January 8th 2008
E-MARKETING Planning Process (Planning cycle stage 1: marketing audit)
The key role of research in effective marketing planning was introduced. The marketing audit comprises research and analysis of the internal and external environment as follows:
- The internal audit reviews existing marketing activities and assesses their effectiveness in terms of contribution to revenue, brand enhancement, customer service, customer retention, market share or sales leads.
- The external audit considers the micro-environmental influences (customers, suppliers, partners, distributors and competitors) and macro-environmental influences (political, economic, social, technological and legal) within which the company operates.
The circles representing different aspects of the business environment show that from a company’s perspective, the various components of the micro-environment are intimately connected with the operations of its business, but the macro-environment is one step removed. This means that a company has some degree of control over the micro-environmental influences, but cannot directly influence the ‘bigger picture’ of the macro-environment, which would include such issues as interest rate changes, new legislation, etc. By conducting a marketing audit, a company can at least monitor and be aware of the implications of likely changes in the macro-environment, even if it cannot directly control them.
