Course Title: Conduct a marketing audit

Part B: Course Detail

Teaching Period: Term1 2012

Course Code: MKTG5833C

Course Title: Conduct a marketing audit

School: 650T TAFE Business

Campus: City Campus

Program: C5229 - Diploma of Marketing

Course Contact : Tim Wallis

Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 5423

Course Contact Email:timothy.wallis@rmit.edu.au

Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff

Elaine Holstein- Course Teacher

(03) 9925 5155

Nominal Hours: 40

Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites

None required

Course Description

This unit applies to individuals working in a marketing management role who are required to develop a comprehensive description of the organisation’s marketing operations as part of the marketing planning and management auditing process of an organisation. The outcomes of marketing audits generally are used to inform an organisation’s marketing plan.

National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria

National Element Code & Title:	BSBMKG515A Conduct a marketing audit
Element:	1.Prepare for the Marketing Audit 2. Identify the form of a Marketing Audit 3. Conduct an External Marketing Audit 4. Conduct an Internal Marketing Audit 5. Prepare a Marketing Audit Report
Performance Criteria:	1.1. Identify main purposes of the marketing audit in accordance with organisational requirements 1.2. Determine scope of the marketing audit and audit methodology in accordance with organisational requirements 1.3. Determine appropriate times when a marketing audit should be undertaken, in accordance with organisational requirements 1.4. Identify participants likely to be involved in carrying out a marketing audit 2.1. Identify main characteristics of a marketing audit in terms of relevance to the task and audit priorities 2.2. Identity main elements to be included in a marketing audit and its format, in accordance with organisational requirements 2.3. Identify various forms of a marketing audit and select those that best meet the requirements of the marketing plan, in accordance with organisational requirements 3.1. Identify criteria to use in an external marketing audit, in accordance with organisational requirements 3.2. Identify and describe in qualitative and quantitative terms external environmental factors which meet the requirements of the audit process 3.3. Identify and describe in qualitative and quantitative terms the technological factors, market characteristics and competitive factors relating to or affecting the business, which meet audit process requirements 4.1. Identify criteria to use in an internal marketing audit in accordance with organisational requirements 4.2. Describe the marketing organisation in accordance with organisational and audit requirements 4.3. Describe the marketing systems in accordance with organisational and audit requirements 4.4. Identify the marketing productivity in terms of profitability and cost effectiveness, and record the results in accordance with organisational and audit requirements 5.1. Write a marketing audit report in accordance with organisational requirements 5.2. Ensure marketing audit report meets the reporting requirements of the marketing audit form selected 5.3. Ensure marketing audit report meets the requirements of the marketing plan

Learning Outcomes

This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to prepare for, conduct and report on a marketing audit in accordance with an organisation’s marketing plan.

Details of Learning Activities

This course is structured to provide students with the optimum learning experience. Students will participate in a combination of group and individual assessment activities. These assessable activities will be provided through a combination of face to face teacher/student deliveries, tutorials and laboratory exercises. Additional assessable activities will also be provided to students to complete outside of timetabled time. The concepts learned will be explored through the investigation of real world and simulated environments.

Students will be assessed in this competency area by several means as outlined below.
The self-paced activities will be delivered thought various technology platforms and include your contribution to wikis and discussion threads, reflective journals, quizzes and interactive sessions.
The collaborative classroom based activities will include group discussion, group problem solving activities and opportunities to practice your skills in a simulated/real workplace environment. We expect you to participate and contribute in all scheduled learning activities.

Teaching Schedule

Date	Activity
Week 1 – 6th Feb	Course overview
Week 2 – 13th Feb	1. The strategic planning process
Week 3 – 20th Feb	• Understand the business – current and future (SW) • Understand the companies external and Internal influences (OT)
Week 4 – 27th Feb	• Understand the companies customers – current and future • Where & how do we intend to create marketing value?
Week 5 – 5th March	• Understand the companies critical success factors specifically those relevant to establishing and managing marketing processes.
Week 6 – 12th March	Review- a practical focus on marketing process content student consultation and support
Week 7 – 19th March	• Understanding organisational structure and it’s importance to the efficiency of the marketing process • How do we describe and define the current organisation structure
Week 8 – 26th March	• Organisational Change The importance of strong organisational communication Introducing a new key role • Preparing appropriate marketing job descriptions 1. Why 2. How
Week 9 – 2nd Apr,	• Understanding marketing performance measurements introduction
Week 10 – 16th Apr,	Identification of auditing tools of analysis The marketing audit – stages involved
Week 11 – 23rd April	Formulation of audit recommendations Writing an audit report  Problems and pitfalls of the marketing audit
Week 12 – 30th April	Audit process
Week 13 – 7th May	The marketing strategy audit The marketing organisation audit
Week 14 – 14th May	Marketing systems audit Marketing productivity audit
Week 15 – 21st May	Marketing function audit
Week 16 – 28th May	Assessment 3 due COB Wednesday 30th may

Learning Resources

Prescribed Texts

References

Other Resources

Overview of Assessment

Students must demonstrate an understanding of all elements of a particular competency to be deemed competent. Assessment methods have been designed to measure achievement of each competency in a flexible manner over a range of assessment tasks.

Assessment will incorporate a variety of methods including assignments, journals, presentation and written or test. Students are advised that they are likely to be asked to personally demonstrate their assessment work to their teacher to ensure that the relevant competency standards are being met.
 

Assessment Tasks

TASK 1 - Portfolio of evidence (first check in week 6 and second check in week 10)

Students are required to keep a folio of their participation in the learning and exploration activities prepared weekly as well as reflections on their own learning experiences. This includes a weekly reflection/discussion blog. During weeks 6 and 10 a selection of any 3 weeks (as determined by the teacher) activities will be reviewed for assessment as part of the portfolio of evidence requirement.

To be deemed competent in this task, students must complete and collect evidence of the body of knowledge that they accumulate throughout the course. Students are also required to demonstrate a capacity to reflect on their learning and interact/communicate with other class members thus contributing to their body of knowledge. Formats and templates required for each activity will be provided to students prior to commencement of each week’s classes.

Submission Requirements: Students are required to keep a portfolio of their weekly activities/key learning’s in either written or e-portfolio format.

Task 2 - Marketing Report and Structure: (Due week 9 COB Wednesday 4th April)

Students are to assume the role of management consultant. They have been engaged by a medium sized organisation to help prepare for future marketing directions and challenges. They will review the business plans and objectives for the organisation and explore the implications of introducing a marketing function and what this means for the organisations structure, functions and resources. The report will focus on the planning process and will need to include emphasis on the resources and structure of an effective marketing function. A detailed marking guide and case study organisation will be provided to students in the first weeks of the course.

To be deemed competent in this task students must prepare a comprehensive Direct Marketing plan that includes:

• Structured report presentation
• Introduction
• An analysis and presentation of the business and its external challenges
• A clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the business
• Clear definition and description of the market segments and their derived value from the organisation
• Brief description of the current structure with a comparison to one other similar organsiation in the same industry/industries. This section also needs to identify crucial internal function relationships as well as identificaton of significant external stakeholders
• Critical success factors
• Determine and recommend the correct marketing functions and staffing levels that match the growth objectives but consider the resource limitations
• Summary and recommendations

Submission Requirements: Students are required to provide a written document by the due date.

Task 3. Marketing Audit: (Due week 16 COB Wednesday 30th May)

Students are required to work in designated groups 3-5 (maximum) on the production of a marketing audit report. Students will explore the audit structure and process which will be used in this assessment task. Specific procedures and templates required to compete this task will be presented throughout the course.

To be deemed competent in this task students must prepare a comprehensive Marketing Audit that includes:

• Structured report presentation
• Introduction
• Description of the methodology
• A range of audit questions and analysis for each of the identified areas (macro, task etc.) note that this section needs to include reference to any relevant legislation that needs to be considered by the organisation that you are auditing.
• Summary and recommendations

Submission Requirements: Students are required to provide a written document by the due date.

Assessment Matrix

Course Overview: Access Course Overview