Imagine a company just getting by, its marketing activities barely making a dent in the market. Then, they discovered the power of marketing control. They started monitoring and adjusting their marketing activities based on their organizational goals. The result? Their sales soared, their market share expanded, and they became a force to reckon with in their industry. This is the transformative power of marketing control.
Short Summary
- Marketing control is a systematic process to align marketing activities with organizational goals and drive business success.
- It involves setting objectives, types of controls, processes, and techniques and analyzing performance improvement.
- Marketing managers play an essential role in successfully implementing this process by leading campaigns & strategies and coordinating between departments.
What Is Marketing Control
Marketing control refers to the process of monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of a marketing plan or strategy to ensure that it is meeting its objectives and producing the desired results. It involves measuring and analyzing various marketing metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the performance and efficiency of marketing activities.
Marketing control is a feedback mechanism that allows organizations to make necessary adjustments and improvements to their marketing efforts. It helps identify deviations from the planned marketing objectives, detect potential issues or bottlenecks, and take corrective actions to realign the marketing activities with the overall organizational goals.
In essence, marketing control is a key driver of business success.
The Essence of Marketing Control
At its heart, marketing control is like a detective’s magnifying glass. It scrutinizes marketing activities, spots discrepancies, and tweaks strategies to maximize performance.
Imagine a marketing campaign that’s not yielding the expected results. A careful application of marketing control would help dig into the campaign, identify what’s not working, and make necessary adjustments. In a way, marketing control is like a compass, helping you navigate your marketing activities, ensuring they align with your company’s goals and objectives.
Key Components
Think of marketing control as a car engine, its key components being the pistons, the crankshaft, and the oil system. The objectives of marketing control are the pistons pumping up and down to drive the engine. The types of marketing control include:
- Annual plan control
- Profitability control
- Efficiency control
- Strategic control
These types form the crankshaft, converting the pistons’ up and down movements into a rotational motion.
The marketing control process is the oil system, lubricating and cooling the engine. And lastly, the techniques for effective marketing control, including:
- Marketing audit
- Credit control
- Budgetary control
- Market share analysis
Like spark plugs, they ignite the fuel-air mixture to start the engine.
Objectives and Types of Marketing Control
The objectives of marketing control serve as a beacon guiding a ship. They ensure the achievement of marketing goals and objectives, monitor the success of marketing plans, identify and rectify mistakes, develop and adjust marketing strategies, maximize resource utilization, and attain the intended objectives.
Now, let’s consider the four main types of marketing control, each with distinct objectives and tools – they are the winds that propel the ship. The winds can blow from different directions, each direction representing a different type of marketing control.
- Annual plan control
- Profitability control
- Efficiency control
- Strategic control
Annual Plan Control
Annual plan control is like the ship’s captain setting the course for the year ahead. It involves establishing goals and objectives for the upcoming year and then tracking and assessing progress toward them. Think of it as a compass and a map, guiding the ship of your business through the vast ocean of the market.
This is done using instruments like sales, market share, and financial analysis, which are like the captain’s navigational tools. These tools help the captain make informed decisions and stay on course. With the right plan control.
Profitability Control
On the other hand, profitability control is like a ship’s purser, keeping a vigilant eye on the profitability of the voyage. This type of control involves monitoring and assessing the profitability of marketing efforts and making necessary adjustments to ensure the desired level of profitability is attained.
This is akin to the purser ensuring that the ship’s voyage is profitable and that the trading of goods brings in more money than it costs.
Efficiency Control
Efficiency control is like a ship’s engineer constantly fine-tuning the ship’s machinery to maximize fuel efficiency. In a similar vein, efficiency control seeks to maximize the efficacy of investments in marketing, such as:
- salesforce
- advertising
- promotion
- distribution
This is about getting the most bang for your marketing budget, ensuring every dollar spent on marketing, including sales promotion, brings in more than a dollar’s worth of revenue.
Strategic Control
Finally, strategic control is like the ship’s lookout, keeping an eye on the horizon for changes in the weather or other potential hazards. Just as the lookout helps the ship adapt to changing conditions, strategic control is a top management tool to assess the organization’s ability to adapt to the changing market environment through a marketing audit.
This audit helps identify areas of strength and weakness in the organization’s marketing strategy.
The Marketing Control Process
Navigating the marketing control process is akin to a ship’s journey from port to port. It involves five stages, each essential to reaching the final destination successfully.
- Selecting the element of marketing operation to assess
- Setting measurement criteria
- Creating a tracking system
- Comparing actual results with performance standards
- Analyzing and executing performance optimization
Each stage of the process is important and requires careful consideration. Selecting the element of the marketing operation.
Choosing the Aspect of Marketing Operation to Evaluate
The first step is like choosing the right course for the ship. It’s about deciding which aspect of your marketing operation to assess, such as media effectiveness, salesperson performance, or product performance. Just as the ship’s captain must consider the winds, currents, and potential hazards when choosing a course, a marketing manager must consider factors like organizational goals, resources, and market conditions when choosing the aspect of marketing operation to evaluate.
By assessing the right aspect of the marketing operation, you can gain valuable insights into how to improve the marketing operation.
Establishing Measurement Criteria
Once the course is set, the next step is establishing measurement criteria. This is like setting the ship’s speed and heading, the benchmarks against which the ship’s actual progress will be measured. This might involve setting performance standards for marketing management, such as salesperson performance measured by new accounts, call frequency ratio, or orders per call.
These performance standards should be measurable and achievable and set to allow for measurable performance.
Developing a Monitoring Mechanism
Developing a monitoring mechanism is akin to the ship’s navigational instruments, which track its position, speed, and direction. In the same way, marketing management uses tools like a Marketing Information System (MIS) to track and analyze marketing activities.
MIS is a comprehensive system that collects, stores, and processes data from internal and external sources.
Comparing Actual Results with Performance Standards
After monitoring comes the comparison of actual results with performance standards. This is like the captain checking the ship’s position against the planned course. If the ship has drifted off course, corrective action is needed.
The same applies to marketing control.
Analyzing and Implementing Performance Improvement
Finally, analyzing and implementing performance improvement involves taking corrective action to enhance performance and reach desired outcomes. This is like the captain adjusting the ship’s course or speed to get back on track. In the marketing realm, this could involve adjusting marketing strategies or tactics based on the analysis results.
For example, if the marketing profitability analysis reveals that a marketing campaign is not performing as expected, it will not perform.
Techniques for Effective Marketing Control
Just as there are multiple ways to navigate a ship, there are various techniques for effective marketing control. These include:
- Marketing audit
- Credit control
- Budgetary control
- Market share analysis
Each of these techniques offers a unique approach to control, providing a comprehensive toolkit for marketing managers.
Marketing Audit
A marketing audit provides a detailed voyage record like a ship’s logbook. It systematically evaluates marketing policies and activities used to measure growth and long-term business interests.
Just as the ship’s log can help the captain identify trends and patterns, a marketing audit can help a marketing manager identify opportunities and challenges.
Credit Control
On the other hand, credit control is akin to the ship’s purser managing its finances. It involves managing credit extended to customers, ensuring the business maintains its financial stability. Just as the purser ensures that the ship’s finances are in order, credit control helps ensure that a business’s finances remain healthy.
It is the responsibility of the credit controller to ensure that customers pay their bills on time and that customers pay their bills on time.
Budgetary Control
Budgetary control is like the captain setting the ship’s budget for a voyage, determining how much to spend on provisions, crew wages, and other expenses. In marketing, budgetary control involves:
- Regulating and managing the budget
- Tracking expenses
- Identifying variances
- Implementing corrective measures when necessary.
It is important to clearly understand the budget and ensure that it is being used properly.
Market Share Analysis
Market share analysis is like the ship’s lookout, scanning the horizon for other ships. In the same way, market share analysis involves assessing a company’s market share relative to its competitors, helping it identify potential areas for expansion through market research.
By understanding the competitive landscape, companies can make informed decisions about how to best position themselves in the market.
The Role of Marketing Management in Marketing Control
Just as a ship needs a competent captain to navigate it successfully, a business needs effective marketing management to guide its marketing control process. Marketing managers oversee the process and collaborate with other departments, ensuring that all elements of marketing control are properly managed.
They are responsible for setting objectives, developing strategies, and creating plans to achieve them. They are the greatest.
Marketing Manager Responsibilities
The marketing manager, leading the marketing team, oversees all its operations like the ship’s captain. In marketing, this involves overseeing marketing campaigns, tactics, and strategies.
Additionally, they are responsible for monitoring and modifying marketing plans as necessary.
Coordination with Other Departments
Coordination with other departments, such as product management, sales, and finance, is like the captain working with the ship’s crew, with each department playing a crucial role in the voyage. In the same way, coordination with other departments is critical for successful marketing control and overall organizational success.
Summary
Just as a ship’s voyage doesn’t end when it reaches its destination, the journey of marketing control doesn’t end when a specific goal is achieved. It’s a continuous process requiring constant monitoring and adjustment. But with a solid understanding of marketing control and its various elements, you can steer your business towards greater success, navigating the vast ocean of the market with confidence and skill.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the four types of marketing control?
Marketing control involves annual plan control, profitability control, efficiency control, and strategic control to achieve objectives.
Responsibility for each type of control lies with varying levels of management.
What is an example of a marketing control?
Regularly reviewing the marketing plan to measure performance against objectives and considering consumer feedback are two examples of marketing control.
These activities help to ensure that the marketing plan is on track and that any necessary changes can be made promptly.
What is the marketing control mix?
The marketing control mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools companies use to achieve a desired response from their target market, including product, price, place, and promotion.
These tools are used to influence consumer behavior and create a desired outcome. Product, price, place, and promotion are the four main elements of the marketing control mix. Product refers to the type of product or service offered; price is the amount charged for the product or service.
What is the essence of marketing control?
The essence of marketing control is its ability to analyze, assess, identify gaps, and make necessary adjustments for better performance.
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What are the objectives and types of marketing control?
Marketing control aims to ensure the achievement of marketing goals and objectives and the success of marketing plans. It involves four main types: annual plan control, profitability control, efficiency control, and strategic control.
