Importance of Marketing Management Plan

Audit

Audit is defined as systematic and independent examining of various documents, records, vouchers, books and accounts of a company. This is done on order to analyse how far the financial statements and non financial disclosures are presenting fair concern. 

Audit marketing

A marketing audit is defined as comprehension examination and analysis of the marketing goals, activities and objectives. This audit is used for analysing the way in which efforts of marketing are planned and managed properly. This is an important way of assessing the marketing plan. This audit helps in improving knowledge regarding products, brand and services. The purpose of marketing audit is to analyse the plan of marketing department and know what is it's success rate. It is important for any organisation to know how it can use the marketing activities and promotional events to reach the potential customers and increase sales of the company. The higher authorities of ALDI uses swot analysis in order to examine threats and opportunities of the company. The swot analysis is mentioned below:

SWOT analysis of ALDI

Strength: ALDI offers quality products in market at lower prices which is one of its major strength as this technique help company to attract more number of customers and earn higher profits. The another strength of ALDI is its global presence as it have more than 2500 stores in Germany due to which is able to raise market share easily. In addition to this, ALDI purchases raw materials in bulk which lower down the cost and increases profit margins of company. ALDI exist in more than 15 countries that is internationally it has around 10,000 stores all over the world. Moreover, the strength of ALDI is its effective and talented employees which is the main reason behind growth and success of company. Get Assignment Examples.Talk to our Experts!

Weaknesses: The company is still small as compare to its competitors which is one of the weakness of ALDI. The another weakness of company is poor employee satisfaction as it employees did not receive output as per the potential or the hard work they put in order to meet targets on time. This develops dissatisfaction between employees due to which there is increases in attrition rate of ALDI. In addition to this, ALDI has not been able to influence globally as compare to its other international chains.

 Opportunities: ALDI has the opportunity to enter into new segments that is it can offer organic food in market which maximize sales level. Along with this, ALDI require to spent more amount on advertising which will lead company to beat competition in market. The company has also the opportunity to expand its market in countries such as Asia, Africa and so on as it will help in raising market presence as well as market share in a effective manner. Moreover, ALDI has the opportunity to re position its brand as a affordable products instead of cheap products which can boost its business in a best manner.

Threats: Competitors such as Walmart, Best Buy, TESCO and so on affect on the overall performance and profits of ALDI. In addition to this, taxation and government policies impact on business margins that decline overall market share of ALDI. The another threat of company is its private label brand which can be tossed by well settled brands in market.

Internal environment - Internal audit helps an organisation to evaluate the internal controls such as accounting processes and corporate governance. The internal audit conduct activities which have compliance with laws and regulations. This is helpful in maintaining accurate and timely financial reporting as well as data collection. The internal audits help in providing management with tools which are essential for identifying problems and correcting any lapse before they discover in an external audit. The internal audit is used for identification of any department, gathering understanding of current internal control process, testing on fieldwork, follow up with department staff  sand preparation of official audit report. The assessment techniques ensures an  internal auditor which collects proper understanding of internal control procedures. 

Strength and weakness of internal audit

Strength - When a company invests in a marketing audit, there is an expert team who is provided permission for analysing and external communication environment which thrives business. By using the gathered data, companies are able to develop a more informed and focused marketing and advertising plan for the company.

Weakness - This includes that Internal audit must be done regularly for checking if there is any problem in the marketing plan.

Why audit needs to be undertaken - A marketing audit is defined as system which is helpful for evaluating the marketing assets and activities which are linked to the organisational goals. This audit helps in knowing whether the marketing campaigns, promotional events, strategies and teams which are used by the company are right or not. The basic ideas behind this audit is that more the company checks, more effective is the marketing. There are several benefits of marketing audit to the company as marketing department knows what is the exact reason for failure of any product or service offered by the company. This tells how marketing can be enhanced by organising right kind of promotions to target customers. In this way, company is able to correct the marketing loopholes and attract more number of customers towards buying products offered by the company. Ask for assignment writing help from our experts!

TOWS Analysis of ALDI and explanation of Marketing Audits

TOWS analysis is closely similar to SWOT analysis and covers Threats, opportunities, weaknesses and strength of an organisation (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). It assist companies to identify opportunities & threats and then compare it with strength as well as weaknesses so that strategic planning is developed. The higher authorities of ALDI uses this framework in order to make effective strategies and tactics for their upcoming Marketing Campaign. These framework is described below:

Marketing Objectives

The objective of organising marketing campaign “Express Ourselves” of 12 months by ALDI is mentioned below:

• To increase  10% sales in coming 6 moths by creating awareness about its product and services at global level.
• To enhance the profit of company by 5% within 8 months which will build strong brand image.
• To differentiate and create value of product in order to gain competitive advantage from its rivals in the coming 1 year.

Justification of Marketing Objectives

To increase 10%  sales in coming 6 months by creating awareness about its product and services at global level: The main objective of conducting marketing campaign  “Express Ourselves” is to educate as well as aware customers about companies offering at marketplace. The higher authorities of ALDI can use different social media applications such as Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, LinkedIn and so on. This will help company to reach large number of audiences at global level that directly impact on sales performance of ALDI in a positive manner (Baker and Parkinson,   2016). By the assistance of this, its top level management have the opportunity to raise productivity as well as profitability level of company within short span of time.

To enhance the profit of company by 5% within 8 months which will build strong brand image: The other objective of marketing campaign that is conducted by management team of ALDI is to develop a positive mindset of customers about company product as well as services. This can be achieved if company uses various media vehicles that spreads positive message about products of company within the market. If the brand is correctly position in the mind of image it will develops positive word of mouth by customers to other people that directly builds strong brand image at marketplace (Hüttner, 2018). Moreover, it will raise market performance as well as market share of company in an effective manner.

To differentiate and create value of product in order to gain competitive advantage from its rivals in the coming 1 year: The marketing campaign will be organised by company with an objective to create value of brand within the market. This can only be developed when company keep promises and fulfil commitments to its customers. It builds trust among customers towards the brand and they will not switch to other brands in future. By the assistance of this, ALDI has the opportunity to gain competitive advantage at market place and fight with their rivals in a proper manner. Moreover, this will assist higher authorities to reach on leading position in these industry.

Marketing Mix plan

Marketing mix is basically a tool which is used by companies to sell its product as well as services to the target market. It include strategies and tactics that is adopted by an organisation to promote and create awareness about products and services within the market. Marketing mix consist of 7P's that is price, promotion, process, place, product, people and physical evidence as well. Arranging of all these elements in an effective managers assist an organisation to make as well as develop profitable marketing decisions (Kotler and et. al., 2019). By the assistance of this decision, companies have the opportunity to build strength and reduce its weaknesses.

Moreover, it helps an organisation to be more competitive & gains higher position within the market. This will directly leads to raise in sales as well as profitability of an association which in turn raises market performance and market share of companies. The higher authorities of ALDI uses marketing mix tool in order to achieve marketing campaign objective. Acquisition of this tool for marketing campaign “Express Ourselves” will help company to reach its target customers and enhance sales performance in an effective manner. The 7P's of marketing mix is defined below with relation to ALDI are as follows:

Product: An item which is produced by companies to satisfy customer needs as well as requirement. In order to gain product success at marketplace it is important for an organisation to identify customer demands as well as market trends and then develop product accordingly. With reference to ALDI, they emphasise on providing high quality products in market with an to gain loyalty of customers. The company offer grocery as well as household essential products such as Choco rice, tea biscuits, fruits, wine, beer, fruits and so on (Olson and et. al., 2018). The company can achieve marketing campaign objective if they maintain quality in products and deliver it to customers within the time frame.

Price: It is an amount which an organisation charges from its customers in return of its product and services. It is essential for an entity to analyse its competitors price and then set price accordingly which help companies to remain in market for longer time period and gain success. In context to ALDI, it uses competitive pricing strategy which helps them to sell products on lower prices as compare to its competitors. The company buy products in large quantity so that they can offer lower rates and gain the attention of customers towards it. By the assistance of this, ALDI can raise its sales volume and generates higher profit which is one of its marketing objective.

Place: Any location where customers can easily access as well as purchase the product. It involves transport, distribution centres, franchise and so on. With reference to ALDI, the company have more than 11,000 stores that serves its product  all over the world. The higher authorities of company analyse market visibility before launching the stores on particular location (Parsons and Lepkowska-White, 2018). They also ensures that its stores are located where availability of parking space is adequate and customers can reach easily as well as conveniently. In addition to this, it focuses on keeping the ambience of stores simple in order to lower down cost that affect positively on the profits of company. It raise the sales of ALDI which will help company to achieve marketing campaign objective in an effective manner.

Promotion: It refers to the way of creating awareness and educating people towards the organisation product and services. In context to ALDI, the company uses various social media applications such as Instagram, YouTube,LinkedIn and many more in order to maximum number of people and increase their sales. Moreover, the company will going to conduct advertising campaign in order to reach large number of audiences that will enhance its overall sales and profitability level.

Process: The layout of ALDI stores is easy which help customers to conveniently find the products and thus reduce the use of employees to assist customers. Moreover, its product consist of Barcodes which helps in identification of product price easily and leads to fast billing service to customer.

Physical Evidence: ALDI is one of the store that maintain similar price of groceries in all over the world. Along with this, it offers 20% cheaper products & maintain low price everyday. It affect positively on the sales and market share of ALDI.

People: ALDI provides on the job training to employees so that they can easily handle customer issues and serve high quality service to customer's. Moreover, its employees did not help customers in product selection as its store layout is properly set that reduce the number of staff members required on the floor (Naudé and Sutton-Brady, 2019). This assist company to decline the level of cost and gain higher profits in an effective manner.

From the above discussion, it has been analysed that Marketing mix helps an organisation to put right product and services on right price, on right time and on right place. This further assist company to attain objectives within the stipulated time frame. Get help with SWOT Analysis Assignment  Help at best prices!

How ALDI can improve customer service level?

The ways that ALDI can adopt in order to improve customer services is mentioned below:

Customer Feedback: In order to give excellent service to customer, it is important for ALDI to understand requirements and wants of customer. For this, company can take feedback from its customer's which will assist company to know about good and bed experience of customers (Chonko and Hunt, 2018). This will make feel customers that they are important and valued for ALDI which in turn build trust of customer towards brand and improve its customer service level.

Training to Customer service team: ALDI can improve their customer service by giving training to customer service team as it will enhance their knowledge and skill which in turn help them to solve their customer queries rapidly and effectively. This build positive image of ALDI in mind of customer due to which their sales and profit level is increased.

Use Advanced Technology: Nowadays, technology plays an essential role as it affect on the buying behaviour of customers towards the brand. In order to improve customer service, the higher authorities of ALDI can make use of advanced technology which help company to interact with customer at any place or at any point of time (Zahoor and Qureshi, 2017). Moreover, it also help company to solve issues and grievances of customer in a rapid and effective manner. In addition to this, it will increase number of loyal customer of ALDI that further enhance the sales as well as profit level of company.

CONCLUSION

From the above report, it has been analysed that marketing plan involves all the strategies and actions that is needed to attain particular marketing objective. Marketing audit assist companies to identify the factors that affect on their overall performance. Moreover, 7P's of marketing mix helps an organisation to achieve their objectives within stipulated time frame. In addition to this, there are various ways which assist organisation to improve customer service level that is customer feedback, using of advanced technologies, enhance skills of customer service team and so on. Furthermore, SWOT analysis assist companies to identify strengths, opportunities, threats as well as weaknesses. It will also help company to enhance its sales as well as profit level.

Read Also-  Innovation and Commercialisation of Business Growth

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