Scent Marketing
Your M2 Practitioner Application will require devoted inquiry, assimilation, reflection, and refinement in order to achieve the highest possible score. Specifically, you are to take the scenario listed below, address it in full, and submit your work in accordance with the instructions contained herein. This is an independent assignment to be completed by you and you alone. Sharing work with fellow students, supplying advice to your student peers, gaining assistance from outside parties, and similar actions will constitute violations of the academic code of conduct and will carry significant penalties in accordance with University policy.
The Challenge
One of your M2 readings focused on scent marketing. Scent is being used increasingly in certain business contexts to create more pleasing customer experiences. By conducting some Internet research, you’ll quickly come to see that the strategic use of scent, in fact, is being used by at least some in the healthcare industry, with some applications being obvious and others less so.
For this Practitioner Application, you are to place yourself in the role of Marketing Director for a soon-to-be-established cosmetic surgery center based in the city of your choice. (An actual city must be selected as this assignment calls for formal market research.) The entity will be known as Cardiff Cosmetic Surgery and it will offer the usual and customary array of services provided by cosmetic surgery centers. (If you aren’t familiar with this modality of healthcare, conduct Internet or field research to gain a proper understanding.) The practice’s owner desires using scent to improve the patient experience and has requested your assistance and expertise. Your task is to investigate scent research, seeking insights regarding common applications, healthcare-specific applications, and applications which might be particularly helpful in cosmetic surgery contexts. Then, supply a report which communicates research findings and provides scent recommendations and associated methods of application which have the potential to enhance the experiences of patients receiving services at the establishment.
The Submission Requirement
Your submission in its entirety (i.e., all inclusive) must be AT LEAST 1200 words. It is to be typed (or pasted) directly into the Moodle posting window, after which you will submit your work. After submission, students are advised to verify that the assignment was submitted successfully by revisiting the submission link in advance of the assignment deadline. (Warning: After the assignment deadline, do not return to the M1 Practitioner Application to check the status of your submission, as doing so can change the submission date, forcing issuance of penalties for lateness.) Note that attachments of any kind are prohibited and will carry no points value. Given the length of the submission, it is advised that students prepare it in a word processing program, and when finalized, copy and paste the actual text (not the file!) into the Moodle posting window. Moodle can be very finicky and often will distort formatting, so care must be taken in preparing your submission. It is understood that Moodle formatting is limited; simply make your submission look as nice as possible.
Submissions must incorporate a minimum of ten (10) references, with at least three (3) being from scholarly academic journals. (If you cannot ascertain whether a journal does or does not qualify as scholarly academic, contact the Noel Library and request assistance.) References must be prepared using the latest version of APA style, as referenced in the . You may purchase this manual from most any bookstore or from APA directly, or you may consult the many helpful online resources which demonstrate APA style. If you opt to purchase or otherwise acquire this book, you’ll find Chapter 10 to be monumentally helpful, as it presents examples for presenting any reference imaginable. If you opt against acquisition of the APA manual and make use of online guidance, be absolutely certain that the associated websites indeed are providing information from the latest edition of the APA manual (7th Edition, 2020). The test of whether your references are or are not correct and compliant rests with the guidance supplied in the current edition of the APA manual. As penalties for infractions are severe, as noted below, do not take preparation of references lightly.
Note that one should never simply copy-and-paste references from websites or other databases, as these frequently contain errors—-which will become your errors and will be penalized, accordingly. Note also that relying on reference software for preparing references is high risk, as results sometimes do not conform with APA style. The safest way to ensure that your references are prepared correctly is to acquire the APA manual and then manually assemble your references following associated guidance.
As Moodle formatting is limited, APA style applies only to the preparation and presentation of references. In-text citations, of course, must be included. Treat this as a formal report, rather than an informal web post.
Incomplete or otherwise noncompliant reference sections which do not follow the guidance provided in the will result in a 30-point deduction. To avoid this deduction, your entire reference section must be compliant with all guidelines.
In presenting your overall work, identify the title, your name and student ID number, and submission date at the top of your submission and supply the following headings and subheadings, exactly as they appear below, placing each in bold text:
- Introduction (In this section, supply a brief introduction, helping the reader grasp the intent of the forthcoming work.)
- Background
- City Profile (In this section, supply a brief overview of the city of focus, noting its name, population, demographic characteristics, and any other helpful background information.)
- Service Profile (In this section, supply an overview profiling cosmetic surgery services. Provide a definition, note major areas of focus, and convey other helpful details, demonstrating your grasp of this particular area of healthcare.) Note: This is not a role-playing section. Here, you are defining and describing the given modality of care!
- Research and Recommendations
- Applicable Scent Research Findings (In this section, summarize general scent research findings and direct specific attention toward scent research findings in medical contexts.)
- Recommended Scent(s) and Method(s) of Application (In this section, identify the scent(s) recommended for the cosmetic surgery center and discuss the method(s) recommended for applying scent in the facility.)
- Conclusions (In this section, summarize the report, being sure to express your expectations regarding how the recommended scent enhancements will impact the patient experience.)
- References
- Scholarly Academic Journal Article References (In this section, supply an alphabetized list of all scholarly academic journal article references which were used in your submission. Number each reference beginning with the number 1.)
- Other References (In this section, supply an alphabetized list of all other references—-those which ARE NOT scholarly academic journal article references—-which were used in your submission. Do not continue the numbering from the prior reference section. Instead, restart the numbering for this section beginning, of course, with number 1.)
Assessment Criteria
Your submission will be assessed based on the following:
- Compliance quality: The degree to which your submission complies with noted guidelines, including word count and reference specifications,
- Communication quality: The degree to which your work meets standards expected in business communications, including matters concerning the use of proper grammar and punctuation, and
- Content quality: The quality of the content presented in your work.
Take care when determining word counts; Moodle automatically supplies these details to instructors. If word count requirements are not met, a 30-point deduction is assessed. (Note that Moodle’s word count algorithm may differ from the one used by your word processor, presenting yet another reason supporting an early submission, affording adjustment opportunities, if needed.)
Also, take care to note the deadline for this assignment. Late submissions will be accepted for up to 24 hours beyond the deadline; however, a 30-point deduction for lateness will be assessed. Submissions received more than 24 hours beyond the deadline are automatically scored zero points.
Further, take care to note that submissions are to address the inquiry presented in the noted instructions in full. Alterations to the inquiry as presented herein are prohibited and will result in submissions being scored zero points.
Good luck!