Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5
Marketing audit is a comprehensive, systematic, independent and periodic evaluation of a organisation’s marketing asset and hence particularly as mentioned in the introduction during the post globalisation era and with the global slow down and melting economics many financial service institutions have been facing a lot of financial stability, marketing growth and marketing development. Thus this study becomes very significant and relevant in present day times for this study aims to review the competence of this marketing audit tool with a view to assess if financial service Institutions are applying the right, appropriate marketing audit strategies coupled with crucial marketing decisions. The study has also helped in analysing the marketing strategies, weakness and future marketing opportunities for this financial
Institutions to revive and maintain its marketing continuity and work towards attaining marketing share momentum growth and development.
Keywords: Marketing Audit, Marketing Mix.
In the present study, the effectiveness of Marketing Audit strategies applied in financial Institutions is studied so as to research whether or not it increase the marketing profitability for financial service institutions.
It could be pointed out that the sales, profitability and market share of financial services was under effective and control and also some financial organisations considerably increase their market share during the past decade as so. However, during the slowdown period, it was not gathering much speed and effectiveness.
Significance of The Study
Marketing audit is a comprehensive, systematic, independent and periodic evaluation of a organisation ’s marketing asset and hence particularly as mentioned in the introduction during the post globalisation era and with the global slow down and melting economics many financial service institutions have been facing a lot of financial stability, marketing growth and marketing development. Thus this study becomes very significant and relevant in present day times for this study aims to review the competence of this marketing audit tool with a view to assess if financial service Institutions are applying the right, appropriate marketing audit strategies coupled with crucial marketing decisions. The study has helped in analysing the marketing strategies, weakness and future marketing opportunities for this financial Institutions to revive and maintain its marketing continuity and work towards attaining marketing share momentum growth and development.
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Dr. Ahmad Omar Ahmad Salha, Hawally, Kuwait email: ahmadsalha52@hotmail.com

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5
Objectives of the study
1. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing audit strategies on the marketing performance of financial service institutions with regards to its overall profitability.
2. To evaluate the current marketing audit techniques and strategies and to ascertain its impact on marketing profitability.
3. To understand the marketing auditing strategies in all the areas of marketing mix i.e. product price, place and promotion.
4. To analyse the gap areas in marketing audit strategies and profitability in these financial institutions.
5. To carry out a comparative analysis of private and government Institutions and suggest suitable gaps.
Hypotheses :
H1n- Financial service Institutins in Pune city do not have effective impact on the implementation of marketing audit strategies.
H1p - Financial service institutions in Pune city have an impact on the implementation of marketing audit strategies.
H2n - There is no significant difference with respect to marketing mix strategies in financial institutions in
Pune city.
H2p-There is significant difference with respect to marketing mix strategies in financial institutions in Pune city.
H3n Marketing audit fails to explore possibilities of increasing sales turnover and reducing marketing overheads with regards to the marketing strategies used in financial institutions in Pune city.
H3p - Marketing audit explore possibilities of increasing sales turnover and reducing marketing overheads with regards to the marketing strategies used in financial Institutions in Pune city.

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5
Scope of the Study
.
The scope of this Study has been limited to selected financial Institutions in Pune city comprising of banks,
Insurance Companies, Credit Card Companies, Consumer finance Companies, brokerage, investment funds, government sponsored enterprises.
Review of Literature .
Marketing audit utilization as a benchmarking tool requires concise discussion on the nature and potential outcomes and limits of marketing audit and benchmarking. We will concentrate just on several important issues, connected with definition of both concepts.
In its fullest form and concept, a marketing audit has four basic characteristics. The first and most important is that it is broad rather than narrow in focus. The term “marketing audit” should be reserved for a horizontal
(or comprehensive) audit covering the company’s marketing environment, objectives, strategies, organization, and systems.
A second characteristic feature of a marketing audit is that it is conducted by someone who is independent of the operation that is being evaluated. There is some loose talk about self-audits, where a manager follows a checklist of questions concerning his own operation to make sure that he is touching all the bases. Most experts would agree, however, that the self-audit, while it is always a useful step that a manager should take, does not constitute a bonafide audit because it lacks objectivity and independence.
The third characteristic of a marketing audit is that it is systematic. The marketing auditor who decides to interview people inside and outside the firm at random, asking questions as they occur to him, is a “visceral” auditor without a method. This does not mean that he will not come up with very useful findings and recommendations; he may be very insightful.
A final characteristic that is less intrinsic to a marketing audit but nevertheless desirable is that it be conducted periodically. Typically, evaluations of company marketing efforts are commissioned when sales have turned down sharply, sales force morale has fallen, or other problems have occurred at the company.

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5
Types of market Audit
Much that is written about the marketing audit draws on the seminal work of Kotleret al. (1977), as well as that of Naylor and Wood (1978) and MacDonald (1982). Thisbody of work describes a rather mechanicEil approach to the collection andinterpretation of data that seems to have universal applicabilify, even if the authors never intended it to be so. Whilst applauding this early work, the author'sexperience leads him to believe that there is no single set of procedures that worksbest for all marketing audits in all organizations, at all points in time and space. The Douglas Brown exercise does commit the auditing consultants, whether internal or external, to delivering to the dient a comprehensive audit document, as well as making presentations to senior management, and increasingly these days, to middle and junior management too. The document and the presentations would provide the following information, perhaps tailoring the delivery and the content to suit theneeds and expedations of the different audiences.

An inventory of the client organization's existing marketing resources, assets,skills and competences.

A statement of the client's marketing needs and problem areas as defined by its client group, which is tyically top or middle management, but should take into account the perspectives of operational staff.
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A review of the client's position with respted to its customers, competitors, suppliers and other external stakeholder groups that exert an influence on it.
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An analysis of the client's strengths and weaknesses in the area of marketing.
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An evaluation of the client's current marketing activities.
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An inventory of the marketing resources, assets, skills and competences which the consultant believes to be desirable for the dient to obtain.
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Recommendations as to a course of action by means of which the client couldgo about acquiring the desired marketing approach and expertise and to what expeded effed.
This is not an exhaustive list of client expections by any means. But it is an indicative of the committment made by clients to the outcomes of the marketing audit, even ifthey are unsure as to the process by means of which those outcomes are to bachieved.
Clearly, before proceeding with the marketing audit, the consultant requires acknowledge of the clients organization, its produds, services, markets, systems, procedures and personnel. However, the reason for this has less to do with acquiring a familiarity with the circumstances and operating details of the business. It is

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5 more important in terms of helping the auditors to develop a sensitivity to the agendas of the various interest groups, or coalitions operating within the company. For those agendas will ultimately determine staff perceptions of the audit and what they believe it is really trying to achieve which may be very different from the declared aims of the audit. They will also influence staff attitudes to participating in its processes and may colour what they choose to tell the auditors about that part of the business they are held accountable for.
It is also important to be sensitive to the labour relations context when proceeding with an audit, the findings of which may ultimately have ramifications for staff in the organization. For all these reasons, the client will rarely be disinterested in the process by means of which the audit is to beonduded. Most astute managers are alert to the political sensitivities that any organization intervention can upset. The author believes that four additional requirements should also be borne in mind:

Dedding which issues are relevant.

Knowing where or from whom to obtain information on those issues.

Interpreting the data colleded in the light ot client needs.

Translating findings into condusions and recommendations for action. Marketing Audits and
Auditing Relevance
At the earliest possible time, dear objectives for the marketing audit should be agreed between the client and the auditors. Those objectives represent a key element of the context within which the audit is to be conducted and its findings subsequentiy given meaning and import. They also represent an essential part of abriefing document which would detail a step-by-step plan to be followed by the auditors in executing their task.
The broad framework of an appropriate plan should be devised, but rarely set by the auditors alone. The audit plan will establish which issues to investigate, how to collect data and from whom, in what time - span, at what cost, and what management needs to do to set the context for the audit through communicating its purpose to the staff. The details of the plan should arise from discussions between the client and the auditors in which they both set out to paint a verbal picture of the broad context within which the marketing audit has to be seen. Therefore, the context of the auditis negotiated and not simply dictated by the client. Similar discussions should also take place about the audit process, i.e. the way in which the intervention is to take place. This discussion should lead to an agreed strategy that will set out how the audit is to be conducted by the auditors, and the respective roles to be played by the auditors and the various organizational participants.

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5
A version of this vision will need to be communicated to the staff concerned, typically by means of formal announcement setting out the reasons for the audit, its aims and the consultative process it will employ.
Marketing audit is a comprehensive, systematic, independent, and periodic examination of a company’s environment, objectives, strategies, and activities to determine problem areas and opportunities. The audit provides good input for a plan of action to improve the company’s marketing performance. Marketing audit covers all major marketing areas of a business, not just a few trouble spots. It assesses the marketing environment, marketing strategy, marketing organization, marketing systems, marketing mix, and marketing productivity and profitability. The audit is normally conducted by an objective and experienced outside party. The findings may come as a surprise – and sometimes as a shock–to management. Management then decides which actions makes ense and how and when to implement them.
The marketing audit has certain similarities to a financial audit in that it is a review or appraisal of your existing marketing activities. Carrying out the marketing audit provides the opportunity to review and appraise your whole marketing activity, enabling you to assess past and present performance as well as to provide the basis for evaluating possible future courses of action.
Current Market Position and Market Overview
Current Market Position
This information summary can be extracted from the marketing audit. Whilst some of this information is used in the SWOT analysis in the next section, it is extremely useful to have a clear understanding of the current position of your business, in terms of marketing activity. It is suggested that use the following sub headings:
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Product - what products are the selling, what is their market position, what are their competitors.

Place - where are their currently selling your product, how does this compare to competition.

Price - what pricing policy do they have? Do you discount? How does this compare to competition?

Promotion - what types of activities are they currently carrying out?
If you are running a business that provides a service, you should also consider your activities regarding:

People - quality, recruitment, training.

Processes - written procedures you have in place to ensure consistency of service.

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5

Physical Evidence - what message does the appearance of your premises or your people send out to your customers.
Market overview
Thye business does not operate in isolation. It is affected by your competitors. Competitors and the customers are affected by external influences beyond the control. This section of the plan needs to present an overview that summarises where one sees the key markets and what are considers to be the key changes in those markets.
Implications
The results of this study suggest that the “conduct of the marketing audit” and “implementation of the recommendations of the marketing audit” are positively and significantly associated with the “market share” performance measure. This highlights the importance of familiarity with, and the conduct of, the marketing audit for the organisational performance outcomes. Therefore, it can be suggested that personal and organisational familiarity with, and the conduct of, the marketing audit may benefit the organisation’s performance outcome. Since there is no evidence of the difference between the types of audit method used to the performance outcomes, firms may choose to apply their less costly internal resources to conduct the audit. The study also suggests that there appears to be no meaningful demographic differences between the users and the non-users of the marketing audit except for the age of the organisation (1950 or earlier and
1961-1970) and the formal education of the senior marketing decision-maker (TAFE and post graduate level).
Consequently, no major demographic variable appears to be characteristic of the users of the marketing audit.
However, the differences in the organisational age and the manager’s education may have some relevance.
The implication might be that the study of the marketing audit may need to be more comprehensively included in the business course structures offered by higher education institutions. The younger companies
(founded 1971 or later) appear to be less inclined to use the marketing audit, perhaps due to the massive availability of marketing information, generally, which may have resulted in the perception of a lack of need for a marketing audit, in the narrower, traditional sense

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5
Research Methodology
A feasibility and pilot study was conducted to identify the select financial Institution comprising of banks,
Insurance Company, Investment Private and Government organizations.
1.9.2 Research Methodology and Statistical Tools
 In order to review the existing marketing audit strategies in financial service institutions and to evaluate whether they have a positive or negative impact on the overall profitability and to assess the increase in sales turnover, market share, cost and budget effectiveness, for the present study the researcher used two kind of questionnaires which can be analyzed each component by using independent T test , one way, ANOVA test correlation of efficient, correlation analysis of the marketing mix strategies. The questionnaire was prepared on a 5 point scale using the strongly chi- agree, agree undecided, disagree, strongly disagree.
 The Chi -square test has been used to analyze the response and the data. The researcher also made and attempt to evaluate the role of management and its involvement of marking its effective use of marketing audit strategies in order to increase sales turnover, reduction in cost and overall marketing profitability by observation of personal interviews with the marketing, financial personnel and managers.
1.10 Sources of Data and Data Collection
The Source of data for this study was made available through both primary and secondary data. The overall data collection was done by personal interview, questionnaire, survey of available Literature and publication.
 Primary Data
Primary data is collected by the way of questionnaire by the marketing, accounts and
audit personnel, covered under the study.
 Secondary data
The Secondary data has which is available has been collected from various reference books, Journals,
Research publications, bulletins etc.
1.11 Population – The population for this study covers about 478 financial service institutions in Pune city
1.12 Sample
The basic sampling technique which is allowed for cluster sampling. So, total population including 478 is divided into two small subdivision included total number of institutions for this study. Sample 110 i.e, about
30% is divided into two division including private and public sector

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5
1.13 Period considered under the study.
The period covered under the study is 2006-2011
1.14 Statistical Tools used for Data analysis
 Statistical software SSP 17 was used to find the demographic frequency and cross tabulation of variables. The analysis has been presented with the help of T-test, Pearson correlation and one way-
ANOVA.
 The data collected for the research has been descriptive and hence for data analyze was by the way of measuring tendencies i.e. mean, median, mode, variants and charts.
 Finally conclusions were drawn on the basis of facts revealed by analysis and interpretation of data collected for the study and suggestions have been offered.
1.15 Findings
1. There is a meaningful correlation between marketing audit strategies and profitability
2. There is positive relationship between marketing audit, control mechanism and the product strategies.
3. There is positive relationship between marketing audit, control mechanism and the price strategies.
4. There is positive relationship between marketing audit, control mechanism and the place strategies.
5. There is positive relationship between marketing audit, control mechanism and the promotion strategies.
6. Effective and well monitored marketing audit strategies increase sales turnover and considerable reduce marketing overheads
7. There is considerable marketing audit control in enhancing profitability in private and public financial institutions.
8. There is a considerable commitment involvement and cost effective consciousness in public and private institutions.
9. There seems to be considerable lack of professionalism and visionary leadership towards the successful implementation of marketing audit strategies to increasing market share.

Proceedings of World Business, Finance and Management Conference
8 - 9 December 2014, Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand , ISBN: 978-1-922069-66-5
10. Apparently it appears that there is a need to set high performance marketing standard in private and public sector.
1.16 Conclusion and suggestions
This research after investigating the effectiveness of marketing audit strategies concludes that it has relative importance in increasing the overall profitability of the organization and it has reveal to the researcher that , in the present day times of changing global scenario coupled with inflationary pressures, recession, slow down and downturn of many economies it is imperative to set high performance marketing standards with the right application of marketing strategies with focus on prompt delivery of services and qualitative products backed up with an effective mission, vision and professional management.
1.17 Future Recommendations
1.
The researcher further recommends that the same study can be applied to other financial institutions to increase their salesturnover, market share and profitability.
2.
The same study can be applied for non financial institutions as well.
3.
Similar research can be carried out at the national and international levels to study the marketing audit and its effectiveness.