Entrepreneur's Handbook

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Entrepreneur's Handbook

MARKETING MANAGEMENT PROCESS

 

Creating value for customers in the target audience is the focus of the marketing function as well as other functions in order to achieve the main objectives of the business such as profit, growth and continuity. For this purpose, a large number of works and activities must be carried out in a certain order. As in every management activity, marketing management consists of four stages called analysis, planning, implementation and orientation and control. These stages are included in Figure 8-1.

In order to maintain marketing activities effectively, it is necessary to first understand the resources and capabilities of the enterprise well, and then to determine a road map that will show the best performance. The analysis phase should be considered as an activity that should continue at all stages from the beginning to the end of the marketing management process.

The main purpose of the analysis phase is to reveal the Strengths and Weaknesses of the business and to identify the Opportunities and Threats. Through this analysis called SWOT² which consists of the initials of these words, entrepreneurs will identify what their capabilities are and which issues they have disadvantages. In addition, it will obtain the necessary data for a qualified plan by revealing the opportunities and threats of environmental conditions.

The planning stage creates a series of activities that start with the determination of the general strategies of the enterprise based on the information obtained during the analysis stage. The plans for the marketing department should be compatible with the general strategies of the company and support them. After these strategic planning activities, which concern all activities of the company, are completed, the marketing planning phase is started.

In a good marketing planning, the entrepreneur should be able to identify market opportunities that will be beneficial for the business, determine a strategy to evaluate these opportunities, and turn this strategy into a qualified action plan. Therefore, the following four topics should be included in marketing planning:

  1. Analysis of market opportunities
  2. Setting goals
  3. Creating marketing strategies
  4. Creating the marketing mix (product, price, distribution and promotion)

The content of the marketing plan varies according to the type of enterprise and the stage it is in. For example, the plan prepared for a business idea with a high innovative aspect in terms of the business model it develops should be based on data obtained from more markets and developed in accordance with the lean product concept. In such a situation, preparing a plan document of hundreds of pages will not be very beneficial for success. However, in line with the existing data, it is necessary to reveal what the market opportunities are, to what extent (target), how (strategy) and by which tools (marketing mix) these opportunities will be used.

In the implementation phase, it is tried to reach the place shown on the map drawn in the planning. No matter how good the plan is, failure will be almost certain if it is not implemented correctly. For this reason, the entrepreneur must transform the targets shown in the plan into operational practices in accordance with the determined strategy. Planning and implementation are equally important. For a good practice, it is important for the entrepreneur to establish a qualified team consisting of the right people.

In the control phase, the financial and non-financial results obtained in practice are compared with the related targets. For example, if the company lagged behind the sales target, the reasons for this should be determined and what measures should be taken to prevent such a negative result again. Taking these corrective measures will enable the next plan period to produce more qualified results.