Marketing Audit Approach Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Audit Approach - Essay Example retaining and growing the value of existing customers-new internal systems and operations are needed to manage the communication demands of relationship marketing. The relevance of marketing audit is the current Marketing management and performance of the organization - the overall marketing strategy of the business and the assumptions on which the strategy is based. The purpose of a marketing audit is not to determine any weaknesses or inefficient activities, but rather to identify whether there are any working practices that could be more effective. The marketing team within a business is fully involved in the marketing audit. They may carry out the audit themselves, or with the support of an outside consultant. A thorough audit of the external and internal environments impacting on marketing is essential in providing the foundation for the marketing plan. A marketing audit is a series of important questions, such as: Consequently, companies are setting up cross-functional processes and making other structural changes to better manage brand relationships. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of such efforts, there is an increasing need to audit these internal processes to make sure that they are, in fact, integrated, and operating efficiently and effectively. Observation, Impact of the observation on marketing objectiv... Impact of the observation on marketing objectives, Recommendations and Final Action of the management to correct the flaw as pointed out in the observation. This can be used to improve current strategies or introduce more effective activities and working practices. The marketing audit aims at observing the functioning of the marketing and sales departments by objectively analyzing the marketing function of a business, by looking in particular at: Efficiency - how the marketing team is structured, the processes employed, and how outside agencies and services are used; this is measured by looking at the infrastructure of the business. Each marketing function is separated into discrete tasks and key issues that affect the business are identified. Effectiveness - results of marketing activity and by looking at how the budget has been spent in relation to the original objectives; this is measured by assessing the impact of the marketing activity, compared to the size of the marketing budget being spent. The marketing spend is analyzed by service, type of activity and intended result Quality - reviewed, by measuring it against external opinions from clients and other stakeholders; this is measured by comparison with 'best practice'. It can also be done by benchmarking. The "benchmark" provides a standard for future campaigns. The cost and impact of marketing is measured against similar activities in other organizations. This information can be difficult to obtain, as it is often confidential. Benchmarking can reap rewards The methods of conducting a marketing audit could be any of the following: 1. Core Competencies Questionnaire: This questionnaire determines the respondents' knowledge of the marketing and marketing communication plans and practices and their attitudes