BUSI 4003 Week 5 Targeting Audit Peer Replies Example

Course	BUSI 4003 Marketing Strategies for Small Business
Week	Week 5
Paper type	Discussion replies
Length	About 410 words, 3 pages
Format	Discussion reply, APA 7 citations
School	Walden University
Program	BS in Business Administration
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for BUSI 4003 Week 5

Week 5 Discussion: Auditing a Classmate's Target Buyer

Who Two Classmates' Targeting Plans Leave Out: Office Managers Ordering for Meetings at a Home Bakery and Homeowners' Associations Hiring for Common Areas at a Lawn Care Business

Response to Hannah

Hannah, your plan for the home bakery targets busy parents who want weekend treats, reached through Facebook groups for local families. That is a clear buyer. I noticed the plan leaves out one group your own post mentions: the two office managers who already order pastry trays for Monday meetings.

That exclusion matters for your channel choice. Office managers do not find bakeries through family Facebook groups; they find them through coworkers, catering searches and word of mouth among other office staff. If they are worth pursuing, the channel plan needs a different route, perhaps a sample box delivered to five nearby offices. They may also be worth more: a tray for twenty on a weekday fills a slow day, while family orders cluster on weekends.

The exclusion could be a sound decision. If your kitchen cannot handle weekday volume, or trays carry lower margins, leaving offices out keeps you focused. Smith (1956) argued that choosing a segment means deliberately not serving others. Was leaving out office buyers a decision based on capacity or margin, or did they simply fall outside the persona?

What this page is doingThe reply names the buyers the plan leaves out before arguing why the exclusion matters.

Response to Raj

Raj, your lawn care plan targets homeowners in the three new subdivisions north of town, reached by door hangers. Your post also mentions that each subdivision has a homeowners' association that maintains its entrances and common areas. The plan leaves those associations out.

An association is a single buyer for a larger, recurring contract, decided by a board once a year rather than by forty separate households. Reaching a board means a written proposal and a meeting, not a door hanger, so including associations would change both your channel and your timing, since most boards set their budgets in the winter. Sharp (2010) argues that small brands grow by adding buyers, and one association contract might bring the visibility that makes the door hangers work better.

Excluding associations might still be right if your crew is too small to commit to weekly common-area work or if association contracts are won mainly on price. Kotler and Keller (2022) note that targeting should reflect a firm's ability to serve a segment, not only the segment's size. Did you consider the associations and decide against them, or were they outside the plan from the start?

What this page is doingThe second reply follows the same test: name the excluded buyer, show why it matters for the channel, ask what would justify it.

References

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2022). Marketing management (16th ed.). Pearson.

Sharp, B. (2010). How brands grow: What marketers don't know. Oxford University Press.

Smith, W. R. (1956). Product differentiation and market segmentation as alternative marketing strategies. Journal of Marketing, 21(1), 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224295602100102

BUSI 4003 Week 5 instructions, in plain terms

Week 5 asks students to audit one another's targeting. Read a classmate's plan and identify a group of buyers it leaves out, preferably one mentioned somewhere in their own post. Explain why the exclusion matters, especially for channel choice, since a different buyer usually needs a different route to reach them. Acknowledge what might justify leaving the group out, such as capacity, margins or focus. Then ask whether the exclusion was a deliberate decision or an oversight. A reading should support the point about targeting or segment choice. Replies of about two hundred words are typical, and two are expected. The tone should be a friendly question with substance behind it.

How this BUSI 4003 Week 5 example is built

The reply to Hannah restates her target of busy parents reached through family Facebook groups, then points to the office managers her post mentions. It explains that office buyers find bakeries differently and suggests a sample box to nearby offices, noting that weekday trays might fill slow days. It grants that kitchen capacity or margins could justify the exclusion, cites Smith on choosing segments and asks whether leaving offices out was a decision. The reply to Raj restates his target and door-hanger channel, then raises the homeowners' associations that maintain common areas. It explains that a board decides once a year, often in winter, through proposals rather than door hangers, cites Sharp and Kotler and Keller and asks whether associations were considered.

Where the marks sit in the BUSI 4003 Week 5 rubric

These replies are graded on finding a meaningful omission and connecting it to a marketing decision. Naming an excluded group that the classmate's own post mentions is especially effective, since it cannot be dismissed. Graders look for the channel implication to be explained concretely: how would reaching this group differ? Acknowledging legitimate reasons to exclude the group shows fairness and understanding that targeting means choosing. The closing question must ask whether the exclusion was deliberate. Readings should support the reasoning about segments or capability. Replies that only praise the plan, suggest targeting everyone or criticize without a specific group in mind earn little.

BUSI 4003 Week 5 help from the desk

Read the classmate's plan for its target buyer and channel. Then scan the rest of the post for any other customer types mentioned in passing: businesses, institutions, older or younger groups, different neighborhoods. Pick one and ask how the plan would change if it were included. Write a sentence on what might justify leaving it out. End by asking whether the exclusion was on purpose. Weak replies suggest adding everyone, name a group with no connection to the classmate's business or argue the classmate chose the wrong target outright. Others forget the channel. Keep each reply near two hundred words. If you would like model targeting replies for plans in your section, share the posts you plan to answer.

Get a BUSI 4003 Week 5 example written to your instructions

Send the classmate post plus the reply rubric and a drafted response comes back in 24 to 48 hours, nothing charged for the first. Where two replies are required, they take separate angles so the pair reads as two contributions. Names and identifying details get stripped out of the pasted material first.

More BUSI 4003 papers and BS in Business Administration samples

BUSI 4003 Week 5 questions, answered

Where can I find a free BUSI 4003 Week 5 sample paper?

Each targeting-audit reply is reproduced here, open to all readers.

Which buyers do the BUSI 4003 Week 5 replies say are left out?

Office managers who order pastry trays from a home bakery, and homeowners' associations that hire lawn care for common areas.

Why does each exclusion matter for channels?

Office buyers and association boards are not reached by family Facebook groups or door hangers; they need sample boxes or written proposals.

Could leaving them out be right?

Yes, if capacity, margins or focus justify it, which is why each reply asks whether the exclusion was deliberate.

What reading supports the replies?

Smith on segment choice, Sharp on growth through new buyers and Kotler and Keller on targeting segments a firm can serve.