Implementation, monitoring and controlling
The key parts of this process include developing a financial forecast, monitoring the performance of the plan by comparing actual and planned results, and revising the planning strategy as a result of the process.
Developing a financial forecast: A financial forecast looks at expected costs and revenue for the next year or over a number of years. Types of marketing expenditure include:
• Research costs: Costs to find what consumers want, and then to determine how well the products meet customer needs and expectations
• Product development costs: The new product development process is expensive, and many new products fail.
• Product costs: Such as design and production of packaging, and the cost of providing warranties
• Promotion costs: The cost of running a sales force, advertising and sales and promotion expenses
• Distribution costs: Such as warehousing, transportation and order processing
Methods to forecast revenue:
• Sales force composite: using estimates of what individual sales people expect to sell to work out a total for the whole business
• Buyer intentions: Taking a survey of a group of consumers to measure how much of a particular product they will buy in a certain period of time
• Executive judgment: Using the opinions of executives in the business, or those of ‘experts’, on how much they feel will be sold.
Once costs and revenue are forecast and brought together to form an expected budget, management can then decide which combination of marketing mix strategies will deliver the most sales revenue at the lowest cost.
Comparing actual and planned results: Controlling is important because it keeps the business informed about its performance. There are 3 tools that can be used for monitoring the marketing plan:
• Sales analysis: The sales analysis breaks down total business sales by different products, market segments, individual sales representatives and individual sales territories. In this way, businesses can identify any strength and weaknesses in the different areas of sales. By comparing what was expected with what has actually happened, we can see which strategies worked and which failed.
• Market share analysis: This compares the business’s sales performance with that of its competitors. By working out whether or not its share of the total market has increased, the business can assess its competitive position. It can also help to identify relative strengths or weaknesses in the business’s marketing plan and general performance
• Marketing profitability analysis: This looks at the cost side of marketing and the profitability of products, sales territories, market segments and sales people. The business can use ratios to help look at how profitable the different marketing activities are.
Revising marketing strategy: Once the results of the sales analysis, market share analysis, market share analysis and the marketing profitability analysis are studied and compared, the business is in a position to see where the plan is working and where it is not. The marketing mix is one of the best places to start changing the plan to suit the conditions in the business environment.
• Product: A business could start by offering new products to satisfy the wants of consumers; it could change the style and packaging of existing products, or simply stop selling products that are not doing well in the market
• Price: One of the reasons for not achieving the objective could be that managers have set the price at too high a level to attract customers. Prices could be reduced and discounts could be used to increase the sale of products
• Promotion: If the business is not reaching the desired target market with its promotional campaign, the managers would have to change the advertising media being used and the types of sales promtoins sued
• Place: In order to increase market share, products have to be available at the right place at the right time. The business could be having problems with its transportation and warehousing systems, therefore the customer cannot have the product when and where they want it. The quality of service from the retailers must also be looked at. If they are not representing the business properly, then the business might have to find new outlets.
So the controlling process is linked closely with the planning process and the cycle continues over the life of the product. Marketing is really a never ending cycle of research, change, implementation and monitoring. As long as the business is operating, this cycle will continue to work.