questionnaires in here

How does this content break down?
Title page
            Institution Name
            [Title of Piece]
                        By
            [Insert Name]
            BA (Hons.) XXXX

Declaration
Word count: 3000 (10% +/-) doesn’t include abstract/ appendices/ references

Contents page
A list of all the things you discuss in your report in a chronological order
Don’t do this manually

Introduction
Overview of what you intend to discuss.
Keep it concise.
Discuss key points of your report and your intended research.
Give a flavour of what you anticipate your findings/research may extract – will give a fuller over view of findings in conclusion.

Headers
e.g. 2 Topshop
2.1 Research findings
2.2 Initial Analysis
2.3 Current Brand Positioning

Conclusion
Summing up of research findings/report intentions; it rounds off the whole piece, touching on the critical aspects of our discussion.
Must be to the point and concise.

Recommendations
E.g. Why does brand have issues?
What if anything are they doing (need to do) to redress this?
Where is the brand situation, where do you feel (based solidly on research) does the brand need to be? E.g. high end, low end
How can the brand intervene through its current situation; what can it do to change its fate? (consider market conditions, positioning in market place, consumer perceptions and so on and so forth)

References
Add all your long referencing through the Bibliography

Appendices
Used to relate any information that connects to your essay context but would not be put in the actual essay itself.
e.g. Sample of a survey I constructed
A full quote which attaches to a segment of a quote used in main essay

Basic guide to academic writing

Writing styles – a mixture makes a good report
·      Factual writing – states the facts of the case exactly as they are.
·      Descriptive writing – a detailed account of the characteristics.
·      Explanatory – makes things clear and gives the reasons for them.
·      Discursive writing – investigates things by reasoning or making a reasoned examination.
·      Analytical writing – examines complex things to discover how they work.

Avoid phrases that add nothing to your meaning or could be replaced by one word e.g.

Due to the fact that = because
On a daily basis = dialy
Of a complex nature = complex
In a fashion studio situation = in the studio

Voice
Use passive or active words to avoid using the first person- that is;
·      ‘we’ not ‘I’
·      passive (‘a concept was selected’) or active (‘we selected a concept’) ‘An experiment was conducted’ bit ‘I conducted an experiment”
Pick whichever sounds more natural and be consistent!!

Tense
·      When reporting findings, use the past tense. E.g. we built and tested a fashion runway.
·      When reporting other people’s research, use the present tense e.g. summer clothes are multi-coloured. – secondary data.
·      When discussing my findings, use the present tense.

e.g. Smith (2015) argues that the precise dimensions of any clothing are not crucial. However, our research showed wide variations in results when the variable was altered even slightly. We conclude that the correct choice of dimensions is a significant factor in achieving success with these clothes”

Numbering
Main sections are numbered 1,2,3 with each sub section given a decimal subdivision. Keep as simple as possible.

What issues might I consider in my report?

Diversity, ethics, sustainability, social media, influencer marketing.



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