Strategic Marketing Planning

"Marketing is, quite simply, the most important part of any company today. Source taken from the site http://www.businessdecisions.com.au/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=2&pid=16 At present within my workplace there are annual meetings taking place and all of these meeting are to discuss the future marketing objectives of Asda. Unfortunately I am unable to receive any of the information that is being distributed within the annual meetings until after the deadline of the report; I have however spoken to the CEO Andy Bond and have received a KRA sheet off him that details some of the companies’ objectives for the future. Strategic Marketing Planning __, including identifying and evaluating opportunities, analyzing markets and selecting target markets, developing a positioning strategy, preparing and executing the market plan, and controlling and evaluating results.” Source taken from http://www.quintcareers.com/jobseeker_marketing_glossary.html Strategic marketing planning consists of these four factors, -Research and analyse the current business and marketing situation of the organisation, -Develop according objectives and a positioning strategy for the organisation ensuring that it compatible with the mission statement, -Develop marketing strategies to meet the needs of the target market, -Implement, control and evaluate marketing activities to achieve the planned objectives. {draw:a} This diagram shows the movement through the marketing process and each of the factors involved in successfully controlling and efficiently using the marketing department within any organisation. The diagram is taken from the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_plan . “_A strategic plan is a plan which covers a period beyond the next fiscal year. Usually this is between three and five years” _Malcolm McDonald, How to prepare a business plan, sixth edition, page 36 The marketing audit The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing