Marketing Process

The Marketing Process

Table of Contents

1.Marketing Audit3

The External audit:3

The Internal Audit:3

2.Integrated Marketing:4

3.Environmental analysis/SWOT analysis5

External Environment:5

Internal Environment:5

4.Marketing Objectives5

1.Market Penetration:6

2.Market Development:6

3.Product Development:6

4.Diversification:6

5.Marketing Constraints7

6.Marketing Options7

7.Plans to include target markets8

8. Marketing Mix8

1.Product8

2.Price9

3.Place9

4.Promotion9

8.Scope of Marketing9

References12

The marketing process consists of 4 main stages:

Goal setting

Analysis of the situation

Creating Strategy

Allocating resources & Monitoring

The steps are discussed in detail below.

Marketing Audit

A marketing audit is a systematic and comprehensive review of the environment in which a company operates, the company's objectives, the strategies it follows/should follow, identification of trouble areas and opportunities and a plan of action for improvement (Kotler, 2000). The audit can be external (macro or micro environment) or internal.

The External audit:

This includes the PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) as well as Legal, Economic and Environmental factors affecting the company's operations. A competitive analysis of the market is also included, for which Porter's Five Forces Model is used. This identifies the competitors, threats of substitute products from them, their key strengths and weaknesses, their market share and their reputation. The market in which the organization works should be analyzed for growth/inhibition characteristics & trends, industry practices, distribution channels, products and their prices, customers, etc.

The Internal Audit:

The internal audit includes the company's self examination and evaluation. It encompasses sales (by various criteria), market share, profit/loss and costs incurring, the marketing mix, etc. (Anonymous, n.d.).

Integrated Marketing:

IMC integrates (connects) all the marketing functions which include sales, advertising, customer service, product management, research. IMC also connects the marketing personnel to other departments for which external and internal marketing is done. External marketing targets people outside the company and internal marketing includes employee training, hiring, motivation, etc. (Anonymous, n.d.). IMC aims to change the behavior of the target audience towards the product/service. It recognizes all connections a consumer has with the brand and then builds upon them. Promotional Mix of IMC includes Advertising, Direct Marketing, Interactive/Internet Marketing, Sales Promotion, Publicity/Public Relations and Personal Selling. Some of the key features of IMC are:

All Marketing Communications Activities have the same starting point: the customer.

Use relevant touch points.

Multiple messages must speak with a single voice.

Build relationships with customers

Affect customers' behavior. (Shimp, 2008)

IMC is becoming increasingly important because of a few reasons: the internet is growing rapidly, other forms of marketing communication are being considered rather than just media advertising, database marketing is rapidly expanding, and the importance of branding has increased.

Environmental analysis/SWOT analysis

The environmental analysis can be divided into external and internal analysis.

External Environment:

The macro and micro environmental factors are included here. Macro environment factors include political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal, demographic and economic factors) and microenvironment factors comprise of suppliers and distributors, customers and competitors. (Kotler, 2000) The environment is then scanned for SWOT- i.e. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. An opportunity is an area in which improvement and advancement could be made. A threat is a problem that is present in the environment and affects the marketing activities of the company. Serious threats need to be checked and major threats require immediate emergency plans. Both opportunities and threats are uncontrollable ...