ABSTRACT
The purpose of marketing planning is to help managers identify a range of potential marketing activities, to choose the most effective ones and to work out what they will cost to implement. This chapter examines the key steps in the marketing planning process and looks at the role of the marketing plan itself, and explains how its implementation can be monitored. Marketing planning takes place within the context of the aims and objectives of the whole organization. The most useful way of drawing conclusions from a marketing audit is by conducting a SWOT analysis. If planned marketing activity is not achieving marketing objectives then corrective action is needed. The type of corrective action will depend on whether it is the objectives themselves, or the strategies, tactics and budgets designed to achieve them, that are at the root of the problem.
