Marketing Audit and its Components

This assignment delves into the concept of a marketing audit, highlighting its purpose and essential components. It examines various elements involved in a comprehensive marketing audit, such as market analysis, competitor assessment, product evaluation, promotional strategy review, and distribution channel analysis. The importance of understanding marketing channels and their impact on achieving marketing objectives is also emphasized.

AUDIT REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Evaluation of marketing mix..................................................................................................1
Customers profile...................................................................................................................4
PART 2............................................................................................................................................7
Owner and history of brand....................................................................................................7
Products and services offered by Dove..................................................................................7
Distribution system.................................................................................................................8
Marketing communication......................................................................................................9
Competitors..........................................................................................................................10
SWOT Analysis of Dove as a renowned brand of Unilever: -.............................................10
Recommendation..................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Marketing channels...................................................................................................6
Illustration 2: Model of distribution channel...................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Marketing audit is considered as complex process that leads to systematic, analysis,
assessment and representation of marketing environment of business (Marketing Audit, 2017). It
also includes analysis of internal and external environment to analyse the factors that affect the
marketing of firm. At the time of audit, individuals will also analyse the goals, principles and
strategies to understand the specific areas of weaknesses and opportunities in order to
recommend the action plan that increase the performance of firm. In this report, analysis of
marketing audit of famous hair and beauty product brand is taken in to consideration named
DOVE which a products of international firm Uniliver. In this assignment, internal and external
environment firm's brand is done to considered the effectiveness of their marketing principles.
Analysis of firms international marketing is done to understand their brand position in market
and providing appropriate recommendation to rise the performance.
PART 1
Evaluation of marketing mix
In the competitive environment, it is significant for the firms operating at international
level to analyse the market conditions and apply appropriate marketing mix through effective
research practices (David., 2011 ). In this context,for conducting marketing audit of Unilver's
brand Dove is done to analysis the strategies and plans that firms has used to increase their
performance and market share as compared to rivals. Following points will provide a clear of
their marketing mix such as:
 Products: This is the most essential element that describe the ways through which the
firms satisfy needs of their customers. It mainly considers the goods and services that are
produced by companies and their effectiveness to influence the target customers (Wilson
and Gilligan, 2012). In present scenario, it is analysed that dove provides high quality
products and their products under the marketing mix are skin care, shampoo, deodorant
etc. It is considered that firms has its great focus towards haircare products that has
achieved a great response of its customers. From the market research, it is analysed that
product like Dove men care shampoo is considered as most effective products. For
increasing the sale of hair care products they have this specific product to attract the male
customers towards the brand . As compared to competitors products it is more effective
1

and has satisfied the needs of users. Introduction of this product has provided a great
impact on firms brand and increased its sales revenue in market.
 Price: In competitive market, firms have to apply a specific pricing strategy that is
suitable and creates the specific value of products among the customers (Kim and Hyun,
2011). In order to increase the sales and profitability in international market, Dove has
utilized the competitive pricing policy that provide support to their products to achieve
growth in market. Moreover, At initial stage the products of dove premium priced but
with the fall in demand they have reduced the prices. Specifically the demand of their
shampoo products has decreased therefore they have developed new shampoo for men to
raise their sale to male customers. To increase the sale of this specific product they have
applied penetration strategy in which they have kept the low price to influence the
customer and increase the sale and after the rise in demand they will increase its price. It
is considered as most effective strategy that helps them to achieve the sales target and
supports in increasing the marketing as compared to competitors.
2

 Place: In order to raise the promotion or marketing of products, firms also target effective
places where they will identify there target customers and influence them to purchase the
products (Armstrong and et.al., 2015). In the present scenario, the cited brand has
targeted some specific places such as shopping malls, online retail websites here they
provide details to there customers about the speciality of there products as compared to
other substitute products. This strategy of brand is considered as effective as it will
provide them opportunity to increase the demand and achieve more profitability as
compared to rival firms.
3

 Promotion: One of the main element of marketing that describes the channels that are
used by brand to increase the promotion of there specific products and services (Tucker,
2014). Market researches of dove has provided a clear understanding that they are
promoting there new shampoo product through many ways such as: advertisements,
displays, discounting policies, online marketing etc. It is considered as an effective
medium through which demand of there products has increased as compared to its
competitors brands.
Customers profile
In Hair and beauty care market, firms have to targeted its own customers in which they
will achieve the high demand and increase the sales of their products and services. From the
market analysis, it has been recognised that Dove has targeted premium customers who have the
buying power to purchase their products (Vitberg, 2010). Initially there products are more
expensive as compared its competitors. There are various strategies applied by them in to create
loyalty of customers towards the brand. Apart from this, marketing of their products also gets
affected from the continuous decline in prices of substitute products. Through effective research
the firm has analysed that there is a requirement to develop strategies through which they can
increase there market share. It is analysed that the firms has applied demographic segmentation
under which they have tarted male customers and developed a specific shampoo products so that
they can influence them towards the brand. Earlier there target was only female customers but
4

rise in competitors, they have also started to develop the products for male and premium
customers. This segmentation strategy has provided great support to them towards rising the
sales revenues, demand and increasing the marketing at global level.
Competition: It is a significant parameter that determines the impact of rise in competitors on
the marketing of firms in same industry. At international level, firms also realized that there
strategies of increasing the marketing of their among the customers also affects from the
competition. It also external factor that must be analysed by business firms to avoid the risk of
removing the products from decline stage (Baker, 2014). In this context, the study of products
life cycle has determined that the products of DOVE is currently at growth stage and there is
continuous rise in demand of products as firms in selling its products at competitive prices. It is
also identified the main competitors which affect the marketing of firm are Lux, Nivea, olay etc.
Further, at initial stage they have also faced problems because the prices of their products were
high but for reducing the impact of competition on marketing and sales they have changed the
strategy and reduce the prices of their products. Implementation of new strategy of pricing has
provided a great support to them to expand business operations in many countries like India,
china, USA etc.
Market performance: For development of audit report, it is essential for individuals to analyse
the firms position in market. It is also considered as significant for them to evaluate the
strategies, plans, policies and practices that are essential for firm to increase the sales of their
products in market (Pimenta da Gama, 2011). Firms at international level apply various
strategies to increase the market performance so that they can achieve the recognition of
shareholders and investors towards the firm and expand their business operations. With reference
to this, market research of the Dove has determined that it is brand of Uniliver which an
international firms. Therefore, they achieve a strong recognition from people. There is a strong
effect of companies brand reputation on sales of their products in market. As compared to
previous financial years there is rise in firms profitability that clearly describes that there is
continuous growth. Moreover, there are various positive factors that has provided to the brand
towards increasing market position such as economic development, rise in income level, change
in life style etc.
 Supermarket channel: In this, it has been clearly described that firm is three methods
used by the firm for the distribution of their in market (Svanström, 2013). The above
5

clearly describe that they have three channels of distribution in marketing of their
products such as direct marketing distributors and supermarket. The focus of firm is
towards large retail stores like Walmart that provides great support to firm to identify its
potential customers. It also considered they have direct relationship with this supermarket
so that they can directly supply there products to customers. It is the most significant
distributional channel under which the firm has increased its marketing and influence the
premium customers. Moreover, it is considered from the market report that 65% of sales
of products has achieved by firm from these supermarket channels. Thus, this is
considered as beneficial for firm as they will achieve a sustainable growth and
development in marketing.
 Trends in H&B sector and performance : In this parameter, the individuals in the audit
report will define that the continuous changes in income level and demand of customers
has also affects the marketing strategies and plans (French and Runyard, 2011). From the
analysis, it is recognised the rise in income level has changed the preference of customers
the quality products so it is essential for firms increase the quality of there products. In
order to match the current market trend in H&B sector, the cited brand has analysed the
6
Illustration 1: Marketing channels
(Source:Channels of marketing, 2017 )

demand of its tarted customers and developed the most effective products that has
satisfied their needs as compared to rivals.
PART 2
Evaluation of brand audit report
Owner and history of brand
In international market, there are various brand operating in H&B sector that are owned
by multinational firms. In this, audit of Dove is done which is most successful and popular brand
in global market (Wetsch, 2012). Dove was introduced by uniliver's in US in 1957. It is also
analysed that the main aims of Dove is to deliver products that are suitable and not considered as
harmful for customers. It is personal care brand that is presently operating in 80 countries across
the world. At initial stages it has stated development of soaps for the women and achieved a high
success in market. With the passage of time there have implemented various changes in their
products and development appropriate distribution channel to satisfy the demand of customers.
With the continuous rise in demand they have also faced various challenges that has provided an
experience to them to sustain in market. In 2017, the dove has celebrated its 60 years of business
experience operating in various countries.
Products and services offered by Dove
As discussed above, it is personal care brand operating at internal level by providing
various products to people like beauty soap. Moisturisers, deodorants, skin care products, hair
care products etc. there is a strong product line of this brand that serves almost has half of people
in home country (Wendelin, 2011). Uniliver is an multinational firms that has many brands and
regulating its operation by acquiring markets of different countries. It also analysed that firm also
has it existence in various other brand but they have achieved more success in this brand as they
directly affects the demand of customers. Various research reports of firms has provided an
understanding that products of Dove are more expensive as compared to its competitors and this
has affected there sales. With relevance to this, the firm has reduced the prices of its products so
that they can more customers and acquire market share. For further brand extension firm has also
developed an objective to develop more products by targeting the male customers. Moreover, it
can be said that it is a multinational brand that deals in personal care products and achieved a
sustainable growth in market.
7

Distribution system
In order to distribute the products and services across the countries it is essential for firm
to develop a strong distribution system in very country (Frösén and et.al., 2013). It will support
the firm to provide easy access to customers towards the products. It is also considered that
effective did distribution system cane developed by the firm to gain the competitive advantage
over its rivals. In this present context, Uniliver has developed a strong distribution for
management of sales across the countries. They have also focused on providing to local retailers
that has direct relationship with people and regulates their business at small scale. Moreover, the
picture also describes that the cited brand also use the modern system to make the products
available to its customers. Like online marketing, e-commerce websites, shopping sites etc. It is
considered as most effective for them as it makes the brand more popular and increase the sale in
small areas of countries. Further, there various distribution channels that are should be used by
them to increase the sale of their products. Therefore, it has been recognised that firm will
achieve its desired profitability and increase its marketing.
8

9
Illustration 2: Channel of distribution
(Source : Goyal, S., 2014)

Marketing communication
Brand elements
Dove logo: - Dove’s logo represents a bird which is itself popularly known as Dove and
has given a recognisable position to this brand in cosmetics industry (Gao, 2010). This delicate
symbol of dove represents an emblem of peace, love, cleanses, and purity. The company’s logo
characterised a customized font.
Symbols: - This company’s symbol represented freedom where such Dove symbolic can
vary depending upon different cultures and religion (Kim, 2011.). This company is mainly
thought to be a symbol of peace. In Christianity community, the dove is the symbol of a blessed
spirit and represents soul.
Slogans: - Slogans of dove shampoo which is Secret of clear, strong, nourished and
beautiful hair represents a promising characteristic of this brand.
Characters: - The main characters used by this company for its shampoo is female
models advertising its promising products to specify its various encouraging features such as
clearing dandruffs, cleaning hair after wash and smoothing with the help of conditioners and
serums, etc.
Packaging: - Company packs their shampoo in different quantity and colour such as joint
family pack of 650 ml, 350 ml and 175 ml in bottle packaging which are also available in the
form of sachet.
Websites
Social Media: - The company uses social media marketing through Facebook, twitter,
Pinterest and various other website blogs etc., to closely interact with their targeted set of
audiences (Vitberg, A., 2010). The company has many benefits from the adoption of social
media marketing for attracting new set of customers and aware them about their products with
the help of videos and other attractive measures.
Advertising: The company constantly plans to promote its goods and services with the help of
various advertising strategies through T.V., Newspaper, poster campaign, banners, flyers, emails,
SMS, social media marketing and direct marketing, etc. As the Dove is known to mainly target

women customers, the company is paying more attention to aware them about hair care. In their
advertisement, company is more concerned about the issues related to hair such as, hair fall,
dandruffs, roughness by together proposing possible solutions with their products for the same.
Competitors
Unliever has faced tough competition from Procter & Gamble, M & S which are
performing better than Unilever. They are serving in whole world and attracting customers
towards them by providing the best quality of products. Procter and Gamble has accounted $1.8
billion and it selling nearly 100 brands in the world to increase its profit (Liu and Chin, 2010).
They have built effective image in the market and successfully achieved trusts and confidence of
their customers. On the other hand, M & S has also given competition to Unilever. It is second
largest retail company in the world which is specialised in selling accessories, clothing and home
products. Its overall revenue is £10,622.0 million and has employed 82,904 employees in its firm
to increase their productivity. They are offering products at lower price which has helped them to
win trust of customers and encourage them to purchase the best quality products at low price.
SWOT Analysis of Dove as a renowned brand of Unilever: -
Strength
1. A foremost strength of Dove Shampoo for
men is its highly moisturised base where it
contains almost 1/4th proportion of moisturising
cream.
2. Dove has an extensive presence all over the
world where it is spread in more than 80
different countries (Bentley, Omer and Sharp,
2013).
3. Beside this, it also has promising products
with strong brand awareness and huge supply
chain networks.
Weaknesses
1. The most concerning aspect for Dove is its
limited market share due to an intense level
of competition in the FMCG industry.
2. Apart from this, Dove is popularly known
for its women segment with minimal or
almost no such effective products for men.
Opportunities Threat

1. A huge set of opportunity for Dove is to
purposively target the male consumers by
together increasing its reach to more
geographical regions as a way of expanding
their business.
2. Also, it can intend to involve college students
for a rich exploration of their existence and can
also tie up with corporates.
3. Lastly, introducing affordable products by
considering to include mid-range products for
satisfying the needs of middle class people is yet
another set of opportunity for Dove to increase
their customer base.
1. Consolidating industry is referred to
be one of the major risk for Dove
where it is together known to sell
products consisting of private label
products.
2. Also, Dove has suffered from
negative publicity whose persistence
can lead to hamper its overall image
in the market.
3. Likewise, a widespread use of replica
products is also specified to be one of
the most hazardous aspect for Dove.
Marketing Challenges: - This is to ascertain some marketing related challenges for Dove in the
market where it is famously known to use a data driven approach of marketing. In whose
accordance, below are the challenges that could be faced by Dove to sustain a respectable
position in the market.
1. Collecting sufficient information- This is referred to be a foremost challenging aspect
for the marketers of Dove where they reported the task of data collection as the toughest
part of their job (Foxall, G., 2014). It is mainly due to a state of dilemma where gathering
too much information make them feel overwhelming whereas, in contrary to this,
collecting fewer information leads to inadequacy in getting the actual insights of their
consumers.
2. Knowing the customers- This is referred to be yet another devastating task where its
marketers are hereby required to understand varied data points of its customers that
involves their distinct habits, life stages, etc. This is mainly for the execution of a
successful marketing campaign.
3. Sticking to the fundamentals- This is at the time of targeting the customers where many
marketers aims at sticking to the basics of promoting goods. However, Dove is trying to

make intense efforts to go beyond their fundamentals of marketing by returning to their
data investments. This is being done by depending more upon sophisticated and much
deeper set of information which often becomes a challenging task for the marketing
personnel of Dove.
Recommendation
Unilever has to develop various marketing strategies like product differentiation, lower
price approach which will help them to attract more customers towards them. It is recommended
that the firm has to interact more with their customers and take their review and feedbacks just
after their purchase so that they can analyse their problems and comments. Further, they have to
provide online services and free home delivery to their clients. This will attract more customers
towards them and hence help in increasing their sales and profits. It is also recommended that
have to provide discounts, offers, vouchers regularly which will increase number of buyers. This
will help the company to win the trust of their old as and new customers. In this way it can make
positive image in customers mind and achieve their satisfaction level.
CONCLUSION
Summarizing above report, it can be concluded that Unilever has developed various
strategies to increase its growth in competitive market. 4P's of marketing mix are discussed to
analyse its strategy and pricing policies. Competition from different competitors is also analysed
in this report. Focus on different brands, services of the company is discussed. The organisation
has also used various promotional strategies to promote their products image. Further, market
performance is analysed by the company to launch its product among the customers. Distribution
channels are given top priority by Unilever to increase their sales. All these strategies has helped
the firm to increase their brand value, achieve objectives and raise their revenue.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong and et.al., 2015. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bentley, K.A., Omer, T.C. and Sharp, N.Y., 2013. Business strategy, financial reporting
irregularities, and audit effort. Contemporary Accounting Research. 30(2). pp.780-817.
David, F.R., 2011. Strategic management: Concepts and cases. Peaeson/Prentice Hall.
Foxall, G., 2014. Strategic Marketing Management (RLE Marketing) (Vol. 3). Routledge.
French, Y. and Runyard, S., 2011. Marketing and public relations for museums, galleries,
cultural and heritage attractions. Routledge.
Frösén, J., Tikkanen, H., Jaakkola, M. and Vassinen, A., 2013. Marketing performance
assessment systems and the business context. European journal of marketing. 47(5/6).
pp.715-737.
Gao, Y., 2010. Measuring marketing performance: a review and a framework. The Marketing
Review. 10(1). pp.25-40.
Kim, J.H. and Hyun, Y.J., 2011. A model to investigate the influence of marketing-mix efforts
and corporate image on brand equity in the IT software sector. Industrial marketing
management. 40(3), pp.424-438.
Kim, M.K., 2011. The personal branding strategy for effective construction of personal image.
Fashion business. 15(5). pp.87-102.
Liu, T.W. and Chin, K.S., 2010. Development of audit system for intellectual property
management excellence. Expert Systems with Applications. 37(6). pp.4504-4518.
Pimenta da Gama, A., 2011. An expanded model of marketing performance. Marketing
Intelligence & Planning. 29(7). pp.643-661.
Svanström, T., 2013. Non-audit services and audit quality: evidence from private firms.
European Accounting Review. 22(2). pp.337-366.
Tucker, K., 2014. Personal branding in career communications. Career Planning and Adult
Development Journal. 30(2). p.47.
Vitberg, A., 2010. Developing your personal brand equity. Journal of accountancy, 210(1), p.42.