The Concept of the Marketing Audit

The marketing audit allows a planner to gather all the necessary information they need to plan successfully.

Features of audits

A comprehensive marketing audit should cover all the main marketing activities of an organisation

The marketing audit is systematic investigation of the organisations macro and micro environments. It should reveal where improvements need to be made and lead to appropriate action plans to secure these improvements

The audit should cover the marketing environment as well as the strategy, organisation, systems, productivity and functions of marketing

The audit should be completed by a seperate auditing function to aviod bias

Information, data and opinions should be obtained from sources such as customers and agents outside the organisation

The internal/external environment

Macro (external)

Political- political power determines the law and government policy determines public sector spending and taxation- VAT, import and excise duties together with laws related to business management e.g. labour laws, advertising and competition policies

Economic- issues outside direct government control e.g. inflation, unemployment and raw material prices and availability

Social and Cultural- includes demographic trends

Technological- particularly those affecting production processes, computers, materials and information

Legal- many large companies have internal legal departments to advise management when deciding strategy

Environmental- including rules and regulations concerning the manufacturing of products to the current trends within the market

Market trends and size- The more organisations there are and the more equal their size the more competitive the market is likely to be

Competitive conditions- including the existence of rival products, the ease of market entry and exit and the relative power of the main players.

Trends in customer behaviour- changes to income and buying patterns, changes to brand loyalties

Changes in distribution channels- could effect the power structure within the market including changes in distributors location and changes to relative bargaining strengths

The supply market- affects most organisations since input costs has to be reflected in output prices

Micro (internal)

Sales and marketing trends- constant watch should be made over market share and further investigation made if there is a decline.

The marketing mix- Each of the four P's should be investigated and views gained from sources both within and outside the firm

Financial aspects- profits, margins and costs are all clear areas of concern but cashflow needs to be examined as profits can quickly erode by lax financial management. The financing of equipment and other assets should be examined and the marketing systems need to be considered:

Planning systems- a review of information and data gathering is desirable including the effectiveness of market research procedures as well as the relevance of strategic and marketing objectives, strategies and the control, budgeting and planning systems

Marketing within the company structure- The relationship between marketing and the other functions has an important bearing on the effectiveness of marketing plans.

	Created by james.bowditch about 11 years ago

The Marketing Audit Note on The Marketing Audit, created by james.bowditch on 29/09/2013.

The Marketing Audit