Marketing management

UNIT-V
HOLISTIC MARKETING
INTRODUCTION:
Holistic marketing concept is a part of the series on concepts of marketing and it can be defined as a
marketing strategy which considers the business as a whole and not as an entity with various different parts.
According to holistic marketing concept, even if a business is made of various departments, the departments
have to come together to project a positive & united business image in the minds of the customer. Holistic
marketing concept involves interconnected marketing activities to ensure that the customer is likely to
purchase their product rather than competition.
Example of Holistic marketing concept
An organization will have different departments like sales and marketing, accounting and finance, R&D and
product development and finally HR and operations. Thus, if you want to implement a holistic marketing
concept in your organization, you need to ensure that R&D and product development take the feedback from
marketing and sales to launch the product which is most likely to attract customers. On the other hand they
need to work closely with accounting and finance to find out the exact budget for the project. Sales and
marketing need to communicate to the HR the right kind of people that they need, and finally, admin and
operations need to devise a plan to retain these people.
Thus, in the above manner, you get the right product at a right price with the right profits. Along with this
you get the right people who will market your product in the right manner. If you do all these things, you are
sure to get the right customer to your doorstep. This is the complete essence of holistic marketing concept.
By doing the right things together as an organization, your product and brand stands a far better chance in
being successful than compared to these elements working individually without any holistic vision.
Today, customer mindset is changing. Wealth is becoming lesser and debt is high. Thus customer purchases
are being made after lots of thinking. Customers search offline as well as online for the right product and
have good knowledge of the product before they purchase. It is likely that the customer has already made a
purchase decision even before he enters the showroom. Thus holistic marketing concept is needed at this
hour to ensure that the customer chooses your product over everyone else.
A key driver of Holistic marketing is marketing communications. The job of marketing communications is
to send the right message to the target group. By approaching various customer contact points, a uniform
message can be sent to the customer. This consistency is likely to raise confidence in the customer for your
company thereby raising the brand image.
DEFINITION: Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller define this holistic approach as follows: A holistic
marketing concept is based on the development, design and implementation of marketing programs,
processes and activities that recognize the breadth and interdependencies. Holistic marketing recognizes that
everything matters with marketing and that a broad, integrated perspective is necessary to attain the best
solution. Four main components of holistic marketing are: relationship marketing, integrated marketing,
internal marketing, and socially responsible marketing.

S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed

RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

Samsung is an example of Holistic marketing where the products are developed keeping the customer in
mind, The showrooms are branded in the proper manner, the customer service is polite and the service is
fast. Thus Samsung is an excellent example of Holistic marketing.
There are four components of holistic marketing:

Relationship marketing
Integrated marketing
Internal marketing
Performance/Societal marketing.

The holistic marketing concept is based on the development, design, and implementation of marketing
programs, processes, and activities that recognize their breadth and interdependencies. Holistic marketing
recognizes that everything matters in marketing and that a broad, integrated perspective is often necessary.
Relationship Marketing a key goal of marketing is to develop deep, enduring relationships with people
and organizations that directly or indirectly affect the success of the firms marketing activities. Relationship
marketing aims to build mutually satisfying long-term relationships with key constituents in order to earn
and retain their business. Four key constituents for relationship marketing are customers, employees,
marketing partners (channels, suppliers, distributors, dealers, agencies), and members of the financial
community (shareholders, investors, analysts).
Integrated Marketing occurs when the marketer devises marketing activities and assembles marketing
programs to create, communicate, and deliver value for consumers such that the whole is greater than the
sum of its parts. Two key themes are that
(1) Many different marketing activities can create, communicate, and deliver value and
(2) marketers should design and implement any one marketing activity with all other activities in mind.
Internal Marketing an element of marketing, is the task of hiring, training, and motivating able
employees who want to serve customers well. It ensures that everyone in the organization embraces
appropriate marketing principles, especially senior management.
Performance Marketing requires understanding the financial and nonfinancial returns to business and
society from marketing activities and programs. Smart marketers go beyond sales revenue to examine the
marketing scorecard and interpret what is happening to market share, customer loss rate, customer
satisfaction, product quality, and other measures. They also consider the legal, ethical, social and
environmental effects of marketing activities and programs.

Marketing Implementation, Evaluation, and Control

S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed
RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

How can a country (region, state, city, municipality, or other polity) judge the efficacy of its attempts to
brand or re-brand itself and, consequently, to attract customers (investors, tourism operators, bankers,
traders, and so on)?
Marketing is not a controlled process in an insulated lab. It is prone to mishaps, last minute changes,
conceptual shifts, political upheavals, the volatility of markets, and, in short, to the vagaries of human nature
and natural disasters. Some marketing efforts are known to have backfired. Others have yielded lukewarm
results. Marketing requires constant fine tuning and adjustments to reflect and respond to the kaleidoscopic
environment of our times.
But maximum benefits (under the circumstances) are guaranteed if the client (the country, for instance)
implements a rigorous Marketing Implementation, Evaluation, and Control (MIEV) plan.
The first task is to set realistic quantitative and qualitative interim and final targets for the marketing
program - and then to constantly measure its actual performance and compare it to the hoped for outcomes.
Even nation branding and place marketing require detailed projections of expenditures vs. income (budget
and pr-forma financial statements) for monitoring purposes.
The five modules of MIEV are:
1. Annual plan control
This document includes all the government's managerial objectives and (numerical) goals. It is actually a
breakdown of the aforementioned pro-forma financial statements into monthly and quarterly figures of
"sales" (in terms of foreign direct investment, income from tourism, trade figures, etc.) and profitability.
It comprises at least five performance gauging tools:
I. Sales analysis (comparing sales targets to actual sales and accounting for discrepancies).
II. Market-share analysis (comparing the country's "sales" with those of its competitors). The country
should also compare its own sales to the total sales in the global market and to sales within its "market
segment" (neighboring countries, countries which share its political ambience, same-size countries, etc.).
III. Expense-to-sales analysis demonstrates the range of costs - both explicit and hidden (implicit) - of
achieving the country's sales goals.
IV. Financial analysis calculates various performance ratios such as profits to sales (profit margin), sales to
assets (asset turnover), profits to assets (return on assets), assets to worth (financial leverage), and, finally,
profits to worth (return on net worth of infrastructure).
V. Customer satisfaction is the ultimate indicator of tracking goal achievement. The country should actively
seek, facilitate, and encourage feedback, both positive and negative by creating friendly and ubiquitous
complaint and suggestion systems. Frequent satisfaction and customer loyalty surveys should form an
integral part of any marketing drive.
Regrettably, most acceptable systems of national accounts sorely lack the ability to cope with place
marketing and nation branding campaigns. Intangibles such as enhanced reputation or investor satisfaction
S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed
RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

are excluded. There is no clear definition as to what constitute the assets of a country, its "sales", or its
"profits".
2. Profitability control
There is no point in squandering scarce resources on marketing efforts that guarantee nothing except name
recognition. Sales, profits, and expenditures should count prominently in any evaluation (and re-evaluation)
of on-going campaigns. The country needs to get rid of prejudices, biases, and misconceptions and clearly
identify what products and consumer groups yield the most profits (have the highest relative earningscapacity). Money, time, and manpower should be allocated to cater to the needs and desires of these topearners.
3. Efficiency control
The global picture is important. An overview of the marketing and sales efforts and their relative success (or
failure) is crucial. But a micro-level analysis is indispensable. What is the sales force doing, where, and how
well? What are the localized reactions to the advertising, sales promotion, and distribution drives? Are there
appreciable differences between the reactions of various market niches and consumer types?
4. Strategic control
The complement of efficiency control is strategic control. It weighs the overall and long-term marketing
plan in view of the country's basic data: its organization, institutions, strengths, weaknesses, and market
opportunities. It is recommended to compare the country's self-assessment (marketing-effectiveness rating
review) with an analysis prepared by an objective third party.
The marketing-effectiveness rating review incorporates privileged information such as input and feedback
from the country's "customers" (investors, tourist operators, traders, bankers, etc.), internal reports regarding
the adequacy and efficiency of the country's marketing information, operations, strengths, strategies, and
integration (of various marketing, branding, and sales tactics).
5. Marketing audit
The marketing audit is, in some respects, the raw material for the strategic control. Its role is to periodically
make sure that the marketing plan emphasizes the country's strengths in ways that are compatible with
shifting market sentiments, current events, fashions, preferences, needs, and priorities of relevant market
players. This helps to identify marketing opportunities and new or potential markets.

Marketing Audit
Definition:
Marketing audit is a systematic, critical and impartial review and appraisal of the total marketing
operation: of the basic objectives and polices and the assumptions which underlie them as well as the
methods, procedures, personnel and organization employed to implement the policies and achieve the
objectives.

Meaning of Marketing Audit

S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed
RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

The meaning of marketing audit is depicted in the following chart.

Marketing audit is an analysis,

examination,
review
or
evaluation
of
marketing
activities of a company. It
evaluates
marketing
environment, objectives, plans,
policies and strategies of a
company. After evaluation, it
identifies various defects, vulnerabilities, deficiencies, problems, and other weaknesses encountered in the
company's marketing activities. It suggests measures and/or recommendations to overcome, solve or remove
these limitations. It also seeks out new marketing opportunities for a company. Overall, it tries to enhance
(improve) the marketing performance of a company.
Marketing audit is an extensive, systematic, independent and regular examination process of a company's
marketing activities.
1. It is an extensive or comprehensive process because it covers all (entire) marketing activities of a
company.
2. It is a systematic or methodical process since it strictly follows all involved steps or procedures
properly.
3. It is an independent or autonomous process conducted by an external person. This person is not from
the marketing department of a company.
4. It is a periodic process because it is conducted continuously after some fixed interval of time.
Marketing audit is very beneficial for the success of a company. It examines, How well the marketing
department of a company works or functions. It compares the marketing plans of a company with its actual
marketing performance. It finds out the strengths and weaknesses of a company's product. It suggests
measures to remove the product's weaknesses. It guides a company to adapt its marketing strategies with the
changing marketing environment. It helps a company to update its marketing strategies and control its
marketing expenses. In short, a company cannot survive without conducting a proper marketing audit.
Marketing audit evaluates the following three main (key) responsible areas:
1. External marketing environment : Here, the marketing audit mainly focuses on customers and
competition in the business.
2. Internal marketing environment : Here, the marketing audit studies the structure of company's
marketing team and its effectiveness.
3. Evaluation of current marketing strategy : Here, the marketing audit continuously reviews current
marketing strategy of a company. It also takes help of lessons learned from its past marketing plans.
S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed
RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

Scope, Areas or Types of Marketing Audit

There are no fixed guidelines regarding the scope, areas or types of marketing audit. In other words, the
scope of marketing audit is not fixed. It changes from company to company. Each company can make its
own marketing audit plan. However, the scope of marketing audit must include the following areas or types:

The six important types of marketing audit are:

1. Marketing Environment Audit.
2. Marketing Strategy Audit.
3. Marketing Organization Audit.
4. Marketing Systems Audit.
5. Marketing Productivity Audit.
6. Marketing Function Audit

1. Marketing Environment Audit

Marketing Environment Audit consists of the external environment of company. It includes natural
environment, economic environment, political environment, demographic environment, etc. The marketing
audit analyses the marketing consumer, competitors, suppliers, so on. This audit helps the company to make
marketing strategies.

2. Marketing Strategy Audit

Marketing Strategy Audit is a critical analysis of marketing objectives and strategies. It finds out whether the
company's marketing objectives are clear and proper. It also examines the marketing strategies of the
company. This audit is done to find out the utility of the marketing strategies.

3. Marketing Organization Audit

S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed

RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

Marketing Organization Audit is a systematic study of the company's organizational resources like
manpower, organization, structure, employee training and development, Research and Development
facilities, motivation, communication and working relations.

4. Marketing Systems Audit

Marketing Systems Audit finds out the company's ability of collecting and analyzing data. It looks for the
company's ability to plan and control the marketing activities. It also studies the company's marketing
information system, planning and control system, etc.

5. Marketing Productivity Audit

Marketing Productivity Audit finds out the profitability of the company's products. It examines the markets.
It also examines the measure to improve cost-effectiveness.

6. Marketing Function Audit

Marketing Function Audit is a complete study of marketing functions in relation to the product, price,
promotion and place of distribution. So, it is an audit of the marketing mix (4 P's) of the company.

Characteristics:
The salient features or characteristics of marketing audit are as follows:
1. Marketing audit is a comprehensive study of all marketing activities.
2. It is a systematic-process that follows a step-by-step procedure.
3. It is a periodic activity and must be conducted regularly.
4. It is conducted by an independent person who is not from company.
5. It is a critical review of marketing activities of company.
6. It is an evaluation of marketing activities of company.
7. It finds out marketing opportunities and weaknesses of company.
8. It is a preventative and curative marketing medicine

1. Comprehensive study
Marketing audit is a comprehensive or complete study of all the marketing activities of company. It studies
the marketing environment, marketing objective, marketing plans, policies and strategies, etc.

2. Systematic process
S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed
RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

Marketing audit is a systematic process. It follows a step-by-step procedure.

1. It studies marketing environment.
2. It studies the internal marketing system.
3. It examines the marketing activities.
4. It finds out the problems.
5. It makes an action plan to remove the problems.
The main aim of marketing audit is to improve the effectiveness of marketing.

3. Periodic activity
A company must conduct a marketing audit regularly or periodically. It must conduct the marketing audit
even if it has no problems. This is because it helps the company to analyze the post performance and to
make future marketing strategies.A company must not conduct a marketing audit only if it has problems or
when it suffers a loss. It must be a compulsory and not an optional activity.Marketing audit is like a
postmortem of failure.

4. Independently conducted
Marketing audit is independent. That is, it is conducted by an autonomous person. It is not conducted by a
person who is working in the marketing department. Mostly, it is conducted by an outside agency.

5. Critical review of marketing activities

Marketing audit is a critical review of marketing activities of the company. It finds out the defects,
deficiencies, problems and weakness in company's marketing activities. It also gives suggestions about how
to remove these defects or deficiencies.

6. Evaluates marketing activities

Marketing audit is an explanation or evaluation of marketing activities of company. It evaluates company's
objective, plans, policies, programs, etc.

7. Finds out opportunities and weaknesses

Marketing audit finds out the marketing opportunities and weakness of the company. It helps the company to
take advantage of the marketing objectives. It also helps the company to remove all its weakness.

8. Preventative and curative marketing medicine

Marketing audit is a preventative and curative marketing medicine. It prevents marketing problems. It also
cures (solves) marketing problems.
S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed
RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

Methods of Conducting a Marketing Audit

Marketing audit is an examination of the marketing activities of company. It must be conducted by
impartial persons.
Auditors must be properly qualified, trained and experienced enough to do the audit. They must have
a complete knowledge and exposure of marketing.
Image below depicts the methods of conducting a marketing audit.

Following methods are used to conduct a marketing audit:

1. Outside auditor : Company appoints an outside auditor to conduct a marketing audit.
2. Task force audit : Company selects a team of its own senior executives to conduct a marketing
audit.
3. Self audit : In this method, marketing manager of a company conducts a marketing audit.
4. Audit from above : Here, a senior executive of company (for example, a Director) is appointed to
conduct a marketing audit.

1. Outside auditor
In this method, the company can appoint an outside auditor to conduct a marketing audit. An outside-auditor
must be professional, a consultant or an agency. Outside auditors conduct marketing audits for many
companies. They have enough skills and experience. They are also more independent, impartial and
objective oriented. They give good suggestions for improvement. Therefore, it is better to use outside
auditor. Auditor studies information and submits a report to the company. The company has to pay him fees
for his services.

2. Task force audit

S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed

RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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Marketing management

In Task Force Audit method, the company appoints a team of its own executives for conducting a
marketing audit. These executives are highly experienced. They conduct the marketing audit independently.
They submit their report to the top level of management.

3. Self audit
In Self Audit method, the company appoints the marketing manager to conduct a marketing audit. Here, the
marketing manager has to conduct a marketing audit himself. This is called self-audit. He has to criticallyexamine the marketing performances. He has to find out the plus and minus points. Then he has to submit
his report to top level of management. Self audit must be conducted impartially by the marketing manager.

4. Audit from above

In Audit From Above method, the company appoints a senior executive to conduct a marketing audit. This
executive is mostly a director or a person who has complete knowledge about marketing. This is a type of
internal audit.
It is always better to use an outside auditor for conducting a marketing audit. Internal methods have
many limitations and hence must be avoided.

S.SREEDEVI REDDY M.B.A, M.Sc (Psy), B.Ed

RAYALASEEMA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION &MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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