The Marketer's Handbook: Reassessing Marketing Techniques for Modern Business

AUDIT (THE MARKET AUDIT)

Application: Market Analysis

The Concept

The market audit is an attempt to conduct dispassionate, objective, and logical analysis of a market. The aim is to think through a number of aspects of a market as part of a sequential market planning process. As each step is completed, “insights” from that analysis are distilled into a summary of market perspective. These can, in turn, be used as a basis for the development of marketing strategy and marketing plans.

Figure A.7 attempts to represent this logical, analytical approach to marshalling marketing resources. The top section is the market audit, a sequential set of steps leading to strategic options and detailed planning. Not all need to be started sequentially but each yields insight that supplements others and may cause some to be re-evaluated. Analysis of the macro market and a lack of good data might, for instance, prompt the need for specific, detailed customer or competitor research, unforeseen at the start of the process.

Figure A.7: A representation of a typical linear market planning process, with integral market audit

The analysis is conducted in the following steps:

Step 1: Analysis of External Forces Affecting the Market; Audit of the Marketing Environment (Sometimes Called Environmental Analysis) ...