Marketing Management
Marketing implementation, the process that turns marketing plans into action assignments and ensures that such assignments are executed in a manner that accomplishes the plan’s stated objectives.
Evaluating and Controlling the Marketing Process
To deal with the many surprises that occur during the implementation of marketing plans, the marketing department has to monitor and control marketing activities continuously.
The lists of four types of marketing control needed by companies are: annual plan control, profitability control, efficiency control, and strategic control.
Annual-Plan Control
The purpose of annual-plan control is to ensure that the company achieves the sales, profits, and other goals established in its annual plan. The heart of annual-plan control is the four-step management by objectives process in which management (1) sets monthly or quarterly goals; (2) monitors the company’s marketplace performance; (3) determines the causes of serious performance deviations; and (4) takes corrective action to close the gaps between goals and performance. This control model applies to all levels of the organization. Top management sets sales and profit goals for the year that are elaborated into specific goals for each lower level. In turn, each product manager commits to attaining specified levels of sales and costs; each regional district and sales manager and each sales representative also commits to specific goals.
Profitability Control
Successful companies also measure the profitability of their products, territories, customer groups, segments, trade channels, and order sizes. This information helps management determine whether any products or marketing activities should be expanded, reduced, or eliminated. The first step in marketing-profitability analysis is to identify the functional expenses (such as advertising and delivery) incurred for each activity. Next, the firm measures how much functional expense was associated with selling through each
Evaluating and Controlling the Marketing Process
To deal with the many surprises that occur during the implementation of marketing plans, the marketing department has to monitor and control marketing activities continuously.
The lists of four types of marketing control needed by companies are: annual plan control, profitability control, efficiency control, and strategic control.
Annual-Plan Control
The purpose of annual-plan control is to ensure that the company achieves the sales, profits, and other goals established in its annual plan. The heart of annual-plan control is the four-step management by objectives process in which management (1) sets monthly or quarterly goals; (2) monitors the company’s marketplace performance; (3) determines the causes of serious performance deviations; and (4) takes corrective action to close the gaps between goals and performance. This control model applies to all levels of the organization. Top management sets sales and profit goals for the year that are elaborated into specific goals for each lower level. In turn, each product manager commits to attaining specified levels of sales and costs; each regional district and sales manager and each sales representative also commits to specific goals.
Profitability Control
Successful companies also measure the profitability of their products, territories, customer groups, segments, trade channels, and order sizes. This information helps management determine whether any products or marketing activities should be expanded, reduced, or eliminated. The first step in marketing-profitability analysis is to identify the functional expenses (such as advertising and delivery) incurred for each activity. Next, the firm measures how much functional expense was associated with selling through each