Exploring Marketing Strategies

Year Level

Year 6 (Ages 11-12)

Duration

45 minutes

Class Size

25 students

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Unit Title

Business Basics: Shark Tank!

Lesson Number

Lesson 4 of 20

Lesson Title

Exploring Marketing Strategies

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Curriculum Alignment

Australian Curriculum: Economics and Business (Version 9)
This lesson aligns with the Year 6 content descriptions under:

• ACHBE062: Investigate and explain how and why businesses plan, produce, promote and distribute goods and services to satisfy consumer needs.
• ACHBE064: Identify and explore how businesses use marketing and advertising to influence consumer decisions.

Focus Areas:

• Understanding concepts of marketing and advertising
• Exploring different marketing strategies
• Developing creative and collaborative skills by producing a marketing poster

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Learning Intention

Students will:

• Identify various marketing techniques used by businesses to promote products and services.
• Understand how marketing strategies aim to influence consumer decisions.

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Success Criteria

Students can:

• Describe at least three different marketing techniques.
• Explain why businesses use these techniques.
• Collaboratively create a poster using a selected marketing strategy to promote a fictional product.

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Lesson Overview and Timing

Time	Activity	Description
0 – 5 mins	Introduction & Set Context	Brief recap of previous lessons in the "Business Basics" unit. Introduce today's focus on marketing strategies. Use simple definitions and examples familiar to students.
5 – 15 mins	Explicit Teaching: Marketing Techniques	Discuss different marketing methods (advertising through TV, social media, celebrity endorsements, slogans, packaging and displays, sales promotions). Include examples relevant to Year 6 students' lives.
15 – 25 mins	Group Brainstorm and Planning	Students break into 5 groups (5 students each). Each group selects a fictional product from a provided list or creates their own. They choose a marketing technique to focus on. Groups brainstorm key ideas for their poster, planning visuals and slogans.
25 – 40 mins	Collaborative Poster Creation Task	Using paper, markers, coloured pencils, magazines for cut-outs (if possible), groups design and create a poster promoting their product using their chosen marketing strategy. Encourage creativity, clear messages, and persuasive content.
40 – 45 mins	Gallery Walk & Reflection	Groups display posters around the room. Class walks around, viewing each group’s work. Teacher facilitates a reflection discussion on how different marketing strategies were used and their potential effectiveness.

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Lesson Resources

• Whiteboard and markers
• Pre-prepared list of fictional products (e.g., toy robot, sports drink, eco-friendly backpack)
• Art supplies for poster making (paper, markers, coloured pencils, glue, magazines for cut-outs)
• Examples of marketing materials (print ads, screenshots of commercials, simple product packaging images)

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Differentiation

• Provide sentence starters/prompts for groups who need support with language, e.g., “Our product is ___”, “We chose this marketing technique because ___.”
• Offer extension: Challenge advanced students to explain why a particular marketing technique might work better for certain audiences.
• Support group roles to ensure all students participate (e.g., scribe, artist, presenter).

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Assessment and Feedback

• Formative Assessment: Observe group discussions and participation. Use questioning to check understanding of marketing strategies.
• Summative Assessment: Assess posters for clear use of a marketing technique and persuasive appeal aligned with student explanations.
• Use peer feedback during gallery walk: Each student notes one effective marketing idea from another group.

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Key Vocabulary

• Marketing
• Advertising
• Consumer
• Product
• Slogan
• Persuasion
• Promotion
• Target audience

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Teaching Notes and Tips

• Use relatable marketing examples like popular toys, snacks, or apps children may know.
• Emphasise the purpose of marketing: to inform, persuade, and remind consumers.
• Highlight ethical marketing briefly – talk about honesty and fairness in advertising.
• Encourage creativity but also clarity in communication on posters.

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Cross Curriculum Priorities and General Capabilities

• Literacy: Develops skills in written and visual communication through poster creation.
• Critical and Creative Thinking: Choosing and designing effective marketing strategies engages reasoning and creativity.
• Personal and Social Capability: Working collaboratively in groups, negotiating ideas and planning.

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This lesson plan provides a structured, engaging, and curriculum-aligned approach to introducing Year 6 students to marketing strategies, grounded firmly in the Australian Curriculum V9 standards for Economics and Business, targeting ACHBE062 and ACHBE064 specifically. It balances direct instruction with cooperative learning and formative assessment to build foundational business literacy in a fun and relevant way.

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If you would like, I can also help create a sample rubric for the assessment of the posters or a template handout for the group work.