How would a marketing audit and marketing plan enable you to manage your business better?
Road maps are used to guide people through the most effective path that leads to their intended destination. Similarly business organizations must have a reliable business plan that will enable them to achieve their overall business objectives. A Marketing plan will indicate to the business the action that is required of them to achieve their goals and stated market objectives. However, before the plan is derived we must determine the factors that will influence or affect it. This can be termed as a marketing audit. So how does a marketing audit and plan benefit an organization?
A Marketing Audit is important as it enables the business to research and analyze all factors (both external and internal) that the business will have to face in future. This means that we are able to derive information about the market that our business operates in (including growth, profitability, cost structures, key success factors…etc), and also identify our competitors, determine their strategies, strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, a situational analysis in the marketing audit enables us to understand the environment that we have to work & survive in, and finally an internal analysis will provide the business with an in-depth summary about the business’s own goals, capabilities and weaknesses. The information obtained for the marketing audit is crucial as it provides a complete understanding about the situation the business will be operating in. The marketing audit is conducted not only prior to forming the marketing plan but also at various intervals throughout the process in order to constantly review and understand the opportunities and threats that will be presented and how they can be exploited or overcome.
SWOT analysis (for internal and external), and PEST and Michael Porter’s 5 forces (for external) are most commonly used tools for the analyses. In the case of our business...