Marketing Audits and Its Importance to an Organisation

selling Audits and its importance to an organisation As of I am starting to write this essay, an historic and staggering incident happened in USStandard & Poors first time downgraded American Federal Bonds form AAA to AA+. Look at the messed up world stinting pictureUS is suffering from recession without any better signs, Europe is struggling with debt crisis, only growth engine China is also slowing down.We be facing the greatest uncertainty ever experienced before, as for economic society, walking away from this desperate situation needs to review history and perplex provide tools, from an organisations point of view, one of the utile tools is to seek for effective and regular market audits to cope with rapidly changing economic purlieu. definition and Purposes of trade Audit The concept of merchandising audit dated back to 1950s and evolved through application phase of 1960s, turbulent 1970s, growing period of mid-eighties and 1990s until now. The followings ar several definitions of merchandise audits A comprehensive examination of an organisations market structure, programs and performance-Peter Rix, Marketing-a practical approach Systematic, critical, rigorous and deaf(p) study of efficiency of all merchandising activities within an organisation extending to evaluation of apiece and every functional objective and their effective coordination-Brian Monger, Marketing in dusky white A periodic, comprehensive, taxonomical, and independent examination of the organisations marketing environment, internal marketing system and ad hoc marketing activities-Philip KotlerThe purposes of marketing audit are to find marketing opportunities, locate marketing issues, seek right short term and long term solution, which ensure the implementation of marketing protrudes or the fiat of unreasonable plans to improve an organisations overall marketing performance. Components of the Marketing Audit An effective and rounded marketing audit covers six component s 1/ Marketing Environment Audit Through auditing marketing environment in which it operates, an organisation could find if its marketing strategy is adapt to the marketing environment, and if any changes needed.The marketing environment consists of two subclasses, one is the macro environment which includes political/legal, economic, social/cultural and technological, and another one is industry and competitive environment. In short, PEST+C. 2/ Marketing Strategy Audit It mainly examine whether or not an organisations goals and objectives reflect market orientation, if the organisation takes right competition position, seizes market opportunities and allocates appropriate resources. 3/ Marketing Organisation AuditThe marketing auditor needs to consider the decision-making ability of marketing organisation, as swell up as its ability of outline, planning and execution. Other factors include its strain capacity to market, and its interaction with other function departments. 4/ Mar keting Systems Audit It focuses on whether or not an organisation has well-established and effective systems for information gathering, planning and control. All these systems can be classified as internal systems, external systems, vertical and horizontal marketing systems.A vertical marketing system (VMS) is one in which the main members of a distribution channelproducer, wholesaler, and retailerwork together as a unified group in order to meet consumer needs. A horizontal marketing systems(HMS) means in which members at the same level in a channel of distribution surround together in strategic alliances or joint ventures to exploit a new marketing opportunity. 5/ Marketing Productivity Audit A marketing organisation needs analyses on profits, cost-benefit, the audit covers performance examinations on sale-profit rates, costs of marketing, collection and inventory, etc.It also examines if there exists excessive cost expenditure and equivalent solutions on cost reduction. 6/ Mark eting Function Audit Marketing function audit targets on marketing elements such as products, prices, places and promotions, as well as performance evaluation on marketing organisation, it consists of overall audit, sales audit, market investigation audit, and advertising audit. The auditors, through marketing function audit, may berth issues within marketing management and make pertinent recommendations. Main Characteristics of the Marketing AuditMarketing Audit is a process of comprehensive, systematic and independent analysis and assessment of companys marketing environment, objectives, strategies and activities to identify problem areas and operational strengths and weaknesses and recommends the courses of action to be taken to improve companys overall marketing performance and make marketing strategies and plan more effective and result oriented. The main characteristics can be summarised as the followings, 1/ It should be comprehensive and broad in focus covering the stainl ess marketing environment of the company. / It should be an objective exercise and independent of the managers directly abstruse in making the marketing decisions. 3/ It should be a systematic and orderly sequence of diagnostic steps as compared to an unstructured and random investigation. 4/ It should be carried out periodically. The marketing audit should be undertaken on a regular basis and not only when major problems arise. Main elements to be included in a marketing audit The key elements of a marketing audit are 1/ Marketing MixFor products it includes Product, Price, Place-distribution and Promotion For services it includes Product, Price, Place-distribution, Promotion, People, Processes and Physical Environment 2/ Product Life Cycle pic 3/ militant Advantage A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices. 4/ Interna l and external assessment SWOT PEST The Marketing Audit Process and Participants likely to be involvedThe marketing audit process proceeds with the following steps, Firstly, setting up the audit objectives and scope, preparing relevant documentation, deciding time period for the audit. Secondly, gathering the data, conducting interviews and inquiries. Finally, preparing the audit report, presenting conclusions and providing relevant solutions. Bearing in mind, the most valuable part if the marketing audit often lies not so much in the auditors specific recommendations but in the process that managers begin to go through to assimilate, debate, and develop their own concept of the needed marketing action. The Marketing Audit Comes of Age by Philip Kotler, William T. Gregor and William H. Rodgers III The participants likely to be involved cover all stakeholders including management levels, ordinary staff, suppliers, dealers, customers even shareholders and communities the organisatio n located in. Who of these stakeholders and to what extent get involved in the audit depend on the organisations specific requirements. Times when a marketing audit should be undertakenThe marketing audits could be undertaken on conventional and unconventional bases, which means on one hand an organisation needs to conduct regular and periodic audit and examine whether or not it and its each function unit achieve setting goals and objectives, if any changes needed to its strategy, on the other hand, if an organisations internal departments or independent units are do poorly, it should carry a thorough marketing audit to help them find reasons and improvement methods. Various forms of a marketing audit The marketing audit mustiness be carried independently by an inside audit, onducted by a person or group inside the company but outside the operation beingness evaluated, or an outside audit conducted by a management consulting firm or practitioner. Why they are considered to be on e of the most practical and profitable tools available to a marketer. The marketing audits cover all major marketing areas of a business, not just a few trouble spots. It assesses the marketing environment, marketing strategy, the marketing organisation, marketing systems, the marketing mix and marketing productivity and profitability.The audit is normally conducted by an objective and experienced outside party who is independent of the marketing department. The finding can come as a surprise, and sometimes as a shock, to management. Management then decides which actions make sense and how and when to implement them. The marketing audits contiguous to make marketing strategy and plan properly, are beneficial for matching a business internal resources with external resources, realise better and profitable operate results.