The Marketing Audit: An Extension of the Marketing Control Process

Abstract

The element most common to marketing strategies and tactics among companies in the 1980's is the rate at which they become out of date. The rapid changes in interest rates, employment, fuel costs, international exchange rates, technology, competitive offerings, consumer tastes, as well as the many other elements in the macro environment quickly make today's marketing activities obsolete. Unfortunately, all too often many companies do not readily recognize how these changes have diminished the effectiveness of their otherwise carefully nurtured marketing programmes. For example, they see falling sales and undertake changing salesmen's compensation schemes or reorganizing sales territories. Alternatively, the distribution channel or pricing policies may receive the focus of attention as sales languish. The element or elements of the marketing mix to get evaluated closely is often the result of a managerial hunch or predisposition to believe that a certain functional area is primarily responsible for the faultering performance. Rarely do the managers step back and question the basic assumptions underlying the grand strategic design or see how the system is operating as an integrated whole. A special evaluation procedure, however, has been developed to do this. It is called a marketing audit.

Citation

Kling, N.D. (1985), "The Marketing Audit: An Extension of the Marketing Control Process", Managerial Finance, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 23-26. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013543