Marketing and Brand Management
Paper details:
Before establishing a marketing mix, it is important to gather baseline information on an organisation’s
existing resources. A marketing audit is one strategy for establishing this baseline.
Consider the Ugandan coffee company from the Unit 2 Introduction. Imagine that the company has decided
that, in order to increase profitability. it must create an international line of coffees that will appeal to a more
global audience.
For this new line, it must create a marketing mix, including the right product, place. price and
promotion. In order to build brand equity, the organisation wants to determine whether to market this product
to a particular age or income group. The organisation is not sure whether it should place the coffee in major
supermarkets in target international markets, sell it online through Web sites or cater to exclusive shops with
more gourmet offerings.
In terms of price. it is not sure whether it should price it high, to compete with
gourmet brands sold at coffee shops, or low, to position it more as an accessible brand that can appeal to
people of all income levels.
Finally, the organisation wonders whether its potential customers would be more
likely to respond to advertisements on television or in social media outlets.
These are all valid questions an organisation needs to ask in order to create the best marketing strategy for a
product or brand through a marketing mix.
In the Shared Activity of this unit, you will critically analyse internal organisational environments by using a
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis and a PESTLE analysis.
Photo Credit: HenrikSOOO/E+/Getty Images
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Critically analyse internal organisational environments
Conduct PESTLE analyses on external environments
Analyse potential marketing environments
Learn
Before addressing the marketing mix, it is helpful to gather baseline data on an organisation’s strengths and
weaknesses in order to maximise resources.
If you own a vehicle, such as an automobile or bicycle, think about why you chose it. Perhaps you liked the
way it looks or its brand reputation. Perhaps you went to the closest seller because it was convenient or
opted for a seller with many vehicles from which to choose. You may have been swayed by an appealing price
that fit within a limited budget or even treated yourself to a vehicle that made you feel wealthier or more
stylish.
Perhaps you saw an advertisement that convinced you to buy. Whatever influenced you, if you were
strongly motivated to purchase a specific vehicle, it is likely that the organisation marketing this brand of
vehicle had thoughtfully analysed its organisational strengths and weaknesses to develop an effective
marketing mix for its target customers.
The Unit 3 Learn compared segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) to a mirepoix – basic ingredients of
a marketing strategy with a goal of narrowing down a market to its likely customers. This unit explores
another staple of marketing – the marketing mix.
Once a customer base has been identified through STP, an
organisation can develop a marketing mix to serve as a basis for building the customer relationship.
Marketing Audit: Taking the Pulse of the Marketing Strategy
This unit introduces some tools and techniques marketing professionals use to analyse the current situation.
One way is to conduct a marketing audit. In your course text, Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick define the marketing
audit as “a systematic examination of a business’s marketing environment, objectives, strategies and
activities with a view to identifying key strategic issues, problem areas and opportunities’ (2013z861).
A marketing audit is typically composed of two facets: an internal analysis, which this unit will feature, and an
external analysis, which will be briefly covered here but covered in more depth in Unit 5. According to
Brownlie, a marketing audit’s primary purpose is to ‘identify underutilised marketing resources and generate
recommendations for ways in which more effective use could be made of these resources’ (1993zli). Brownlie
also argues that the marketing mix should be reviewed on an ongoing basis.
It is critical to be aware of the resources available to a company. Does it have a strong brand already? Does it
have good access to the market through established supply channels? Does it understand its customers?
Does it have enough resources to maintain its brand awareness through the four or seven P’s? Marketing
professionals need to address these types of questions to prepare a plan. Unfortunately, no simple
framework for conducting an internal audit exists. However, many marketing professionals use some more
formal analysis for this purpose, such as a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)
analysis, which is covered in the Shared Activity.
The internal environment is only one portion of a marketing audit. Also, you will look at the external
environment of an organisation – its competition, changes to the environment and so forth – by using a
political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) analysis as a tool for analysis.
This tool, called by many names such as PESTLE, EPISTEL, STEEPLE and others, assesses the following
environmental areas:
Political: How stable are the politics? Are government changes likely to impact the organisation or industry
now or in the long term? Consider, for example, whether a hotel chain would want to open a resort in a
country that has recently experienced violent political upheaval. How would that affect the success of the
resort? Are there any regulations or limitations that might affect an organisation’s ability to obtain employees
and/or supplies for production?
Economic: In what economic cycle is the country? Is it in recession, which affects customers’ disposable
income? Growth? What factors might affect the economy now and in the future? Are there large exchange-
rate fluctuations that might affect an organisations’ ability to pay each other, as well as expose organisations
to credit risks?
Social: What are the major social trends in that country (e.g. more single-parent families, an ageing
population, high or low birth rates) that might affect such purchasing drivers as spending power and
lifestyles?
Technological: What technological advances or trends have occurred? Are these fads or sustainable? Will the
organisation or industry be phased out when technology is developed? For this force, it is important to reflect
on the life cycle of a product and to see it in the context of its industry (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013).
Mature industries, for example, are often characterised by competing technologies, usually developed by
small or new companies outside the main operators. Mergers and acquisitions become more common as
companies strive to operate in what tends to become a price-sensitive, mature market.
Legal: Is your organisation or product or industry likely to be affected by new laws and standards? Legal may
refer to national or international changes. It may also refer to large-scale laws governing trade agreements
and practices (e.g. Miles, 2013). Food safety standards may affect not only the restaurant industry but also
the supply chain.
Environmental (or Ecological): Could products be made from environmentally friendly components, such as
recyclable packaging? Will production of the products cause pollution or deplete scarce resources? Will
production be affected by or cause climate change?
References
Brownlie, T. L., (1993) ‘The Marketing Audit: A Metrology and Explanation’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 11
(1) pp.4-12. DOI: 10.1108/02634509310024128.
Jobber, D. a F. Ellis-Chadwick, (2013) Principles and Practice of Marketing, 7th edition, Maidenhead: McGraw-
Hill Education
Miles, T. (1 6th May, 2013) Analysis: UK trade may struggle to stand still after EU exit. Reuters. Available at:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-europe-trade-idUKBRE94FOI220130516 (Accessed: 11/04/17).
Dig Deeper
Core Module Text
To access your module core text eBook use the ‘Module Home’ link below, then click on the textbook icon.
If you do not already have one, enter your Roehampton Online email address to create a VitalSource bookshelf
account.
You can now access the book whenever you want to read it.
Read books offline by downloading the VitalSource bookshelf app for to your computer or mobile device HERE
To access module core text eBook, click on the icon in the ‘Bookshelf by VitalSource’ module on your class
home page
To access Module Home, click here.
Read
The following readings are provided for you to dig deeper into the subject area.
Required
Textbook Chapters
Jobber, D. a F. Ellis-Chadwick, (2013) Principles and Practice of Marketing, 7th edition, Maidenhead: McGraw-
Hill Education
Chapter 3, ‘The Marketing Environment’ (pp.77-112)
Chapter 19, ‘Analysing Competitors and Creating a Competitive Advantage’ (pp.706-739)
Chapter 3 examines the influence of broad forces (i.e. the macroenvironment) on an organisation and its
marketing efforts. Such forces might include political, legal and economic, among others.
Microenvironmental (narrow) factors are examined, as well.
Chapter 19 analyses the determinants of a competitive advantage, which go beyond mere customer
satisfaction. The chapter outlines Porter’s 5 Forces model.
Use the ‘Bookshelf’ by VitalSource link on the Blackboard Module Home to access this text.
Document
Sample Marketing Audit Checklist (PDF)
Optional Readings
Journal Article
Richardson, M. & Evans, C. (2007) Strategy in action: Applying Ansoff’s matrix manager. British Journal of
Administrative Management. 59 pp.1 -3
Journal Article
Lipnicka, D. & Dado, J. (2013) Marketing audit and factors influencing its use in practice of companies (from
an expert point of view). Journal of Competitiveness. 5(4) pp.26-42. DOI: 10.7441/joc.2013.04.02.
