A marketing Audit is a systematic process for accessing marketing opportunities,
helping organizations to stay in touch with marketplace trends and to keep abreast
of customer needs. (Dibb, 2002: pg. 441). A marketing Audit is also means by which
a company can understand how it relates to the environment it operates in, identify
its own strengths and weaknesses as they relate to external opportunities and
threats, and it is a mean of helping management to select a position in the
environment.
A good marketing audit allows a business to carefully watch the business/marketing
environment, spot potential opportunities and threats, identify and build upon their
strengths, rectify their weakness, protect against and counter internal
vulnerabilities, protect against and counter external threats, and finally exploit
those new opportunities faster than competitors.
The structure of a marketing audit is as follows; first Macro analysis, second
microanalysis, third SWOT/TOW analysis and finally the identification of critical key
success factors. The Macro environment is defined as a number of broad forces that
affect not only the company but also the other actors within the microenvironment,
Generally companies have no influence over the elements within the Macro
environment. (Jobber, 2007), examples of macro factors that impact businesses are
political factors and legal factors such as changes in government whether it is locally
or nationally, changes in legislation even if it is worldwide regulation. Another
factor is economic the economic factor such as economic cycles, inflation, interest
rates, and exchange rates. In addition to the natural factors, such as pollution,
climate change, and the rarity of resources. Finally we have the technological and
social factors such as demographic changes, Lifestyle changes and cultural forces
from the social point and Digital technology, medical advances, increased mobility of
technology and miniaturization from the technological perspective. The
Microenvironment includes the factors in a company’s immediate environment that
affect its capabilities to operate effectively. Organizations work in a given space and
are affected by everything around them. We can obtain information for a
Microanalysis through Market, company, government, and trade union reports as
well as scientific, industry and academic journals. Finally the SWOT analysis is the
analysis that shows the strengths weaknesses Opportunities and threats that face an
organization and provides means of making the strengths stronger and eliminating
the weaknesses which can be looked at from porters value chain as What does a
company do, who are its competitors, what does the company do well, do we add
value in all areas, what is our capacity for innovation, and how good are our finances.
SWOTS are used in all sorts of contexts and for all sorts of purposes, in marketing all
aspects of the SWOT must be derived from the MACRO and MICRO environment,
sometimes SWOTS posted on official websites are wrong hence one must be very
careful. Tow analysis factors that create opportunities and threats, and the
weaknesses and strengths. Strengths and weaknesses as in what is happening
within the context of the microenvironment that might cripple or empower the
organization, and the threats and opportunities are what are happening in the
macro environment that would generate either. SWOT and TOW analysis’s are
different a TOW analysis is “ A distillation of the findings of the internal and external
audits which draw attention to the critical strengths and weaknesses and the
opportunities and threats facing the company” (Kotler, 2005). TOW analysis is more
detailed than SWOT analysis, which identifies strengths and weaknesses in a
descriptive manner, TOW analysis, considers strengths and weaknesses within the
context of the factors that generate opportunity and threat and hence this analysis is
more analytical. Some examples of factors that create threats in a TOW analysis for a
Krispy crème commercials endorsing thinness or for opportunities is that chocolate
and sugar is sometimes healthy for you. Weakness is that you would be associated
with fattening foods and finally strengths large number of stores around the world
that sometimes open 24 hours a day. In a TOW analysis the threats and
opportunities relates to factors outside a company while the weaknesses and
strengths relate to the company and it is the most accurate assessment of a
company’s strengths and weaknesses and are taken on the basis of the
opportunities and threats in a given market. Lastly the critical success factors looks
at what are the most important opportunities and what are the most serious steps,
do we have the resources/expertise and what do we have to do next to secure the
future of the company. The critical key success factors should include a list of what
your analysis suggests which are the key factors required for success in a given
market sector but eventually should be minimized to six or eight key success factors,
there is a lot of subjectivity and personal judgment involved,” critical success factors
is seen as an essential precursor to the development of an effective competitive
strategy “ (Jobber, 2007) and it also lets marketers devise strategic objectives and
prioritize activity in order to maximize their chances of competitive success. At its
core a marketing audit is a tool for long term business planning it is essential for
resource and investment planning, It is essential to drive NPD and new market
development and finally to identify and develop skills, expertise, and knowledge. If
done correctly a marketing audit can allow a marketer to react to change in he short
and medium term more effectively. Whatever organization we are dealing with we
can proactively identify and respond to competitive threats and opportunities in a
way that will sustain the business for the long run. In the short and medium term it
lets marketers see the obstacles for the long term. A marketing audit is a continues
ongoing process.
The business that I am going to write my business report on is a car leasing
company called enterprise. The base of operations of enterprise car rentals is in
Missouri, United States. The company has a long history it was founded in nineteen
fifty-seven by a man called Jack C Taylor. It was originally named executive leasing
company but in nineteen sixty two it was relabeled and named enterprise after the
carrier the carrier Taylor served on during the second world war. Enterprise is the
largest car leasing company in the United States of America. The company is very
well known for its outstanding customer satisfaction as it was named the highest
rental car company at or near airports by J.D power and associates. Enterprise is a
perfect example of a company that needs a consistent, non-stop market audit across
the entire year. Enterprise rent a car face a lot of stiff competition from various
companies such as SIXT rent a car and avis cars. Enterprise has a strong brand name
it is well known across the world as a reliable strong company with many different
branches across the globe and with their promise that they will deliver your rent a
car wherever you are makes the company top in convenience. From weakness point
of view though enterprise has old modeled cars compared to their competitors and
they have age restrictions on certain vehicles, which means that young drivers will
not be able to always get the car that they desire. Enterprise has opportunities of
expansion to different countries that there are no strong rental services in or where
the industry is dominated by few players who do not have the resources like
enterprise.
The Primary goal of a marketing audit is to be used as a tool for long term business
planning it is crucial for resource and investment planning as well as its crucial to
drive NPD and new market development and to identify and develop skills,
expertise and knowledge. A good knowledge of an organization and its markets will
let the marketer to react to change in the short and medium term more effectively.
Whether its for the short, medium, or long term goals organizations can proactively
find and immediately assess the threats and opportunities in a way that will help the
business out in the long term. The short and medium term goals help marketers to
identify possible problems in the long term. Identifying these goals can be critical
for a company’s survival. Finding out what the short term and medium term goals of
a company can help assess a companies stand point that added to the long term
goals can help the company withstand the adversities that stand in its way. In the
case of enterprise a market process can tell them what their customers are
complaining about and what they can do to make it better or if something is wrong
with their soft wares and computers (outdated) they can help fix this problem
before it arises. For the long term effects it can help the company see when it might
need new cars or when their marketing plan would stop being affective for them to
put a team together and find ways of attracting new customers it can also see
financial problems before they arise and help the company figure out a solution to
the dilemma before it happens. In conclusion a market process is always an ongoing
process the reason for this is that it helps organizations find out what their main
problems are and address them before they escalate. In the long term it can help
develop the skills and expertise that the company is missing and they are all
interconnected as the short term goals help identify the medium and long term
goals.
Refrences:
Proctor, T. (2000) Strategic marketing management for health management:
cross impact matrix and TOWS. Journal of Management in Medicine, Vol. 14
Iss: 1, pp.47 – 56.
Proctor, T. and Ruocco, P. (1994) Strategic Planning in Practice: A Creative
Approach. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol 12, Issue 9, p.p. 24-29.
Weihrich, H. (1982) The TOWS matrix—A tool for situational analysis, Long
Range Planning, Volume 15, Issue 2, April, p.p. 54-66.
Armstrong, G., Kotler. P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R. (2012) Marketing An
Introduction, Pearson, 2nd Edition
Dibb, S., Simkin, L., Pride, W.M. and Ferrel, O.C. (2012) Marketing Concepts
and Strategies, Cengage Learning EMEA, 6th Edition
Jobber, D. (2010) Principles and Practice of Marketing, McGraw-Hill Higher
Education, 6th Edition
Shah, D., Rust, R.T., Parasuraman, A., Stalelin, R. and Day, G.S. (2006) The Path
to Customer Centricity. Journal of Service Research, Vol. 9, Issue 2, p.p. 113124.