1) Action Oriented: A marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing

objectives. It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line. Marketing plans cover between one and five years. A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan. hile a marketing plan contains a list of actions, a marketing plan without a sound strategic foundation is of little use. 2) Written Form : Marketing plan to be most effective, it has to be formali!ed usually in written form. "he essence of the process is that it moves from the general to the specific# from the overall objectives of the organi!ation down to the individual action plan for a part of one marketing program. It is also an interactive process, so that the draft output of each stage is checked to see what impact it has on the earlier stages - and is amended. 3) Unambiguous: A formal, written marketing plan is essential# in that it provides an unambiguous reference point for activities throughout the planning period. $owever, perhaps the most important benefit of these plans is the planning process itself. "his typically offers a uni%ue opportunity, a forum, for information-rich and productively focused discussions between the various managers involved. "he plan, together with the associated discussions, then provides an agreed conte&t for their subse%uent management activities, even for those not described in the plan itself. 4) Budgetary Nature: "he classic %uantification of a marketing plan appears in the form of budgets. 'ecause these are so rigorously %uantified, they are particularly important. "hey should, thus, represent an une%uivocal projection of actions and e&pected results. is the main (regular) management review process. hat is more, they should be capable of being monitored accurately# and, indeed, performance against budget

"o achieve both marketing and general organi!ational objectives, marketing managers must effectively control marketing efforts. "he marketing control process consists of establishing performance standards, evaluating actual performance by comparing it with established standards, and reducing the differences between desired and actual performance. Although the control functions are a fundamental management activity, it has received little attention in marketing. *rgani!ations have both formal and informal control systems. "he formal marketing control process, as mentioned before, involves performance standards, evaluation of actual performance, and corrective action to remedy shortfalls (see +igure). "he informal control process involves self-control, social or group control. and cultural control through acceptance of a firm,s value system. conte&t of the firm.hich type of control system dominates depends on the environmental e now discuss these steps in the formal control process and consider the

major problems they involve.

1) Establis ing !er"ormance #tandards

/lanning and controlling are closely linked because plans include statements about what is to be accomplished. +or purposes of control, these statements function as performance standards. A performance standard is an e&pected 0evel of performance against which actual performance can be compared. A performance standard might be a reduction of customers, complaints by 12 percent, a monthly sales %uota of 3s. 452,222, or a 42 percent increase per month in new-customer accounts. $yundai Motors, for e&ample, had a goal of selling 64.222 I-ten car in the India in 1225.78 As stated earlier, performance standards should be tied to organi!ational goals. "hree main types of performance standards can be distinguished, namely input standards, output standards, and efficiency standards. a) $n%ut standards Input standards are specified norms and are usually %uantified in money value and9or manpower application. Input standards %uantified in money value usually appear in the budget. b) Out%ut standards *utput standards are norms used in the evaluation of the marketing results. Sales, measured in income or physical units, are probably the most important marketing output. *ther marketing results, such as the si!e of the market share, contribution of the gross profit and net profit, and contribution to the gross profit and net profit, and contribution to the business:s growth and profitability, are directly derived from the sales volume of the business. "hree output standards can be derived from sales, the most important marketing output; Sales forecasting, sales <uota, sales budget. c) E""iciency standards =fficiency standards are determined by e&pressing closely and rationally associated inputs and outputs as a relationship. "hese relationships or ratios indicate the relative efficiency with which certain tasks are performed. =fficiency analysis (discussed in a following section) must be done in order to evaluate efficiency standards. 2) E&aluating Actual !er"ormance'

"o com are actual performances with performance standards marketing managers must know what employees within the company are doing and have information about the activities of e&ternal organi!ations that provide the firm with marketing assistance. +or e&ample, Saturn, like many automakers, evaluates its product and service levels by how well it ranks on the l. >. /ower and Associates (customer Service Inde&. In 122?, Saturn ranked number @ among all automakers, down from number 1 in 1226, behind 0incoln, 'uick, Infiniti, Aadillac, and 0e&us.-- 3ecords of actual performance are compared with performance standards to determine whether and how much of a discrepancy e&ists. +or e&ample, if $yundai Motors determines that only 15,222 I-ten car were sold in 1225 a discrepancy e&ists because its goal for the I-ten car was 64.222 vehicles sold annually. 3) (a)ing *orrecti&e Action: Marketing Managers have several options for reducing a discrepancy between established performance standards and actual performance. "hey can take steps to improve actual performance, reduce or totally change the performance standard, or do both. At al-Mart. for e&ample, managers implemented a strategy not to employ its usual steep discounts during the holiday shopping season, but when that strategy resulted in sluggish sales, they %uickly slashed prices on key products and ran full-page news ads to promote the lower prices. "o improve actual performance, the marketing manager may have to use better methods of motivating marketing personnel or find more effective techni%ues for coordinating marketing efforts. hen there are significant discrepancies between actual performance and the set performance standards, managers should take the following corrective action; a) "ake corrective action that eliminates the cause of the deviation. 3edirect your resources in order to reach the standard that was set in the marketing plan. +or e&ample, increase the number of sales representatives in a sales territory to achieve a desired level of sales. b) Ahange performance standards when it becomes clear that the standards you have set in the marketing plan are no longer realistic. If a competitor launches a sales promotion campaign you may no longer be able to achieve the sales you hoped for. Another reason why marketers change performance standards is that it is difficult to forecast sales accurately and they must adjust goals once they have a sales history.

c) Beep your goals the same and allow the condition (deviations from plan) to continue. "ry to stimulate improved performance through better management, employee training, sales contests and more effective promotion materials or improved customer service levels. =&amining every element of the marketing mi& can help you find opportunities to improve performance.

1) +in) Ob,ecti&es and #trategies: =ssentially, the process of monitoring and control comprises comparing actual performance against re%uired or desired performance objectives and then taking any necessary action to correct differences between actual and re%uired. 'ecause of this, the control process in marketing stems from the marketing objectives and strategies of the company. 2) Assessment o" -ar)eting Acti&ities: ithout monitoring and control it is impossible to assess the e&tent to which marketing objectives have been achieved and the strategies have been effective. Civen, the potentially large costs and use of resources in implementing the elements of the marketing mi&# it would be inadvisable not to assess how well these resources have been used. 3) .el%s to deal /it -ar)et #ituation: In addition, we know that markets and organi!ations are dynamic. "he environment changes, customers change, competitors change, even the company itself can change over time. "his means, therefore, that marketing strategies and plans also need to change to reflect and cope with these e&ternal and internal changes. Monitoring and control of the marketing activities and performance facilitates the planning of such changes. longer fit the market situation. 4) !romote Action: Such systems don,t just detect problems# they solve problems. 'asically, actions adjust the inputs to the process. +or e&ample, e&tra resources could be made available to deal with a back-log or a process or procedure could be redesigned to make it more effective. 0) 1at ering $n"ormation : ithout monitoring and control there is a danger that marketing strategies become outmoded and no

Marketing control involves gathering information on marketing performance and comparing the achieved performance against the planned or budgeted performance, using predetermined standards and yardsticks. 2) !ro&ides Feedbac): It provides feedback, it regulates and it e&ercises a restraining or redirecting influence. It ensures that the marketing activity does not derail or go off the track# it acts as a radar system for marketing recording and signaling the ups and downs, and deviations in the marketing performance# 3) .el%s in (imely *orrection: It also provides the re%uired clues for their timely correction. In a dynamic environment, marketing programs cannot be implemented effectively without continuous control and corrective adjustments. Marketing controls takes care of this re%uirement. It paves the way for the ma&imi!ation of profitability and productivity of all marketing activities. Marketing Aontrol is a part of Management Aontrol; Marketing control is a part of management control. Aontrol, after all, is not peculiar to marketing# it is a part and parcel of the total management job. "o control means to check performance and adopt corrective measures; In common parlance, the word DEFcontrolDE is used to mean DEFto commandDE, or DEFto governDE. $owever in management terminology, it means to verify and check performance and to adopt corrective measures. 'efore we e&amine the components of an effective marketing control system, it would be useful to have an understanding of control systems in general and the place of marketing control in it. >esigning a marketing control system; Marketing Aontrol must monitor all Bey 3esult Areas of Marketing; Marketing control uses a variety of techni%ues. 'ut whatever be the techni%ue used, marketing control basically has a common purpose, vi!., monitoring the key result areas in marketing management. Some of the key result areas that are monitored by marketing control are; 4. 1. 6. ?. 5. Sales Market Market Marketing volume share standing costs /rofits

@. G. H.

/roductivity

in Ahannel

each

marketing

activity effectiveness /romotion

I. Sales force deployment 9productivity. "he steps in management control e&plained above apply to marketing control as well in a broad sense. "he main re%uirement is that the control design must ensure that major variances are automatically distinguished and highlighted. It must also be capable of correctly interpreting the variances# the control process should bring out the true meaning of the variances# and the control information should lead to action. "he control reports should be brief, lucid and pertinent. "here must also be a mechanism in the control design that translates the control information on variances into corrective courses of action. And, the control process should facilitate the focusing of attention on e&ceptions. "he whole process should be oriented to the present and the future rather than to the past. +ast feedback is essential for Marketing Aontrol; In the nature of things, any deviation between plan and actual can be identified only after the event has occurred. As such, the time lag between the occurrence and noticing of the deviation, and the time lag between noticing of the variance and taking corrective action becomes very crucial in the control process. If the interval is long, control becomes in fructuous. *nce planning is completed and implementation is underway, the feedback should start flowing fast. In other words, the cru& of control is speedy feedback and speedy action that adjusts the operations to the pre-set norms. It is through feedback that control is achieved. "hus, feedback and action have to be viewed as two sides of the same coin the two components of a unified job. +eedback is essential for timely understanding of what is happening against the norms9targets. Action is essential for modifying the direction and level of performance so that it comes back in line with the J pre-determined norms. hile control may involve appraisal of past performance, its main burden is current and future action.

(ec ni4ues o" -ar)eting *ontrol "here are various techni%ues of marketing control to measure and evaluate the results of market strategy and to take corrective actions in case of any deviation.

1)

-ar)eting Audit : Marketing audit means regular checking of company:s environment, objectives and strategies and recommend a plan to improve the firm:s marketing performance. "he job of marketing audit is done by marketing auditor. "o do the marketing audit marketing auditor can ask %uestions to consumer, whole seller, retailer, or manager to judge the marketing performance.

2)

*redit *ontrol : Aredit control is one of the important marketing control techni%ues. Aredit control helps the firm to decide what credit facilities it can give to whole-seller, retailer and its customer.

3)

Budgetary *ontrol : 'udgetary control is very important tool in the hands of management. It helps in controlling cost and ma&imi!ing the profit. it also helps in setting up effective budgetary control system.

4)

-ar)et # are Analysis : Market share analysis helps in planning the future marketing goals and how these goals can be achieved. If market share analysis is showing that market share in increasing than it is a sign of the growth of the company and if it is showing that market share in decreasing than it is a sign of the decline of the company in that case necessary steps has to be taken.

5)

5atio Analysis :

It helps the company in knowing its profitability, li%uidity, activity of the company. Ket asset ratio, gross profit ratio, net ratio, current asset ratio, working capital ratio all these are very important ratios for the company.

6)

6ariance Analysis : It helps the company in knowing what the differences between actual and standard performance are and in case of any deviation how these can be removed.

7)

#WO( Analysis : S *" analysis means strength, weakness, opportunity, threat to the company. Strength, weaknesses are internal to the company. "he can must decide how it can increase its strength and how it can remove its weakness, while opportunity and threat are e&ternal to the company. If the company avail the opportunity before its competitor then it will be beneficial for it. Similarly the company faces the threats from its competitors and it is necessary to remove them.

*o&erage "or t e -ar)eting Audit /robably the most comprehensive and far-reaching approach to marketing evaluation and control is the full marketing audit. Botler et al. (4III) proposes the following coverage for the marketing audit; 1) ( e -ar)eting #trategy Audit7 "his encompasses evaluating the key marketing objectives of the organi!ation together with an assessment of the major competitive strategies being pursued. "hese are assessed with regard to continuing relevance, feasibility and effectiveness. 2) -ar)eting #tructures Audit7 "his part of the audit evaluates the effectiveness of e&isting marketing organi!ation structures and systems and will encompass areas such as responsibilities and authority, coordination and communication, structures and systems.

3) -ar)eting #ystems Audit7 Auditing marketing systems encompasses areas such as planning and control mechanisms including budgeting, resource allocation and measures of marketing effectiveness. 4) !roducti&ity Audit7 $ere, specific measurement criteria are used to assess marketing performance encompassing areas such as profitability, sales effectiveness and market share measures. >etailed analysis can be applied to assess the relative productivity of, for e&ample, products, market segments, individual customers, distribution channels and so on. 0) -ar)eting Functions Audit7 8 +unctions7 here relates to the elements of the marketing mi&. "his pan of the audit, then, encompasses an assessment of products, pricing, distribution and logistics, promotional and, where appropriate, the additional functional elements of marketing associated with services that is the e&tended marketing mi&, with the additional three /s of /eople, /rocess and /hysical evidences.